NWT signs deal to share resource royalties with aboriginals

YELLOWKNIFE – The Northwest Territories says it has become the first jurisdiction in Canada to agree to share resource royalties with aboriginal governments.

The deal, to be signed this afternoon in Yellowknife, has been long anticipated.

The territorial budget earlier this month predicted that five aboriginal governments would share a total of $15 million this year.

Revenue-sharing was part of a deal on province-like powers for the Northwest Territories signed last year with the federal government.

It guaranteed the N.W.T.’s aboriginal governments will get up to 25 per cent of all the territory’s royalty revenue.

The signing ceremony also includes co-operation between the territorial and aboriginal governments on resource and land management.