A hard-line negotiating stance by the Deh Cho First Nations is starting to spill over from the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline project to the Northwest Territories’ cherished dream of gaining control over its natural resources.
Along with the Akaitcho community in the Northwest Territories, the Deh Cho are now threatening to block progress towards a landmark agreement that would give the territory power to run its resources and a growing chunk of the revenues.
This setback comes on top of Deh Cho threats to move ahead with lawsuits that could stall regulatory progress on the Mackenzie pipeline, with unknown consequences, until they reach a deal with the federal government on land claims and self-government.
The Deh Cho represent 4,500 Dene from 10 communities covering a sprawling area of the lower Northwest Territories.
Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley said earlier in March that his government and Ottawa need only one more meeting to settle on a framework agreement on the transfer of federal powers that would see the territorial government collect revenues from its resources and gain sweeping control over programs, staff and money.
David Peterson, a former Ontario premier who heads the federal negotiating team, said the deal would give the Northwest Territories “province-like powers.”
Provincial governments own natural resources
Under the Canadian Constitution, the 10 provincial governments own and control the development of their natural resources.
The first break to put the three territorial governments — Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut — on a similar footing occurred in 1998 when Ottawa transferred resource control to the Yukon government. Parallel negotiations with the Northwest Territories have been inching forward over the past two decades.
The urgency for the Northwest Territories government to gain resource control has never been greater, with two diamond mines in full production and a third on the way, with all three projected to yield C$1 billion in royalties over their operating life.
If the C$7 billion Mackenzie pipeline goes ahead it is seen as the springboard to accelerated onshore and offshore energy development.
Currently, Ottawa collects about 92 percent of resource-related royalties and taxes and, by 2011, would receive more than C$500 million, leaving the Northwest Territories with less than C$100 million in net taxes.
Handley said the devolution deal would see the federal government progressively transfer regulatory control now in the hands of the Department of Indian Affairs ands Northern Development.
Still to be resolved is exactly how much federal money would come with the transfer of power, but Handley and Peterson are agreed that a deal in principle will be a vital step forward in the Northwest Territories’ political evolution.
Court action threatened
But the Deh Cho and Akaitcho are threatening to launch court action to block such a deal until they have resolved their land claims.
Akaitcho Chief Darrel Beaulieu said the devolution involves land that rightfully belongs to his community and the Deh Cho and an interim agreement would undermine treaty talks.
However, he left the door open to a negotiated settlement, saying that would be preferable to the legal option.
James Washee, president of the NWT Aboriginal Summit, added to the concerns March 18 when he asked federal Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Andy Scott for assurances that existing and future land claims treaties would not be affected by devolution.
He wants to know what powers over land the Canadian government would hold after the transfer of powers.
Handley said it would be unfair of the Akaitcho people to deny economic benefits to the rest of the Northwest Territories when not a single clause has been agreed to in the Akaitcho treaty talks.
Meanwhile, Deh Cho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian was in an upbeat mood after the Federal Court of Canada ordered the release of a mountain of briefing notes, minutes, draft plans, correspondence and other documents on which Ottawa based the creation of a Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie gas pipeline.
The Deh Cho have been pressing for a greater direct role in the panel because 40 percent of the pipeline’s route crosses their lands.
Norwegian said his community will now be able to learn more about the federal government’s intentions in designing the panel.
For now, the Deh Cho have filed lawsuits seeking to have any conclusions reached by the panel declared invalid — a move that has slowed the start of public hearings from this spring to late summer, at the earliest.
