Strahl 'delighted' with Fort Liard's agreement to start land claim talks

Federal Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says he's pleased with a landmark agreement signed in Fort Liard, N.W.T., this week, that sets talks in motion towards a community-based land claim.

Fort Liard, a Dene community on the southwestern corner of the territory, has now pulled out of the Dehcho First Nations' existing land claims negotiations by signing a framework agreement Monday to start its own land claim and self-government talks.

Once complete, it's expected to be the largest land claim, both in terms of land and money, of any single aboriginal band in Canada.

"They just felt that they wanted to move ahead on their own. So when we get a request like that, where a First Nation says they'd like to proceed in this manner, we … came up with this framework agreement," Strahl told CBC News on Tuesday.

"I was delighted with it, as was the community ... you could tell many of them have been waiting for this for, you know, a generation."

Strahl was in Fort Liard on Monday to sign the framework agreement with community and territorial leaders.

Breaking away from Dehcho Process

The agreement means Fort Liard — also known as the Acho Dene Koe band — is breaking away from the Dehcho Process, which was started in 1999 to negotiate a land claim for the entire Dehcho First Nations region.

That has some Dehcho leaders worried that other communities could follow suit, especially given Dehcho talks have stalled recently over land issues such as the region's proposed land-use plan.

Strahl said his department would not encourage other First Nations to leave the Dehcho Process. At the same time, he said bands that want to go on their own are welcome to approach the federal government.

"Canada likes to put these things to rest — to put them to bed, so to speak," he said.

"And so when someone says, 'I'd like to examine that option,' or 'We think it might work for us,' then we say, 'Well OK, let's look at that.'"

Strahl said that under the new agreement, people in Fort Liard will receive a portion of the money and land they would have received under the Dehcho Process.

Traditional lands in B.C., Yukon

Fort Liard is the only Dehcho community that's negotiating formally outside the Dehcho Process, Strahl added.

Community leaders claim that two-thirds of Fort Liard's traditional territory is outside the Northwest Territories, in the Yukon and in British Columbia.

Residents say they have no hunting rights in the B.C. or the Yukon parts of their territory, and receive no compensation for their traplines or the land that becomes developed there.

"We thought that the Dene Nation was going to fix that problem; that didn't happen. We went with the Dehcho and that's still not addressing our problem to this day," said former Fort Liard chief Harry Deneron, who said he has fought for a land claim for the Acho Dene Koe over the past 33 years.

"I think it's the light at the end of the tunnel for the people of Fort Liard, you know? It's been a long time."

Bob Reiter, a lawyer for Fort Liard, said he believes he can work out a final agreement within a couple of years.