Nesika: The Voice of B.C. Indians -- November/December 1975

Transcription (Hover to view)


Srsri hl COLLECTIONS













ee published by












BC Association of Non Status Indians -

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1975 >

A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE LAND CLAIMS MOVEMENT



Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
Rededicates Itself to Land Claims _ :

at Kamloops Assembly.



a page 8

Hund

Native People of the World

Meet in World Conference

in Port Alberni

Te








; : eu, eee, Ske, ep aaa eect eur en gt Tec
: a : : = . re : PES Te-Sfergyaice 2 “hei oucagi ite. Beles abe eee
: : : a x ao = ete bites? ;

. . / ce oe RA e Sma prcaetS * i ‘

| Tribal Council



Meets in Convention

YET IWS



-

EOLA Brotherhood
Holds

42nd Convention

be, 7 BC
Ss. pes sok Mec

Room 104-1099 W. 8th,
D> Le etacon |

—

please return to:

If undeliverable,
BCANSI

~ Vancouver, B.C.



Ee a



Van pre Bec

‘The Comox Longhouse



a

Indians Win Gold River,
Mt. Currie Political Trials

page 12



NESIKA CORNER —

Sorry for the delay in
getting this issue to you,
but an unusual sertes of
events just didn’t allow us
to - the mail strike, the 5
major conferences in 5
week’s time, the Christmas
holidays, mechanical prob-
tems in mailing out the last
issue, and the length of
time required to prepare
this issue.

All of these problems have
made us change our policy
of being a monthly publica-
tion - instead, we will
publish on Indian time. We
will be putting out -the
January/February issue
before the end of February
to begin catching up. We
may be printing 8, 12, or 16
pages in future issues
depending on what. is
occurring in the Indian
Peoples’ movement.

_ While our publishing
dates and the length of the
issues may vary, our
editorial policy and the
quality of our work will not.

The political battles over
the NESIKA are at last over
and the staff can now
concentrate on producing
the paper. The same group
of people are involved in
the paper’s production, and
BCANSI is subsidizing its
operations unti] it is finan-
cially independent. The
Union of B.C, Indian Chiefs
will not be producing a
paper for some time into
the future, so we
attempting to make sure
several copies reach each
Chief and Councillor of
every Band. We have an
old DIA mailing list, but
will update it in the near
future.

are

We have begun the sale of
posters to help offset our
printing expenses.
hope to soon begin offering
books for sale through the
paper as well. These books
will be about Indians,
naturally, and should be of
interest to,.or decal with
B.C. Indians. Any of the
profits from this venture
will ‘go to help meet our
expenses. If you are inter-
ested in obtaining certain

' titles, please write.

There are a number of
things you can do if you are
interested: in supporting
this paper and the land

claims movement, you can: |

Send us names and
addresses of people inter-
ested in supporting thts
paper. oo.

Send us news clippings,

photographs with captions, |

art work, story ideas, etc.
Renew your support with a

donation of any of the
above, of if you don’t have

- any of those, money will do.

If you receive more than
one copy of the -paper,

make sure the extras are’
' distributed to others.

Sell the NESIKA and the
posters. as‘a fund-raising
project (write: to: us for
details). .

Pass your copy on to

someone else when your’re

through.

Volunteer to help produce
the next issue. This issue
was typeset and produced

with volunteer labour by
_ people involved and con-

cerned with the land claims
movement, and you are
invited to help them:

Pauline, Barbara, Shirley, .

Jean, Brian, Bill, and

Wayne.

We



Ananie!

| Next Issue |

The January/February
issue of NESIKA will
feature these stories:

The 1975. Provincial Elec-
‘tion - What will the new
Government and the new

Cabinet mean for Indians?
The Indian Election Strat-

egy - How well did it work?
What did it prove?

Indian Land Disputes End
Up in Court. The Lower

Nicola Band sues the
Provincial _ Government
over the Highway Depart-

ment’s road-widening.
-plans, and the Musqueam

Band sues the Federal
Government because it
didn’t protect their inter-
ests when a land lease was
negotiated in the 1950's. -

BCANSI to become involv-
ed with a limited registra-

tion program. listing non!

-status people eligible to
participate in recognition of
Native Title in certain areas
of the province.

Future stories will cover the

danger of mercury pollution

which has drastically affect-

ed Indians in Ontario, and-
is now being found in B.C.

Letters

Rose Pterre of Victoria,
and a member of the
Stuart - Trembleur Band,
writes to tell us we goofed
again. For ‘the. last time,
hopefully, we will correct
the name of the old man in
the Stuart-Trembleur cen-
trefold. His name is Ananie

-Prince, and he will be 84
years old on the 17th of

January. Happy Birthday





LAND CLAIMS

POSTERS

Copies of the two posters shown here can be
purchased for 75 cents each, or 3 for $2.00, by writing

to BCANSI. The posters are on heavy poster paper and

are 18’ x 24’’, Please include 30 cents to cover costs of |

postage and a@mailing tube. .









Z NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75



1
i



Progress Stalled
on Cut-Off Lands
Negotiating Committee

Progress towards a nego-
tiated settlement. of the

cut-off lands dispute. has —

come to a complete stand-
still as the Indian people
involved wait to see what
the new Socred Govern-

ment intends to do about

the cut-off lands issue.
The Agreement signed by
the Government and the

Cut-Off Lands Committee -

on June 24th, 1975,
commits the Government
and the Indians to arriving
at a negotiated settlement
by the end of 1976 on the
36,000 acres and 23 bands
involved.

It took five months for the
3-man negotiating commit-

tee to be formed - Adam

Eneas is the Indian repre-
sentative, former NDP
MLA John Squire is the
Government appointee and

Judge Ross Collver was .

named as the 3rd man, and
Chairman, of the Commit-
tee, on November 25th. At

Provincial

one time Judge Collver

served as Vice-Chairman of

the Berger Commission on

Family and Children Law.
The Committee has to

‘meet all 23 bands involved,
and arrive at a settlement

before the end of this year.
The proposed settlement
then has to be approved by
the Provincial Legislature
before the end of. June
1977. — :

Indian leaders are worried
what stance the govern-
ment may take on the issue,
and they wouldn’t -be
surprised if the Socreds
replaced John Squire, the
Government appointee.

Chairman Collver is also
concerned about the lack of
progress, and has written
Indian Affairs
Minister Allan Williams ain
an effort to get things
moving toward a settlement
since there has been no
action since late November.





Return to: BCANSI,
1099 W. 8th,
Vancouver,.- B.C.

Please enter my subscription to NESIKA.



I enclose a donation of



Name:

Address:



















Nishga Tribal Council Meets

It has been almost 100
years since the Nishga
people began fighting for a
just resolution to their land

claims in the Nass River.
Valley. The scene of their -

struggle shifted from the
political arena, to. court-
rooms in Vancouver and
Ottawa, to a dusty logging
road, and just recently
shifted back to the political
arena again. For three days
in November 1975, the
scene was the village of

Greenville as the Nishga

tribal Council met in annual
convention.

Observers received a

pleasant surprise as they
arrived at the convention.



life changed over the years
so that now they are fishing

commercially instead of
and -

just for subsistence,
this, not surprisingly, has
brought them into conflict
with the Fisheries Depart-
ment, Hubert Doolan ex-
pressed everyone’s feelings

when he demanded ‘‘an.

investigation into the Fish-
eries Department because

the Nass River fish runs.

should be declared a

disaster area.’’ He blamed
the problems on a staff that _

doesn’t know the difference

between a sockeye and a.

chum,
The. Fisheries, for their
part,

‘Titus Nisyok, | 83 years old, sini hereditary chief at the

Wolf Clan of the Nishgas.

Complete strangers: were
given a place to
assured they would be fed,
(in a village with no hotel or
restaurant) and genuinely
given a warm and open
welcome.

This convention, like
previous ones, and their
land claims research, and al

the trips to: Victoria -and -

Ottawa, were funded by the
Nishga people themselves,

without government grants,

The Nishgas’ self-reliant
stance is an example for all

other Indians; it has given .

them. strength, which, add-

ed to the rightness of their.
cause, has made both levels ~
of government change their ._
‘position on aboriginal righ-.

‘ts and brought them to the
bargaining table.

The major items on the
convention agenda were
the discussions with Can-
Cel and the Fisheries
Department, but the real
purpose was to develop
their land claim strategy
and a position on the
provincial election. The
Nishga language was used

to express strong feelings |

or areas of sensitive politic-

al concern during the

convention - and no transla-
tion was provided. —
FISHERIES

The Nishgas’ traditional

stay, —

the bureaucracy,

-have taken our

got the

guilty. conscience, since
they sent not one or two,
but 8 representatives to the

convention. Their purpose |

obviously was to spread
their propaganda and sooth

the Indians’ hurt feelings.
They brought along a slide

show on the Salmon En-
hancement Program, and
piles of written information
as they sought to explain
regula-
tions and restrictions on
Indian fishing rights. Pro-
gram Director Rod McLeod
finally admitted that his
department “‘should stop

‘being a negative force

affecting-Indian lives.”

Lewis McKay probably
said what most other young
people were thinking when
he told the Fisheries, ‘‘You
fishing
rights and fishing territory.
away from us so I don’t feel

like a man anymore. If [had

my way, I’d shoot all of
you. Thank you very
much.’’ The mood of the
meeting was such that one

when McKay had finished,

everyone silently. agreed

with him.
CAN CEL

CanCel earned $50 million -

in profits in 1974, and the
convention wanted to know

why the Nishga people had.

must have had a

problems

impression that’

to. suffer economic and
social hardship as a result
of logging operations in

‘their valley. Twin River
_ Timber Co.,

a part of
CanCel, was invited to the
convention in.an attempt to
resolve the problems. How-

ever, CanCel is owned by -

the Provincial Government.
and the convention discus-
sions only related to. the

effects of logging activities.
on fishing. The question of ©
the re-negotiation of the
_ timber lease was discussed

in closed session.

The Nishgas were
extremely upset: over the
number of logs in the river
and the damage they cause.
Fishing nets worth $2,000

are ruined by snags and the ©

possibility that a deadhead

~ could easily sink a boat has
- caused the Nishgas to stop
CanCel ©
also dynamites log drives: -
that jam up and this results |
Harry.

fishing at. night.

in large fish kills.
Nyce spoke for all when he
said that ‘‘the log drives
and blasting must be
stopped.”

The gréatest cause for

concern for the Nishgas.

was the new bridge which

‘was erected by CanCel,
crossing the Nass at Nass

Camp. CanCel had already

_ . logged off huge sections on
| 3 the east bank of the Nass, -
and ‘the new bridge would.
“allow them to begin work-
ing the west side. So the

Nishga elders. gave the

Council the direction’ to.

close down the bridge. and

the Council later warned.

the government that it

would be closed down at

some future date if they
didn’t begin negotiating
the land claim,

Since CanCel had earlier
stated it was ‘aware’ of the
related to- its
logging activities, the ses-
sion only served as a safety

valve for the people’s frus-

trations.

The
discussed the new School
District -#92 which was
created in January ’75 in an
effort to correct the severe
problems which existed in
the DIA schools before that

WHYISTHIS _
MAN LAUGHING ?



Custer Award Winner
Jack Radford

convention also

‘In ia

time. The new district is
centred in the Nass Valley
with an almost all-Indian
student body, and bilingual

and: bicultural programs in © <9") =,

the schools.

CUSTER HAD IT COMING
The Custer Had It Coming

Award this issue goes to.

Recreation Minister Jack
Radford for his perfor-

mance at the convention. .
Radford was attending in.
place of Dave Barrett to.

dedicate the new recreation
centre in Greenville.
speech at the dedication

‘banquet -was remarkable

for the ignorance and lack
of understanding he dis-
played regarding the Nish-

ga people. He began by

calling James Gosnell a
‘Haida’ and followed up
with a ‘

His gift. was a book on
Vancouver Island, of all
places, and stated that he
understood the problems of
the Nishgas because he
went to school with. ‘‘your
people”’ in Nanaimo!

He saved the best for last
when he announced plans
for a Lava Bed Park to be
established in the middle of

the Nishga land claim, and~

how wonderful it would be
with the. government con-

_ trolling it.and the. possibili-. .
.. ty of. a few jobs for the local.

. people: His grand-announ-
cement didn’t thrill the

~Nishgas because Radford

simply doesn’t realize the
Nishga concern for the land
claim or the tourists,
pollution, hunting, fishing,
and development that wou-
Id follow the establishment
of such a park.

THE ELECTION
_ By a lucky coincidence,
the convention happened to
fall in the middle of the

‘provineial election cam-

paign. The Nishgas were.

getting closer to a. settle-

ment after. the Supreme
Court of Canada stated they
did have, in effect, an
aboriginal claim to the land
in- the Nass River Valley,
and the only thing standing
in the way of negotiations
was the NDP Government.

late-night closed
session, the Council vowed
to change their bloc-voting
pattern from the NDP to the
Social Credit party. The
Indian vote counts for more.

-. than 50% in the Atlin riding,
and it has kept Frank -

Calder an MLA since 1949
with one four year. lapse.

Listening tothe advice of

his Nishga brothers, Calder
then announced he was

. quitting the NDP party and _

accused the Government of

being anti-Indian, anti-la-

bor, and anti-north: He
later announced he was
joining the Socreds, and the
political maneuvering BE?
gan.

His

‘special’ gift to the -
four chiefs on the Council,.



JAMES GOSNELL
Tribal Council President

Barrett tried to keep the
Indian vote NDP by promis-
ing at a campaign stop in

‘Terrace, ‘to negotiate the

Nishga land claim. The
promise came closer to
reality when Norm Levi's
challenge to: the Federal
Government was picked up _.
by . Judd. Buchanan. The ;

_ efforts to..keep.the riding. —
* NDP also included an effort

to dredge up a minor
scandal over the employ-
ment of Calder’s wife as a
riding secretary. She did
the work while living in ~

- Victoria, a fact that never

came to light while Calder
was still.a member of the
NDP.

The Tribal Council’ S
strategy proved successful
on election day as Calder
easily won re-electon over

two other candidates, get-
~ ting 557 of the vote over-ail,
and 84% of the Indian vote..

