Chief Mark Wedge of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation expects it will take some time to unravel the reasoning behind the first nation's rejection of its land claim package.

But the first nation's executive council met Monday afternoon and confirmed its desire to remain in a process that will eventually lead to land claim and self-government agreements, Wedge said today.

He explained what lies ahead could be as simple as holding another vote and ensuring the required number of voters get to the polls. Or it could be as complicated as asking the federal and Yukon governments to revisit issues in the agreements, he said.

'What we need to do is go back to the clans and the people to look at the issues,' Wedge said. 'These are questions we will be working on. Obviously we have to sit down with the government of Canada and the Yukon government.'

He said the effort to examine the results of three days of voting which ended last Thursday will begin with a look at the three-month process used to educate the membership about the agreements and to attract them to the polls.

There are those members who have issues with the substance of the agreements but there are also those who wanted to go ahead with the packages, the chief said.

Wedge said rejection of the agreements will not kill the plans for the first nation's Four Mountains Resort for the community, though managing the project would have been easier with approval of the settlement.

While there are some first nations who set the requirement for acceptance of their agreement at 50 per cent of the membership, plus one, the Carcross-Tagish membership had set the set the mark at 60 per cent plus one.

Voter turn out, however, was 58.2 per cent of the membership, meaning that even if all those who turned out to vote had voted yes, the proposed agreements would still have failed to garner the required support.

Of the 323 votes needed to approve the land claim package, 202 voted yes while 119 voted no. Of the 329 votes needed to approve the self-government package, 210 voted yes and 124 voted no.

Under the proposed land claim agreement, the first nation would receive $23.74 million over 15 years, less a repayment over the same period of $14 million advanced to the first nation to finance negotiations. The loan amount also included $1.7 million to finance the monthly benefit payments for elders.

The agreements also called for a $5.3 million payment to cover interest on the compensation amount from 1997, a $5.6 million economic development fund and several million in annual and one-time payments to cover other programs and services.

Under the package, the Carcross-Tagish First Nation would have had surface and sub-surface title to 1,036 square kilometres (400 square miles) and surface-title only to 525.5 sq. km (203 square miles). In addition, the agreement also provided for title to smaller sites in recognition of traditional hunting and fishing camps. There were also provisions to establish four special management areas.

Premier Dennis Fentie said the Yukon government is still in favour of reaching a land claim agreement with the first nation.

Benefits that flow to a first nation which has land claim and self-government agreements far outweigh those benefits that can be achieved by a first nation that remains under the administration of the Indian Act, the premier said.

'And that is how we will approach this,' Fentie said.

The premier said it is imperative for Canada to be involved in discussions, because as it is stands, the federal government no longer has a mandate to negotiate land claims in the territory.

While the first nation did not get 60 per cent of its membership to the polls, the majority of those who did vote were in favour, he pointed out.

Fentie said in the absence of agreements, the Yukon government is still committed to working in full partnership with first nations to explore economic development and other initiatives.

Tim Keopke, a chief federal negotiator, said this morning the Carcross-Tagish membership has spoken. In the absence of a huge voting irregularity, of which there is no indication, the vote will stand as a no-vote, he said.

Keopke said there are no contingency plans, no politicial mandate or financial authority from Ottawa to hold another vote at some point.

As it stands today, the Carcross-Tagish First Nation has voted no to a land claim and self-government agreement, the land claim process is over for the first nation and it will remain under the Indian Act, he said.

Keopke said any other view or direction taken by the federal government is one that would have to come from the political bosses in Ottawa.

As it was explained to Carcross-Tagish members, he explained, the loan money will likely be written off by the federal government, but held as an outstanding issue should there ever be a similar process again.

The proposed settlement land will be protected from third party interests for another five years, he said. He noted that two of the four special management areas that were to be created under the claims package are also included in the land claim package for the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, which is preparing for its vote.

Two of the special management areas specific to the Carcross-Tagish agreement have been drawn out on the maps but it will be up to the Yukon government now about how to handle those parcels, he explained.

Koepke said while the federal government will wait for the full report from the ratification committee, due in two weeks, he does wonder if the decision by the first nation leadership not to take a position on the proposal was a factor.

In all fairness, Koepke said, the leadership did make it clear from the start it would not be taking a position, but would leave it up to the membership.

Koepke acknowledged with no agreement, there remains the outstanding issue of unextinguished rights and title to the traditional territory of the first nation.

Liberal Leader Pat Duncan suggested on Monday that recent agreements between the Kaska and the Yukon government outside the land claim process is a disincentive to first nations without final settlements.

'My concern is that obviously when the premier is announcing side deals with first nations outside the land claim process weeks before the decision to ratification of the claim, it can't help the land claim process, including the ratification vote,' Duncan said.

The Yukon government and Kaska, for instance, announced a deal last year to work together on issues of mutual concern. There was an announcement earlier this year, for instance, that is said to pave the way for mutual management of the forest resources in the southeast and mutual benefit from any economic benefit that arises from the forest sector.

Fentie responded today by saying Duncan was again wrong, and that the forest management agreements his government has reached with the Kaska were actually requirements of an agreement the previous Liberal government signed off with the Kaska.

And the Yukon government, he said, remains committed to its promise to work in partnership with all first nations.

Of the 14 Yukon first nations, nine have approved final land claim and self-government agreements.

The White River and Kwanlin Dun first nations are preparing for a vote and the two Kaska first nations stopped negotiating two years ago.

The first four first nations signed their agreements in 1995, with the next five coming at different times in the last nine years.