Premier Dennis Fentie and the Yukon Party government are souring the relationship with the Ta'an Kwachan Council, says Ta'an Chief Ruth Massie.

In a Jan. 9 letter to the premier, Massie goes so far as to suggest Fentie's government is supporting land grabs by party supporters within the Ta'an's traditional territory.

'It has become apparent that your government and its officials are committed to push through various land applications of third-parties despite the substantive environmental and socio-economic concerns of the TKC and other individuals and organizations, including the Lake Laberge Renewable Resources Council,' Massie writes in her Jan. 9 correspondence to Fentie.

'These actions erode any good faith that may be developing between us and the Yukon government and only serve to undermine our relationship.

'As a result, we are prepared to take the steps necessary, including the commencement of court action, to ensure that the lands and resources of our traditional territory are managed and developed in a responsible manner.'

Fentie has declined comment. He has referred questions to Greg Komaromi, the assistant deputy minister of Energy, Mines and Resources.

Len Walchuk has the approval of the government to turn a 30-year-old grazing lease into a 24.5-hectare parcel of agricultural land that will eventually become private, titled farm land, for a fair market value cost. The application was approved last summer, against the wishes of the Ta'an and others.

Walchuk and his wife, Karla DesRosier, say the application and two more that are coming forward are simply to enable an expansion of their existing hay farm. The land in question has been in the DesRosier family under the Labarge Ranch and Outfitters since the 1940s, DesRosier explained in a recent interview.

There has, however, been opposition to the application from the outset, and continues to be, and not only from the Ta'an.

Other organizations fear that turning the lease land into agricultural land would eliminate the natural landscape around the Shallow Bay wetlands and threaten the bay's ecosystem with increased exposure to fertilizers.

Walchuk and DesRosiers maintain all responsible and necessary measures will be taken to protect the bay and its ecosystem.

Shallow Bay is located on the southwest side of Lake Laberge, past the end of the straight on the Mayo Road travelling north.

The Ta'an chief said in an interview last week the Ta'an people have faced for a very long time the loss of their traditional lands to third-party interests, in and around Whitehorse.

They will not, she insisted, accept the government's decision to turn a grazing lease public land at Shallow Bay into an agricultural parcel which then can be converted to private, titled land in the name of the applicant.

'We are certainly going to go to the wall on this one,' Massie said while flipping through numerous thick files on the Shallow Bay issue. 'Yeah, I want it stopped.'

The Shallow Bay area in question has been of huge traditional and cultural significance to the Ta'an people for centuries, she said.

It's where they gathered, it's where they gathered food. It's where they fish, and where the migratory birds and an abundance of other animals gather.

The chief pointed to documentation back to 1987 where there is a proposal on the table for the Ta'an Kwach'an to purchase the properties in question from Belle DesRosiers.

DesRosiers always acknowledged the lands occupied by her Lake Labarge Ranch and Outfitters were Ta'an lands, Massie said.

She said the sale, for one reason or another, did not go through, although all levels of government the Yukon and federal governments were entirely aware of the proposal and the Ta'ans' interest in the land.

Former Ta'an chief Glen Grady reminded the Yukon, federal and Kwanlin Dun land claim negotiators in 1988 that the Ta'an wanted first option on the grazing leases at Shallow Bay when they became open.

On file at the agricultural branch is an April 2004 correspondence from the land claims secretariate inside the premier's Executive Council Office.

It states the Ta'an Kwachan Council was assured in 1996 during land claim discussions that access to the grazing leases which are public lands with no restrictions would not be affected.

To that end, states the letter to the agricultural branch, the Ta'an reduced their land selections in the area and agreed to third party interests on another parcel of land.

'At the very least, given the documented concerns regarding access and discussions with the Ta'an Kwach'an Council, we would ask that access provisions set out in the Laberge (sic) Ranch and Outfitters Ltd. grazing agreement be maintained until 2019.' (The grazing leases in question will expire in 2019.)

Yet there was correspondence through the entire file stretching some 18 months from the agricultural branch seeking further clarification of a distinct commitment to the Ta'an Kwach'an regarding the grazing leases.

