Gwich’in pass resolution demanding that GNWT ‘halt all procurement’

The Gwich’in Annual Assembly has passed a resolution seeking to shut down NWT government procurement on Gwich’in land until a new economic agreement is in place.

A second resolution at last week’s assembly directed the Gwich’in Tribal Council to negotiate primarily with Canada over self-government, and only include the NWT and Yukon governments at the main negotiating table “from time to time, with the approval of the Gwich’in.”

The resolutions and other comments made during the assembly suggest a worsening relationship with the GNWT.

Ken Kyikavichik, who has led the Gwich’in Tribal Council for the past four years and is appealing the result of a recent election that seemed set to replace him with Frederick Blake Jr, told the assembly the GTC had suspended its annual bilateral meetings with the GNWT and recently wrote to “let the GNWT know they are in breach of the Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement.”

Kyikavichik says the GNWT is failing to offer contract opportunities directly to Gwich’in companies for work in the Gwich’in Settlement Area.

“We are tired of the GNWT going for bid [using an open tendering process] for everything in the Gwich’in Settlement Area, and it needs to stop immediately and effectively. That’s the nature of the correspondence that we sent them this week,” he told delegates.

“We have four directly negotiated contract requests that have been rebuffed by the Government of the Northwest Territories, and we’re not standing for it any more.”

Kyikavichik used maintenance of the Dempster Highway – which was closed for days this past winter as record levels of snow built up – as an example of work that could be taken on.

“It was a safety hazard. You get into the shoulder, there was deep snow. The maintenance isn’t happening,” he said. “We’d like to take that over. We have the ability to do that.”

President Kelly McLeod of Inuvik’s Nihtat Gwich’in said the territorial government had spent roughly $280 million in the Gwich’in Settlement Area over the past eight years, of which he said Gwich’in companies had received roughly 20 percent.

“It’s high time that the territorial and federal governments start respecting our claim and investing in our people. We can’t keep investing in our settlement lands and seeing those dollars drive down the road,” McLeod said.

“It’s not going to build our economy, our Gwich’in economy.”

The resolution, which passed unanimously, “demands that the Government of the Northwest Territories halt all public procurement activities in the Gwich’in Settlement Area until the GTC and the GNWT can reach an agreement on priority for Gwich’in businesses.”

Kyikavichik said the Gwich’in Tribal Council had “let the GNWT know we have no interest in meeting with them until we can get a new economic cooperation agreement.”

Should Kyikavichik’s election appeal fail – preliminary results suggest he lost by 604 votes to 515, but he says “there were false accusations and statements that potentially impacted the outcome” – it’s not clear if Blake would maintain the same approach as grand chief.

Blake, who served as MLA for the Mackenzie Delta for three terms, ran in part on a platform of unity and of listening to members.

On Tuesday, the NWT government – asked about the assembly’s procurement resolution and its call for the GTC to negotiate primarily with Canada, moving the GNWT to the sidelines – issued a one-line statement in response.

“The GNWT will not be commenting on Gwich’in Tribal Council activities while their leadership is in an appeal process,” a spokesperson for cabinet stated.

‘This should be an internal matter’

If he is confirmed as grand chief, Blake will inherit a fractured organization.

This year’s Gwich’in Annual Assembly extended a bitter and years-long disagreement between the GTC and the Gwichya Gwich’in Council of Tsiigehtchic, which says it was denied the right to send its own delegates to the assembly.

The GTC says it disputes the result of a Gwichya Gwich’in Council election held in 2023. The two are in court over the outcome.

Infighting at the annual assembly is not the only result of that ongoing split. It’s getting in the way of work toward a Gwich’in self-government agreement.

Self-government negotiations have been suspended for most of 2024.

Kyikavichik told delegates Canada had “unilaterally paused the main table negotiations due to the current internal situation with the Gwichya Gwich’in Council.”

“It’s always been maintained that this should be an internal matter, and for Canada or other governments such as the GNWT to get involved is inappropriate,” he said.

“There was a follow-up meeting with the minister and his deputy minister on May 1 in Ottawa, where myself and President Kelly McLeod expressed our great disappointment that the Government of Canada was suspending these main table negotiations.

“Specifically, it is our position that the Government of Canada has inappropriately intervened in this matter and has overestimated the power of the Gwich’in councils in our land claim agreement, and disregarded the authority of the GTC and specifically our annual general assemblies.”

Kyikavichik said the GTC was “working on legal correspondence to Canada to resume negotiations, because we do not believe that the Government of Canada specifically is acting in good faith and in accordance with their obligations to our nation.”

“The Government of the Northwest Territories and its claims to promote the advancement of modern treaties are complete nonsense,” he added.

“They sit on the sidelines and they welcome the fact that these negotiations are suspended, because we just started getting into the details of our lands chapter, where we talk about the administration of lands being transferred from the GNWT to the regional Gwich’in government.”

Ottawa says not everyone is at the table

Responding to questions about the self-government negotiations and concerns aired at the annual assembly, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada said it “deeply values its relationship with the Gwich’in and is committed to honouring its treaty obligations and advancing the Gwich’in vision for self-determination through self-government negotiations.”

However, the federal department pointed to the internal division involving the Gwichya Gwich’in as the reason for the pause in those negotiations.

“The Gwich’in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement outlines that self-government negotiations are to be conducted as directed by the four designated Gwich’in organizations, who are elected to represent each of the individual Gwich’in communities,” said departmental spokesperson Carolane Gratton in a statement.

“Decisions with respect to self-government negotiations ultimately rest with these designated Gwich’in organizations.

“For the moment, not all organizations are represented at the negotiation table and, until this matter is resolved, negotiations have been paused to allow internal conversation to advance.”

Kyikavichik said the GTC hopes to have a self-government agreement “to present to our people” by 2028.

Other resolutions passed last week include one calling on the federal government to explore giving the Northwest Territories a second MP.