The federal government has reached a new agreement with self-governing First Nations across Canada regarding the annual funding arrangements to support their governments.

The signing ceremony and celebration were held Tuesday in Vancouver.

Specific financial details of the new arrangement were unavailable from federal officials this morning.

Officials have indicated Yukon First Nations are included in the funding agreement.

In an interview this morning, Carolyn Bennett, the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister, told the Star it was indeed a celebration.

Bennett pointed out the agreement is based on a model developed and agreed to by the First Nations and Ottawa regarding how to establish funding levels for the annual fiscal transfer payments to the self-governing First Nations.

There was also an agreement that calls on Ottawa to repay the loan money First Nations were required to borrow to negotiate their modern-day treaties, the minister pointed out.

She said Chief Richard Sidney of the Teslin Tlingit Council and other Yukon First Nations were very much a part of ensuring the new fiscal arrangements provide the necessary financial resources they require.

“They felt this was a real celebration because they have been listened to about what it takes to run their governments,” Bennett told the Star. “Everybody is on board because it really was a collaborative model.”

The minister said the repayment of loans alone will provide First Nations with a substantial amount of money to re-invest in their communities.

The new fiscal transfer arrangement is the product of negotiations over the last three years, and is reflected in the 2019 federal budget, Bennett noted.

She said the new funding arrangements recognize the challenges self-governing First Nations face, and the challenges ahead with issues such as dealing with climate change.

“Reconciliation and a true nation-to-nation relationship requires Indigenous governments have the tools and resources they need to govern themselves and implement their vision for their communities,” reads a statement by Bennett included in a press release issued Tuesday.

“The Collaborative Fiscal Policy framework is an example of what we can accomplish when we work together in true partnership with Indigenous people.”

There are 26 self-governing First Nations in Canada. The 11 self-governing First Nations in the Yukon were the frontrunners in negotiating self-governing authority.

But Yukon First Nations have been at odds with Ottawa for many years, even decades, over what they’ve maintained were inadequate funding levels to support their self- government aspirations.

The Teslin Tlingit Council filed legal action against Ottawa in 2017. It argued the federal government has a legal, constitutional obligation to provide adequate funding but has failed to do so, going all the way back to 1995 when Teslin’s land claim and self-government agreements came into effect.

They argued the federal government consistently came to the table with a take-it or leave-it approach, despite obligations clearly set out in Teslin’s land claim and self- government agreements.

The Teslin Tlingit Council maintained the difference between what the council sees as adequate self-government funding and what Ottawa has provided is tens of millions – annually.

After a three-day trial in Yukon Supreme Court last December, Justice Ron Veale ruled in favour of the Teslin Tlingit Council. He ordered Ottawa to negotiate Teslin’s fiscal transfer agreement based on the terms set out in the First Nation’s agreements.

Last March, Ottawa announced it had agreed to bump up self-government funding across the board for the next year while negotiations to reach a new funding formula were ongoing.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said in an interview this morning he understands that most of the Yukon First Nations have already signed on to the new arrangement, including Teslin.

The pact represents a new era in collaboration, said Bagnell, who was at the signing ceremony in Vancouver.

He said the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation was the only one from the Yukon, as most of the chiefs were from B.C.

But the chiefs who were present said this was the first time in their many years of negotiating with Ottawa that they have seen a federal policy developed in collaboration with First Nations.

“This is a very significant agreement,” said Bagnell.

“The minister (Bennett) made the point that these self-governing First Nations are leading the way in Canada and the world for Indigenous people.”