INUVIK
The president of the Nihtat Gwich'in Council has resigned from the board of directors of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, saying he was blindsided by the announcement of a self-government agreement-in-principle last week.

"The announcement was premature," Jozef Carnogursky told the Drum April 18. "Just given the fact that we didn't get copies to review beforehand."

The Gwich'in Tribal Council sent out a news release April 11 indicating the agreement-in-principle (AIP) for its self-government was ready for review by the board, as per the mandate given by members at last year's annual general assembly. On April 12, GTC vice-president Norman Snowshoe spoke to other media, saying a vote - and approval - of the AIP was imminent within the next few days.

The trouble, according to Carnogursky, was that he didn't know talks had concluded in the first place and that an agreement had been reached. He and fellow members of Gwich'in councils did not receive copies of the agreement until April 15. In fact, e-mails show that the GTC only received the updated and most current version of the AIP from the department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) April 14.

"I found out about it in the news like everybody else," Carnogursky said. "It results in pressure on the communities and the councils. There's an expectation now that (the AIP) will be signed but we will only move forward once my council fully understands and members are aware of it."

Pointing fingers

Once Carnogursky made it clear that he would not be approving the AIP without the full understanding of the Nihtat Gwich'in Council and its members, he got a letter from Gwich'in Tribal Council president James Wilson.

While the letter from Wilson, sent April 15, does advance a proposal for community meetings to talk about the AIP to take place from April 18 to 25, it also pointed to the absence of the Nihtat Gwich'in Council and Tetlit Gwich'in Council at the board of directors meeting held April 12 and 13. The letter said the mandate given at the annual general meeting could not be completed at the time because of that absence.

Carnogursky begs to differ, arguing that he can hardly be expected to vote on and approve a document he hadn't seen.

History of lack of communication

This, however, is not the first time Carnogursky said his council has been left in the dark.

The Nihtat Gwich'in Council sent three requests for further information and discussion about the AIP and self-government process - one in September, then again in January, and most recently the afternoon of April 11 - only hours before the news release was sent to media outlets. While Snowshoe responded to the request for an update in January, saying he would attend a meeting to provide information, Carnogursky said Snowshoe missed the meeting. Snowshoe is the lead negotiator for the GTC on the agreement-in-principle (AIP) for self-government.

"I can't accept it without my members knowing and my council knowing," Carnogursky said.

Tribal council response

Snowshoe, however, argued that the mandate from the annual general assembly was clear and that the Gwich'in Tribal Council team presented a "95 per cent complete" document at the time.

"What we were expecting was to go to the meeting (April 12 and 13) and give out a package of updates," he told the Drum. "We didn't want to go into great detail about what we had presented already at the assembly."

Snowshoe said the outstanding issues, those requiring updates, included settlement lands and the fiscal package attached to the agreement, along with a few other edits. He said the process could not move forward at the meeting because "the full contingent of the board wasn't there." Board members representing the Nihtat and Tetlit Gwich'in councils were absent.

Moving forward, Snowshoe said there will be presentations in the communities outlining what has changed since the assembly and that he hopes to have those wrapped up by the end of the month.

"The negotiation team that the Gwich'in have established have done a great job," Snowshoe said. "We need to continue this process."

Carnogursky agreed, with one caveat.

"I'm confident we can move forward with this," Carnogursky said. "But everyone has to know and understand what we're agreeing to."