Dene rights protected

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The massive Nunavut land claim won't affect the traditional rights of Saskatchewan's northern Dene bands, the federal court has ruled.

In a decision refusing a request by three northern bands to stop a ratification vote, Judge Paul Rouleau said the massive settlement protects Dene hunting and fishing rights.

But rejection at the federal court level has not stopped efforts by the Fond du Lac, Black Lake and Hatchet Lake bands to block implementation of the deal until their concerns are dealt with.

The bands are now reviewing the decision with regional organizations in preparation for another federal court action.

"We are dismayed that the federal court has ended up using the same logic as Canada in making this decision," said Prince Albert Tribal Council chief A.J. Felix after

the ruling was handed down.

"For more than a decade the Athabasca First Nations...have been attempting to gain treaty and aboriginal rights within their tribal homeland in the N.W.T."

The Nunavut settlement for the eastern Arctic Inuit will be the largest land claim in Canadian history, covering 350,000 square kilometres of land with $500 million in cash compensation.

But the settlement area, which reaches from the high Arctic to the N.W.T.-Saskatchewan border, also covers territory North of 60 that the Dene bands say is theirs by tradition.

Although the Inuit claim recognizes hunting and fishing rights in the disputed area, the northern bands say the deal doesn't recognize the full extent of their land rights. Prince Albert Tribal Council spokesman John Dantouze said Dene bands would not be able to develop the land under the current agreement.

Inuit leaders are refusing comment on the federal court decision because of other court actions. Lawyer Don Brown has said the deal won't prevent future negotiations between the bands and the Inuit communities for additional rights.

"These plaintiff are going to be able to use the land where they claim an interest in exactly the same way they always have," he said when the case was first argued before the court in September.

The Nunavut claim is also drawing fire from Western Arctic Dene bands who say Inuit communities are being allowed to take land traditionally used by the northern Chipewyan and Dogrib bands.