BY PAUL KOURI
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A new treaty negotiated by
the governments of Canada, British Columbia, and the Nisgáa
Tribal Council has become a flash point for opposition to
Native rights, with a range of politicians claiming it will
grant "special privileges" to Native Indians.
B.C. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell said he opposes the deal because it is "entrenches inequality.... I think when you set up a racially based government, that is a recipe for significant long-term problems." Campbell is also calling for a referendum in which everyone in the province would vote on the treaty. Signed on August 4 at an official ceremony in Nisgáa territory, the treaty will be voted on by the Nisgáa population as well as by the parliaments of Canada and British Columbia over the coming months.
Reflection of decades-long struggle
While the treaty falls far short of the historical demands
of the Nisgáa, the fact that Canadian authorities felt
compelled to sign it reflects the decades-long struggle of
the Nisgáa and battles by Native people throughout Canada
for their rights. The Nisgáa were confined to a reserve of
76 square kilometers and deprived of their most basic rights
under the racist Indian Act of Canada and by the Province of
British Columbia at its founding in 1870. The treaty grants
them title to 2,000 square kilometers, about 10 percent of
their traditional lands in Northwestern British Columbia,
where an estimated 8,000 Nisgáa lived off salmon from the
Nass River before contact with the Europeans.
Today, some 2,000 Nisgáa continue to live in the area. Despite rich resources in minerals, forestry, salmon, and a growing tourist industry, the large majority of Nisgáa are unemployed, and many live in substandard, overcrowded housing. About 3,500 Nisgáa are now living elsewhere in the province, as well as in Alaska and other parts of Canada.
A minority of Nisgáa oppose the deal because it gives up claim on land they and their ancestors have always lived on. Seven of them were refused an injunction July 31 to stop the deal from going ahead.
The Gitanyow, a neighboring band, also oppose the treaty because it grants the Nisgáa title to land that is presently being claimed by the Gitanyow in a court case.
The treaty provides the Nisgáa with a Native-run local government, where elected Nisgáa will take over ownership and management of the land and resources as well as social services, education, policing, and the courts - within the confines of Canadian and British Columbia laws. Some $190 million in cash will be provided over 10 years. In exchange, the Nisgáa will pay taxes and recognize the terms of the treaty as the final settlement of Nisgáa aboriginal rights.
The demand that Native people give up all future claims for land and resources when they sign treaties has been central to the strategy pursued by Canada's ruling rich in negotiating land claims with Native people. Native Canadians have mobilized themselves and others through petitions, rallies, road blockades, and other actions to defend their constitutionally recognized aboriginal rights. These fighters have sometimes succeeded in preventing forestry, mining, and other capitalists from encroaching on their land without their consent. In several cases they have succeeded in obtaining court injunctions to back up these demands.
Rulers try to limit land claims
This is of major concern to the bosses in the forest and
mining industries here in this province. Most of the 140,000
Native inhabitants here have never signed treaties, unlike in
the rest of Canada. In 1993, the British Columbia government,
in an effort to resolve these outstanding claims, established
the B.C. Treaty Commission. Although the Nisgáa have been
negotiating outside that process, provincial premier Glen
Clark characterized the Nisgáa treaty as "a template" for
the other 51 Native Indian organizations negotiating treaties
in British Columbia. About one-third of Native organizations
in the province refuse to participate in the Treaty
Commission Process.
"The overriding concern has been whether the treaty would extinguish any possibility of the Nisgáa coming back for more," said a July 17 editorial in the big-business daily Vancouver Sun. "Based on what Mr. Clark says, it appears to provide the necessary certainty."
Along with welcoming this aspect of the treaty, the media has helped fuel the racist campaign against the treaty led by the B.C. Liberal Party and the Reform Party of Canada. A July 24 editorial in Canada's major capitalist daily, the Globe and Mail, complains, "There will be things in the agreement that offend many, such as the legally sanctioned inequality of non-aboriginals on Nisgáa territory, or the huge implied costs to settle all outstanding land claims [across Canada]." The editorial also raises concern over the fact that the treaty establishes "an aboriginal justice system and racially based self-government."
Michael Scott, Member of Parliament of the right-wing Reform Party of Canada for the Skeena riding, which overlaps Nisgáa territory, said his party "unequivocally opposes" the treaty, adding that it is undemocratic and divisive. Pointing to the fact that the treaty grants the Nisgáa control over the fishery on their territory, he argued that if that deal is repeated in all the land claims it will freeze out non- Native commercial and sports fishermen.
The Reform Party has been at the forefront of the reactionary campaign by the Fishermen's Survival Coalition in opposing the fishing rights won by Native people in British Columbia. For many Natives salmon still plays a central role in their diet and culture, as well as a means of earning a living. Over the past month, fishermen from the Musqueam and Sto:lo Nations along the Fraser River successfully challenged attempts by the Canadian Department of Fisheries to stop them from fishing while allowing sports fishing to continue.
Paul Kouri is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 2952.