NWT bill puts rights at risk

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The absence of a protective clause in a new land titles bill could affect treaty rights and the future of land claims, northern Natives claim.

The Dene Nation, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, the Council of Yukon Indians and the Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories petitioned the federal government to include a "non-derogation" clause in the text of Bill C-103, the Land Titles Repeal Act.

"We wanted a non-derogation clause to recognize treaty and aboriginal rights, to make it clear that this act won't reduce our ability to get working treaties," said Dene Nation chief Bill Erasmus.

A non-derogation clause would help safeguard Native rights in the act by ensuring that nothing permitted under the new legislation affected existing or future land claim rights, Erasmus said.

But such protection was abandoned when a seven-member legislative committee charged with amending the bill failed to agree on the exact wording.

If passed, C-103 would rescind federal legislation governing the registration of land titles and hand such authority over to the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

It would allow the territorial governments' own land titles legislation to come into force, giving them the right to register land titles, an authority they are currently exercising in the name of the federal government.

NWT liberal MP for Nunatsiaq, Jack Anawak, submitted a non-derogation clause originally proposed by the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut to the panel three weeks ago, Erasmus said.

"Nothing in the bill or any land titles ordinance enacted by the Commissioner in Council of a Territory to replace the Land Titles Act abrogates or derogates from any aboriginal or treaty right of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, including rights that may

be acquired by way of land claim agreements," the TFN's version read.

But the wording was voted down 4-3 by a conservative majority of committee members, said New Democrat MP for Comox-Alberni and Aboriginal Affairs critic Bob Skelly.

The following week, the Conservatives proposed that "nothing in this Act abrogates or derogates from any rights that now exist, or that may be acquired, by way of a land claims agreement with any Aboriginal people of Canada or preclude the negotiation of any such agreement."

But representatives from the northern Native groups asked that the Conservative wording be withdrawn, Skelly said.

"They felt that the wording would be more restrictive. And the federal government didn't want a non-derogation clause, so they withdrew."

As a result of the deadlock, there will be no "substantial" differences in the bill when it goes back to the House for the last reading, Skelly said.

The Dene and other northern Natives are concerned that the absence of a protective clause will jeopardize land claim negotiations by giving the territories too much control over disputed land.

"We believe we own the land," Erasmus said. "But this will prevent us from making any interim steps. It will solidify the government's right to control the land."

That control could include the sale of land and management of renewable resources like timber without consultation from Native groups, Erasmus said.

"This is a colonial situation and we are opposed to it," he said. "This is another step in the move to provide power to the territories without consent of our people. We will not surrender our lands or rights."

But the act is only a system of registration, said Ross Reid, MP for St. John's East and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern development. It does not grant any power to administer land.

"This transfer will have no effect on land claims," he said. "What we are merely doing is ensuring there is a system in place for the registration of title and other interests, such as easements."

The new act would prohibit the registration of caveats against unpatented Crown land, he said.

Northern Natives are concerned, however, that the caveat restricion would prevent them from halting land registrations that infringe on Indian territory, Erasmus said.

They are fuming over what Erasmus called a lack of consultation.

"Our rights are recognized and affirmed in court cases like Sparrow," he said.

"We were not involved in negotiations, we were not involved as witnesses when it was passed in the north."

The NWT government had consulted with the Inuit, Dene and Metis twice by letter, said Reid.

Miles Pepper, assistant to the deputy minister of Justice in the NWT, also said that northern Natives were consulted about the bill "a number of years ago."