Ha-Shilth-Sa June 5, 2003

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Canada’s Oldest First Nation’s Newspaper - Serving Nuu-chah-nulth-aht since 1974 Canadian Publications Mail Product haas^is>a “ Interesting News” Vol. 30 - No. 11 - June 5, 2003 Sales Agreement No. 40047776

Maa-nulth-aht initials Agreement-in-Principle By David Wiwchar Southern Region Reporter Nanaimo - With their Chiefs and leaders present, the five Maa-nulth-aht Nations initialed an Agreement-inPrinciple (AIP) with Canada and British Columbia last week. The nations (Huu-ay-aht, Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h, Toquaht, Uchucklesaht and Ucluelet) were five of the six nations that voted in favour of accepting the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council AIP in June 2001. Since then the 12 nations at the NTC treaty table have been unable to decide how to manage the split, and many of the so-called “Yes” nations decided to negotiate on their own.

The nations (Huu-ay-aht, Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h, Toquaht, Uchucklesaht and Ucluelet) were five of the six nations that voted in favour of accepting the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council AIP in June 2001. Over the past year, the Maa-nulth-aht negotiators have met with all levels of government and now claim to have an agreement that improves upon the last AIP. “The big difference is the cash component has gone up 12%, the land has gone up 32%, and some of the governance have come out of the treaty and moved into a self government agreement and that was the trade off that was made at the table,” said George Watts, Chief Negotiator for Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h.

“The big difference is the cash component has gone up 12%, the land has gone up 32%,” said George Watts The AIP offers the 1900 Maa-nulth-aht members $62.5 million and 20,900 hectares of land, as well as revenuesharing, self-governance, and other powers. The new AIP will not be put to a vote as negotiators say this agreement is simply an improvement on the past NTC AIP that was accepted by their communities. Instead of a formal vote, negotiators will be touring their various communities with a computerized PowerPoint presentation outlining issues and developments and explaining them to

Negotiators celebrate the initialing of a Maa-nulth-aht A.I.P.. (l-r) Eric Denhoff (Canada), Robert Dennis (Huu-ay-aht), Mark Lofthouse (B.C.), and George Watts (Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h). community members. “They’ve already ratified the old AIP, all we have to do is bring the changes to the community and there really aren’t that many changes from the 2001 AIP so it will be a very easy process,” said Watts.

The new AIP will not be put to a vote, as negotiators say this agreement is simply an improvement on the past NTC AIP that was accepted by their communities. “Our nation sent a strong signal to get on to final agreement and get a final agreement they can vote on,” said Huuay-aht Chief Negotiator Robert Dennis Sr. “Our hereditary chiefs gave their endorsement of this process. I think it’s important for our other Nuu-chah-nulth colleagues to know that Maa-nulth has the endorsement of the Ha’wilth of each of their Nations and each of them is here today,” he said. “It’s the first group of First Nations to have initialed an AIP in the last while, and hopefully it sends a strong signal that we are making a lot of progress in treaty negotiations,” said Federal Chief Negotiator Eric Denhoff. “We’ve initialed a draft Agreement in Principle which outlines the key elements of a proposed treaty arrangement between the three governments. Each of the chief negotiators have recommended this draft AIP to our principals and it will be up to

A-inchut receives warm welcome ..........................Page 3 Alberni rallies against fish farms ............................. Page 4 NCN and Kwakiutl discuss Elk ................................ Page 5 Toquaht apply for timber ........................................... Page 6 Students win business awards .................................. Page 7 Treaty Planning in Campbell River ......................... Page 9 NEDC Business News ................................................. Page 20

each of the communities and Canada and British Columbia to ratify this and go on to formally sign it, hopefully in the coming weeks,” he said. According to all negotiators, the initialing ceremony was simply a recognition of things the three parties had agreed to so far, and it would full-steam ahead towards a final agreement-signing in a couple of years. “All they’re doing is getting their people into the ballgame, which is negotiating the final agreement,” said Watts. “There’s been too much emphasis put on how important an AIP is. It’s important in terms of us moving on in the process, but the real important work comes in the final agreement. That’s where our people have to be totally involved is between now and the final agreement because now is when they’re sending their hitters into the ball game, and this stuff is for keeps,” he said. One of the stumbling blocks in negotiations across the province has been BC’s reluctance to agree to elements of selfgovernment powers. To get around this, Maa-nulth-aht negotiators have begun negotiations on a parallel self-government agreement. “Some of the self-government authorities will be in the treaty and some will be outside the treaty,” said Watts. “It took a bit of work and a bit of compromise on all sides, but we think we have a model that we think is consistent with the provincial position on self government and is also acceptable to both the federal government and First

Nations,” said BC Chief Negotiator Mark Lofthouse. “It’s a model which sees the lawmaking authorities divided between those which are in the treaty as well as the self-government agreement. It’s a mixture between the two (traditional and municipal),” he said.

“It’s the first group of First Nations to have initialed an AIP in the last while, and hopefully it sends a strong signal that we are making a lot of progress in treaty negotiations,” said Federal Chief Negotiator Eric Denhoff. “We’ve included a recognition that the traditional hereditary chiefs have a very important role and will continue to have a very important role in the life of Maanulth people in the future and that the governance arrangement should reflect that, and that was something we heard from communities between the last agreement and this agreement that people wanted more of that recognition,” said Denhoff. “There’s a number of things in this agreement that are improvements over the original AIP that the communities looked at. For one thing, we’ve included the commitment on the part of governments to negotiate a revenue sharing agreement with the Maa-nulth tribes, and that wasn’t in the original treaty proposal. That is a significant improvement that will clearly cost

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ISSN 0715-4143


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