The Native organizations are urging people not to vote in the referendum and to send their ballots to one of several collection points throughout the province.

The referendum is part of the campaign led by the B.C. Liberal Party, headed by Gordon Campbell, against a 1998 treaty negotiated by the governments of Canada, British Columbia, and the Nisga'a Tribal Council. Campbell claims the treaty would grant special privileges to Native Indians. The wording of the referendum couches eight "yes" or "no" questions in the framework of the interests of "all British Columbians."

"Today was the first of many events where people from across the province will actively boycott the referendum," said Chief Stewart Philip, president of the B.C. Union of Indian Chiefs, at the press conference. "We are working with a growing coalition of political, labor, church, and concerned citizens who all agree that the referendum is immoral and unconscionable."

The accuracy of Philip's statement was confirmed April 8 when the B.C. Federation of Labor organized a press conference attended by representatives of many different unions and other organizations to announce that they were "joining forces with the B.C. First Nations" to urge people to abstain from voting in the referendum. "Only fair and honorable treaties with B.C.'s First Nations can provide the reconciliation, the social justice, and the economic opportunity our province so desperately seeks," read the declaration, whose signers included a range of labor unions and other organizations.  
 
Teachers union backs fight
On April 12 the British Columbia Teachers federation, whose 45,000 members carried out a one-day illegal strike in January against an imposed contract settlement by the Campbell government, joined the boycott campaign. And Jennifer Kwan, one of two New Democratic Party (NDP) members of the legislature, has also announced her plans to participate in the boycott. The NDP is a social democratic labor party and was the majority party prior to the Liberals' election victory last year.

Natives and their organizations have been participating in the working-class fightback against the B.C. government's sweeping attacks on health care, education, and workers' rights. Many joined the February 23 union demonstration of 30,000 in Victoria and the March 23 march of 10,000 in Vancouver and distributed material explaining their opposition to the referendum and why non-Natives should also oppose it.

The Songhee First Nation on Vancouver Island prepared a brief for the Victoria Labor Council and a local of the Hospital Employees Union (HEU). The fact that many workers have been won to opposing the referendum is shown by the fact that when some 40 HEU workers in the laundry at the Vancouver General Hospital staged a wildcat strike against the contracting out of their jobs, several wore "referenDUMB" buttons.

The United Church of Canada, which has more than 300,000 nominal adherents in B.C., issued a letter April 10 urging its members to void their ballots and either drop them off or send them to the church's head office, which will then turn them over to the First Nations Summit. In addition, four bishops of the Anglican Church and Lazar Puhlo, an archbishop in the Canadian Orthodox Church, issued statements calling on their congregations to either vote "no" or to abstain on all eight questions in the referendum.  
 
Decades of struggle
The support for the boycott shows the impact of the decades-long fight by Natives for land claims, full realization of treaty rights, and sovereignty over their own affairs. Unlike in the rest of Canada, most of B.C.'s 140,000 Native inhabitants have never signed treaties with the government.

Far from enjoying the privileges alleged by Campbell, Native peoples in Canada have suffered from a system of racist oppression that has left them with deplorable living conditions. The unemployment rate among Native people approaches 70 percent, and their family income is barely half the Canadian average. Native life expectancy is eight years less and infant mortality is twice the Canadian averages. About 45 percent of Native people are functionally illiterate with less than ninth grade schooling, compared with 17 percent among the population at large.

In 1993 the NDP government established the B.C. Treaty Commission. This action came in face of an increasing number of petitions, rallies, and road blockades by Native tribes fighting for their land. The commission's charge was to resolve the outstanding land claims. About two-thirds of Native organizations are currently involved in negotiations through the B.C. Treaty Commission, but no treaties have been signed. The Nisga'a negotiations were organized outside the process.  
 
Nisga'a treaty
The Nisga'a voted by a 72 per cent majority in favor of the 1998 treaty. It agreed the Nisga'a could set up their own local government on 10 percent of the traditional lands ceded to them and provided for $190 million in payments over a 10-year period in exchange for recognizing this as the final settlement of Nisga'a's claims.

During the debate on the treaty in Canada's parliament in December 1999, the right-wing Reform Party waged a highly publicized but unsuccessful campaign against ratification. Party members conducted a 43-hour filibuster and introduced 471 amendments in their attempt to scuttle the bill.

In a denial of the Nisga'a right to self-determination, both Campbell and Reform Party leader Preston Manning called for a referendum in which all citizens of British Columbia would be able to vote on the treaty.

In addition to the referendum, the Campbell government has cut $6.6 million in funding to the treaty negotiations office, axed all funding to 17 treaty advisory committees around B.C., and appointed former Reform Party leader Jack Weisgerber, a vocal opponent of the Nisga'a treaty, as its representative to the Treaty Commission.

The ballot asks eight questions to be answered "yes" or "no." Questions include: private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements; the terms and conditions of leases and licenses should be respected, and fair compensation for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests should be ensured; hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on Crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians; parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians; aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia; and the existing tax exemptions for aboriginal people should be phased out.

Ballots are due by May 15 and the results should be known by July 3.  
 
 
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