The World - News from Sept. 7, 1988

In a ceremony attended by hundreds of Indians, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed a tentative agreement committing his government to the largest land transfer in the history of Canada. The pact, signed in the tiny community of Rae-Edzo, 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, gives about 15,000 members of the Dene and Metis Indian nations ownership of nearly 3,900 square miles bordering the Arctic Ocean. Negotiations have lasted 15 years, and “substantial negotiations” remain before a final deal is signed, according to John Merritt, executive director of the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.