Final Self-Government Agreement for the Tlegohli Got’ine Bill

Moved second reading of Bill C-27, An Act to give effect to the Final Self-Government Agreement for the Tlegohli Got’ine and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

She said: Honourable senators, as we gather today on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg, I am mindful of all Indigenous Peoples who have been guardians of this land and all who have walked upon it for millennia.

It is with a deep sense of respect, gratitude and a profound responsibility that I rise today to speak as the Senate sponsor of the legislation that will give legal force to the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę self-government agreement, Bill C-27.

May I begin with gratitude and an expression of thanks to the People of the Sahtu region, Elders, leaders and families and the community of Norman Wells. Thank you for your trust, for building relationships and for your resilience through a lengthy process.

The Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę members worked alongside Government of Canada and Northwest Territories public servants. Most especially, let me take a moment to honour Shannon Shannon, a former federal negotiator whose recent passing is felt deeply by all who worked with her. Shannon brought compassion, empathy and unwavering commitment to the negotiations throughout her many years of working with all parties.

May I also give thanks to my Northern colleagues in the Senate, Senator Dawn Anderson and Senator Nancy Karetak-Lindell, for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the North, most especially our Yukon neighbours in Norman Wells with whom we share the history of the Canol Road.

The Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę refer to themselves as the “people where the oil is.”

The Canol Road was built to construct a pipeline to carry high-quality oil from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, southwest to a refinery in Whitehorse, Yukon, completed on December 31, 1943.

The northern portion of this road starts in Ross River in the Yukon — the traditional territory of the Kaska Dena — crosses the Pelly River and, 222 kilometres later, is the border with the Northwest Territories.

From the Yukon-Northwest Territories border, the now Canol Heritage Trail travels 350 kilometres to the Mackenzie River. This area is recognized in the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement.

Our lived experiences shape our approach to all that we do. As a member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, I supported the legislation enacting the Little Salmon/Carmacks, Selkirk and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in final and self-government agreements. As Premier of the Yukon, I was the signatory to the Ta’an Kwach’an Council Self-Government Agreement. My remarks at the signing ceremony first and foremost recognized the First Nations Elders and negotiators and the Yukon negotiators and government leaders who preceded me: Tony Penikett, John Ostashek and Piers McDonald.

Our party platform in the 2000 election campaign had pledged to continue the work of settling land claims throughout the Yukon. The Ta’an Kwäch’än was the eighth First Nation of the 14 Yukon First Nations to sign a land claim in the territory.

In the weeks following the signing of the self-government agreement with the Ta’an Kwäch’än, I delivered a cheque to the First Nations office for their share of the royalties from the Kotaneelee gas fields in southeast Yukon, which is geographically far southwest of Norman Wells.

Permit me the opportunity to share a little Land Claims 101 with those unfamiliar with the process.

Yukon First Nations, Canada and the Yukon government signed the Umbrella Final Agreement in 1993. Yukon First Nations negotiate their individual land claims and self-government agreements under the Umbrella Final Agreement.

The Umbrella Final Agreement contains several main topics from which all of the remaining topics flow. These include land in Chapter 9, compensation monies in Chapter 19 and self-government in Chapter 24, and there is Chapter 12. Chapter 12 is the origin of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act, or YESAA, process.

The federal YESAA received Royal Assent in 2003, coming into effect in 2005.

We continue to see references to this federal legislation here in the Senate.

This act and that of the Yukon government in keeping with the Umbrella Final Agreement constitutes the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board, or YESAB. YESAB works within a system that recognizes Yukon First Nations as governments with distinct rights, interests and responsibilities.

YESAB engages with Yukon First Nations throughout the assessment of all projects, including projects like mines and bridge replacements. YESAB recognizes the role of transboundary Indigenous governments. In a September 23 media advisory, it indicates that YESAB has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mackenzie Valley Review Board.

Colleagues, this understanding recognizing this legislation — YESAA, the final and self-government agreements — recognizes the role of self-governing First Nations. It is clearly a work-in-progress in Canada.

I remind members of a time frame reference: The Umbrella Final Agreement was signed in 1993. Twenty years later, the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act — a chapter called for in the agreement — was passed.

