• Recognizing Diversity
• Communities Have A Say
• Interest Papers Highlight Priorities
• BC Wildlife Federation
• Reader Survey

Pauline LaMothe previously held the position of regional head of the Prairie Region for the Customs arm of Revenue Canada where she was responsible for consulting with stakeholders including First Nations. Prior to that, she worked with the Correctional Service of Canada as a psychologist and manager. She has experience in many aspects of crisis resolution and program development.

LaMothe will head up negotiations with the Kaska-Dena, Taku River Tlingit, Tsawwassen, and the Tsey Keh Dene and will share a number of negotiations with Tom Molloy.

Tim Koepke is the Chief Federal Negotiator for the Council for Yukon Indians' Comprehensive Land Claim. He has been involved with the Champagne-Aishihik band land claim, which spans the B.C. and Yukon border.

Koepke is a B.C. and Canada Lands Surveyor and a registered professional engineer in B.C., Yukon and Northwest Territories. He worked in the Underhill Group of Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors for more than 25 years, giving him extensive experience in the area of land and resource development projects. He has been working on the Yukon land claim negotiations since 1987.

Thomas R. Berger, Q.C., was counsel for the Nisga'a Tribal Council in the Calder case in 1973. The former Supreme Court Justice headed the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, a royal commission dealing with Indian and Inuit health-care programs and the Alaska Native Review Commission. He was also instrumental in including aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution.

Some say land claims are racially based. Other minorities do not have land claims. Why Indians? Why should there be a special place for the Indians in the Constitution - for the Constitution has recognized and affirmed aboriginal rights since 1982 - and in the life of the nation? No such provision was made for the Ukrainians, the Italians or any other ethnic group or nationality. Opponents of a treaty have alleged that a settlement will give Natives special rights and privileges solely because of their race, and that such a policy is itself racist.

But the Native people did not immigrate to Canada as individuals or families who expected to be assimilated. Immigrants, on the other hand, chose to come to Canada and to submit to the nation's laws and institutions; their choices were individual choices. The Native peoples were already here: they were forced to submit to the laws and institutions of the dominant White (European) society, and forced to give up their land and resources.It is not the Indians' fault that when the Europeans came here the Indians were all of one race.Their communities are joined by culture, tradition, and language. But they are still distinct peoples in our midsts, with rights enforceable under the Constitution.

If the will to achieve settlement wavers under the attacks upon the treaty process by its opponents, and the majority is silent, that silence will leave the Nisga'a and other First Nations as politically isolated as their impoverished reserves.

The land claims settlements made in Quebec in the 1970s, in the Northewest Territories in the 1980s, and in the Yukon in the 1990s, had the support of all parties in the federal Parliament.The issue now is one that should attract the support of all parties in the B.C. legislature. Of course, any proposed settlement must be closely studied, closely scrutinized. The legislature must approve of all the settlements reached in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. And any settlement, when it is reached, must be the subject of open and vigorous debate before it is ratified.

But this is not the occasion for turning our backs on our own history, for spurious arguments that can only undermine the prospect of good relations between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples.It is an opportunity to do what our legal tradition and our best instincts tell us to do.

Sechelt and Smithers are two communties with active RACs. Representatives from different sectors have organized themselves into groups intent on discussing how treaty settlements will affect their communities. The purpose of RACs at the local level is similar to the role of the Treaty Negotiation Advisory Committee at the provincial level: to ensure the negotiating parties understand the full range of local interests.

For instance, this is how the RAC in Sechelt was formed. When the Sechelt Indian Band submitted a Statement of Intent, the provincial and federal governments had to meet with the band within 45 days, as required by the B.C. Treaty Commission. During that same time, governments met with community leaders to inform them about the upcoming negotiations and to suggest that the community get involved in the process by forming a RAC.

Government representatives then held an open meeting in Sechelt to ask representatives of local interest groups to organize themselves into a structured Regional Advisory Committee. Community members decided cooperatively which regional interests should be represented. At present, there are 14 members on the Sechelt RAC, providing a balance of local interests including fishing, local government, forestry, tourism, recreation and community issues.

Sometimes, one RAC wll be formed for one negotiation table. In other regions of the province, a single RAC may serve as the advisory group to negotiators involved in more than one negotiation. The Smithers RAC, for instance, advises governments negotiating with both the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en.

If treaties are to work, they must be acceptable to the community at large. The task of RACs throughout B.C. is to bring the issues and advice of interests and communities likely to be affected by treaty settlements to the attention of those at the negotiating table.

Within TNAC, there are five sectoral groups that meet to discuss common interests. Each major sectoral group - Wildlife; Lands and Forests; Energy, Minerals and Petroleum; Governance; Fisheries - has developed interest papers to highlight its priorities for treaty negotiations.

The sectors all share two goals; access to land and resources once treaties have been made, and consultation during the treaty-making process.

The following summarizes the interests of two sectoral groups.The other three will be printed in the next issue of Treaty News.