SETTLEMENT GOALS |
Discussions at the
convention gave a hint of
what the Nishga settlement
goals will be. Economic
development will be a key —
area, and according to Bill

' McKay, it won’t just be a

token share. McKay stated
the Nishga wanted 557 of
CanCel (Canadian Cellu-
lose is 79X%-owned by the
Provincial Government and-
does most of its logging in
the Nass Valley), 25% of
Granduc (a copper mining
operation near Stewart,
B.C.}, and 50% of the
fisheries. Other delegates |
were more cautious in.
stating their goals, saying
that all they want is a just
settlement”’

Elections for the Nishga
Tribal. Council saw James
Gosnell re-elected to the
position of President, with-

Rod Robinson becoming |

Vice-President, -



“NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75 7 3

Increasing interest and
concern over aboriginal
tights and land claims high-
lighted the 42nd Annual
Convention of the Native
Brotherhood of British Col-
umbia. The convention met
for 5 days from November
19th to 23rd, 1975,

Comox Band Hail and

constantly referred to land —

claims and aboriginal rights
as they discussed the
bread-and-butter issues re-
lated to the fishing industry,
FISHERMEN’S SAFETY
The convention began
with a barrage of questions

being fired at Ministry of

Transport and Worker’s

Compensation Board’ offic: .

jals, the subject being the

jurisdictional fight between’
the two and fishermen’s |

safety. The MoT is a
Federal department and
the WCB a Provincial one,
and there has been increas-

ing competition between

the two for the power to

regulate various aspects of .

the fishing industry related
to safety.

After the disastrous ’75
herring season which re-
sulted in the loss of 14
fishermen’s lives and 10

boats, it was not surprising —

that the delegates would be

so concerned with: safety.

Speaker after speaker poin-
ted out the overlap of the
two agencies and cited
humerous instances of one
department trying to: out-
red-tape the other.
Suggestions that a coast

- guard station be establish-

ed in Prince Rupert seemed
to fall on deaf ears as the
delegates sought to lessen
their dependence on. the 3
coast guard cutters station-
ed in Vancouver. Even the

seemingly inexpensive and.

simple suggestion that han- _
dles be put on the round, |
slippery, and extremely

heavy life-boat barrels was
not taken seriously by MoT
representative Sigsworth.
Even though the Govern-
ment officials admittd there
was duplication of MoT and
WCB regulations, and that
this was causing confusion

and could result in regulat-.

ing people right out of
business, the session ac-
complished little other than
allowing delegates to: air
their frustrations.
FEDERAL FISHERIES
The anger and frustration
of the Indian fishermen

rose even higher as the

Federal Fisheries Depart-
ment took their turn facing
the convention. Director
W.R. Hourston bore the
brunt of long and persistent
questioning asthe dele-
gates unloaded strong criti-
cism of his department.

_ The ‘74 Brotherhood
convention passed a resolu-
tion opposing non-Indian
invelyeMent in the herring



in the .









the pood guy..

not

project profitable.
sessions of the.
convention were scheduled —



spawn fishery. The Fisher-_
ies Department ignored the — .

resolution and gave out 13
herring spawn permits in
"7, 7 of which lost money.
The ‘75 convention again

~ ealled. for a halt to the

program, as the Indian

fishermen feel they have‘ a’

traditional and. exclusive
right to that type of fishery.
The Fisheries ignored this

_ resolution too, and quickly
advertised for 10 new

permits.
Hourston admitted his
department has re-evaluat-

ed the licencing scheme .

(which has already squeez-
ed large numbers of Indi-
ans out of the industry),
and is planning to reduce

the fishing fleet. even
Indian ~
vessels being eliminated

further with: more

than non-Indian vessels.
Bill McKay summed up
the delegates’ feelings a-
bout the Fisheries’ conser-
vation program when he
called it a complete failure,
and that
your scientific knowledge,
you — still
reasons for the depletion of
the fishery - so you blame a
minority group - the Indi-
an.”’
Senator Guy, Williams

pointed. out.in his banquet. :
speech, that conservation.

programs .are having a
serious. effect on fishermen
as they have to make bigger
and bigger investments in
their boats, and can spend

- less and less time fishing |

because of conservation
regulations.

The delegates passed a
boatload of resolutions rela- ~

ted to the Fisheriés Depart-

., ment and its control of the:

industry. Obviously unhap-
py with past Government
performance, they included
one with a demand that the
Government respond to-all
resolutions within 3 months
CHATHAM SITE.

An atea of

controversy within

ion of what to do with the
Chatham site in Prince
Rupert. A long term lease
to the site. was given to the
Brotherhood by DIA to
develop a hote! and office
building complex. After 1
and 1/2 years work by
co-ordinator Jamie Sterritt
and a $70,000 study,



4 NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75 _

“in spite of all.

can not give.

Native Brotherhood
holds 42nd Convention

nothing had been accom--

plished since DIA would
change the lease
arrangements to make the
Two
closed

to deal with the problem,
but no decision was reach-
ed. A meeting of the

. Executive Committee’ did
come to decision. in January.
that the site. should. be

returned to. DIA with: the
recommendation that it be
turned over to the local
Indian people.

SALMON
ENHANCEMENT
PROGRAM

The Fisheries Department
brought along the. travel-
ling roadshow that is the

Salmon Enhancement, Pro- <
gram. The °S.E.P.-

“particularly, good vehicle:
for serving the interests of |
Indian people’, according
to. Ron McLeod of the
Fisheries, who. stated the
program would double the

number of salmon.





John Clifton
N.B. President












‘isa:



some: .”
the -
Brotherhood was the quest- - -

The slide-show presenta-

tion got a good response —
although there were several.
troublesome. questions con-,
cerning the program and ~

aboriginal rights:
Question:
would the S.E.P. have on
aboriginal rights?’’
Answer: ‘‘I don’t know.”’
Question: “‘It has already

. been suggested. that Indi-
' ans have no right to-raise ©
' fish for food, Is-that-true?”’ .
“The .raised-fish ©
question is.a thorny one,
and. will. be::an extremely. “9
agonizing. problem to: work .

Answer:

out.’
However,
important

the. ‘most
‘question 15,

“Why isa Salmon En-

hancement Program need-

ed?”’ The answer has three.

parts:

1) There are decreased fish”
runs caused in part by past
- overfishing which was per-

mitted by the Government.

The Fisheries is just trying

to-make up fer their own
past mistakes and 1 incompe-

_ tence.

2) Pollution from mining
and logging activities have

not been controlled or even. °

monitored by the Govern-
ment.

“What effect

3)Most important, no doubt

is the desire by the fish -
companies and Weston, for‘

increased sales and increa-
sed profits. So, in reality,
the needs of Indian people
count for very little in this
‘program.

THE BANQUET

Provincial Indian Affairs
Ministers, Judd Buchanan
and Norm Levi, speak on

the Indian land claim to —

B.C. The convention atract-
ed a large number of other
politicians as well, includ-
ing: M.P. Hugh Anderson,
M.P. Iona Campagnola,

MLA Karen Sanford, MLA -
‘Gordon Gibson,

Senator
Guy Williams, Deputy At-
torney-General David Vick-
ers, Socred candidate Dan
Hanuse, and former M.P.
Frank Howard.

The Levi-Buchanan debate
began with Levi stating that

‘the NDP had 3 priorities

when it came into office: 1)
economic development = -
and he referred to the Port
Simpsen and Burns Lake
projects. 2) the cut-off
lands dispute: - and he
announced that Judge Ross
Collver was the third man
on the cut-off lands nego-
tiating committee. Collver
had been selected three
weeks earlier, but the

announcement was saved

for the banquet to help take.

the heat off the government, -

3) The general land claim
was the third priority.

He also warned that the
Government in- .

Federal
tends to limit the size of the
settlement. and tie it to
those that are feached. in
James Bee and the Yukon. |

‘Dancers from James

The highlight. of . the
2 convention was the banquet -.
which saw the Federal and



Levi tried to put down the
Federal efforts. by saying
they wanted to meet with |
the province before meet-
ing with the Indians, and
that he (Levi) wanted 3-way
negotiations. What he did
not -say was that the -
Federal and Provincial min-
isters had. already met once

on’ the issue without the

Indians present. -

_ There was a little heckling
during the speech and Levi
received polite applause at
its conclusion. .

Judd Buchanan turned out —
to -be the good guy in the
debate. He began by
praising the independent

‘and self-reliant stance of

the Brotherhood, and noted
that ‘‘government «funds
create artificial organiza-
tions.’

Pichia sharply criticiz-
ed the Provincial Govern-
ment’s refusal to enter into
hegotiations and pointed
out that progress was being
made in other areas of the
country. In addition to the
NDP Government, he put
part of the blame for the
lack of progress in B.C. on.
the Union of. B.C. Indian
Chiefs, and specifically
referred to. the $700,000
they received to do land
claims research, with seem-
ingly few results.

The overflow crowd
warmly applauded Buchan-
an several times, and he

clearly came out the winner
in the confrontation with .

Levi.
ELECTIONS
John Clifton
re-elected President of the

' Native Brotherhood on the

last day of the convention.
Other Executives elected
were:James Sewid, 1st
V.P.; Robert Clifton, 2nd
V.P.; Gilbert Cook, 3rd
V.P.; Vera Cranmer, 4th |

. V.P;; Bud Recalma, Busin-

ess Agent, Steve Carpent-
er, Secretary-Treasurer;
Art Helin, provincial organ-
izer; James Gosnell, Chair-
man. of the Executive
Board; and Edwin Newman |
CO- -Chairman of the Execu-
tive Board. .



Sewid’s Animal Kingdom
performed after the banquet in the longhouse.

was

An example of bilingualism at the conference.

CONFERENCE
BACKGROUND

Most of the credit for the

first-ever meeting of the

native people of the world
has to go to National Indian

Brotherhood President Ge-.

orge Manuel. After meet-
ing with native representa-
tives from several South
_ Pacific and European coun-
tries during visits to those
places in 1971 and 1972,
George Manuel! was given a

mandate by the NIB to

begin planning and fund-
raising for an International
Conference of Indigenous
People. After more than a
year’s planning and corres-
pondence, a preliminary
méeting was held ‘in Guya-
na, South America in 1974
with native representatives
from ten countries. It was
this meeting which set the
purpose, agenda, and the
criteria for the accreditation
of delegates and observers.

The pace of the planning
and preparations went into
high gear at the NIB offices
after the Guyana meeting.
Funds were obtained and a

staff of two was hired to

begin work. A year later,
the final dates of October
27-31 could be confirmed

for the conference to: be-

held in Port Alberni, B. C.

Naturally, most people's
reaction after hearing news
of such a gathering was,
‘Port Alberni? You've got-
ta be kidding.’’ However,
the former residential sc-
hool
reserve had all the neces-
sary facilities to hold such
an event - sleeping acco-
modations, a cafeteria, and
large and small meeting
rooms. The security needs
of many of the South
American delegates made

it necessary to: hold the.

conference on a reserve,
where visitors and publicity
could be strictly controlled.
The leadership of the West
Coast people at Chilliwack
and their work in organiz-

ing several large events

over the summer showed
that the local people could
be depended on to do a
great deal of necessary but
not very glamorous work.

The fact that NIB President

native leaders

on the Tse-shaht .



George Manuel is a B. C..
Indian probably helped
bring the conference to B.

.C, too,

An unfortunate aspect of
the whole affair is that once

_ B.C. and Port Alberni was
the —
from the:

selected as the site,

other provinces wanted
nothing ‘to. do with. the
conference. In fact, very
few provincial leaders from

status Indian organizations

attended, while the repre-

sentatives from the metis-

and non-status Indian or-
ganizations could have fil-
led a bus. Now that it’s all

aver, many: of those who

attended wished they had a

chance to-do it all over

again, to: show the native
people from around the
world what kind of hosts we

really could be - if all the
native. people in Canada.

would support - truly

' support such a gathering.

In attendance were more

‘than 50 official delegates

from 19 countries: Canada,
United States, Argentina,
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecua-
dor, Guatemala, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,
Venezuela,

mark), Norway, Sweden,
and Finland. While some
Pacific Island, Caribbean,

Australia,.New -
Zealand, Greenland (Den-_

Asian, and South American
countries did not. send
delegates because of poor
communications, lack of
money, or whatever, Brazil
did not allow its. Indian
representatives to leave the

country to attend.

The notion that this
wasn’t your ordinary Indian
conference was driven ho-
me by the fact that the
delegates represented 37
million native people, and
that seme of the South
American countries have
Indian populations of 2, 4,
and even 6 million people!
The realization slowly sank:

in that the delegates
representing those. coun, -



The conference in session with translation booths i in the background. —

tries must be some very

special chiefs and leaders.

Each country was _ allo-
wed three delegates, and
representing Canada were:
George Manuel, Native

- Council of Canada Prési-

dent Gloria George, and
-George Watts, former Exe-

cutive of the UBCIC. — All

three of them are B. C.
‘Indians, meaning the Inuit,
and
Prairies and eastern Cana-
da were not personally
represented. However, the
NIB was in charge of
selecting delegates and it
elected to have the Presi-
dents of the NIB (status
Indian), NCC (metis and
non-status Indian), and the
Inuit Tapirisat ,
‘Canada. But, the President
of the Inuit Tapirisat was
not interested in attending,
so James Wah-shee of the
Indian Brotherhood of the

' Northwest Territories was.

picked as a replacement -
However, Wah-shee coul-
dn’t attend because of his
own political troubles in
Yellowknife, and George
Watts was chosen to
stand-in for Wah-shee as a
representative of the local
people.

~ The National Congress of
American Indians had an

interesting method of pick-

Indians from the.

-represent =

ing their delegates for the
United States. The Presi-

_ dent of that organization,

Mel. Tonasket, was one
delegate. and represented
the reserve Indians. Joe de

la Cruz was the. second.

delegate, representing ur-
ban Indians, and since
both of them have few ties
with reserve life and
traditional values, Oren
Lyons, a hereditary chief of
the Iroquois people, was
selected to represent the
‘traditional’ Indians as the
third delegate. __

_ Travel arrangements for
some of the South Ameri-
can delegates were pretty

complicated, not ony be-
3: sina:

cause of the distance
travelled, but because the
delegates wanted to keep
secret from their govern-
ment their real reason for
leaving the country, since
their governments. would

not approve their atten-

dance at such a conference,

and would likely take action ©
against them. Some of the -

delegates had to be almost
smuggled out of the coun-
try, and some got out by
saying they were attending
an economic development

_conference in a neighbour-

ing country, and then
travelling to Canada.

_ Even getting the news
and the details of the



ous.

Conference of Native People Held

conference was a complica-
ted task for some of the
delegates,
ment agents in their coun-
tries usually intercept and
read their mail before they
get it. So the NIB staff had
to find: ways of informing
them without endangering
them, usually by sending
the mail in care of a third
person -who was above
suspicion.

