And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 13:29:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Shafer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
X-Sender: wy430@vtn1
Reply-To: John Shafer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
REFORM PARTY PROPOSES NEW APPROACH TO NISGA'A-LIKE TREATIES
Canadian Press, April 9, 1999
VANCOUVER (CP) --British Columbia's Reform party says Ottawa should
pay millions of dollars to individual natives as part of a sweeping
new approach to handling native land claims like the Nisga'a treaty.
The tactic is part of the universal treaty plan unveiled Friday by
Reform, which has no seats in the B.C. legislature and is not
affiliated with the federal party that is led by Preston Manning.
Under the plan, the party would equally divide current native reserve
land among each band member.
They would also pay a $250,000 bursary to each member over 15 years.
The Indian Act would also be abolished.
The federal government would cover the costs involved.
"To emancipate our native peoples, we must provide a means of
individual ownership which will foster a sense of personal worth and
value," said party president Bill Vander Zalm, also a former B.C.
premier.
The treaty plan would leave natives on an equal footing with other
British Columbians, subject to the same laws and regulations, says
Reform.
"Isn't this morally, spiritually and realistically a better vision
for our province than the flawed, racially divisive and isolationist
concept about to be enshrined forever in the Nisga'a treaty?" Vander
Zalm asks in a statement.
The Nisga'a agreement is the first modern-day treaty in B.C. Treaties
were never previously signed in the province.
Under the groundbreaking agreement, the First Nation in northwestern
B.C. would be given almost 2,000 square kilometres of land and $190
million in cash.
However, the treaty has not yet been ratified by either the federal
government or British Columbia's NDP government.
Some critics have expressed concerns about the precedent the treaty
might set. There are more than 100 Indian bands currently trying to
reach treaties with the B.C. and federal governments.
Reform has attacked the Nisga'a treaty by suggesting that it would
set up a third order of government based on race and perpetuate the
old reservation system of isolated collectives.
The party says that similar treaties would divide British Columbia
into a patchwork of homelands, consign natives to what Reform calls a
"failed tribal lifestyle", and weaken the province.
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