TLI CHO Nation
The Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Agreement was signed on August 25 2003, exactly 82 years after Treaty 11 was signed by Chief Monfwi in 1921. The Agreement was signed by representatives of the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Government of Canada.
The Tlicho Agreement is the first combined land claim and self-government agreement in the Northwest Territories and follows from the Dogrib Comprehensive Land Claim and Self-Government Agreement-in-Principle which was signed in January 2000. The Dogrib preferred to use the name Tlicho, which means Dogrib in their language, to identify themselves and for the title to the final Agreement.
The Tlicho Agreement creates the Tlicho Government and gives the Tlicho title to 39,000 square kilometres of land, including the subsurface resources. This land surrounds the four Tlicho communities of Behcho Ko (Rae-Edzo), Wha Ti (Lac la Martre), Gameti (Rae Lakes) and Wekweti (Snare Lakes). The Tlicho Government will, over the years, receive approximately (CDN) $100 million together with an annual share of resource royalties from development in the Mackenzie Valley.
The Tlicho Nation will form their own government and, through agreements with principal investors in the North and through impact benefit agreements, the Tlicho Nation will directly benefit from these agreements.
Training opportunities are a high-priority item in any negotiation, whether it is a stakeholder agreement or an Aboriginal Partnership agreement. Providing opportunites for Tlicho Nation members to work and profit from development in the North is always a priority.