The decades-long era of land claim negotiations in the Yukon officially ended Thursday.

Elizabeth Hanson, Ottawa's lead hand in the Yukon, said this morning the federal mandate to negotiate claims in the territory expired yesterday.

There is, however, still a heavy work load implementing the 10 land claim and self-government agreements that have been concluded over the last 10 years, she explained in an interview.

She said the federal team is still working with the Carcross-Tagish First Nation to prepare for the first nation's second vote on the proposed agreements, scheduled for the end of May.

But communications with the White River First Nation will now be focused on how best to advance the interest of White River under the provisions of the Indian Act, she said.

Communications, she noted, will no longer involve the possibility of concluding land claim and self-government agreements.

The land claim era for the Yukon began in 1973. That year, a group of Yukon aboriginal leaders went to Ottawa to deliver the document Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow to then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

Through the years and decades, there was jubilation at times and dismay at others.

The Umbrella Final Agreement, the defining blueprint for land claim agreements in the Yukon, was signed in 1993. Land claim and self-government agreements for the first four of the 14 Yukon first nations were proclaimed in 1995.

Over the last decade, another six have signed on. Carcross-Tagish is in the midst of a second vote, having rejected the package in the first vote a year ago.

As time marched on after '95, there came a point when Ottawa insisted that all first nations who wanted to proceed must conclude substantial negotiations by March 31, 2002.

All did, with the exception of the two Kaska first nations.

White River, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, Carcross-Tagish and the Kluane First Nation entered into memorandums of understanding indicating negotiations were substantially concluded. They agreed the parties would move into a process of having the negotiators tweak the agreements, in preparation for each first nation to hold a vote.

While Kwanlin Dun, Carcross-Tagish and Kluane were able to conclude an acceptable tweaking process, negotiators for White River and the territorial and federal governments were unable to agree on a final package.

The federal team was in Beaver Creek as recently as February, Hanson pointed out.

She said if White River wants to get back to the table now, it's first of all going to have to convince Ottawa and its Treasury Board to renew the mandate and provide the financial and human resources to conclude the agreements.

If White River does come forward, she said, there would be some type of assessment of the request, given that the federal team has twice thought it had concluded an acceptable agreement only to have the first nation refuse to put the packages to a vote.

To renew a negotiating mandate and provide the necessary resources, there would have to be an indication from the community that there is a good prospect for success, she said.

Negotiations between the territorial and federal governments and the Kaska first nations, the Ross River Dena Council and the Liard First Nation, never resumed after the March 31, 2002 deadline. The Kaska have launched a suit against Ottawa. They claim they were intentionally stabbed in the back by both the federal and territorial governments during negotiations in the late 1980s and early '90s.

Karyn Armour, the Yukon's assistant deputy minister of land claims, said this morning the end of the federal mandate will mean nothing for staffing levels here.

Those who were working on concluding the White River claims are joining other staff in the efforts to build relations with the 10 self-governing first nations, and negotiations that occur while implementing the claim packages.

Armour said the Yukon government is certainly open to getting back to the table with White River at any time.

However, it takes three parties to conclude a land claim agreement. Like Hanson, Armour believes White River would have to demonstrate a good chance for success before Ottawa agreed to finance a restart in its claims process.

Through the decades, it was said it was better to negotiate than litigate the aboriginal claims to unsurrendered land and rights.

It was also said that successfully concluding agreements would remove first nations from under the thumb of Ottawa's Indian Act and establish them as a soverign government.

In the case of the traditional territory of White River, it will be business as usual with the provision that any development proposal must include meaningful consultation with the first nation, Hanson explained.

She emphasized the Supreme Court of Canada has said meaningful consultation does not mean a veto for the first nation.