The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement includes the communities of Colville Lake, Délı̨nę, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita in the Northwest Territories. The agreement was signed in 1993 and brought into force in 1994.

The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act was first passed in 1998. Please note these dates, not because there is a quiz but simply for the context of the details of the agreements and the length of time for negotiation and ratification by the people and the references to resource development.

Going forward, these comprehensive agreements and the Umbrella Final Agreement fundamentally reshaped the relationships between Canada, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories governments and First Nations in the Yukon as well as the Dene and Métis in the Northwest Territories and later with Nunavut and the Inuit throughout the North.

These comprehensive agreements are not easily achieved and are truly comprehensive. Their details brought certainty to many discussions, including that of land and resource management and membership in the nation that determines eligibility for participation in the benefits that accrue to the First Nation within the land claim agreement. It’s Chapter 4 of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement that discusses membership.

You will recall the Umbrella Final Agreement in the Yukon was signed in 1993. There are 14 First Nations included in that agreement. Thirty-three years later, 11 concluded their final, including self-government agreements.

You will recall that I noted the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement received Royal Assent in 1994.

There are five self-government agreements envisioned under this comprehensive claim. The first agreement is the Déline Final Self-Government Agreement, which was sponsored by Senator Tannas in this chamber and received Royal Assent in June 2015.

The second, the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę, signed a framework agreement in 2007. And a dozen years later, in 2019, they completed their work with an agreement in principle on their self-government agreement. Consultations were conducted between May 2023 and October 2024.

Colleagues, the importance of true consultation cannot be understated. Consultation is not simply checking a box on a form that you were in the community for a period of time or that you met with leadership.

Comprehensive consultation consistent with the principles outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, took place for the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę with 30 Indigenous groups over 16 months.

The next step in the process of acceptance of the individual land claims and self-government agreements is ratification by the membership.

Membership, as I noted before, is outlined in Chapter 4 of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Membership of Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę are not all located in Norman Wells. They are throughout Canada, including some in my home territory of the Yukon.

Ratification is not simply providing members with a ballot.

Not voting is considered a “no” vote to the agreement, and the threshold for acceptance is very high. In order to secure the vote, members of the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę negotiating team travelled to all the communities where the membership resides in Canada, visiting, drinking tea and explaining the claim and seeking support. The self-government agreement was ratified on March 31, 2025, with an absolute majority.

What does it mean to have a self-government agreement in place? What difference will it make to a community?

Colleagues, I have struggled to truly articulate the difference that a self-government agreement makes to the people, to the territory and to society. Words like “profound” and “foundational” hardly begin to describe what a difference it makes to people.

It is not like turning a switch and suddenly the light comes on and everyone understands and appreciates one another. Self-government agreements within our 150-year young country are very much a work-in-progress that requires effort and patience and understanding on the part of everyone.

Senators will recall that I mentioned signing the Ta’an Kwach’an Council Self-Government Agreement. I reached out to the current Chief Ruth Massie to ask her 20-plus years later what self-government means to her First Nation. I took the opportunity to actually look at the agreement I had signed, and I noted that of all the First Nations witnesses, Chief Ruth Massie was the first. I asked her what it has meant to her community. Quoting with permission, she used words and phrases like “independence,” “solve our own issues within our own government,” “you answer to your own community” and “a really big difference because you can have programs when your abilities to engage in conversation confirm the direction taken by Chief and council.”

In the Yukon, it has been over 30 years since the Umbrella Final Agreement was first signed. Today, it includes government-to-government-to-government relationships. The Council of Yukon First Nations, the leadership of the First Nations, the Yukon government represented by the governing party in the legislature and the Government of Canada meet quarterly in an intergovernmental forum.

On September 2, 2026, 21 and 24 years after reaching their land claim agreements, leaders from the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council and Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the City of Whitehorse gathered at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre for a meeting of the Tri-Council Assembly.

The meeting was described as providing an opportunity for leaders of the three governments to discuss shared priorities and emerging issues, coordinate engagement with territorial and federal partners and celebrate the successes of collaboration for the people of Whitehorse.

The implementation of self-government agreements, like the negotiation of the agreements themselves, is about relationship building. It takes time. It takes effort.

The self-government agreement for the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę has taken a very long time. Proceeding to Royal Assent in a timely, expeditious manner is a respectful and honourable request.

