If Canada’s government changes, what happens to the Dehcho Process?

With a federal election scheduled next year, Dehcho negotiators are starting to plan for the possibility of a Conservative government in Ottawa.

Most polling currently shows the Conservatives 20 points or more ahead of the Liberals and on course for a majority government unless something significant changes.

The question of the election – which must be held by October 20, 2025 – came up at a virtual town hall hosted by the Dehcho First Nations on Tuesday evening.

The meeting was held to discuss the Dehcho Process, the name given to negotiations over land, resources and governance between DFN and the territorial and federal governments.

“Once there is a final agreement, then you would have a Dehcho government that’s in place. And immediately, what would happen is that the authority would rest with the community,” said DFN Grand Chief Herb Norwegian.

“It would be something that’s going to be very exciting, because for the first time in the Dehcho, we’re going to have a government that’s cohesive and working together with lot of energy, new excitement, new visions.”

The process has been ongoing since the late 1990s. Negotiators said the agreement was about 75-percent complete earlier this year, though Grand Chief Norwegian says the process could be held up by the federal election.

“Immediately, what happens is that the government back away from the field, because they’re instructed to halt all negotiations until the elections are over,” he said.

“For a period of time, the federal negotiators will be sitting on the sidelines waiting for the results to see who’s the new government that’s going to come in.”

If a Liberal government is elected again, Norwegian said it’s likely that negotiations will resume relatively shortly after the election – business as usual.

“Now, if the Conservatives come in, it’s a whole different new ball game, because then the Conservative government would want to retool their negotiations,” he said.

“They’ll want to take a look at all the claims across the country, which ones are moving forward, which ones are the standstill, that kind of thing.”

In about five to six months, the feds would be likely to have a new negotiator appointed and the process could resume.

Norwegian pointed out that a lot of claims in the North were negotiated with conservative governments, including the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and Nunavut Act that eventually led to the creation of Nunavut as a territory.

“We can do business with anybody,” said Norwegian.

“For the longest time, a good part of the Dehcho Process we were negotiating with a conservative government back then, and we got a lot of mileage out of it.”

Asked if he thought a Pierre Poilievre government might work differently than conservative governments of the past, Norwegian said he couldn’t really comment but would be interested in meeting with the Conservatives the next time he’s in Ottawa.

“In all likelihood there could be a change, and we want to be in a position to know who the people are,” said Norwegian.

He said he’d be interested in meeting with Poilievre and other Conservative leaders “to see where he stands on Indigenous issues, on Indigenous negotiations.”

Last week, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed called into question Poilievre’s understanding of the North after a post to X by the Conservative leader mocked federal plans to appoint a new Arctic ambassador.

Poilievre posted to X, formerly Twitter, saying: “Arctic ambassador? To do diplomacy with who? Santa Claus?”

In an interview with the CBC, Obed said: “It implies there is an empty space that isn’t filled by people and a necessity for diplomacy with a myriad of partners.”

Michael McLeod, the NWT’s MP, wrote on Facebook that Conservatives “think the North is a joke.”

Responding to such criticisms, Conservative northern affairs critic Bob Zimmer told the CBC: “Opening foreign offices and appointing a new bureaucrat is not going to fix our military or bring economic development and opportunity to people who are suffering under the NDP-Liberals’ disastrous policies.”

Norwegian said that no matter who the DFN is negotiating with, its position won’t change.

“We’re still going to continue to stand firm and take our tough positions like we’ve been instructed to, by Elders and the leadership and our assembly,” he said.

How negotiations are unfolding

In recent negotiations, representatives have dealt with issues such as taxation, land and resources.

As part of the agreement, a Dehcho government would be able to collect taxes from members of the First Nations that will go toward services in communities such as “dogs, dumps and ditches,” as Norwegian put it.

“Citizens will actually be almost paying themselves to take care of their own streets and all these infrastructure things that need to be done,” he said.

Tuesday’s virtual town hall heard that taxation of residents who live in the Dehcho but aren’t members of a First Nation will likely be covered in a separate agreement.

Norwegian said the land parcel likely to be governed by any final agreement could span the distance from Wrigley in the west to Kakisa in the east.

Negotiations will continue in January in Nahanni Butte.