And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes: GITANYOW TO USE RULING AGAINST NISGA'A The Vancouver Sun, March 24, 1999 by Dianne Rinehart [S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.] The Gitanyow won a court victory this week they hope could be the first step toward nullifying portions of the Nisga'a treaty they claim gave away 84 per cent of their lands. Justice Paul Williamson of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the Crown is legally required to negotiate in good faith with aboriginal peoples. The 2,000-strong Gitanyow hope to use that ruling to pressure the government to force the Nisga'a to negotiate the disputed lands with them, Gitanyow chief negotiator Glen Williams said Wednesday. If the land dispute is not resolved, the Gitanyow will ask the courts to rule that the federal and provincial governments acted in bad faith when they excluded the Gitanyow from negotiations with the Nisga'a over the disputed lands, he said. A court ruling of that nature could derail the entire treaty, B.C. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gordon Wilson acknowledged Wednesday. Williams said that until now, "there's been nothing to compel the Nisga'a to change anything in the final agreement. Hopefully this court ruling puts a darker cloud over the agreement and it will hopefully push them to accommodate our interests." That is exactly what the province will be pushing for, Wilson said. While the government has committed to not changing the Nisga'a agreement, the Nisga'a themselves can negotiate and cede some of their promised lands to that band, he said. The Nisga'a don't have to follow the government's recommendation, Wilson noted. "But they would realize it's in their interests," he said. "We have to get out of the court and back to the table and get some sensible resolutions put forth that we can agree on." To that end, both Ottawa and B.C. have offered to put senior negotiators on the file to help, he said. Justice Williamson also ruled the provincial government has the same fiduciary responsibility to First Nations as Ottawa does, a decision the province may appeal, Wilson said Wednesday. Nisga'a Chief Joe Gosnell said there is nothing in the Nisga'a treaty that precludes the Gitanyow from negotiating their land claims with the governments. The treaty allows for the possibility that there may be overlapping claims and sets up a process to deal with it, he said. "We indicated very clearly that we would respect and acknowledge any rights that our neighbours would negotiate in their treaties." Gosnell said very little of the Gitanyow claims falls into the 2,000 square kilometres ceded to the Nisga'a in the agreement. Most of it falls into the 16,000 square kilometres of wildlife area the Nisga'a have co-management rights with the province over, under the agreement. "The rights our nation will exercise in that area is not exclusive. If the Gitanyow can negotiate rights in that same area we see no problem with that." But Gosnell said he will not negotiate while there is a court case under way nor will he negotiate before the government makes a land offer to the Gitanyow. And he said the Nisga'a have not offered up any of the disputed lands to the Gitanyow. Williams said the Gitanyow would expect that some of the Nass Wildlife areas would become solely Gitanyow lands, while others could be co-managed. But he said the Nisga'a never should have been given co-management rights over the wildlife area in the first place. "There's no evidence in all the [historical] documents we've looked at [that these were ever their lands.]" The victory comes just days before the reconvening of the legislature by a government so intent on speeding passage of the Nisga'a treaty that it announced it will dispense with the speech from the throne to ensure there is enough time to pass the Nisga'a agreement before the legislative session ends. A spokeswoman for federal Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart said the minister could not comment until she has time to consider the ruling. "But we've always said we prefer negotiations over litigation," said Kelly Acton. Meanwhile, in judgments released Wednesday, Justice Williamson allowed the Nisga'a Tribal Council to be added as a defendant in two lawsuits. One was filed by the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition and Reform MP John Cummins; the other by the B.C. Citizens First Society and retired logger Lloyd Brinson, who owns property in the Nass valley that will be surrounded by Indian land as part of the negotiated Nisga'a land claims settlement. Previously, only the provincial and federal governments were named as defendants in the two legal actions, which seek to have the Nisga'a treaty declared unconstitutional. The Nisga'a council and Gosnell argued they should be added because they have a direct interest in the outcome of the case, which they say would be "catastrophic" if the plaintiffs are successful. The Nisga'a argued such a declaration would effectively wipe out 109 years of negotiations with the government. The judge agreed to add the tribal council, finding it has a direct interest in the case, but Gosnell's application was dismissed. "Once the Nisga'a Tribal Council is added, the interests of Chief Gosnell, as with those of other Nisga'a, will be represented," the judge concluded. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: More information on the Nisga'a deal: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/BCgovt.html#nisgaa Letters to the Vancouver Sun - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
