PELLY CROSSING The Kwanlin Dun First Nation wants to exercise its right to educate its children and care for them when needed, says Chief Mike Smith.

Smith told delegates attending the 25th annual general assembly of the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) this week that Kwanlin Dun has put the Yukon government on official notice to begin negotiating its self-government right to take over education and child welfare.

The chief of the Whitehorse-area first nation is also seeking support from other first nations interested in exercising their self-government rights in those areas.

To go it alone, Smith said Tuesday during an afternoon break, would be very difficult.

He said the government does not want to give up the power, the control nor the jobs.

But Kwanlin Dun is tired of talking, of consulting about an education system that does not work for its youth, and of dealing with a foster care system that sends its children home as angry teenagers, Smith said.

As provided for in the Kwanlin Dun self-government agreement signed off last winter, the first nation delivered notice of its intent on June 15. The government, under the provisions of the self-government agreement, has 60 days to respond.

'We are telling Premier (Dennis) Fentie that we want to assume responsibility for education, for our children, and for our land; that we do not accept what they are doing in education and child welfare.'

Cabinet spokesman Peter Carr said today neither Fentie, the minister responsible for land claims, nor others with the government will comment at this time.

Kwanlin Dun is not a member of the CYFN. Smith and the Kwanlin Dun delegation, however, were seated at the leadership table during discussions at the assembly being hosted by the Selkirk First Nation in Pelly Crossing.

There is also a stated intent by both Kwanlin Dun and the leaders of other first nations to find some way to bringing Kwanlin Dun and the two Kaska first nations back into the fold.

Unity among first nations, it was said again and again during the assembly that began Monday and ended yesterday, is of paramount importance if the Yukon's aboriginal communities are to advance their agendas.

Steve Smith, one of the four candidates in the election for grand chief, told delegates during the all-candidates' forum that had each and every first nation stood beside the Little-Salmon Carmacks First Nation in its recent battle with the government, the outcome would have been different.

The Carmacks first nation opposed the government's decision to situate the Yukon College satellite campus inside the new public school. It said it was inappropriate and perhaps a safety concern to place adult and elementary students under the same roof.

Education Minister John Edzerza has said the government will move ahead with its original plan, regardless.

'If we stand united and come together then we are able to think about the way we want to go, and we can have our own agenda and the government will have to listen to us,' said Steve Smith, who placed second to Andy Carville in the run for grand chief.

The Kwanlin Dun chief said he expects it will take one to three years to have a Kwanlin Dun school up and running.

There need to be financing negotiated, a curriculum developed, as well a set of school standards before transfer of education authority can go ahead, Smith explained.

'There are really big hurdles for us to jump through, and we think we would need assistance to do that,' he said Kwanlin Dun's desire to partner with other first nations.

Under Kwanlin Dun's self-government agreement, there is the ability to take over a wide range of responsibilities, including education and child welfare.

Under the agreement, the government has no authority to say no. The pact, signed Feb. 19 by Smith, Fentie and federal Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott, commits the three governments to negotiate the transfer of authority when requested to do so by the first nation. Included in the negotiations is the financing, which is to come from the annual fiscal transfer of funding from the federal government to Yukon government.

Among the common themes at the general assembly was the need to impress upon the Yukon and federal governments their responsibility to live up to the terms of the land claim and self-government agreements.

'Let's make the Yukon and federal governments accountable to the agreements our first nations have entered into,' the new grand chief told the delegation during the all-candidates' forum.