One of the major con-
cerns in organizing the
conference was the funding
problem, and it wasn’t
solved until just days
before the conference was
due to start.. One of the

since govern- -

Scandinavian governments |

came through with-a major
donation just the day before
their delegates were due to
leave.. The cost of the
conference, including the
preparatory meetings, 2
staff salaries,
other expenses, was almost
150,000 dollars, with a
major portion of the fund-
ing coming from various
church groups and organi-
zations.
tions and the Canadian
Secretary of . State also.

helped fund the event.

In broad general terms,

travel: and _

Labour organiza- .

the conference sought to

strengthen the native peo-
ples’ movements in various
countries to: 1) reduce the

possibility of physical and :
cultural genocide; 2) com-.

‘bat racism; 3) ensure
political, economic, and
social justice, and 4)
establish and strengthen
the concept of indigenous
and cultural rights.
Specifically, the
conference was to deter-
mine the membership of
the World Council of
Indigenous Peoples, its
Charter, and the Secreta-
riat. |
As the opening remarks
and inireductions were
made for each countty on
the morning of the first
day, the similarities to the

United Nations were obvi-_

sights: and sounds were
dazzling and almost confu-
sing. |
(Lapplanders) arrived in
their bright blue, red, and
yellow jackets and dresses

cont. on page 6

A Same and Peravian delegate.

The great variety of

The Same people





NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75 5

cont. from page 5

with their own tribal
designs, and all wore
leather boots with the toes
curled-up, like an elf. The
Central and South Ameri-
can delegates arrived in
everything from dull, dark
business- suits and shirts
(many of them home-made).
to brilliantly-coloured pan-
‘chos, capes, and hats
decorated with ribbons,
feathers and furs..

In order to understand
the speeches which were
being made in a total of 9
different languages, every-
one wore earphones atta-
ched to a transitor radio -
like gadget hung around
the neck which was tuned
to a station which instantly
translated the speeches in
to’ English, Spanish, or
Norwegian. Half a dozen
interpretors, sat inside three
translation booths so the
speeches could be heard by
delegates and observers in
a language they could
understand, — 2°

Secretary of State Minis-
ter Hugh Faulkner welco-
med the delegates on
behalf of the Government
of Canada. During his
speech, he mentioned the
Federal Government's res-
ponsibility for settling the
land claim, but being too
much of a gentleman,

didn't mention the B. C.-

Government’s refusal to
discuss the issue.
Ironically, the major part

of his speech was devoted.

to patting himself on the
back for establishing the
core-funding program. He
Stated that although the
results of the core-funding
evaluation were not com-
plete, the Government had
the best of intentions when
the program was establi-
shed. What Faulkner left
out,. however, was that in
B. C,, the very site of the
conference, the two major
Indian organizations in the
province rejected those

same funds. Ignoring this |

fact, Faulkner then handed

out copies of his speech in 4°»:

languages-and copies of the
core-funding guidelines. _

The differences that were:
apparent at the opening of
the conference were not
confined to just costume,’
language, or- facial fea-
tures, as observers found
out when the conference
tried to select a chairman.
New Zealand nominated
Sam Deloria, a Sioux Indian
who administers a native
lawyer training program in
the United States, to. be



Chairman. The Colombian
delegation instantly reacted
and stated they wanted a
‘neutral’ chairman. This
suggestion was immediate-
ly supported by other

Spanish-speaking dele--

gales, and the ‘‘anti-grin-
go" and anti-‘‘North-Ame-
ricano”’ sentiments became
obvious. Eventually, the
matter was settled with the

_ Selection of George Manu-

el, a Greenlander, and a.
Panamanian.as the Co-Cha-
irmen,

The political battle

continued over the wording —

in the Charter of the World
Council of Indigenous Peo-
ples. While most delegates
were happy with the term
‘indigenous’, (meaning the
original. inhabitants of ‘a
country), the Bolivian peo-
ple insisted the term
‘Indian’ be used instead. A
compromise was reached

Delegates from: Peru, N



security; a conference fea-
ture with good and bad
points. Admission to the
conference was _ sirictly
controlled and while the
native news media was
usually allowed in, the
establishment press - was
limited and. had several
restrictions. Bécause of the
fear of political reprisals at
home, taking pictures of
any of the delégafes from
Mexico, Peru, Guatemala,

or Bolivia was not allowed. -
While the above-mentioned |
security arrangements we-.

re sensible; the admission

of observers was not, and .

caused much anger and
confusion. Observers were
only allowed in
receiving permission from
their national delegation.
In the case of Canadian
Indians, passing the secu-

rity test sometimes meant
. giving someone your name,

ghost





The Situation Of.
IndianPeoples
“InGuatemala |











“py Antone Bopcaat P|









Same shoes with curled-up toes.

Those interested in. recei
America can write:

ving information re. §



ee Lon ak et

outh

INDIGENA, Box 4073, Berkeley, California 94704,

here too, as both. terms

were used to mean the:

same thing.

While the political dis-.,

cussions had much the
Same air as at the United
Nations, there was also a
need for U.N. - . type

ae







6 NESIKA

Nov/Dee 75"



being given a look up-and-

down, and told you were
times, it

‘OK’. — Other
meant being told to ‘Go
away. The conference is
closed."” (Indian people,

some who had driven from. '

as far away as Kamloops,
were turned away - by a

security staff which inclu- —

ded many non-Indians!)
The fuzzy ‘security. test’
made one wonder what
kind of Indian was not
allowed to attend:
Certainly all kinds of
Indians were observing -
Maoists, Social Crediters,
A.I.M. members, and fat-
cat bureaucrats.. Unfortu-
nately, the only memories
of the conference for those
who were turned away will
not be pleasant ones,

- security,
. that first day soon centered

after







education in itself,






.W.T., Greenland, and Paraguay.

With U.N. - type
the discussions

on the United Nations
itself. Sam Deloria of the
United States noted
the National Indian Broth-
erhood has been granted a
non-governmental --organi-
zation status in the Social
and. Economic Council. of
the United Nations, and can:
submit oral and written
statements to the Council
and attend some meetings.

He pointed up the impor-

tance of. doing so, since
many countries do not want
international supervision of
their own indigenous peo-

ple and their problems. He

noted there were problems
even with the rights ~ of
individuals,
rights: and equality of
groups, such as the right to
land and the right -to
self-determination, A sug-
gestion he offered was the
establishment of an inter-
national. treaty setting sta-
ndards for the treatment of
indigenous peoples. The
actions of U.N. members
would be under some
measure of control by the
pressure of world opinion.

The delegates were warned -

to be realistic since the
Declaration of Human Ri-
ghis didn’t accomplish any-
thing, and since the NIB’s
status at the U.N. is the
lowest - even below the

International Federation of -

Bee-Keepers and Federa-
tion of Pedestrians. How-

_ ever, ali agreed that co-op-

eration on an international
level would be worthwhile

if just one group: of
indigenous people would be :

helped as a resiult..
When the conference
adjourned for meals or even.
coffee, the simple act of
eating lunch could be an
One.
could watch a Same. dele-
gate eating a banana with
a fork and with the peel still
on, or- one -could: see a
Colombian half-fill a cup
with cream and sugar then
add a quarter-cup of coffee.
One learned about a-world
of different diet and eating
habits. The cafeteria staff,

composed of local people,:_

worked long hours prepar-
ing the two dozen meals for
the 200 diners.

broke
groups on Tuesday to

cussions,
between the native people

that -

and not the-

three.

In order to increase
discussion, the conference
into. three smail

discuss the political, social,
and economic conditions in
each country. Instead of
the differences that were
apparent in previous dis- .
the similarities

of the world soon began to.
emerge. Here is a
sampling of same of those
talks:

UNITED STATES

After they had taken the
spiritual heart from our’
people we were then open
to their education and it
became difficult to survive.
They took away the basis of

our existence - our langu-

age. They struck at the
heart of our existence - our
children.
_ Why did they want our
land? Why. did they want to
change us?...We are not
superior to anything. We
are part of the creation. - It
is this understanding of
justice and equality we are
talking about. and it is very

.. difficult to. communicate.

this to the other society...

_ They log and fish for money

and break every law of
creation. The creation of
the Universe is a reality -
that will prevail,
Indigenous people have
to be careful. to maintain
knowledge of the creation

_SO we can escape the

catastrophe that comes to
these people. There is no
mercy in nature. We have
to bring the white man back
to his beginnings.
MEXICO:
Education does not reach
a lot of indigenous people
and even when there is
schooling available, it often
doesn’t go past grade |
There is common
schooling for everyone.
There is no respect for
anything indigenous.
VENEZUELA
We the indigenous peo-
ple have a history in no way
inferior to: European histo-

ry. We should separately

study our history and
European history and make

clear distinctions between

them. The children afe
taught European culture
and history and are taught
to. ignore their own.

cont. on page 7



A Maori from New Zealand

Our culture is being |

pressured ‘from ail sides.
They deny us our tongue
and brainwash us through
education and commynica-
tion meédia. We are
prevented from expression
through language, songs
and dances, to the paint
where some of the people
deny their origins.

NICARAGUA

Indians. are far behind
regarding education. The
Government made a small
effort but not enough.
Indian peoples are treated
badly and are taught in
Spanish, not their own
language.

ECUADOR

The co-operative establi-
‘shed by the indigenous
peoples have been ripped-
off by the Government
every year, using their
financial and regulatory
powers to prevent: the
indigenous people from
getting ahead.

SWEDEN

The majority community
-wants equality - but only on
their terms ...
few years we have had the
opportunity to have schools

with our own language -—

before that, the language
survived only verbaily. The
majority interpret rules and
regulations according to
their own ideas.

COLOMBIA

The minorities have their
own civilization - a kind of
primitive socialism. The
system is life in common -
that is exactly what the
government system wants
to destroy because they are
afraid we might make
progress and gain an
advantage over them ... So
they impose things on us
that make us lower our
heads and accept their
system.

NEW ZEALAND

The education
serves to perpetuate the
social structure and is very
often used as an instrument

in the last -

system



- Entertainment from Catiaitan matinee left-Tse-shaht s singers, ght Roger Cardinal
and Shingoose from the Prairies.

of assimilation to force
indigenous people to adopt

to the majority culture ...

There are common tenden-
cies in the operation of
education in indigenous
peoples’ countries. Educa-
tion is for assimilation. It is

the duty of the oppressed to.
educate the oppressor to.

include the education, his-
tory, culture, and language
of indigenous people in
schools.

PARAGUAY

They don’t want -to

recognize that we are the

beginning of life - the roots.
They should respect us but
they don’t They are
afraid of giving us land
titles.
land like we'd live in a
rented flat. White people

have the responsibility to’
‘give the land title to the

indigenous people.
GREENLAND

The education is in a

language that is not our

language, on a base not
familiar. .. School teaches
the children to. become
Danish people and the

young people have no goals:

in their lives.
NORWAY
Intruders came to our
land and said, ‘‘That
mountain and that river is
mine,’’ and they later

showed us papers to show.

us they owned our land ...
The Government refuses to
acknowledge our existence
and therefore say we have
no problems ... We feel like
guests in our land.



The leader of the Paraguay delegation.

We live in our own’

' Many countries, notably
Guatemala, did not partici-
pate in the discussions
about their own situation

because of the fear of.

political reprisals at home.
Strangely absent from most

‘discussions was the subject. ©
of missionaries -

even
though. many delegates
made passing references to
them and wondered how to
combat them. They were
not only referring to relig-
igus misssionaries, and the
Missionary approach to
education, but the ‘Coca-
Cola’
meaning the
industrial societies to- sell
their products and lifesty-
les to underdevelaped na-
tions.

Like most en the
most valuble and informa-
tive sessions took place
during the social events
where situations were ex-
plained, questions answer-
ed, friendships made, and

understandings arrived at.
Most’ countries: brought —

films, ‘literature, and gave

‘talks to explain the sitna- |
tion in their country. One of

the most dramatic of these
presentations was made by
the Paraguay delegation,
who told of slavery support-
ed by the government and
the churches. They told of
large slave-labour ranches
in their country which were
owned and operated by the
churches, and when ques-
tioned,

tant denominations.

ing parties go into the

mountains and return to the ~

ranches with Indians to
work on them, with. the
common selling-price of a
child being $10 or a pair of
shoes. They also explained
a new version of the fur
trade in that country where
white hunters kill Indians
for their furs, rather than
trap themselves. They stat-
ed that 70 Indians had been
killed for that reason in the
past year alone. |

Certainly the most
entertaining part of the
conference were the songs

and dances performed by |

the delegates from many
countries. Despite the ma-
ny differences in songs,
language, dances and cost-
umes, the similarities were
clear. These people from all
over the world were trying

to-express the same feel-—

ings and say the same
things. The warm feeling

.. they left in the heart stayed

long after the songs and the
drums had stopped.

Beer aftd

missionaries too,
efforts. of -

again,

stated it involved

both Catholic and Protes-
Hunt- -

_ The social events, like the

rest of the conference, were
not witheut controversy.
liquor
served at most events, (at

_ 75 cents a drink) and many

delegates felt it had no
place at a meeting of that
kind. Even for those willing
to accept it, the cost, (cheap
to North Americans) was
much too . expensive for

others. The 75 cent drink is

the same as 1'4 days’ pay
at the minimum wage in
several South American
countries.

CONFERENCE RESULTS
The week-long conference
did achieve something, but

only time will tell if the
. results will be meaningful

and long-lasting.

First, it was formally
decided to organize as the
World Council of Indigen-
ous People, and to meet
possibly in three
years’ time. The conference
did accept, in principle, a
Charter for the -Council,

_ and elected. an. Executive.
George Manuel was elected

President with: four others
on the Executive - Julio
Dixon, Panama: Clemente

- Acon,

were .

Bolivia; Neil Wat- -
ene, New Zealand; and_
Aslak Nils, Finland. Sam.
Deloria of the United States
was elected Secretary-Gen-
eral.

The conference also
passed a resolution protest-
ing the genocide of Indian
people in Brazil.

As a direct result of the
conference, the Greenland

_ Territorial Council (a con-

servative and anti-Inuit
governing body of that part
of Denmark}, sent a tele-
gram to the Greenland
delegation and the confer-
ence, announcing that they
were claiming all under-
ground mineral rights for

_ the Greenland people, and

that they didn’t belong to
the | Government in Den-
mark.

The only weapon of the
World Council of Indigen-
ous People is the pressure
of world opinion, and
judging by the media
coverage in this corner of
the world, they are not off

to a flying start. The entire

week rated only 4 para-
graphs in the back pages of
the Vancouver Sun and the

- Toronto Globe and Mail -

partly as a result of the
conference's restrictions. on
the press.