Last Aug. 10, the agricultural branch notes in correspondence to territorial land claims officials that while there is no doubt the Ta'an Kwach'an expressed an interest in an 'access guarantee' to the land in question, there were still question marks regarding the level of commitment.

'The fundamental question I raised was not adequately answered, i,e., did the access guarantee' given to the Ta'an include the condition that the grazing lands must be absolutely used for grazing purpose only, and that its use absolutely may not be changed to something else?' Edward Lee of the agricultural branch wrote last Aug. 10 to the Land Claims and Implementation Secretariate.

'LCIS (land claims) did provide some assistance, but we did not receive any clearly written evidence of the agreement to include such restriction. We received strong implication from LCIS that Ta'an will expect such access guarantee be honored, which is understood.'

Lee also writes that he had been instructed to move the applications forward.

Two days later, Komaromi notified the Ta'an Kwach'an that he was setting aside the recommendation by LARC (Land Application Review Committee) to deny the application.

The advisory committee had met in March, and recommended the application be denied, until the issues of proper setbacks from the bay and previous commitments to the Ta'an could be explored further between the different parties, including the Yukon and Ta'an governments.

In his Aug. 12 letter to the Ta'an, David Beckman, the director of agriculture, notes that attempts to set up a meeting with the Ta'an were unsuccessful, and therefore the LARC recommendation to deny was set aside, and the matter was withdrawn from LARC's September meeting.

'It is unfortunate that you have failed to meet with us as requested, in both May 4, 2005 and July 14, 2005 letters,' Beckman writes in his letter to the Ta'an, which is on file at the public registry. 'This was deemed to be part of the LARC process and recommendation from the March 10, 2005 LARC meeting.

'Based on the foregoing we are processing the application immediately.'

The same day, Komaromi notified the applicant of the decision to proceed with the agricultural application, and sent a copy to the Ta'an.

In it, Komaromi notes the LARC recommendation was based on the need for the Yukon and Ta'an governments to meet, and without that meeting, there was no point in continuing the LARC process.

Komaromi also notes in the same letter that other outstanding concerns, like adequate setbacks from agricultural property to the bay, have been addressed in the decision to proceed.

Public access to and through the 100-metre setback around the bay will be provided, Komaromi noted in his decision letter.

In her letter to Fentie, Massie also asks him for all relevenant paper work relating to the original LARC decision, and subsequent paperwork to the level-one and level-two steps taken to appeal the decision.

There is an appeal process that needs to be followed, as set out in the process, the chief emphasized in the interview last week. That process, she insists, was not adhered to, and she wants to know why.

Both the May and July letters sent to the Ta'an make no mention of an appeal of the LARC decision.

Komaromi said the Ta'an were aware of the appeal, and this morning there was other, ample correspondence aside from the two official letters.

Under the LARC process, the director of agriculture was charged with handling the first level of appeal, with the assistant deputy minister charged with handling any second level appeals.

Komaromi said he directed Beckman to bump the first level appeal directly to him at the second level because the Shallow Bay deal was of signficant public interest, and that it was likely to reach him in any case.

He reiterated today it appeared there was no value in sending the file back to LARC since there had been no communitication with the Ta'an.

The essence of the issue, said Komaromi, is the disposition of Crown land under the ownership of the Yukon government.

Should it be that all land dispositions by the Yukon government be halted if a party to the process decides not to participate, he asked.

He said he checked for any land claim commitment to Ta'an regarding the land in question, and there was none.

'If there had been in regard to those lands, it would have been somewhere in the final (land claim) agreement, and its not in the final agreement.'

Komaromi said, however, that the Yukon and the Ta'an governments will be meeting Monday to discuss the file, now that a more intense interest in the area appears to have developed.

What is at issue here, said the chief, is a legal obligation on the part of the Yukon government to consult meaningfully with the Ta'an on matters concerning their centuries-old tie to the that land.

The chief said the government doesn't seem to understand that obligation one that has been set out clearly by the Supreme Court of Canada.

What has occurred with the Shallow Bay grazing leases has been anything but meaningful consultation, Massie insists.

The Ta'an were planning to hold a briefing tomorrow to expand on their concerns regarding the Walchuk applications and others currently going through the process.