Deh Cho, feds in quagmire over Mackenzie region land claim

The longer talks drag on the more a gap seems to open between the Canadian government and the Deh Cho First Nations as they struggle to achieve a land claim settlement in a region that occupies 40 percent of the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline route.

Bogged down for years in legal battles and feuding, the negotiations have been stalled again, Deh Cho negotiators told aboriginal leaders, although they said a resumption is scheduled for later in April.

The Deh Cho chief negotiator Georges Erasmus said “there’s a big gulf … them, taking a position over there and us taking a position over here.”

He said the government has taken a tougher line over the past three months, particularly on how much land should be included in a comprehensive claim.

The Deh Cho wants rights to 29,000 square miles, while the government has offered less than half that area.

The disagreement is now so deep that the issue is off the table for the time being.

The government has also said it will not negotiate any power- or land-sharing agreement with the Deh Cho and has rejected the Deh Cho’s bid to protect 70 percent of its land from development.

Deh Cho negotiators say the federal side has refused to give the First Nations its own resource management body and have accused the government of scrapping all points agreed on in 2005, including a promise to consult more closely before making decisions on a Mackenzie pipeline and other new oil and gas exploration programs.

—Gary Park