Fully realizing we are bet-
ter off than the Indians in
South America or the
Aborigines in Australia,
and knowing we. won't
benefit from, cr probably
even see or hear from this
group again, we can only
wish this-new Council well,.
and hope that someone,
somewhere, will benefit
from their work.

4

A ony Indian om Brazil.

BRAZIL RESOLUTION
Considering that within Brazil overt practises of
‘genocide. and ethnocide are being carried out against
the indigenous nations. that live within that territory,
and that the Brazilian indigenous delegates could not §.
come to this International Conference of Indigenous -
Peoples since they could not leave the country without

the permission of the National

Foundation of

Indigenous Affairs and since they are.considered to be
minors according to Brazilian law, —
This International Conference of Indigenous People
resolves that: We actively protest in the United Nations
_ and throughout the world about this situation of the
indigenous peoples of Brazil because they.are human
‘beings and we demand that international agencies put
pressure on the Brazilian Government in order that
they end such a crime being practised against: the
rights of indigenous people in that country. |





- NESIKA

‘Nov/Dec75..2~O~«<“‘;SZ

. Kamloops Residential School - where it began anew.

There have been many
developments since NESI-
KA last reported on activi-
ties within the Union of B.
C. Indian Chiefs several
months ago, and events
indicate that divisions wit-
hin the Union are begin-
ning to heal and the old
style of politics is being
replaced.

At last report (mid-Oc-
tober), the Union was still
deeply involved in fighting
out the funding issue.
Then Executive Philip Paul
had sent out a memo to all
bands stating his opinion
that the Union and the
Indian people should return
to. DIA and Government
funding. At the same time,
he invited the bands’
response, since action at
the Chiefs’ Council and
Executive level was stalled
over the split on the issue.
Philip Paul and a number of
Chiefs’ Council members
(notably by their absence)
prevented the other Execu-
tives and Chiefs’ Council
members from carrying
through on the letter and
spirit of the Chilliwack
resolutions.

Typical of the response
Paul received were these
excerpts from a letter by
Chief Chris Cook Jr. of the
Nimpkish Band at Alert
Bay: :

“‘Nowhere in your me-
morandum have you inclu-
ded the positive aspects of
DIA rejection. While we
agree that the rejection of
funds was premature -and
ill-conceived, nevertheless,
it can not be denied that
rejection has served some
good purpose. It was a bad
move for the right reasons,
some right reasons at least.
The discussions here a-
mong band members relat-
ed to rejection of funds led



to. better communication
and for the first time,
forced people to- consider
alternatives. Nowhere in
your memorandum do you
consider the possibility that
rejection might strengthen
Indian people and encour-
age them to- work for
independence. Is PRIDE no
longer aprt of your vocabu-
lary? It is an important
word in ours. Yes, we are
proud that we have contin-
ued to reject DIA funding
and proud that we are
working towards control of
our own lives.

“It would be dishonest for
us to say that it has been
easy, because our decision

has placed serious financial"

burdens on some of our
people. Furthermore, it
would be unrealistic for us
to say that we will never
return to DIA _ funding
because we do not know at

this point what the future
-will bring...

“‘To quote from page 3 of
your memorandum, ‘reject-
ion of all funding...this no
longer has political relev-
ance and it is time to move
in a new direction.’ To talk
of returning to: DIA as

-moving in a new direction is

an indication of just how
bankrupt the leadership of
the Union is and we deeply
regret that what began in
Kamloops six years ago has
degenerated to: the point
where the Union’s credibili-
ty not only to the ‘grass-
roots’, but to the nation at
large, has virtually disap-
peared. To regain its
credibility. and build its
strength there is no quest-
ion that the Union must
have new leadership whose
aims are consistent with the
aims of the “grassroots’.””
After viewing the
response
Philip Paul announced on

be
Oc aial ini

to. his memo, -

November 14th, that ‘‘the
response I have been
getting from the chiefs
indicates a majority of them
have lost confidence in the
kind of leadership I can
offer’? and resigned his
position as an Executive
Member. (He is now being
funded by DIA to help
produce an economic devel--
opment report for the
National Indian Brother-
hood. A 15 year veteran of
political activity-in Indian
organizations, Paul’s future
in the area of Indian politics
is uncertain, for although
he had been. recently
elected chief of the Tsartlip
Band, he did not attend the
UBCIC Assembly in Kam-
loops.

The stage was now set for
the Union’s Special General
Assembly held at the
Kamloops Residential Sch-
ool from November 25th-
27th: It’ seemed that the
Union was back where ‘it
started from six years’ ago
when various Indian groups
foufided the Union in the
same meeting hall and gave
it a mandate to seek a
settlement of the land
claims.

The first indication that
the people had. come to
discuss just that came with
the discussion of the
agenda. Executive Don
Moses, who was responsi-
ble for co-ordinating the
conference, had prepared
an agenda giving time to
the leaders of the 4 politi-
cal parties (Barrett, -Ben-
nett, Wallace, Gibson) to
make election speeches.
Also included was a great
deal of time allotted to
organizational and budget-
ary discussions. Moses’
motion to accept the agen-
da was defeated by the
chiefs, and the 4 white
politicians were no longer

omens

invited to speak.

The UBCIC Executives
then gave their reports to
the Assembly. Moses be-
gan with-a request that the
Assembly must restructure
the Union and pay attention
to the financial area so the
Union could be run in a
business-like fashion. The
only reaction his speech
received was one of indif-
ference.

The only remaining
elected Executive from the
Chilliwack conference, Bill
Wilson, then made his
report on the previous 7
months of the Union. It was
obvious he came prepared
to do battle in defense of
his actions and the rejection
of funds. In a lengthy
document, Wilson attacked
other Executives, notably
Philip Paul, and the always-
absent Chiefs’ Council
members, for stalling pro-
gress and activities in the
land claims movement. The
report was a remarkable
look into what went on
within the Union's Execu-
tive, Council, and staff.
Wilson’s verbal report was
along the same lines and
ended with about half the
observers giving him a
standing ovation. The ma-
jority of chiefs did not seem
impressed or even interest-
ed, and seemed to display a
‘let’s forget about the past
and get on with the future’
attitude.

The chiefs were looking
for something to agree and
co-operate on, and with the
exception of the proposal

from the Fraser East
District, there was little
anyone had brought to

discuss. The Lytton-Lillooet
District submitted a resolu-
tion to return to the old way
of electing Executives -
from the 15 Chiefs’ Council
members, rather than from
the chiefs at the Assembly.
It was a call for a return to
an all-powerful Chiefs’
Council, which was charac-
terized by Wilson as having
once been the ‘‘inner
sanctum of a secret socie-
ty’. The resolution was
eventually tabled for dis-
cussion the next day.
FRASER EAST
PROPOSAL

The major focus of the
conference was the Land
Claims Action Proposal
submitted by the Fraser
Fast District. The proposal
consists of 6 main Princip-
les of Recognition and a

U.B.C.1.C.





Kamloops

a proposal for land claims action



DECLARATION OF NATIVE TITLE

We, the native people of the tribes of British Columbia, open and publicly declare
and affirm to the people and governments of Canada and B. C.:

THAT the Indian tribes have held and still hold Native Title, Aboriginal Rights and
ownership to all lands and resources of British Columbia, within our respective tribal
territorial boundaries,

THAT the Indian tribes have held and still hold aboriginal rights to hunt, fish, and
trap and gather food, resources, and goods within our respective tribal territorial
boundaries,

THAT the Indian tribes have held and still hold inalienable and aboriginal rights to
self-government within our respective tribal territorial boundaries,

THAT we, the native people of the tribes of British Columbia, have never reached
Any agreement or treaty with the governments of Canada and British Columbia
roncerning the occupation, settlement, sovereignty, and jurisdiction over ourlands,
THAT such Native Title and Aboriginal Rights have never been extinguished,
purchased, or acquired by treaty, agreement or by any other means by the
government of Canada and the government of British Columbia,

THAT such Native Title and Aboriginal Rights exist today and shall continue to
exist for all future time,

THAT the governments of Canada and British Columbia shall immediately
recognize the existence of Native Title and Aboriginal Rights and shall enter into
tripartite negotiations with representatives of the native people of B. C.,

THAT such negotiations will be based on the principle that Native Title and
Aboriginal Rights exist and will continue to exist, and that any compensation benefits
resource royalties, or payments will NOT be a purchase or extinguishment of Native
Title and Aboriginal Rights but will be a part of an ongoing and perpetual recognition
of:Native Title and Aboriginal Rights. THAT such negotiations will determine the
specific methods of putting Native Title and Aboriginal Rights into practise,
THAT in recognition of Native Title and Aboriginal Rights there will be land,
monetary, and other compensation for lands and resources held by the Indian people
of British Columbia under Native Title and Aboriginal Rights that have already been
irretrievably encroached upon, sold, or otherwise used under Provincial or Federal
grants of title or licence; that such compensation will be negotiated on the basis od
perpetual and continuing recognition of Native Title and Aboriginal Rights,

THAT lands that have been unjustly, arbitrarily, and capriciously taken from Indian
reserves shall be returned; that if return of these cut-offs and lost reserve lands is not
possible, then alternate lands of equal value shall be set aside as Indian Reserves,
THAT in recognition of Native Title and Aboriginal Rights there will be protection
for Indian participation in royalties, use and management of all lands and resources
within our respective tribal boundaries; that such Indian participation and monies
paid under agreement will NOT be construed a purchase, or extinguishment of
Native Title and Aboriginal Rights,

THAT in recognition of Native Title the inalienable and aboriginal rights of hunting
and fishing shall not be abridged, restricted, curtailed or regulated by any act or
regulation of the government of Canada or British Columbia; that if any regulation of
such aboriginal rights of hunting and fishing are deemed necessary by the Indian
people themselves, such regulation shall be administered by the Indian people
themselves, or their representatives,

THAT all development, regulation, land sales, and resource extraction from or on
so-called “Crown lands’ held by the Indian people of British Columbia under Native
Title and Aboriginal Rights shall immediately cease until agreement is reached
between the government of Canada, the government of B. C., and the Native people
of B. C. on recognition of Native Title and Aboriginal Rights,

THAT all forest tenures, mineral claims, land leases be declared in moratorium
after expired dates of such licences and leases until agreement is reached between the
governments and the native people on recognition of Native Title and Aboriginal
Rights. That the government of British Columbia does not renew any resource
licence (mineral claims, tree farm licences, timber sale harvesting licences, timber
sale licences, and pulp harvesting licences) when they expire and that the government
of B.C. cancel old Crown grant timber berths. That no new provincial or federal parks
be established until after such agreement on recognition of Native Title and
Aboriginal Rights. :

THAT all lands presently designated Federal Crown Lands within British Columbia
shall be immediately turned over to the Indian people of B. C.,

We, the Native people of the tribes of British Columbia, hereby declare and affirm
our inalienable right of Native Tithe and Aboriginal Rights to the land, the minerals,
the trees, the lakes, the rivers, the streams, the seas, and the other resources of our
native land. We declare that our Native Title and Aboriginal Rights have existed from
time immemorial, exists at the present time, and shall exist for all future time,

We, the native people of the tribes of British Columbia, declare that we shall do all
in our power to see that the governments of Canada and British Columbia Recap ites
in law, and in practise. our Native Title and Abor iginal Rights.

FRASER EAST DECLARATION APPROVED IN PRINCIPLE BY ASSEMBLY







Declaration of Native Title.
The Fraser East people
point out that ‘“‘it is not a
proposal for land claims
research, it is a proposal for
land claims action."’ The
key, they say, is the
mobilization of the Indian
people, community organi-
zation, and the rebuilding
of a native people's move-
ment. Although the govern-
ments look at land claims as
a ‘settlement’ or extin-
guishment of Native Title
the Fraser East people say
we must fight for recogni-
tion of Native Title.

PRINCIPLES
OF
RECOGNITION
The main principle of
land claims is that Native
Title and Aboriginal Rights
are to be recognized, not
sold or extinguished. This
is a proposal for ongoing
recognition, NOT settle-
ment: ;

2) The recognition of Nat-
ive Tithe and Aboriginal
Rights by the Federal and
Provincial Governments is
the basis for ongoing Indian
participation in royalties,
use, and management of
land and resources.

3) Compensation (in land
and in money) is paid only
for past injustices and
broken promises; comp-
ensation is for 100 years of
non-recognition of Native
Title and Aborginal Rights
by the governments.
Compensation is for such
things as lost lands, cut-
offs and losses suffered due
to illegal restrictions of
aborginal rights of hunting,
fishing, and resource use.
Such compensation is NOT
a purchase of Native Title

ee

or Aborginal Rights.
4) The position of the
native people of British

Columbia was not and is
not a surrender or cession
of Native Title or Abori-
ginal Righis. Treaty 8 was
recognized by Indians only
as a treaty of friendship and
co-operation, not as a

surrender of Native Title
and Aboriginal Rights.
Treaty 8 in no way

jeopardizes the land claim
of the Natives of B.C. in the
Treaty 8 area

5) Current Department of
Indian Affairs programs
will not be curtailed or
abolished in exchange for
recognition of Native Title
and Aboriginal Rights or
for any compensation or
benefits forthcoming.



“LET US WORK TOGETHER TODAY FOR OUR CHILDREN TOMORROW” °

6).The following persons
are eligible to participate in
recognition of Native Title
and Aboriginal Rights : a)
persons who have been
members of B.C. Indian
Bands all their lives, b)
persons who were members
of B.C. Indian Bands
continuously until they lost
their status by marriage or
enfranchisement, c) per-
sons who are at least 1/4
British Columbia Indian by
descent.

The Fraser East Proposal
was tabled to be reviewed
and discussed at evening

meetings later in the
conference.
DIA BLACKMAIL
Discussion of the

Chilliwack rejection motion
finally occurred late- the
first day. A motion was
made by Mary Lou Andr
ews and Jane Stelkia to
-recind. the ;
funds motion passed at the
Chilliwack Assembly. Their
move did not receive much
support as it was pointed
out that many people and
many Bands are still living
by the Chilliwack resolution
and recinding it would be
unfair to them. The reason
for the recinding motion
soon became clear - DIA
was trying to blackmail the
Union.

It seems that before’

Chilliwack, DIA recognized
the Union as having some
sort of official authority.

After Chilliwack,
however, -DIA sent all the
bands in the province a
letter stating the Chilliwack
motion had no_ meaning
since the Union had no
authority, and the bands
could go directly to DIA for
funding. After the Fraser
East District requested
continued funding for their
Coqualeetza Cultural Edu



rejection » of:

cation Centre from DIA,
they were sent a letter in
November stating that sin
ce the Chilliwack motion
was still in effect, DIA
could not fund the project.
The rejection of funds was
clearly an embarrassment
to DIA and this episode was
just an effort by the
government to even the
score. In trying to gét a
band to do their dirty work,
DIA was just using the
government’s standard div-
ide-and-rule tactics.

