Letter contradicts premier's assurances
McLeod tells grand chief Dehcho Process will be terminated if agreement not reached after denying GNWT is walking away from negotiations
Andrew Livingstone
Northern News Services
Monday, March 23, 2015
DEH CHO
A letter from Premier Bob McLeod to Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Herb Norwegian strongly suggests the territorial government would end the Dehcho Process if its latest, and seemingly last deal isn't accepted, News/North has learned.
"If we remain at impasse in April we will have to consider termination of the Dehcho Process negotiations," the Feb. 20 letter from the premier states, confirming what Norwegian has said publicly for the last two months.
McLeod's spokesperson Shaun Dean skirted the contradictory nature of the letter when reached for comment March 20.
"The GNWT does not feel that allegations exchanged in the media is serving the people of the Dehcho well. Our preference has always been for a negotiated solution," wrote Dean in an e-mailed statement. "We have made a generous offer to the DFN that is consistent with previously settled claims throughout the NWT and encourage them to consider it."
The letter is in stark contrast to statements made repeatedly in recent weeks by McLeod, denying reports that the GNWT has threatened to walk away from the negotiating table. McLeod's letter came on the heels of a Feb. 11 meeting between the territorial government and the Dehcho First Nations in Yellowknife, where it was said the offer was viewed as a "take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum."
The some 50 pages of documents obtained by News/North shed light on a fierce battle of words that has erupted in the public eye and in the media between the two sides. The documents outline correspondence between the territorial government and the Dehcho First Nations over a proposed agreement on land rights.
It also contains the original offer from the territorial government with a letter from the premier, dated Jan. 8, which said the deal offered represented the "full extent of the GNWT's flexibility" and concluded if the deal wasn't accepted then "negotiations have failed."
McLeod has publicly denied the territorial government has threatened to end the Dehcho Process on at least three occasions: in the legislative assembly on Feb. 4 and again on March 11 and in a March 13 interview with the Deh Cho Drum. In "frequently asked questions" on the GNWT's Dehcho Process page, the government offers a categorical "No" to the question "Is the GNWT threatening to terminate Dehcho Process negotiations?"
When asked about the negotiations by Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche in the legislative assembly on March 11, the premier characterized the Dehcho First Nations' issues as "the boy who cried wolf."
"The Government of the Northwest Territories has never left the table," he said. "We've never said we would not negotiate. We are prepared to negotiate. The Dehcho First Nations has gone through great contortions to show otherwise."
However, McLeod's Feb. 20 letter paints a picture of two sides remaining far apart on issues of land quantum and subsurface rights, and that because of the differences a "fair and reasonable" agreement can't be reached.
"At this time the honourable thing to do is acknowledge that there is not enough common ground on these fundamental matters, and to suspend main table negotiations," McLeod wrote in the letter.
Norwegian has maintained during the past weeks, and in a full-page newspaper ad, that the territorial government had stepped away from the negotiating table.
A memo to Dehcho First Nation leaders from Norwegian on March 16 indicates a number of legal and technical committee meetings and main table negotiations have been cancelled since January, due to the territorial government's "refusal to participate." The memo lists meetings scheduled from Jan. 19 to 20, Jan. 27 to 29, Feb. 17 to 19, and March 9 to 11. The GNWT could not confirm it had cancelled the meetings.
Another letter, dated March 16, to GNWT chief negotiator Steve Iveson, clarifies the issue of potential legal action against the territorial government, an issue McLeod spoke about in the legislative assembly March 11.
Norwegian wrote in the letter that legal action wouldn't be an issue if the GNWT returned to the negotiating table with the willingness to openly discuss a solution to the deal that Norwegian and DFN leaders have said is unacceptable.
