A northern aboriginal group told a review panel for a proposed $7.5-billion pipeline Wednesday that it has been denied any benefits from the project and influence over its construction - simply because of a line on a map they never drew.

Chief James Ahnassay of the Dene Tha looks at the federal millions given aboriginals in the Northwest Territories and the access and benefits agreements they've signed with the natural gas project's proponents. He wonders when his people just across the Alberta boundary - and just as likely to be affected - will get their share.

"We should be getting all the benefits for us to deal with the impact in terms of socio-economic impact like they're doing up North," Ahnassay said Wednesday as hearings into the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline began in High Level, Alta.

"But it's not happening here and we don't like it at all."
The Dene Tha, who signed onto Treaty 8 in 1900, have about 2,500 members over seven reserves in northwestern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southern end of the Northwest Territories.

They argue that despite the fact the proposed pipeline would cross their traditional lands, they have been left out of both regulatory hearings and benefits negotiations.
"We should not be treated any different," said Ahnassay. "We should be fully consulted right from Day 1 just like everybody else. But that's not the avenue they've taken. "Because of our status of where we're at, they're treating us different, and that's discrimination."

The final leg of the pipeline and the facilities connecting it into existing networks are located in northern Alberta, so they are not included in the hearings, which have been criss-crossing the North since early spring.
Separate hearings are to be held by Alberta's Energy and Utilities Board, with no guarantee that recommendations made by the federal panel will be honoured or that public hearings will even be scheduled.

The Dene Tha have long argued that separating the connecting facility from the main hearings robs them of any input. While all other aboriginal groups have some kind of representation on the panel, the Dene Tha are restricted to making a presentation.
They maintain the connecting facility is integral to the pipeline and should be considered by the federal review.

Ahnassay doesn't understand why a paper boundary imposed on his people should prevent them from having a say.
"Treat us like everybody else that lives along the (pipeline)," he said. "But they say, 'Well, we kind of don't need to talk to you because Alberta is a whole different story.' "
The Dene Tha also say they have been almost completely shut out of federal money to prepare for the pipeline's impacts.

The Dene Tha point out that the Deh Cho First Nation, the only major Northwest Territories aboriginal group yet to sign onto the pipeline, received $4 million to prepare for the project. The Deh Cho also received $30 million as part of a settlement to end a court case challenging the hearings.
The federal government has also promised to spend $500 million over 10 years to help aboriginals in the N.W.T. deal with the pipeline's impacts.

The Dene Tha have received a total of $600,000 - which didn't arrive until January 2005, well after other groups had started receiving funds.
The Dene Tha have taken their case to Federal Court, arguing that the panel's hearings should be postponed until their concerns are dealt with. A judgment has yet to be delivered.