In 1974, the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories and the Metis Association of the NWT joined together to negotiate for a single comprehensive land claim on behalf of all Aboriginal peoples of the Mackenzie Valley, including Tlicho.
After 10 years of negotiations, in May 1988, an Agreement-in-Principle was complete. The AIP covered 450,000 sq. miles of land and dealt with harvesting rights, transfer payments and social programs, but did not include self-government powers.
In April 1990, a Final Agreement was initialled. The Agreement was approved by a special Joint Assemly but with the requirement that Aboriginal and Treaty rights be recognized in the Final Agreement. Canada refused to renegotiate on this point, and treated the Joint Assembly’s call for changes as a complete rejection of the Final Agreement. In November 1990, Canada announced that it would end the negotiations.