After a suggestion by
George Watts, the rescind-
ing motion was finally
tabled.

Evenings at the confer-
ence were filled with
activity as groups of young
people, BCANSI officials,
and various districts met in
caucus to review the Land
Claims Action Proposal and
discuss the future of the
Union. ryan

The second day of the
conférence saw the funding
issue raised again. Probab-
the best. remark of the
assembly was made by
Chemainus delegate. Ray
Harris during the debate.
He warned the assembly,
“You can rescind that:
motion, but let’s see you
rescind last summer.’’ The
matter was finally settled
when Bill Wilson introduc-
ed a motion that the only
business of the Union
would be the resolution of
the land claims issue, and
the mattet of funding would\
be left up to bands and
individuals. The motion
passed with little opposit-
ion, and hopefully, -the
Union can get on with the
land claims fight now that
the funding issue would
seem to be dead.

The conference passed a
resolution supporting the
stand of the West Coast



District and their struggle
with the giant timber
companies.

The Lytton-Lillooet resolu-
tion came to a vote and was
defeated that same day,
thereby closing the door on
the old-line politicians’
ability to pick Executives to
their liking, and keeping it
in the hands of the chiefs in
assembly.

After some discussion, the
Fraser East proposal was
accepted in principle, with
all the chiefs to return to
their bands and discuss it
with their members. The
chiefs are then.to bring the
proposal back to the April
Assembly with any addi-
tional corrections or -sug-
gestions.

The Union once again
approved the principle of
including non-status people
in the recognition of Native

‘Title when they accepted
“the Fraser East ‘proposal;

essentially the same move
that had been made at the
Terrace and Chilliwack
meetings.

Before the Kamloops
Assembly ended, however,
Bill Wilson proposed 13
voting and structural chan-
ges which would include
and extend the involvement
of ‘‘non-status’’ people in
the activities of the Union.
Some of the changes he
proposed are:

1) A definition that for the
_ purposes of this proposed
re-organization, and for all
future actions of the ‘new’
Union, the term ‘‘Indian
people in B.€.’’ shall
include all those people of
one quarter (1/4) native
Indian blood with ancestry
in the land now known as
B.C.

2) ALL the Indian people
in B.C. shall have the right
to vote in Executive Memb-
er elections. cont. p. 10

3) ALL the Indian people
in a district shall have the
right to vote in the Chiefs’
Council! Member elections
in their particular districts.
The districts shajl be
structured to reflect tribal
groups in B.C. Each tribal
group. shall have one
Chiefs’ Council Member

4) Every Indian person in
B.C. -may run for Chiefs’
Council and ~ Executive
Member positions.

5S) The Chiefs’ Council
Members and | Executive
Members will go to the
Annual General Assembly
to just sit and listen to the
directions givén by the
Indian people present.

6 The name of the Union
shall -be changed to the
Union’ of B.C. Indian
Peoples.

The changes that Wilson
suggests are to be discus-
sed at the band Jevel and
then voted on at the April
ssembly, which the confer-
ence agrecd would be held
in Cape Mudge.

ELECTIONS

‘On Thursday the Execu-
tive elections were held,
and five people were
nominated and stood for
election: Bill Wilson, Bob
Manuel, Steven Point, Bill
Lightbown, and Ray Harris.
Bob Manuel, 28; Steven
Point, 24; and Bill Wilson,
31; were clected and their
average. age. of .27 makes:
them the youngest Execu-
tive the Union has ever
had, and is probably the
youngest in Canada.

Bob Manuel is a member
of the Neskainlith Band and
has been working there to
organize their people since
the . Chilliwack Assembly.
Before that, he worked at

the Unton, directing the
community development
program.

Steven Point is the Chief

of the Skulkayn Band, and
formerly worked as a
home-school co-ordinator in
the Fraser Valley,

Bill Wilson is a member of
the Cape Mudge Band, a
past Union executive and
Chiefs’ Council Member,
and a law school graduate.



Bill Wilson- elec to Executive.

Amazingly enough, while
everyone was packing their
bags,
new Executives; and gen-
erally getting ready to
leave, the funding issue
was brought up apain. A

new motion by Rose Charlie

and Delbert Guerin seeking
to rescind the Chilliwack
motion was made and the
issue finally came to a vote.
It was soundly defeated as
only..about 5 of the
delegates ‘voted in favor.

OBSERVATIONS
At the time the Special

General Assembly was
called, the Union’s ability

to pull itself together and,
carry on the land claims -

movement was seriously in
question. However, the
Union did achieve a quor-

um of roughly 120 of the —

192 Chiefs, despite the fact
that several sources sought
to convince the Indian

people over the summer
thatthe Union was dead;
despite the fact that no one

received written notice of
the assembly because of
the mail strike; and despite
the fact that two Executives

had resigned and_ several.

Chiefs’ Council members
never attended a Council
meeting in seven months.
In addition to the chiefs
present, there was also
close to 400 people who had



Delegates from the Williams Lake District.

congratulating the —

come to observe.

-The Union has



10 NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75





















-given when the —
considers the proposed

structural and voting chan--

ges at their April assembly.

A second unanswered |

question is how the oraniza-
tion will be funded. The
issue was not discussed,
and many people left the
asembly assuming either
that the Union would be

' funded by the government,

or that it would be
supported by the people
and their donations.. The
possibility that the Union
may yet receive a promised
grant from the Secretary.of

State to help fund the

Kamloops Assembly does
nothing to eliminate this
confusion,

. Lastly, there is doubt over

what ‘action’ refers to-in
the Fraser East proposal.
Does it and ‘mobilization’
mean organizing, lobbying,

negotiating, or does it
mean a return to the
militant actions of last

summer?



New UBCIC Executive Steven Point.

Half of
these were young people,
with little or no prior
involvement in Indian _-polit-
ics, and many of them had
been involved in the front-
line of activity over. the
summer - the roadblocks,
sit-ins, and demonstrat-
ions,

The

results of the

conference were encourag-
-, Ing. For although several

unanswered questions’ re-
main, the Union shows
promise. of reducing the
internal fighting and begin-
ning to co-operate around
the broad issues of the land
claims struggle. One of the

unanswered questions is |

the extent of ‘‘non-status’’
involvement in the Union.

stated. they are entitled to

‘participate in the? recogni-
tion of Native Title, but are

they willing to allow them a
say in the negotiations, or
in the running of the
Union? The answer will be

already,

Union

‘Well, the conference is
‘over and was
unanimous support of the
Fraser East proposal; so
it’s time for the leadership
and the people to: begin

working out the answers to

these questions.
SINCE KAMLOOPS

A great. many financial
and administrative . details
were not dealt. with: for
several months as the
Union planned its confer-
ence and came to a
standstill on other matters,

-so the new Executives have

been straightening these
matters out since the
Kamloops assembly.

The Union's office at the
Land Claims Centre in Vict-

_oria has been moved to the

Coqualeetza Centre. Their
new address is: UBCIC,
Box 173, Coqualeetza Cent-

_ re, Sardis, B.C. The phone.

number is 858-9431.

in almost .

The Executives have been °

travel plans to meet with
the bands to: discuss the
Fraser East proposal. It is
their intention that the
Union become a _ people-
funded organization, so

their budget includes prov-.

isions for them to continue
receiving salaries. of only
$500 per month.

Their decision has already
gained some support at the
band level. A meeting of
the Mt. Curric Band
recently took up a collection
of $77 in nickels, dimes,
and crumpled dollar bills at
a meeting with one of the
Exectives, and committed
themselves to raising a

certain amount each month -

to support the land claims
activities of the Union.
The first mecting of the
Chiefs’ Council since the
Kamloops Assembly —
scheduled for the 16th and
17th of January in Vancouv-
er.



New UBCIC Heseuiive Bob Manuel.

busy sctting up budget and -

Lightbown





New BCANSI Spokesman Bill Lighthown —

A surprising turn of events
in mid-November saw Bill
Lightbown replace Fred
House as leader of
BCANSI. When the provin-
cial election was called,
Fred House was consider-
ing running for office as an
MLA. At a- meeting of the
BCANSI Board of Directors
on November 9th, House
was piven permission to
take a leave of absence
from his position as Presi-
dent if he was successful in
getting a nomination.-
Three days later on the
12th, he announced his
intention to seek the Liberal
nomination in the riding of
Fort George. He did win
the nemination on the 17th,
but soon found he was
being criticized for main-
taining a connection with
the BCANSI organization.
So at a press conference on
the 20th of the month, Fred
House announced he was
resigning his position as
President and severing ail

formal ties with the organ-

ization,

Picking a replacement

proved to be a sticky
problem since the Vice-
President elected at. the
June Assembly, Doris Ron-

nenburg, had resigned over |

a conflict with: the. other

members of the Board of |

Directors. House didn’t
select the Secretary-Treas-
urer, Jamie Sterritt,.
cause Sterritt wasn’t in the

good graces of the Board of -

Directors either.. House
finally selected Board
Member Jim Lanigan to
replace him as the Acting

President until: the Board
could deal with the matter.-
came as a.

The move
surprise to- Lanigan who
had earlier indicated he
would not take the position
when he had talked to

House about it. Fred House ©

be- .

_ began by

had picked Lanigan be-

‘cause Lanigan had served -

for two years as Hoyse’s
Vice-President.

KAMLOOPS WORKSHOP >

The Board of Directors

‘dealt with the matter at the
Kamloops workshop on the

24th of November, one day
before the Union of B. C.
Indian Chiefs’

BCANSI representatives
there, the Board voted a
member of the Board,

,Lightbown, as the replace-

ment for House, giving him
the title of Spokesman,

rather than Acting Presi-

dent.

The workshop had been
called to coincide with the
Union meeting, so the
BCANSI delegates could
learn what was and had
been happening within
both organizations. Jim
Lanigan began the com-

munications workshop with.

review of the events since

‘the June Assembly. He

explained the controversy
over the resignations of
Doris Ronnenberg and
George Brown and detailed

how the fragile unity.
between the Union and

BCANSI had been broken

and the reason for the

Union’s-- conference in
Kamloops, He reviewed the

_ action taken by the Execu-

tive ‘and Board on the
Resolutions passed ‘at the
June Assembly, and fin-
ished by stating he had
other commitmenits - which
prevented him from taking
on the posaen of Presi-
dent.

- The Board of Directors

then made individual re-
ports to the meeting on the -

past and future direction of
BCANSI. Jamie Sterritt
stressing
importance of organization

work = with.
. Tribe. He added, however,

conference. -
was to- start. With. the 7
consent of most of the 60

_ groups.
length of discussions, no_

inform

what is happening within
the .

on a tribal basis for any
eventual settlement.
George Asp restated the ©

importance of tribal organi-
zation and pointed to-his
‘the Tahitan

that Indian people from
out-of-province have no
place in any such organiza-
tion, and his manner of
doing so clearly infuriated
many of the out-of-province
people. present. Bill Light-

on the

basis. He said that. room
should be made for these

people to be involved in the —
land claims movement, but

they probably wouldn’t be
included in any settlement.
Art Smitheram stated the
media confused the people

over the rejection of funds .

issue, and that he was
concerned over the import-
ance of tribal organization.

_He said he was also worried

about the ‘alleged resigna-
tions’’ of Ronnenberg and

Brown. Rene Poitras stated

that out-of-province Indians

wanted to: be involved in
the movement, but didn’t

figure on being included in

-any settlement because
they knew where they were

from. Danny Smith. spoke

_on-the importance of Indian:
. people unifying and carry-

ing on the land claims
_movement.
The delegates from

roughly 20 locals gave their
reports on local activities

_ and concerns. At that time,
the mail strike was on and -

most locals were concerned
that -no

With-a lack of information
and all the summer activi-
ties, most locals reported
that action at the local level
had just about come to-a

stop. As for the future, the -
delegates wanted to see the

leadership question resolv-

ed; and many wanted to see .

regionalization of the

_ organization put into effect.

Much of the day was spent
assessing the priorities of
the organization with- the
delegates split into small
In spite of the

clear decisions were
reached,. so the workshop

‘turned to. what -position

BCANSI should take at the
Union’s Assembly. It was
agreed that a spokesman
for the Association should

state that organization for a |

land claims settlement be
on a tribal basis. . |
As for the communication

gap between the locals and
it was sug-.

head office;
gested that a liaison person
be hired to- travel and
the locals about

BCANSI and the
claims movement.

land
The

information was .
- getting out to the people.

tions were: a)
recognizes and fights - for.

suggestion was voted down
because $500,000 a year in

core-funding wasn’t able to.

solve the communication
problem, not to mention the
present funding situation. —

It was the evening session
which saw Bill Lightbown

_ elected the official Spokes-
_ man of BCANSI over Jamie:
Lightbown is to
_Tepresent the Association
at the Union's conference
_ and carry on until: the next
bown stressed the rejection | BCANSI Assembly.
of funds but-took a:more —
moderate stance. than Asp
involvement of.
out-of-province Indians in —
the organization on a tribal

Sterritt.

ee the sworkshop.

“legal: - authority, ’. the

aisiegates. could only make

recommendations. to- the
Executive and Board. They
did recommend that the
next Assembly be held in
Vancouver about January
24th. 1976, and that
BCANSI approach the First

Citizens Fund for a eran to
cover the expenses, =

. _ DECEMBER

"BOARD MEETING
At this meeting, the Board .

voted not to take the advice

of the Kamloops workshop,
and held off plans for a

quick Assembly in January.

held until. May or June.

Since most.of the Board is.
committed to: the -

still
rejection of funds, they
probably won't be applying
for a grant either.

