Dehgah Alliance Society (DAS) represents the Dehcho communities along the
corridor of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP). The DAS is issuing this news release to 1) respond to recent statements and activities of Imperial Oil, INAC Minister Andy Scott and GNWT Premier Joe Handley and 2) correct some misinformation regarding the DAS position on the MGP.

Fiscal Assurances Agreement

The DAS has yet to be consulted on or involved in any of the secretive Fiscal Assurances Agreement (FAA) negotiations between the MGP, Canada and the GNWT; negotiations that apparently include the discussion of $2 billion in taxation and resource royalty concessions to the MGP.

Please see the attached joint letter from the DAS and the Dehcho First Nations (DFN) to Imperial Oil, Canada and the GNWT on this issue.

Property Tax

In the Wednesday, September 28, 2005 edition of the National Post newspaper, Chief Keyna Norwegian, President of the Dehgah Alliance Society (DAS) was inaccurately quoted in a story titled Mackenzie Pipeline Gets Push – A Single Holdout.

The DAS wants to clarify that our position on the application of a property tax to the MGP has not changed. The DAS and the Kasho Got’ine have been, and remain, strong allies and we will continue to work together on this and other common MGP issues.

Please see the attached letter from the DAS to Imperial Oil, Canada and the GNWT on this issue.

Public Hearings

Imperial Oil intends to make its decision in November as to whether or not the MGP will proceed to public hearings before the Joint Review Panel (JRP) and the National Energy Board (NEB).

The DAS would like to reiterate our position that it would be a significant mistake if Imperial Oil were to push the DAS into public hearings prior to the signing of project agreements between the Dehcho communities and the MGP.

If this were to occur, our focus would necessarily turn from direct project negotiations to aggressively defending the rights and interests of our member communities in the hearing processes.

Chief Keyna Norwegian