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From: Marilyn Slett [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: September-06-13 8:31 AM Subject: RE: Press Release Heiltsuk Nation vows to fight for traditional lands and waters September 6, 2013 (Bella Bella) - The Heiltsuk Nation has never surrendered our Aboriginal Title and Rights. But that hasn't stopped Canada or British Columbia from negotiating away some of our most culturally and spiritually important lands and waters to a neighboring community in the BC Treaty Process, said Chief Marilyn Slett. Slett said it was a century ago that a Heiltsuk chief told a royal commission on Indian reserves that "we are the Natives of this Country and we want all the land we can get. We feel that we own the whole of this Country, every bit of it, and ought to have something to say about it." The Head Chief of Koeye Bob Anderson's powerful testimony to the McKenna-McBride Commission gives us the strength we need as we move forward to protect what is ours, she said. "All the work that we do today is guided by Chief Anderson's words." He told the government that they had "not bought any land from us as far as we know and we are simply lending this land to the government. We own it all. We will never change our minds in that respect, and after we are dead, our children will still hold onto the same ideas. It does not matter how long the government take to determine this question, we will remain the same in our ideas about this matter." Chief Anderson's message to the commission is as relevant and important to us as it was to our ancestors 100 years ago, she said. "Today we honour the work of our ancestors in protecting our Aboriginal Title and Rights with a community dinner. Tomorrow we will continue our fight to protect what is rightfully ours." It appears that governments are more interested in showing critics the treaty process is a success than in creating certainty for all British Columbians, said Hereditary Chief Harvey Humchitt. "The proposed Wuikinuxv treaty will effectively extinguish our Aboriginal Title and Rights. We have been clearly told by our people that we cannot let that happen." The issue of overlaps or common lands has long been a contentious issue in the BC Treaty Process. "We have expressed our concerns about the potential loss of some of our territory on numerous occasions. It is clear to us that Canada and BC aren't interested in finding a resolution to the overlap issue," Chief Humchitt said. While we respect the Wuikinuxv choice to negotiate a treaty we cannot support a treaty that steals away our lands and waters, said Hereditary Chief Edwin Newman. "The government of Canada has a responsibility to protect the Title and Rights of Aboriginal People, this is a serious infringement on the Heiltsuk people," said Chief Newman. We urge the governments to work with us and the Wuikinuxv to find a positive outcome to this issue. "The divide and conquer policies of the governments must stop. Failure to do so will lead to continued uncertainty for both communities as well as all British Columbians," he said. -30- For more information: Chief Marilyn Slett 250-957-2381 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/
