Flanked by a battery of support, Chief Ruth Massie reiterated her challenge to the Yukon government Thursday: halt the process for a Shallow Bay agriculture property or face legal action.

The leader of the Ta'an Kwach'an Council of Lake Laberge said she will meet Monday with Premier Dennis Fentie and Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang to make her case.

How long the first nation will wait to launch court proceedings if the first nation comes away dissatisfied Monday is a question to be decided between the leadership and the first nation's lawyers, she said.

It will, Massie emphasized, be sooner rather than later.

'I would like this process halted,' the chief insisted. 'I would like this whole application to be removed and for the government to start considering a SMA (special management area) which was communicated to the territory's Land Application Review Committee (LARC) process last March.'

Massie was joined for a briefing yesterday by Grand Chief Andy Carvill of the Council of Yukon First Nations and representatives of several other organizations that want the agricultural land application halted.

The Ta'an chief and others have described the Shallow Bay area as one of great historic and cultural significance for the Ta'an Kwach'an people.

The grazing lease in question is an area that is inseparable from the actual wetlands of the bay, which is of global significance because of its importance to huge numbers of migratory birds.

The first nation's interest to secure control over the grazing leases once they expired was well-documented during land claim discussions, as far back as the mid-1980s, it has been pointed out.

It was also emphasized there is great interest to protect the wetland and the uplands where the grazing lease is situated under a special management area designation, which would be co-managed by the Ta'an and Yukon governments.

In her letter, Massie notes the Ta'an are opposed to any further land applications in their traditional territory until a land use plan is developed.

The government, however, has advanced the application and has given permission for the applicant, Len Walchuk, to go ahead with a legal survey of the property.

Walchuk is applying to convert a 24.5-hectare parcel of grazing lease to agricultural land that will eventually convert to private title if certain requirements are met.

His wife, Karla DesRosier, has two similar applications for two adjacent grazing leases totalling 109.5 hectares, though those applications are in their infancy.

Walchuk and DesRosier dismiss any notion of a land grab. They insist they're only interested in expanding their existing hay farm onto land that has been in her family for decades.

They have already made a substantial investment in developing their private farm land next to the grazing leases, and would simply like to expand what is a profitable business, they noted in a recent interview.

All present for Thursday's Ta'an briefing emphasized their staunch opposition was not directed at the applicants, but at the Yukon government and what they suggest were suspicious tactics to advance the application.

Carvill sat next to Massie. He voiced the concern of first nation leaders across the Yukon who are troubled by the disposition of public land without the required consultation with first nations.

Having reviewed the Shallow Bay file, Carvill said it's obvious the government failed in its duty to have meaningful consultation with the first nation before moving to convert the grazing lease public land into private farm land.

There is a significant problem in the Yukon with the current land disposition process, though the first nations have indicated their willingness to sort out the issues, to the benefit of all Yukoners, Carvill said.

The council's leadership, he pointed out, passed a resolution last month to tackle concerns related to disposition and lack of consultation.

For far too long, streams of public land have been transferred into private interests by the government while first nations have been told to remain patient; that their interests will be addressed in regional land use plans that never seem to materialize, Carvill suggested.

The grand chief said community-based processes need to happen, so that everybody everybody is clear about what is deemed appropriate land use, about what is permitted to happen, and where.

It was pointed out Thursday the Ta'an Kwach'an Council and the Kwanlin Dun First Nation of Whitehorse face the greatest pressure for land from private third-party interests.

Yet the government isn't scheduled to even begin a land use exercise with the Ta'an until next year, though the third-party applications for land continue to arrive.

'Despite the proclamations of your government's commitment to work with Yukon First Nations, we question its willingness to work meaningfully with the Ta'an Kwach'an Council and respect its interests and address its concerns,' the Ta'an chief writes in a Jan. 9 letter to the premier.

The letter says if the government does not halt the process to convert the grazing lease to agricultural land, it will take the matter to court. The Supreme Court of Canada, Massie emphasizes in her letter, has been very clear about what is meant by 'meaningful consultation.'

'It appears that the priority for your government is to expedite the land-grabs' initiated by its friends and supporters rather than working with us,' reads the letter.

Massie, senior Ta'an staff and others restated yesterday their contention that the Shallow Bay application was pushed through with very little standard process or protocol.

LARC recommended last March that the application be denied until several issues could be explored further.

In what has been described as smoke and mirrors by the government, the Ta'an found themselves in receipt of an Aug. 12 letter from Greg Komaromi, assistant deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Resources.

In his letter, Komaromi said that since the Ta'an had not responded to a May 5 letter and a subsequent July 14 letter requesting a meeting, Komaromi made the decision to remove the application from any further LARC reviews, and instead move the application forward.

Sitting alongside Massie in support of the Ta'an and protection of the Shallow Bay area were representatives from the Lake Laberge Renewable Resource Council, the Yukon Conservation Society, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Yukon Bird Club.

Helmut Grunberg, president of the bird club and a doctor of plant biodiversity, restated his belief that additional farming next to the bay could have devastating impacts over time.

More and more fertilizer would reach the bay, plant growth would increase dramatically and oxygen supplies for fish and other aquatic life will shrink, resulting in a direct hit to the food chain, from the smallest of aquatic animals to the waterfowl that rely on fish, Grunberg said.

Setbacks large enough to minimize impacts from fertilizer would essentially cut the 24.5-hectare application in half, though some fertilizer would always reach the bay, he said.

He said there is also hard evidence to suggest the natural high-water mark identified for Shallow Bay is indeed not the true high-water mark.

Setbacks for fence lines and such are measured from high-water marks. But Grunberg told those at the briefing that he has seen a picture of a hunter walking the fence line along the grazing lease in hip waders.

Manfred Hoefs, co-chair of the Lake Laberge Renewable Resources Council, said the council supports the establishment of a special protected area.

When Hoefs arrived in the Yukon in the early 1970s, Shallow Bay was one of the two best areas in Whitehorse to hunt waterfowl. That has disappeared because of the tremendous amount of land that has been privatized in the area, he said.

It's of the utmost importance to protect the only public land left around the bay, he said.