First Nations leaders at a protest in Ottawa last June. (submitted photo/ Prince Albert Grand Council)

By Nigel Maxwell

Land claims

North of 60 agreement heads to mediation

Jul 22, 2019 | 5:16 PM

The finalization of a nearly 20-year-old land claim dispute involving land in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, has hit another snag, with mediators now moving in to help assist.

Those talks have been scheduled to take place this week in Winnipeg. Leaders from the Athabasca Denesuline, Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC), and Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations met last week with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett in Meadow Lake to discuss the federal government’s decision to end the negotiations related to the Athabasca Denesuline’s “North of 60” land claim agreement. PAGC Vice Chief Joseph Tsannie said they came away from the meeting with no new information.

“At the end of the day there were no answers, no explanation why those negotiations were cancelled,” he said.

In a previous article paNOW was informed the breakdown in talks had to do with concerns raised by Indigenous groups in the Northwest Territories about the terms of the draft agreement and the impact on their communities and rights. Tsannie said there has been active communication with those communities and so he could not understand what the issues were.

“We don’t know what those concerns are so we can’t do the work that is needed,” he said.

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Tsannie added there have been other communication issues with the talks. He explained some of the northern communities have tried to meet with their First Nations leaders away from the technical team and elders who have worked tirelessly on the file.

“You know our trails, our hunting trails, our burial sites, have all been documented so to just go into a boardroom and start negotiating stuff when we dont have our technical team, does not really make sense,” he said.

The meeting last week follows a protest demonstration that was held in Ottawa on June 18 by members of Black Lake, Hatchet Lake, and Fond du Lac Dene Nations as well as the Ghotelnene K’odtineh Dene (Northlands Denesuline and Sayisi Dene First Nations) who all believed at the time they were on the verge of finalizing the land claim agreements. Tsannie said any decision or directions will come from the mediation talks, and he added he hopes to get all the parties, who have raised concerns, involved at the table.

“These First Nations communities can still come to the table and still talk and work things out. It’s not like it’s going to be set in stone, we have that communication and the willingness to work with the First Nations,” he said.

Tsannie is in Fredericton, New Brunswick this week at the Assembly of First Nations’ annual general assembly.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell