Treaty process has 'hit a wall in many substantive areas'
BY LEXI BAINAS, CITIZENOCTOBER 4, 2013 http://www.canada.com/Treaty+process+wall+many+substantive+areas/8996045/story.html First Nations representatives Jack Smith and Aaron Hamilton gave Lake Cowichan town councillors an update Sept. 24 on the progress of treaty negotiations involving the Lake Cowichan First Nation. Mayor Ross Forrest welcomed them by saying he and his council join in the spirit of reconciliation shown at the massive walk in Vancouver Sept. 22, held to remember those First Nations people who suffered at residential schools. Hamilton said the Lake Cowichan band leadership was hoping that they could meet with council once a year to talk about local issues and how the negotiations with B.C. and Canada were going. "We'd like to sit down and have coffee and talk. We want to keep that communication open," he said. Smith gave a wide-ranging backgrounder to the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group's ongoing negotiations, explaining that the land covered by the group was "very extensive". Even in Lake Cowichan, the traditional territory is considered to be the entire watershed that flows into Cowichan Lake plus land down the Cowichan River as far as Skutz Falls. Negotiations grind along slowly but there have been efforts to try to speed things up. "The treaty process overall has been out there for 20 years," he said, explaining that there are 60 First Nations in B.C. in talks right now with the province, out of a hundred that would be eligible. There are six stages in the negotiation process and Lake Cowichan, part of the Hul'qumi'num group, is in stage four: agreement in principal "and has been for years," he said. "A lot of research has been done but we've hit a wall in many substantive areas." These range from citizenship to water. "There's a lot of work that continues but it's gone on for so long that we want to go back and review some of the original language." Smith pointed out that delays can be caused by changes in government as this can alter the emphasis of the talks. Even a change in who is sitting at the negotiating table can mean a slow down as someone gets up to speed. Fisheries and land ownership are knotting issues that slip on and off the table from time to time. Comanagement is also under discussion, he said. But, there are also new initiatives coming forward to help bands benefit now while the process continues. Coun. Tim McGonigle thanked the pair for the wide-ranging information, saying he wished it could be heard by a larger audience.
