Whether it is the courts, the quasi-judicial body, the parliamentary review or a negotiated process, the common thread is reliability of the process at a very basic level. In other words, there must be some level of trust within the parties before the type of process can be selected and before a decision is rendered. The federal government’s policy on self-government processes was a public document, the government provided some funds to the Aboriginal claimants, for land and for self-government claims to ensure there was an ability to provide researched, professional accurate information. There was intention to truly resolve the issues at hand- the motivation may vary from the perspective of each level of government (Aboriginal and not) but the urge to move outstanding, generations old-issues, is real for everyone involved.
not actually signing any formal agreement with the mainland groups. The Douglas Treaties, as well as Treaty 8 signed in 1899 that covered the northeastern portion of BC, remained the only formal government agreements of any kind with the Aboriginal people in BC and left a majority of the province uncessioned (parl.gc.ca). The Nisga’a people requested a government land agreement several times in the 1880s, but following the hearings in Nisga’a territory in 1887-88 and the group’s request for land and treaty agreements, the government’s follow-up report dismissed their demands. In 1907 the Nisga’a people set up a formal political organization known as the Nisga’a Land Committee (NLC) in order to secure a land claims agreement. In 1909 the Nisga’a joined with other north and south coast Aboriginals, forming the Indian Rights Association. Finally by 1913, they petitioned the government to agree to reserve traditional land for the Nisga’a people to live on, while also compensating them for any lands they agreed to give up. However, much of the land they requested had been sold by this time.
Modern Day Treaties: Nisga’a Trial and Agreement An Aboriginal Title claim going back to 1881, when a delegation was sent to Victoria to protest the increased settler presence, concerned the Nisga’a., a First Nation dwelling within the Nass River Valley in northern British Columbia. Following the establishment of a British colony on Vancouver Island in 1849, and the delegation of Hudson Bay’s Company Chief Factor James Douglas as Governor in 1851, Douglas began making land purchases from the local Aboriginal people. These Douglas Treaties, 14 in total, covered 358 miles2 on the island. In 1858 the mainland of the now British Columbia (BC) became a British colony, and it was assumed by the government that James Douglas would continue to cession lands from the Aboriginal groups present there. However, Douglas merely set up reserve lands and Indian villages, giving Aboriginals settler’s rights but
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The government then created the McKenna-McBride Commission in order to settle the issue of native land claims, and the Nisga’a people presented their case before the Commission. In 1924, the government partitioned a mere 76 km2 for Nisga’a reserve land, out of 25,000 km2 of traditionally used land. An amendment to the Indian Act in 1927 made it illegal for Aboriginal peoples to raise money to advance land claims (ainc-inac.gc.ca). This amendment remained in place until 1951, preventing the Nisga’a Land Committee and other
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