The quantum of land that was offered was, per capita, lower than what had been settled in other areas, for one thing.
The proposed lands that were suggested by the Dehcho likely were not the most productive lands. The federal government knows from history...there's an oil exploration history there, and a mineral energy resource assessment had been done throughout a large part of the region at about the same time. Short of being known, these likely resources were more or less avoided and taken out of the....
I would say it was not exactly in good faith. The offer that was made certainly wasn't generous on the part of the federal government negotiators.
I'm not inside the minds of the people and what they knew about the thoughts and the capacities of the Dehcho leadership with respect to their knowledge of resources under the land.
It went one step further. The Dehcho leadership took their marching orders from the elders, and the elders had one agenda: to protect the land. That was why they proposed a co-management model where they would preside over 100% of the land in the area—