It has taken years to negotiate these agreements and considerable discussion. Time was taken to reach a vote. Are people ready and prepared for this act to be implemented and to give life and meaning to a self-government agreement?

I took the opportunity to discuss the implementation of the self-government agreement with the President of the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę Government Inc., Sherry Hodgson. Their self-government agreement has an implementation plan that will take place over a two-year period. Ms. Hodgson intends to remain as president during this time, and those involved in the negotiation intend to stay on and work with the council.

Bill C-27, upon Royal Assent, will give effect to the final self‑government agreement for the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę, enabling profound change for Norman Wells and other communities over time as the implementation takes effect.

There are also consequential amendments to other acts in Bill C-27, including amendments to the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.

Colleagues, allow me to remind you of the beginning of my address this evening and my reference to the Canol Road.

The Canol Road was built to construct a pipeline from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, southwest to Whitehorse, Yukon. It was completed on December 31, 1943, and oil flowed in the pipeline in 1944 until April 1, 1945.

The Canol Road in the Yukon and Northwest Territories was an American initiative on Canadian soil to support their defence efforts in Alaska. It was built to support a pipeline from Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories to a refinery in Whitehorse, Yukon. The level of discussion about a right-of-way, the environment or the impact on the people that lived in the North would have been conducted with Ottawa, 4,000 or more miles away. We used miles at that time.

Today, the Canol Road at the Yukon-Northwest Territories border is a site of a world-class tungsten deposit. I had an opportunity to attend that camp this summer right on the border. It is of tremendous interest. I also noted at the facility of the camp that I was visiting the presence of a First Nation Elder and that the camp included non-specific, gender-inclusive washrooms. It is a far cry from what it was many years ago.

Imperial Oil, the source of the oil for the pipeline, began the extraction of oil in Norman Wells in 1919. It ceased production on September 1 this year.

In an article entitled “After a Century of Oil Extraction: Reclaiming the River at Norman Wells” by Annie King of the Yellowhead Institute, it is stated:

In the 1980s, against the wishes of local people, the oilfield underwent a massive expansion, which included the construction of six artificial islands in the middle of the Mackenzie River.

The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act was passed by Canada in 1998. In order to fully exercise their rights under this and other acts that affect development in their traditional territory in the Northwest Territories, the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę must be recognized as a self-governing First Nation. That will be accomplished only upon Royal Assent to this legislation.

Senators, all eyes, including our own, are turned to the North, witnessing the development of resources and the infrastructure to support their development. The recognition of self-governments and the government-to-government-to-government relationship is fundamental to our honourable behaviour as legislators.

Fundamentally, it is an expression of appreciation of the Indigenous guardians of the land and all those who have walked upon it for millennia. It upholds the Constitution, specifically section 35, recognizes the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP, and, most especially, lives up to our commitment to reconciliation.

Colleagues, this agreement was ratified by the membership of the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę, passed by the duly elected members of the Northwest Territories legislature and reviewed and passed by the House of Commons. In light of this democratic process and with the principles I have noted above, I ask the Senate for its concurrent, expeditious review of Bill C-27.

Mahsi’cho. Gùnáłchîsh. Thank you.

Certainly.

Thank you very much for the question. That truly references government-to-government relationships. The Government of the Northwest Territories, for example, would introduce an employment program. You talked about employment. They would consult with communities, and that’s where the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę, or TGG, would also work with any elected government in the community of Norman Wells and put their voice forward. That’s where it is government to government to government. That’s where the wider community, which is not represented by the TGG, would be represented by their local government, either through members of their legislative assembly or their community. That’s the importance of recognizing that it is government-to-government-to-government relationships. That’s where the wider communities are represented.

Thank you again, Senator Martin.

That is why I specifically brought that forward. It is important that the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę have recognized the implementation. It is well and good to sign the agreement, but what happens next? Are we ready? They have a two-year implementation plan in their agreement. That is a critical point, and it must be recognized.

I also have to give tribute to Ms. Hodgson, who took the time to have a lengthy conversation with me and explain that she was prepared to stay on through that implementation process. I understand there are other officials who work with the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę Government, or TGG, who also intend to stay on.

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion agreed to and bill read second time.)