that these guys from The Hill are confused about it all. Having it with Mr. Duncan makes a lot of sense. Especially if you know what was done in Jan. The way I see it puzzle pieces are slowly falling into place:
The Northwest Territories, over the objections of most of itsaboriginal leaders, has moved a step closer to assuming the powers of aprovince.
“Much of what the provinces have today, northerners areasking for in a decision-making process around developments that occurin the North,” Premier Floyd Roland said just before signing anagreement in principle to transfer control over northern land andresources from Ottawa to Yellowknife.
But while Mr. Roland andfederal Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan savoured the result of morethan two decades of negotiations, Dene leaders were appealing to PrimeMinister Stephen Harper to block the deal.
“The aboriginalgovernments maintain that the secretive bilateral devolutionnegotiation between the NWT and Canada – without the aboriginalgovernment's participation – is unconstitutional, politically flawedand insufficient to meet the requirements of contemporary northerngovernments,” reads a letter to Mr. Harper signed by Chief Sam Garganof the Dehcho and Richard Nerysoo of the Gwich'in.
Wednesday'sagreement in principle would give Yellowknife control over resourcedevelopment as well as a big chunk of the revenue generated by its oil,gas, diamonds and gold.
Currently, all resource royalties in the NWT go to Ottawa. The only benefit the territorial government receives is income taxes.
Buteven those taxes are deducted from transfers the territory gets fromthe federal government. Territorial officials have calculated that forevery new dollar raised, 80 cents is lost in transfer payments.
Aswell, final approval for any resource development – from the smallestmining exploration camp to proposed megaprojects such as the MackenzieValley natural gas pipeline – has always had to come from the federalminister of Indian and Northern Affairs.
Under the new deal, theNWT would keep half of its resource royalties without losing federaltransfers – up to a percentage of its overall budget. Decisions wouldbe made in Yellowknife, not Ottawa. It also promises about $27-millionin one-time transition costs and another $65-million annually to coverthe territory's increased expenses.
The signing signals the start of talks toward a final legal text, which Mr. Duncan expects will take about a year.
“Nowwe've come to a place, through signing this agreement, [that] we canprogress to a final set of negotiations where a final set of decisionswill be made by northerners as to whether it's good enough to proceedwith or not,” Mr. Roland said.
Many aboriginal northerners have already made up their minds.
Whilethe Métis and the Inuvialuit – whose land claim covers the gas-richnorthwest corner of the territory – were on hand to sign the deal, norepresentatives of the NWT’s 10,000 Dene yet support it.
Mr.Gargan said the deal doesn't give the NWT a big enough share ofresource royalties. He also said Dene groups weren't given enough inputand fear their land claim and self-government talks will becircumscribed by its provisions.
“You have a position by bothgovernments that says that we've committed to this process and that'swhat I'm afraid of,” he said. “It sort of locks a lot of the issuesregarding self-government from the table.”
Mr. Duncan said theagreement specifies that it won't infringe on the rights of aboriginalnegotiators or governments. There's lots of time and opportunity foraboriginal groups to come on board, he added.
“We think that moving forward, there will be full participation. The agreement is predicated on that occurring.”
Yukonsigned a deal on controlling its resources in 2003. Mr. Duncan said thegovernment is committed to beginning similar negotiations with Nunavut.
Published on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 11:39PM EST