WILDLIFE

• Defines conditions essential to wildlife management that must be maintained during and after the treaty process. These conditions are: conservation; protection of endangered, threatened and vulnerable species; control of disease and parasites; and introduction and transplants of fish and wildlife.

• States that all three parties should work together, after treaties are settled, to set aside land to protect wilderness ecosystems and biodiversity. The principles of designating protected areas should also be retained through the treaty process, and treaties should not affect access to or management of existing protected areas.

• States that clear guidelines for protected area jurisdiction, enforcement and management should be established and local consultation should take place in treaty negotiations throughout the province.

• The Wildlife sector of TNAC is composed of the BC Wildlife Federation, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the B.C. Trappers Association and the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C., with participation from the B.C. Environmental Network.

• Lists the basic requirements of the mining industry that apply throughout the world: political stability, access to land for exploration and development, and security of mineral title. The industry must have uniform and consistent regulatory and environmental standards, a competent workforce and a diverse service sector.

• Recommends that First Nations become part of the existing process to adminster mining resources after treaties are made. During treaty negotiations, the current regulatory approval process should be maintained.

• Continues access through claim areas for exploration and development purposes. Where development of existing claims is denied because of treaty settlements, fair and timely compensation must be paid to tenure holders. Existing mines should continue to operate under provincial jurisdiction on lands covered by interim measures agreements and treaties. There should also be assured access to water and power sources which may pass through First Nations lands, and access to provincial resources beyond First Nations lands.

• States that organizations that lose mineral rights by expropriation should be compensated quickly and fairly for development costs and lost income, and costs for retraining and relocating displaced workers.

• States that when treaties are made, the province should determine how taxes generated from mineral production on First Nations lands will be distributed. Taxes and royalties collected by a First Nation must not exceed current provincial rates.

• Members of the Energy, Minerals and Petroleum sectoral advisory committee are the B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Mining Association of B.C. and the United Steelworkers of America.

The BC Wildlife Federation is an association of 149 fish, game and conservation clubs. Its mandate is to promote conservation of resources while maintaining access to these resources for recreational purposes.

The federation got involved in Aboriginal issues after a government policy paper stated that native groups have the right to hunt at any time on unoccupied crown land.Wimpney's organization then passed a resolution that made dealing with First Nations issues a top priority. He became chair of the federation's Aboriginal affairs committee and, later, its representative to the wildlife sectoral committee of the TNAC.

Working with the TNAC has been a good thing because it has shown him and other members that resources are integrated. "You can't do something in fisheries or logging without it affecting wildlife. It has been a great opportunity to network with other groups in the resource sector." Relationships between federation members and some Aboriginal groups have improved dramatically."Our goals, in many cases, are the same, especially in the areas of salmon enhancement, conservation and wildlife protection."

He's happy that third parties are involved, but wishes government would let them see how their recommendations are used. "Our information goes to the negotiators, and they take that information to the government for direction. It then gets used during negotiation, but we never know what it's being used for. We want a bigger role in the final stages of the process."

Aboriginal groups have legitimate complaints and legitimate needs, says Wimpney. "It's important to establish fair access to resources by Aboriginal groups. But there must be equity in the final outcome, so that all groups live under the same rules, the same laws and the same limitations. It's no use establishing a situation where the law applies differently to different groups."

The ideal outcome, to Wimpney, is to establish a system that eliminates clashes between jurisdictions, where groups can look upon one another as neighbours rather than as adversaries.

But the BC Wildlife Federation wants access to the actual negotiations. "Third parties need to have someone representing them during the negotiation phase," he says. "It's one thing for us to give our honest recommendations, but we need to be at the table to make sure our concerns are properly expressed."

The federation communicates with members at conferences and meetings, and will be setting up a major public information campaign, where Wimpney will visit every club in the organization to update them on TNAC and on the negotiations.

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CHAMPAGNE-AISHIHIK FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: DECEMBER 5, 1994 Negotiations with the Champagne-Aishihik are unique because of their transboundary land claim. In 1993, they signed the Yukon Final Agreement which covered their land claim in the Yukon. The First Nation is now seeking rights within their traditional territory in B.C., which includes the Tatshensini-Alsek Park.

SECHELT INDIAN BAND FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: DECEMBER 14, 1994 Preliminary discussions about the agreement established an opennesss protocol to ensure residents of the Sunshine Coast are kept informed about the negotiations. This is the first Framework Agreement to be initialled under the B.C. Treaty Commission treaty-making process.

GITXSAN FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT: MARCH 8, 1995 The negotiators also signed an openness protocol which is intended to allow public access throughout the process while recognizing the need to conduct effective negotiations. The three parties also signed a procedures agreement which sets out detailed procedures to guide Agreement in Principle negotiations.

These three First Nations will move into Stage 4 (Agreement in Principle negotiations) of the process once the Framework Agreements have been ratified by the three parties.

The Wet'suwet'en, Squamish, and the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council are currently in Framework negotiations.

The Federal Treaty Negotiations Office of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development represents all federal departments, agencies and the people of Canada in treaty negotiations with First Nations in British Columbia.

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