A lengthy debate over how .

hd |

New BCANSI Leader

The last, and most
controversial, motion he
presented was one stating
that the resignations of
Doris Ronnenberg and
George Brown not be
accepted, and presumably,
they be re-instated on the -
Board. 5
The suggested resolutions
caused bitter debate, so
much so in fact, that the
rest of the Board voted to
table them until the Jan-
uary meeting rather than
continue the discussion. -
Jamie Sterritt could not
attend the meeting and
consequently, the Board

. postponed discussion re-

garding his employment
status as Secretary-Treas-
urer, as well as the topic of
his salary and expenses,
until he is present to meet
with the Board. :
Administration details and
the shut-down of . former
BCANSI programs are
matters which still occupy a
great deal of time for both
staff and the. Board. of
Directors. It was decided at

this meeting that ali the

“Itis likely that it will not be -

the meetings should be

conducted consumed al-
most two hours of the first
day, with a decision being
made that it and all future
Board meetings be held
according to parliamentary
procedure, and not in the
informal manner that had
been the case in the past.
The move was prompted by
Art Smitheram who submit-
ted a list of resolutions to
be considered by - the

Board. His motion to
establish pariiamentary. |
procedure also included a.

call for financial reports to—

be made at each Board
meeting, as well as the
need for minutes to be kept
accurately and word-for

. -word.
' Smitheram suggested that.

the BCANSI Board make
several policy statements
regarding the organiza-
tion’s priorities and direc-
tions. Some of the sugges-
BCANSI

tribal self-determination as

defined by the U.N. Decla-

ration of Human Rights. b)
Persons of native descent

‘not wishing. to. recognize

tribal authority. will be

considered defectors to an

unfriendly foreign power.
c) BCANSI will represent
out-of-tribal territory
Indians and lobby for them
provided that they recog-
nize the jurisdiction and
authority of the tribal
representatives as required
by them.

™

month.
BCANSI’s only salaried
‘ employee and is responsi-

equipment. stored in the.
Victoria office be sold, _
including the printing
press.

The Board also voted to

sell off the equipment from

the Williams Lake sawmill,
rather ‘than continue trying
to operate the mill. Jim

Lanigan reported that the

mill made only a_ small
profit after all the biils has
been paid for the summer’s

“operation.

The Board voted to raise

.Brian Maracle’s salary

from $500 to. $1,000 per .
Maracle is

ble for writing the
NESIKA. Bili Lightbown —
has not accepted a salary
from BCANS} although he

_ has worked full-time since

the Kamloops workshop.
As the Spokesman, he is
also responsible for the
administration of the office.
UBCIC Executive Biil
Wilson attended the meet-
ing and both organizations
informally pledged to~ ex-.
change information and
co-operate with-each other.
A proposal from Canada
Manpower was discussed
which would have involved .
BCANSI in a project count-
ing and registering non

-status Indians in certain

areas of the province. Jim
Lanigan, who soon will be |
directing the program,
pointed out the possible
benefits if BCANSI became
involved. However, the
Board voted not to discuss |
the matter because the

- program is government —

funded.
The next meeting of the
Board i is scheduled for the

24th and 25th of January at

the Vancouver Indian

Centre.



NOV/DEC 75

NESIKA | i

Mt. Currie, Gold River Political Trials.

Indians 73 - Government 0

The Indian people who
took part in the Mt. Currie
and Gold River blockades
have won the first victory in.
what may become a contin-

uing. series of legal battles: -

with the government over

the land and rights. the |

-Indian people Seek to
protect.

A total of 73 people were.
arrested and faced a variety
of charges in the first major

political trials since the pot- -

tatch trials of the mid-

1920's. The government of
that day sought to crush the
spirit, culture, and strength.
of the Indian people and.
used the legal system as
their weapon to. do just
that, The legal system was
a system the Indian people

knew nothing about and |

had no control over, and as
a result, scores of people
were arrested and jailed,
up toa year, for participat-
‘Ing in the potlatch.

Now, 950 years later, little
seems to have changed.
Indian people still know
little about

the legal
system, and have even less
control over -it, Indian

people secking to reassert.
their rights and protect
their land, still find the gov-

erment using all available
resources - their laws, their
courts, and their R.C.M.P.
- to destroy the new-found
strength of the Indian
people.

THE BLOCKADES
& |
THE ARRESTS

The Blockade at Mt.
Currie was erected on June.
19th, after the Band decid-
ed to continue fishing in the
- traditional manner in near-
by Lillooet Lake, and also to
prevent federal Fisheries

Officers from crossing the:

.reserve to reach the lake.
Earlier in the week, a force

_ of 12 Fisheries Officers and:

a doberman pinscher swept
into.the reserve and confis-
cated fishing nets - belong-
ing-to three elderly women
who were fishing in the
lake. A security force
manned the blockade on a
24 hour basis ‘for 30 days,

_and in one instance, were —

forced to disarm a drunken
white man who had threat-

ened an Indian woman and

child with a shotgun.
Originally then, the
blockade. was set up to
protect the rights, land,
and property of the Mt.
“Currie people, However,
once negotiations began
between the Band and the
Attorney-General’s Depart-

ment, the road _ itself
became an issue, since the
Band had never given its

permission for the road to .

be built, nor has it been
compensated for the land

Jost when it was first put’

through the reserve in
1948. While road-widening,
dust control,
were long-standing - com-
plaints, the major focus of

the blockade was to halt the -
logging, mining, construct- -
ion of resort homes, tour- -

MacDonald's
_ decision to-arrest the Mt.
. Currie

and dyking -

blockade up as their bar-_
gaining agent to resolve the

other grievances.
Attorney-General Alex
subsequent

‘people ‘was. not
based on legal considera-

tions, but on political ones.
.The Government was tak-

ing heat from townspeople

_in Pemberton and Lillooet,
as well as from newspapers

ail over the province, and

since they had no intention :

Stager asked the people. to
disperse. _
The reasons for the

- blockade and the arrests at
Gold River were identical to

those at Mt: Currie. A road

- was ‘constructed through
the -Mowah-chat

Reserve
(over an Indian ‘graveyard,
incidently), and once again,

the Band. received no —
compensation.

Once the
road was in place, . it
allowed’ non- -Indian sports

fishermen to deplete sal-

left-Gold River blockade organizer and
defendant Jerry Jack

right-Test case defendent
in the Mt, Currie trial
John Williams

ism, hunting and fishing by

non-Indians in the area. Alt

these activities threaten the —
traditional hunting, fishing,
and land-base of the Mt.

Currie people.

The. original dispute: ‘over
harassment by. Fisheries
Officers was settled in

negotiations with the Fish-

eries Department on July
12th; with the Mt. Currie
people winning a signifi-

- cant breakthrough in hav-
ing their aboriginal fishing :

rights recognized by the
government. While the
original issue was settled, it
soon became clear that the
govetnment had no intent-
ion of settling the other out-,

standing grievances - the
logging, mining, and loss of,

land in the area - and it was
just as clear that the Band
intended to. keep

of negotiating the

the .



12 ~~ NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75

issues, MacDonald decided
to take the blockade out of
the political arena, which
would. require negotiations,
and put it in the legal area
which would require long,

complicated and delayed
trial procedures where the

real issues would not
surface.

atrests: wete based. were
unclear, since DIA records
at the beginning of the
blockade showed it to be on
the reserve - in other
words, on private property!
Nevertheless, a force of 50

~ R.C.M.P. Officers arrested |

393 men, and a dozen
women who were later
released, on July 18th.

Another 80 people were at
the site; prepared to- be
arrested, until Chief Allen

real -

eye, th |
Itritations as a result of

Even the legal —
considerations on which the



mon stocks in Nootka

. Sound. It also allowed a

pulp mill to-be built which

~ has become the source, of
many complaints from the |
Mowah-chat. people since |.

they constantly suffer from
throat, and = skin

airborne pollution from the
mill. The blockade went up
on July 14th, on reserve
land, and prevented access
to the pulp mill and the
pleasure boats at a nearby
dock. .A- security force

manned the blockade 24.

hours a day, for 5 days,
until they were arrested.

At one point, they faced a
counter-blockade estab]
ished by the rednecks in the

area on a section of the’
public highway, but it was

soon taken down on orders
of the R.C.M.P. Just as in

the Mt. Currie situation,
the. Government had no
intentions of negotiating
the real issues - the land
claims of the Mowah-chat .
people-and so MacDonald -

ordered their arrests - as

well.

As- a_ legal basis for

making. the arrests, the |
' Attorney-General

, used a
1938 Government Order-In-
Council (not a law passed
by the Legislature) which
supposedly gives the Pro-_
vince the right to use up to
20 per cent of any reserve
for roads. When the:
arrests were made, ., they
were not made in the same

- orderly fashion as. at-Mt.

Currie just 12 hours previ-
ously, in fact, it was just the .
opposite. Thirty -R.C.M.P.
Officers swooped onto the
reserve. at the crack of dawn
like John Wayne .in the
movies, to make the arre-
sts.: The 20 men and
women arrested madé ma-
ny complaints about rough
treatment from the R.C.-
M.P., and one of the men

was injured during the
arrests. :
CHARGES LAID

“While the people here
originally charged with
obstructing a public high-
way, the various postpone-
ments and delays saw the

Government prepared to

prosecute a host. of other
charges as well, including
preventing the lawful use of
private property, and pu-
blic mischief. <A trial date
was finally set, by some

‘coincidence, for the same. |

day for both groups. -

| Monday, October 20th.

MT. CURRIE TRIAL

Before the trial began, the
government decided to
make a test case of one of
those arrested, rather than
face the nightmarish and
expensive task of trying all |
93 people, either ‘individ
ually, or as a group.John |
Williams,an organizer of
the blockade, was selected |
by the Band to be the .
defendant in the test case.

At a Band meeting on the
Sunday night before the
trial began, the people
agreed to enter into nego-
tiations with the Govern-
ment, rather than fight the

-obstruction charge in court,
‘because they felt the real

issues behind the blockade
would not be resolved in

court.

cont. from page 12

So when John Williams
appeared in Pemberton
court on Monday before
Judge Walker, Crown Pro-
secutor Winkler asked that
charges be dismissed. The
Judge then dismissed. the
charge & was told that the
charges against the other
52 people would probably
also be dropped when they
are scheduled to appear in
January. Williams agreed
to-keep the peace during
the negotiations and was
freed with the whole
process taking less than 20
minutes to complete.

The outcome of such a
trial would have been hard
to: predict. Government

maps show that the bloc-.

kaded road was as much as
30 to 100 feet away from the
right-of-way which was
negotiated, and in effect,
on private: property:

However, there seems to be
some question whether the
site of the blockade itself
was on reserve land, or on
the right-of-way. Before
the blockade was set up,
the Band obtained a legal
opinion from ‘its. lawyer,

Eugene Kwan, who sear--

ched DIA records and
advised the Band that the
Site of the blockade was on
Indian land. However,
during the blockade DIA
updated its records; and
their new records indicated
the site was
right-of-way.

Although ‘the terms of
reference for the negotia-
tion process and a date for

them to begin have not.

been worked out yet, the
Mt. Currie people clearly
hold the upper hand. They
have already stated their
intentions to set up another
roadblock if the Govern-
ment drags out the nego-
tiations or if it doesn’t
intend to settle all the
outstanding issues. + Wil-
‘liams has stated that,
long as meaningful nego-
tiations continue, we will
not block the road’’, but if it
is necessary to establish
another blockade, it will be
on Indian iand.

GOLD RIVER TRIAL

The-trial of the 20 Gold.
began

River defendants -.
with the Government much
more confident of winning a
legal victory. The Govern-
ment did not offer, as they
did in Mt. Currie, to

negotiate the matter, but.
instead sought to beat the |

Indians in court,

The tiny Gold River
courtroom was packed with
50 Indians, in aroom meant
for a crowd half that size, as
the key players lined up to
play their roles in the trial.

The Crown had selected

Jude Anthony Sarich of
Campbell River to: preside

at the trial, a judge with a-

good reputation for dealing
fairly with all people before

him. The Government, to

their eventual embarrass-

chinson,

on the

- Theyawere-net+t :
one. normally. thinks of - the”





Most of the 20 defendants drummed and sang for an hour in front t of the cvcerliane

waiting for the trial. to begin,

ment, did not take equal
care in selecting a prosecu-
tor to prove the charges.

They selected Ralph Hut-
a lawyer from
Nanaimo, to act as prose-
cutor. Acting for the
defense were Peter Leask
and Marguerite. Jackson,
both lawyers from Vancou-

‘- yer.

ee

The two sides in the case
were now ready for trial.

prosecution and the de-
fense - instead, the opening
minutes of the trial showed
the Indians and their

determination to: assert

their rights: and protect
their land to be on one side,
and all the lawyers, the
judge, bailiff, stenogra-
phers, and the Govern-
ments’. determination to

enforce a questionable part -

of their legal ayers to- He

on the other.

re two sides-

Not surprisingly, Hiee.’5
members of each. side.

dressed and acted alike
throughout the course of
the trial. The lawyers,
judge, etc., dressed in

expensive suits: or the

appropriate uniform, and

moved easily through the -

complicated judicial pro-
ceedings using the’ impos-

sible legal language only
. they could understand.

The. Indians with their

‘standartuniforms of fore”

black hair, brown skin, and
biue jeans, sat — silently
through the proceedings,
not knowing exactly what
was. going on, as the
lawyers argued their future

in front of them.

COMEDY OF ERRORS ~

Getting off to.a late start,
the Crown first set out to
prove that. the road being
blockaded: was. a_ public
hignovay; | ‘and. not. on the





‘teserve.. :

government land surveyor

on the stand who had

surveyed the road and the
site of the blockade at the
Government’s request -in
mid August 1975 (one
month after. the arrests).-

The rest of the morning

became a comedy of errors
as Hutchinson fumbled his
way through the surveyor’s

technical testimony regar-.
diag-maps. and surveying ~~

a subject he obviously

wasn't familiar with. At

one point after he had
completely cluttered the
front of the courtroom with

‘the various maps and

charts. he was using to
prove the charges, Hut-
chinson asked in confusion,

Which way is north on

this map?’’ The witness
then told him to ‘‘look at

_ the arrow’’, while the judge
sighed and rolled his eyes...
toward the ceiling.



‘Mowah-chat people discussing strategy during break.

+ sector Hut- |
-chinson began by putting a .

ie Fee tS

The prosecutor was using
the maps and testimony to
prove the road was not on-
the reserve. In trying to do
so, he was matched against
defense lawyer Peter Le-
ask, and was in. over his
head. It seems Leask is an
expert on the subject: of
evidence and still teaches a
course on the subject at the
U.B.€. Law School. After
several objections from
Leask and under guestion-
ing from Judge Sarich,’
Hutchinson finally admit-
ted his map was just a plan
made by a. previous surve-
yor and had never been
filed nor registered with
with either the Land Regis-
try Office or the Depart-
ment of Indian Affairs.
Obviously upset, Judge
Sarich soon ruled that since

‘the maps were not accepted

by any governmental au-
thority, the boundary of the
reserve could not be proved
with them, and were not -
admissable as evidence.

_ Without -the maps, the

testimony of the surveyor
was worthless, and the
morning clearly belonged

to ‘the Indians as the trial ——

broke for [unch.

