Inside the Behchokǫ̀ Culture Center, Tłı̨chǫ Grand Chief Jackson Lafferty is surrounded by community members bustling in preparation for upcoming festivities. The Chief and the community have had a busy four days filled with organizing, along with the work of their annual Assembly.
The Chief takes the time to talk with everyone who stops to chat, from family and friends to the many visitors who have made their way here to celebrate a pivotal milestone.
The Tłı̨chǫ 21st Annual gathering took place at the Behchokǫ̀ Culture Center from Aug. 11 to Aug. 14, marking the 20 year anniversary of the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, the first comprehensive lands claim and self-government agreement in the N.W.T.
The history of the treaty goes back much further in time. Chief Monfwi and the Tłı̨chǫ tribe signed Treaty 11 in August 1921, the first iteration of what later became known as the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement.
It’s the fourth day of the gathering, and though the day began with heavy clouds, the sky has taken on a bright hue of blue and the sun radiates brightly in Behchokǫ̀. The waters of the Great Slave Lake reflect a sparkling brilliance along the sandy shores.
Folks are making their way through the centre of the town, a procession of people in trucks and cars are playfully honking their horns, smiling and greeting one another. On this warm evening following the closing ceremony, there is a feast and wedding celebration about to take place.
Reflecting on the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement anniversary and the annual gathering, Grand Chief Lafferty said the path forward has long been rooted in the vision of the community’s Elders.
“The 20 year anniversary, embarking on the vision of the Elders, it was an Elder’s dream. It’s always been an Elder’s dream to be self-sufficient, self-governing, taking our own control of programs to be delivered in the community by our own people. It’s been in the works for quite some time now. So those are some of the areas that we strive for and we see the end results today, and there’s more to come,” said Chief Lafferty.
The Tłı̨chǫ Agreement is a living document, “20 years in the making.”
That vision of the Tłı̨chǫ Elders, negotiated land claims and the move towards self-governing, began generations ago amid colonialism and the residential school era, reflected Chief Lafferty.
The obstacles have “always been there,” he reflected, obstacles the community has long faced together.
At the gathering, Chief Lafferty, Chief Alfonz Nitsiza. Chief Bertha Rabesca-Zoe, Chief Adeline Football and Chief Doreen Arrowmaker along with citizens of the Tłı̨chǫ Nation talked about ongoing developments as they move away from GNWT and federal ties, towards increased autonomous governance.
“Now we’re drawing down some programs from the federal and from the territorial government – Early Childhood, Infrastructure, and now we’re looking at Housing and soon community policing and also the ECC, the wildlife and Forestry. So those are areas that have been addressed in the past and we need to focus on those areas, because we need to have a say,” said Chief Lafferty.
The changes all come back to the Elders and to that vision, Chief Lafferty reflected.
“So a lot of activities happen on our land, we should have a 100 per cent say on that,” he explained. Under the agreement, the Tłı̨chǫ Nation owns 39,000 square kilometres of land, but their territories go beyond the boundaries of land.
The community is pushing forward towards reclamation goals, something the Elders, planted the seeds for long ago.
“We’re here today and we’ve drawn down programs, more to come though. We need to focus on what else can we transfer to our nation? One of them is education, having an overall education system, the law making authority and having our kids taught in our language, our cultural way of life. So those are some of the areas that we’re going to be drawing down from the feds, so we know GNWT has their own curriculum and have their own educational system, but we as the Tłı̨chǫ Nation, we as the Tłı̨chǫ government, we want to have our own educational system.”
The last 20 years has been an exciting time for the community but also a lot of hard work to build the new government.
Chief Lafferty pointed out that the Tłı̨chǫ community service agency has been working automously for over 20 years.
“They’ve been delivering education, health and social services. I think we’ve proven to both territorial and federal governments that we made progress. We want to take over 100 per cent – those are discussions that we’re having currently at the federal level,” said Chief Lafferty.
“It’s all about working together. Collaborating, being united, we need to stay united as the Tłı̨chǫ Nation. Stand as one, when we go to Ottawa – with one voice, when we go to the Northwest Territories – one voice,” added Chief Lafferty.
The assembly was also an opportunity for leaders and community members to ask questions and express their concerns on issues. Some of the concerns brought forward were focussed on addiction. Yesterday, Chief Bertha Rabesca-Zoe called for a state of emergency to address the addictions crisis
The Tłı̨chǫ government is planning to build a healing centre to help people facing addictions recover.
The community also expressed concerns about the need for more infrastructure and more economic measures, said Chief Lafferty.
“They gave us some good ideas that we can start planting a seed so that will be part of the discussion we’re going to be having this fall, when we’re discussing the mandate,” added Chief Lafferty.
“This is an opportunity for community members to stress to us where they want to see changes,” he said.
Chief Lafferty said he is grateful for everyone who participated in the gathering from within the Tłı̨chǫ community and beyond.
The assembly saw newly elected chiefs this year and young council members members from Wekweètì who joined in.
“For the first time we have a chief of Behchokǫ̀ that’s female after 20 years. First ever elected female Chief Bertha Rabesca-Zoe,” said Chief Lafferty.
Three of four of the chiefs are women, Chief Adeline Football and Chief Doreen Arrowmaker
In the last week, many leaders and members from neighbouring communities have participated in the gathering including Dene National Chief George Mackenzie and Minister Rebecca Alty among many others.
“We need to work with that, we all need to work together, we all have to respect each other going forward and not one person can stand alone to fix issues,” said Chief Lafferty.
“If we all stand united, nothing is impossible. We can deal with challenges at hand. With a various mindset, we can achieve so many dreams,” he added.
The Tłı̨chǫ government is being recognised as a true central government now, but 15 or 20 years ago things were very different, reflected Chief Lafferty.
“They didn’t really consider us as a government. Now, we’re sitting across from the Premier, now we’re sitting across from the Prime Minister as a true government.
Chief Lafferty explained that the Tłı̨chǫ government will continue to work with the GNWT and the federal government as key partners, in the Tłı̨chǫ agreement and it will take time to implement the changes.
“It’s just like putting a puzzle together, implementing slowly. It’s going to be drawing down at the federal level. So it’s gonna be a very exciting time, the next four years, I’m looking forward to it. We’ll see what the outcome will be, but those are some of the powerful messages that we’re going to carry forward.”
