N.W.T. First Nation will not stop building on Church land, says chief

The chief of Fort Resolution says he's not going to stop developing two parcels of land owned by the Roman Catholic diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories — despite orders from the diocese.

Over the past three years the Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN) has built seven cabins, one gazebo and a smokehouse on Mission Island — an area of land just outside of Fort Resolution — for cultural revitalization and healing work.

The DKFN also worked with the local hamlet to put up a trailer for the local seniors' society on land adjacent to St. Joseph's Church — land also owned by the diocese. 

Last week the diocese sent a letter to the territorial government, the band and the hamlet, requiring immediate termination of all further development.

'We weren't notified'

According to property records held by the diocese, the church holds fee simple title to both parcels of land, giving it complete ownership of the properties.

While the church has held these titles for decades, it only recently became aware of the new buildings.

"We were there for Easter and we discovered [the trailer]," said Bishop Mark Hagemoen.

"That raised some questions, and as we took a look at that, we discovered in our map and records [the Mission Island] situation where we have development that we weren't notified about."

Hagemoen says the church could not turn a blind eye to what was going on, which is why it issued the letter just a few days later.

"If anything happens on your property, you need to be aware of it, and you need to cover off the appropriate responsibilities," said Hagemoen.

'I didn't think anybody owned it but the First Nation'

"Our people have been going out to [Mission Island] for the past 15 years to do cultural activities," said Fort Resolution Chief Louis Balsillie.

According to Balsillie, the band had no idea the diocese owned the land; he says Mission Island has been sitting untouched for years.

"I didn't think anybody owned it but the First Nation," he said. 

"I've had priests and nuns out here. Nobody has ever come forward and said, 'this is our land and we don't want you to do this culture out here anymore.'"

The band started cleaning up the island in 2008, which is when Balsillie says his vision for the area really started to grow.

"We accessed money through [the department of Industry Tourism and Investment], CanNor [Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency], and the mines and we started to look at building cabins for community use."

The band finished that project last winter, and has been holding addiction healing workshops and cultural events at the site ever since.

"We've got some money from the territorial government we can use for on-the-land healing," said Balsillie.

"Just [last week] we had an addiction healing workshop with 12 or 14 people out there with social workers from B.C." 

Community members can also use the cabins to hold celebrations or family picnics, and the band lets people stay in them if they have no place to go.

'We need to heal'

According to Balsillie, the cabins on Mission Island are essential to the community and are helping people heal from the impact of intergenerational family trauma — much of it a product of residential schools run by the Catholic Church.

"You're always hearing the talks about residential school, what it has done to our people. It took away our culture and put hurt on our people so they turned to addictions.

"Now we're trying to help people get sober and doing our culture at the island, and now the bishop is telling us 'you have no right being there.'"

That's why Balsillie says the band will keep building.

"We're starting a walkway from our community to Mission Island, and we're planning to build a bigger gazebo."  

For Balsillie, removing the cabins — should it come to that — is also out of the question.

"If we have to go to court, we'll go to court."

Bishop Hagemoen says it's too early to say what will happen with the land and buildings in question.

"First we need to know what is going on," he said. "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment about what we might do or might not do."

Balsillie also says removing the trailer on the land beside St. Joseph's Church is not something he's willing to consider.

The mayor of Fort Resolution, Garry Bailey, was not able to be reached for comment.