Ray Harris, a Setentiant
who had missed the morn-
ing session, showed up
after lunch and had his case
adjourned until. November
26th. A Bench Warrant
was issued for: defendant
Chris Saxey, the one out of
the 20 who never did show -
up for the trial.

During most of the
afternoon, the Crown tried
to prove that the 20 people
who were charged were

actually at the scene of the

blockade. Using 3 non-In-
dian civilians and an
R.C.M.P. Sergeant, Prose- .
cutor Hutchinson obtained

4 verbal descriptions of

people at the blockade, but
the witnesses were only
able to identify 2 of them as
being present in the court-
room crowd of 50 Indians.

The two who were identi-
fied were Jerry Jack, an
organizer of the piorsads,

* and Brian Bob.

News of the outcome ‘Of
the Mt. Currie trial arrived.
as the trial adjourned. That
news, plus the events of the
trial had made it a good day
for the Indians, just as it
had been a disaster for the
Government. They still had
to prove that the other 18

people were at the scene of

the roadblock, that they
were on a public highway,
and that they were break-
ing the law. The defense
lawyers had brought many
of the Mowah-chat elders to
testify at the trial. Their
strategy clearly was te
bring up the whole history
of the road and _ the
Mowah-chat people, and to-
point up the political issues
involved: The Government
had planned on the trial
lasting only 2 or 3 days, but
after the prosecutor stum-
bled through the first day,
it became obvious it could
have lasted up to two
weeks.

cont. on page 14



NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75 BB

cont. from page 13

The telephone wires to
the Attorney-General’s of-
fice in Victoria were hum-
ming that night as the

Government sought a way.

out of their fix. As court
opened on Tuesday morn-
ing, prosecutor Hutchinson
asked for an adjournment
to the following day, and
negotiations between the
Government, the defense
lawyers and the Indians
began. Fventually an
agreement was reached
whereby the Government

would stay (indefinitely —

postpone( the charges aga-

inst the 20 defendants, if

they promised to keep the
peace.
agreement was a Govern-
ment promise to negotiate

Also part of the.

the issue of the road with
the Mowah-chat Band if
Chief Ambrose Maquinna
would his influence’ to
ensure that band members
would refrain from blocking
the road. Documents to
that effect were signed in
court on Wednesday’ morn-
ing, bringing a quick, but
not surprising end to: the
trial. |

‘SMILE
YOURE ON |
CANDID CAMERA

Some interesting infor-
mation surfaced during the
testimony of the various
R.C.M.P. officers at the
trial. It should be expected

the R.C.M.P. would take an
interest in identifying and
keeping track of the people



os

Defense Lawyers Peter Leask andl Marguerite Jackson
meet with group during a recess.

at the blockades, but they

went to- considerable ex-

pense and trouble to do so,
since not one, but -three
R.C.M.P. photographers -
took pictures of the cars
and people involved from
every conceivable’ angle,
including a batch of photos
taken from a helicopter!

-Two of the photographers
were from the Campbell

River detachment and the

third came from Vancou-
It was the Vancouver = &
' Mountie who took colour

ver.

photos and sent them to
Ottawa for developing.

Naturally, copies of these’
would be kept in a central

file in Ottawa, as well as an

unknown number of de-.

tachments throughout B. C.

and Canada.

SOME OBSERVATIONS

At least 73 people had
the courage to stand up and
protect their land and their

rights and were arrested; .

and they became the
victims of the Governme-
ni’s political, -not
decision to crush the spirit

and new-found strength of -
the Indian people.

people were arrested on

some pretty: flimsy pre-

texts, with the Government
hoping the legal proceed-
ings would make
problems disappear.
. When it became obvious

it would be either impossi-

legal,

The -

_ the .

ble or incredibly expensive
to prove the charges in
court by their own rules -
only then did the Govern-
ment offer to- negotiate. ‘the

' issues.

The: people, however, are
not off free and clear; the
20 Gold , River defendants

Bd

Defendants au supporters during a recess.

still have the Stayed Char-

ges hanging over their
heads, and all 73 had to
promise to Keep the peace -
which probably means no
more roadblocks,
they are on reserve land.

even if |

The Government’s atti-

tude was clearly expressed

by the prosecutor in the

Gold River arraignment .

who didn’t want the 20

released because they were

““suspected political acti-
vists’’. .Wouldn’t that term
also include people like
Dave Barrett or Bill Ben-
nett? -



A sad part of the whole
blockade story was the
absence of our political
leaders from all the events.
With the exception of
UBCIC Executive Bill Wil-
son who was at the Mt.
Currie blockade and the .
Gold River trial, the politi- ~
cal leaders who urged the
people on at Chilliwack and
U.B.C, were not present at -
the blockades, were not
arrested, and were not even
present at the trials. With
many changes being made

in the leadership over the |

past few months, such a
situation hopefully won't be
repeated in the future. ~
Lastly, the trials brought
to mind a question about
spelling and the Govern-
ment’s justice system -

should. it be spelled j-u-s- |

t-i-c-e or should it -be

spelled “JUST US‘?



Fred: House Resigns, . ,

Now at Secretary of State



- FRED HOUSE

Fred House’s new job,
since resigning as Presi-
dent of BCANSI is working

as a ‘‘troubleshooter’’ for
Secretary of State. © ~
After losing in the

provincial election in the
Fort George riding, Fred
House approached Max
Beck, Regional Director of
Secretary of State, and
managed to negotiate a

three-month contract for

himself. The terms of his
employment reportedly in-
clude these items:

1) To go into: ‘‘trouble
spots’’ around the pro-
vince, for example, we're
told, Fort St. James, Burns

Lake, Hazelton, where ra--

cial tensions exist between
different groups in those
‘areas, and do a _ public
relations job to create a

job was to.

better climate between the

two groups.

2) To possibly enlighten |
Indian and non-Indian ~

people in those areas about
the land claims issue.
3) His work is to be given

direction by BCANSI and

UBCIC, and that he is to

make no public statements —
» without prior approval: :

. (Apparently, this was:
* House’s idea, and it is”
unclear whether it is

written into the contract.):
There would seem to be no
truth to the rumour that his
revive the
BCANSI locals that had

become inactive.

House is anxious to: meet
with the BCANSI Board

and discuss the job, but his ©

replacement isn't happy
about the situation.
Lightbown stated that he.
“objects to Secretary of
State creating such a
position without consulting
either the Union or
BCANSI.”’ Lightbown 1s
waiting for House to-meet

with the Board before

making any other statem-
ment,

Apparently House could —

have had a. six-month
contract, but he turned it
down. It is a safe bet that

the reason for doing so is to -

allow him to fun in the
upcoming national election
for the President of the
Native Council of Canada.



14 NESIKA

_ Nov/Dec 75 _

Bill.





- JAMIE STERRITT
‘The passage of time has
deepened the controversy
and confusion surrounding
Jamie Sterritt. and his
involvement with BCANSL. |
Sterritt was elected Secre-

tary Treasurer

Assembly and the subse-
quent lack of communica-

tion between him and the

rest of the Board has
caused so. much confusion
that his ‘‘employment”’
status with the organization

isin doubt. Board members .

are concerned about the
situation and are anxious to
meet with: Sterritt before
they make any decision, but
they have been unable to do
so since the October Board
meeting. It is expected the
two will get together at the

next scheduled meeting on.

the 24th of January.
Controversy first touched
Sterritt after the June
Assembly when northern
BCANSI members com-

of the
_ organization at the June

» Sterritt my

‘Controversy

to be Resolved ©

_ plained to. Board members

that Jamie Sterritt was not,
and had never been, a

member of a BCANSI

Local.. In the minutes he
17th Executive meeting,
Sterritt included this state-
ment:

whether or not I am a
* member of the Association,

F would not question the
convention’s right to elect
anyone, but I do respect the
right of those on.the Board
who might -feel it
obligation. Should
question be conveyed
officially -by letter or ‘in
meeting, I will respond.’’

- prepared for the October —

- “As to the question of —

fact, he was plegee by _

the Native Brotherhood at a
salary of $1,500 per month
and had worked for them
since 1974. His Executive
minutes for October contain
this statement:

(A) Question was raised
about the Secretary-Treas-_
urer working for other

organizations - Native Bro-.

therhood, Native Sports. .
Federation: and the North
Coast District Council, etc.
James Sterritt: I confirm.

_ that | presently do work for .

-an -
the.

Over the course of the |

‘summer, Sterritt’s employ-

ment status came into

question. First, he inform-

ed the Board that he would
not be moving to Vancouver
to: fulfill his. duties as
Ssecretary-Treasurer, but
would carry them out at his.
office in Prince Rupert. -
At a meeting of the Board
on October 5th; it was voted

- to put Sterritt on salary,. at

his request. However, the
amount was. not decided at

that time, and at a meeting

Hotel.

various other organizat-
ions, | have revenue from
rentals and I am contem-
plating the purchase of a
These interests are.
in accord with«my under-
standing of statements
made at.the convention. |
would expect that my
performance will be judged
and evaluated by the
Board, and I am confident I
will satisfy their demands
as indicated by constitution:

and by Board resolution.”’

with Fred House the ‘next —

day, they set his salary at
$1,000 per month.
It later came to most

Board members’ attention .

that Sterritt was being
employed by other organiz-
ations at the.same time. In

‘Sterritt made repeated
requests for salary
cheques, but things are at
such a point now that the |
BCANSI signing authorities
refuse to sign any cheques
until he meets: with: the
Board and the situation is -
resolved. Apparently ‘he
has received less than a
month's pay to date, and
will be attending the Board
meeting on the 24th.

Haida Land Claims - Who Cares?



- Judging by the First
Annual Meeting of the
Council of the Haida Nation

it seems that the Govern-

ment and non-Indians are
more interested in settling
the Haida land claim than
the Haida people themselv-
es. The meeting, held
December 6th; 1975, in
Skidegate, attracted only 20
Haidas and 12 white
people. |
The Council was originally

formed a year ‘earlier to
represent all Haida people |

and supposedly is the body

responsible for putting to-.

gether a position on the
Haida land claim to the
Queen Charlotte. Islands.
The wide publicity given to
remarks made by then
Masset Chief Reynold Russ
in ’74 to the effect that the
Haidas and the Queen
‘Charlotte. Islands should

secede from Canada was a.

push to the formation of the
Council. Later disatisfact-
ion with the pace of the
land claims program at the
UBCIC and the dispute
over funding also helped
put the Council together
and keep it separate from
the Union.
While the Council formally
adopted the position that all
people of Haida descent
have aboriginal rights, the
“‘non-status’’ people are
still being harassed by
“‘status’’ Indians over the
harvesting of herring
spawn and food fishing.
The purpose of the ist
Annual Meeting was to
give a progress report on
the activities and accomp-
lishments of the Council.
The report by President
Godfrey Kelly said essent-
ially that no progress had
been made. In fact, apart
from a brief to. the B.C.
Government asking for a
halt to development on the
“Queen Charlotte. Islands,
little had been done. NO
information had been dist-
ributed to the people and

no public meetings of the .

Council were held. The
meetings of the Council

Executive over the year :

included 3 white: advisors

and were reportedly closed
to everyone else.

' A suggestion was made |

that the Council Executive
be re-appointed for a 3 year
term, and after discussion,
they were re-appointed, but

only to-a 1 year term, The |

Ist Vice-President, _ Percy
Williams, resigned, citing
other commitments, and an
election was held for that
position with Pearl Pearson

winning over Lavina Light-

bown.

GOVERNMENT
STRATEGY —

Considering the lack of
interest and the inability of
the Haidas to come togeth-
er, Doug Sanders’. remarks
at the meeting should be

‘cause for some concern.

Sanders has a national
reputation as an expert on
the legal issues related to
land claims. and aboriginal
rights. His report on the
Haida land claims in
relation to other land claims

‘included these statements:

“In 1969 Prime Minister
Trudeau said :‘On the
question of aboriginal

rights - our answer is no!’ |

He could not have been
clearer, . i
“‘Today the federal people
say they want to negotiate
with you about aboriginal
tights; Why did they.
change their mind? It was
not out of moral concern.
They changed their posit-
ions for three reasons:

1) Because of organized
Indian opposition to- the
1969 White Paper,

2) Because of the Supreme
Court of Canada decision
in the Calder case, and

3) The most important
reason was the fact that the
Liberal Government could

have been defeated in the

House of Commons if there
had been a vote on Indian
rights. The Conservatives
and NDP were saying they
recognized Indian rights. It
was the days of the

_ minority. Liberal Govern-

ment and they decided as a
matter of political survival,
that it was now in their
political interests. to say
they recognized Indian
claims. sf x

“Their position now has
two main elements:

[A] Aboriginal rights have
been lost. In August 1973,
Mr. Chretien, as Minister
of Indian Affairs, said that
the Government was will-
ing to recognize claims for
the loss of traditional rights

_ touse and occupy land. The.

paper approved in principle
by the UBCIC Assembly in
Kamloops was based on the

‘recognition and. protection

of aboriginal rights. The
basic view. of the Federal

. Government is that -the

rights are gone. All that
remains is a claim to be
paid off.

[B] Indians can not stop,
control, or influence devel-

think

regard the

opment. Indians can not

- stop the James Bay project,

the Churchill. diversion in

northern Manitoba, or the

Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
The Federal Government

has refused land freezes in
both. the Yukon and the.

Northwest Territories pen-
ding settlement of land
claims.

‘There has
discussion here today about
the game plan of the
Federal Government (if
they have one) in dealing
with: Indian land claims. I
it -is possible to
anticipate some parts of a
federal government plan. It
has to start with the James
Bay settlement. Even if you
James Bay
settlement as a_ sell-out,
you must understand that it
will strongly influence gov-

ernment thinking in the.

years immediately ahead.

_ “The first element of the

Federal Government’s plan
is the James Bay agreem-
ent. The second part of the
scenario is the present

situation in the Yukon. The ©
Yukon Indians presented a -

land claim to-the Federal
Government in 1973. Nego-
tiations have been dragging
along, apparently going
nowhere. The Federal Gov-

ernment and the Council of ©
Yukon Indians have set

themselves a deadline to
finish a settlement --March
of 1976.

- “The Yukon is not a major

concern for the Federal
Government. : Clearly the
major problem is the
Northwest Territories and

the route for the Mackenzie

valley pipeline. It would be
logical for the Federal
Government to: think in
these terms:

FIRST - settle three or four
Indian land claims. :

SECOND - state. that the

_ kinds of settlements agreed

to by the Indians in those
three or four areas are now
official government policy,
and

THIRD - apply those kinds
of settlements in all areas
of Canada where aboriginal
title claims exist. -

“The government needs.
three or four settlements.

James Bay is the first. By
March of 1976 it is possible
that the Yukon will be
second. Three way negotia-
tions on the Nishga claim

begin on January 12th,

1976. The Nishgas could be
third.” The fourth most
logical place is either the
Kitwancool or the Haida

claim to:-the Queen Char- | AT
~~ election-time.
and no one took it very

lotte Isiands.
“Once the Federal Gov-

‘ernment. has three or four

settlements completed, it is
in a stronger position in

relation to. the Northwest:
. Territories.

If it decides
that ‘it is necessary to
impose a settlement in the

_N.W.T. to -put through the

been.

pipeline, | they will have

clear precedents ‘to rely on.
The Indians and Inuit of the
N.W.T. may have to- live
with the kinds of settle-
ments agreed to: by the
Indians of James Bay, the

Yukon, the Nass River
valley, and the Queen
Charlotte. Islands. What

this all means for you
people here on the Queen

Charlotte Islands is that the -

Federal Government may
well be anxious to negotiate
with you. If they are

anxious it is not because ‘

they face any immediate
problems with development

_here, but because they are

looking over their shoulders
to: problems they will be
facing in the Mackenzie
District of the Northwest
Territories. |

“I would like now, to turn
to. the Provincial Govern-
ment -and some _ rather
remarkable twists. and
turns that have happened
over the last few weeks.

“In June of 1974, Norman
Levi stated that the Provin-

‘cial Government was refus-
ing to have anything to do

with the Indian land claim.
He went so far as to say ‘it
would be highly improper
for British Columbia to

participate in these discus-

sions’.

» ‘In the fall of ’74, the .
_ statements of the Premier

and Mr. Levi started to
change. The change was
confirmed in a telegram the
Premier sent to the UBCIC
on January 31st, 1975. He

- Said ‘we are waiting for the

Federal Government to
state; in writing, its -res-
ponsibility. in this © area’.
Barrett’s version of the
responsibility of the Feder-

_ .al Government was that all
'_ responsibility lay with. the
Government. So

Federal
the provincial position was
not much different.than it
had been in June of 1974..
“On Saturday, November
22nd, 1975, both Mr, Levi
and Mr. Buchanan attend-
ed the Native Brotherhood
meeting in Comox. Mr.

Buchanan complained that -

the Provincial Government

was not willing to-meet on

the Indian land claim. Mr.
Levi stated that the Federal

Government was refusing

to sit down with-both. the
province and the Indian
people. Levi challenged Bu-
chanan to set a time and
place for such a three way
meeting.

“This was a curious

statement. At no time had
the province ever said that
it was now prepared to
meet. It all sounded like
squabbling

seriously.
‘Mr. Levi said his
statement had been made
in earnest and in good faith
and with the purpose of
getting negotiations going.

Mr. Buchanan lost no time

_and contacted James Gos-
nell of the Nishga Tribal.

Council and arranged a
meeting for January 12th,
1976. The meeting is to
involve representatives of
the Nishga people, the
Federal Government, -and
the Provincial Government.
“Neither Mr. Levi ner Mr.
Barrett. have made ary
clear public statement a-

bout - British . Columbia’s -

present position on the land
claim. Presumably British
Columbia will attend the
meeting on January 12th.

“The conclusion to- be
drawn from all this seems _

to. be that you people,

representing the Haida

Nation, can not trust either
level of government to work
in your best interests. They

act for political reasons‘and .

they act under pressure.
The Federal Government

changed its- position on.

aboriginal claims -under
political pressure. It seems
now that -the Provincial
Government has changed

its position in the final few
weeks of a provincial

election. This is the: way

Canadian governments -be-

have.” a
REGISTRATION

There are large numbers

of Haida people known to.

be living in the Vancouver
area and Lavina Lightbown
has announced that °-a

meeting will be held-on -

January 24th, at the Indian
Centre, for the purpose of
registering all people of
Haida descent and also

informing them of: the -
general land claims.move-

ment. Those. unable. to

attend may contact Layina ~

Lightbown at 3561 ‘W. 27th,

_- Vancouver, phone 733-0970

SOMEONE DOES CARE
A last-minute report from

the Islands tells us that
people.

apparently other
there are unhappy with

the council’s progress, |

and on January 8th; a
meeting of the Council was
held with over 40 people in

~ attendance.

The meeting replaced the
Secretary-Treasurer: be-

‘cause of her lack of interest

and participation, and now
Christie Carty holds that
position. The shake-up also
includes a move to change

other Executives within the

Council and three new
members may be added at
the next meeting. >

In a significant shift, the
white lawyer was fired, and
although the situation is

-unclear, it seems that -the

white preacher and anthro-
pologist are on their way

out as well. Formerly, the 3
were close advisors to the -

Council and influenced
many of its decisions. -



NESIKA

Nov/Dec 75 _ is

We have all heard about
the $24 worth of beads and
trinkets that purchased
Manhattan Island. We have
probably very often
laughed about it and
thought that such a thing
could never happen today.
But could such a_ thing
happen today? Indeed it
could.

The James Bay Hydro
Electric Project has re-
sulted in another Man-
hattan island settlement.
At a time when Indians in
British Columbia, and In-
dians across the ‘country,
have finally stopped talking
about compensation and
have begun speaking about
perpetual rights and a
survival of our culture, the
Federal and Quebec Go-
vernmenis have managed
to bring about a “beads
and trinkets" settlement in
modern day terms.

Previous to 1965, the
Indians in the Nerth of
Quebee were pretty much
ignored by the Government
in the South. The Quebec
Government wasn't intcr-
ested in the Indians and the

Eskimos in the North and —

the Federal Government
through the Department of
Indian Affairs did little or
nothing for the people. All
this changed, however, in
1969 when the Qucbee
Government realized that it
needed the hydro develop-
ment in the area. All of a
sudden the Quebec Govern-
ment became interested in
the Indians in the North
and attempted to assert its.
influence in the area.

In 1971 Premier Bourassa
of Qucbee announced his
government's intention to
devclop the James Bay
area. In July of the same
year the Quebec National
Assembly adopted Icgisla-
tion creating the James Bay
Development Corporation
to “‘promote the develop-
ment of all natura! re-
sources in the James Bay.
region.’” The Quebec Go-
vernment and the James
Bay Development Corpora-
tion even went so far as to
begin construction and
clearing of land for dam
sites despite the fact that
the land was rightfully
owned by the Indians.
Attempts were made by the
Indians of Quebec Assocta-
tion and the Indians in the
James Bay area to speak to
Bourassa about the project
and indeed to negotiate

with, the Quebec Govern- .

ment. These attempts
proved fruitless because
Quebec had committed
itself to developing the
Hydro potential of the
James Bay atea.

Various token efforts were
made by the Federal and
Quebec Governments . to
legitimize the taking of land
without consent. The stan-
dard environmental impact
studies that nobody listens
to, or even: waits for-the
results of, were engaged in,
Research funds were pro-

vided to the Quebec Indian
Association more to side-
track them from the real
issuc than to allow them to
get on with the fight they
had to make. The bad faith
on the part of the Quebec
Government ultimately led
the Indians to Court. ,

On December Sth, 1972
the Indians appeared be-
fore Justice Malouf seeking
an Interlocutory Injunction
to prevent the project from
going ahead. The injunc-
tion was eventually granted
in November, 1973. How-
ever, it had little effect on
the Quebec Government's
actions or the actions of the
James Bay Development
Corporation. In fact, the
construction in the James
Bay area went. on. The
Quebec Government
attempted to have the
injunction removed and
was successful in having it
set aside by a higher court.
The actions of the Quebec
Government seemed to
indicate that they had no
intention of halting the

project or even listening to.

the Indians. ‘They had no
intention of even playing
their own rules. On No-
vember 20, 1973 Premier
Bourassa announced his
decision to negotiate a
settlement with the Cree
and Inuit Peoples of the
James Bay area, and on
November 15th,
Agreement in Principle was
signed, -
The
Principle was hailed as a
major breakthrough. Fig-
ures of $150 million or $225
million were regarded as
being gigantic figures. In

' reality the figures broke

down to about $4,000. per
person, The project was to
go ahead with cosmetic
modifications and the Que-

bec Government was to get.
whatever it required. The

Indian people were to get
beads and trinkets for their
land, their culture,
heritage, and their way of
life. a
Consider for a moment
what would happen if you

assaulted someone. and |

stole his wallet. Would the
police and the legal system
be satisfied
some of the money you
found in the wallet and
gave it to the person you
assaulted as ‘compensation

- for the act that you had..

committed? Obviously not.
Yet this is what the Quebec
Government is getting
away with in the James Bay
area. They have taken the
land the resources from the
peoples of the James Bay
area. They have said to
them we will pay you for
these lands and resources
out of the

will generate from the use

of the lands and resources -

that belong to you.

The final
signed by the representa-
tives of the Indian people










rea

mh : '
(Please rome baci’,

bina! ». baaaeeew fe 3

O¥rlam yrs ft me,
Tt vrems tobe talking
thoot my fang !

ee





1974 an ©

Agreement in.

their:

' ties,

if you took .

enormous
amounts of money that we

agreement

‘but not yet ratified by the

people at the grass roots
level, reads: -
“That the Crec and the
Inuit shall give up ail land
rights .in Quebec and shall
consent to the settlement
out of Court of all legal
proceedings relating to the
James Bay Project or the
claims, rights, titles and
interests in land which they
may have.’’ The final
agreement reads further
that the Federal Govern-
ment ‘“‘will extinguish all
rights in lands of the native
people.”” A total of $225
million is te be paid over a
20 year period. The native
people will receive no
income or benefits from any
mining development in the
territory. |

. The’ final agreement
classifics land in the area in
three categorics. Suppos-

edly Category One lands.

are to be totally controlled
by the Indians. However,
there are exceptions. One
major exception already
noted is in regard to
mineral rights and income
or benefits from them, The
Indians have no income or
benefits from future devel-

opment .of mineral rights»

even on Category One
lands. The second major
exception is the right of the
Federal or Provincial Go-
vernment
Category One lands for
‘certain public purposes
such as roads, local utili-
pipelines, transmis-
ion lines, or other develop-
ment.’’ Already existing
mineral leases or forest

leases on Category One |
‘lands cannot be interfered
with and the Indians cannot _

expect .any benefits from
such ‘leases. The Indian

' people are even required to |

get permits from the
Government to use sand,

- gravel or similar materials
for personal or community :

use on Category One lands.
Numerous boards, panels,

committees or other bodies .
-have been set by the final

agreement. But all of these
committees without excap-
tion have sufficient non-

Indian representation. ‘to:
' determine how the commit-

tees will act. The fact is that
any final decisions made

about areas considered by °.
the committees or boards

rests with the responsible
Provincial of
officials and not the Indian
people. Attempts are to be

to expropriate:

Federal,

made by the Local Govern-

ment to control various
aspects of native life. These
attempts, however, .are
very similar to the paterna-
listic and condescending
attitude engaged in by DIA
over the last 70 years. Even
the hunting, fishing, and
trapping rights which are
supposedly guaranteed by
the final agreement are
subject to game regula-
tions. Statements had. pre-
viously been made that fish
and game legislation would
be set aside so the Indians
could hunt in their tradi-
tional manner. However,

_these rights are not includ-

ed in the agreement.

What we have then is the
modern day equivalent of
the Manhattan Island
agreement. How did thts
come about? How did the
Indians repeat the mistakes

that they made in the past?

The Indian people are
really not to blame. Like
Indian people elsewhere
they have attempted. to
bargain in good faith in the
hope that this good faith
would-be reflected in the

actions of the non-Indian.

people. But the Bourassa
Government had commit-
ted itself to the. James Bay
Project long before it ever
even thought about talking
to the Indians. It had
committed
point where the project had
to-go ahead immediately.
The possibility existed that

the Province of Quebec -

could go bankrupt if the

. Project was destroyed. The

Federal Government being
of the same political stripe
as the Quebec Government,
and dominated as it is by
the Quebec MPs came to
the rescue of the Quebec
Government. : It has even
been alleged that the

Federal Government con- .

spired with the Quebec
Government to: intimidate
*the Indians into signing.

If the Federal Government
refused to co-operate with
Quebec they could antici-
pate not electing many MPs

from Quebec. Even if the
Quebec Government be-

lieved that delay should be

taken and work should be
done with
people, the corporations to
which they were obligated
would not allow it. The
James Bay situation comes
down to the question of the
politics of expediency and

_ domination by the corpora-

. the

itself to the.

the Indian.

James Bay and Manhattan Island

tions and big dollars.
What does the James Bay
settlement mean to the rest
of the Indians in Canada?
Much has been made about
the fact that it could be a
precedent which would be
imposed on the Indians —
across the country. Consid-
ering Indian experience
with the Federal Govern-
ment and the Provincial
Governments: across the
country, can we expect
anything else? In all prob-
ability the James Bay
situation with its ‘‘beads
and trinkets’? kind of
compensation and elimina-
tion of native rights will
form the basis for all other
negotiations that take place
not only in British Colum- .
bia but in-the Yukon and in
the Northwest Territories.
The Federal Government
seems to assume that
because they have been
successful in buying the
‘James Bay Indians off at a
rather low price then they
will. be successful in all
other areas where Indian
People are pressing their
land claims. .
Fortunately the Indians in

' the Province of British

Columbia have developed
beyond the point of consid-
ering compensation or —
dollars to individuals as a |
legitimate way of settling
Aboriginal Rights
Issue. The James Bay
Agreement is important to
us because we can leatn by

the mistakes that have been.

made in the past. We must
remember that -in all
likelihood the Indians in the
James Bay area would: not
have settled for beads and
trinkets if they were ‘not
forced into it.

_ The lesson to be learned

from the James Bay situa-

tion is that we cannot allow
ourselves to be disorganiz-
ed and split. We must be
organized and mobilized in
the communities so that the
communities themselves,
the Indian People at the
grass roots level, can stand
up and make a fight for
their survival as Indians.
Aboriginal Rights is not a
question of compensation
in dollar terms or the giving
up of rights for token
economic development. As
B.C: Indians we must all
realize that Aboriginal |
Rights and Land Claims ts
about our survival as an
identifiable ethnic group. It -
is about our right to exist on
our own terms in society:
with our own language, our
own religion, our own
traditions, our own culture.

_ The question we should all

keep in mind is ‘How will

.our people view us 100

years from now?"’ Will they
thank us for making the
fight to perpetuate Indians
in society or will they view
us as we now view the
Indians who signed the |

- Agreement that - allowed

Manhattan Island to be
purchased for $24 worth of .

trinkets and beads?