21 Terrace Review: —_ — Wednesay, August 13, 1986 4718 Park — open foundation. 3627 Kalum — A burned-out shell. See story “page 24 | ~ Crown lands fall under legal shadow | - Future government-owned land in a massive area of northwestern B.C. have acquired a taint of doubtful validity due to a recent decision by the sales of. B.C, Supreme: Court. In ‘a ruling handed down during mid-July, Justice Lance Finch granted a certificate of lis pendens to’ the. Gitksan-Wet’su- wet’an Tribal Council for their half-million hectare’ comprehensive land claim. by Michael Kelly 7 The lis pendens is a legal method of giving Japanese fishermen to visit TERRACE —A local holiday promotion gtoup may have the jump on the Tourism B.C. organization. Roy Greening, man- ager of Skeena Holidays Ltd., a company made up of three individuals who promote tourism in the area, said a group of 21 fishermen from Tokyo, Japan will be ar- riving in Terrace Aug. 17 to test the local waters. Greening pointed out that there are approx- imately 24 million sport fishermen who belong to clubs in Japan. Tourism options that could be promoted in the area with the Japanese clientele in mind are im- mense, Greening noted. He added that Skeena Holidays is one of the first organizations to make inroads in Japan. Tourism B.C. represen- tatives have contacted Skeena Holidays to in- quire about their methods of success. Two leaders will ac- company the Japanese group. One of the representatives, Tom Murray, runs a whole- sale sporting goods out- fit in Vancouver and Jim Murray is a_ liaison representative with CP Air. Guests will be staying at the Terrace Hotel and local fishing guides will be hired to take the visitors out on rivers in the area. Guides will demon- strate fishing techniques at the mouth of the Cop- per River on the Skeena River and shopping for appropriate tackle will be done at Northwest Sportsman. A trip will be made to Northern Light Studio and the group will visit the Thornhill Pub. After a day of fishing on the Skeena River the fisher- men will be loaded onto a bus and travel to the gold fields where they will pan for gold. A stop . will also be made at he lava beds and sightseeing in the area will take place. . A farewell dinner will be served at the Bavarian Inn and awards given out.. The group will depart for Vancouver on Thursday, Aug. 21. Roy Greening, manager of Skeena Holidays Ltd, in Ter- race, notice to buyers of the crown lands in question that ownership of the lands is in dispute and that future court deci- sions could overturn any title transfers. The ruling does not pertain to privately owned land, and it does not interfere’ with the granting of leases for. purposes such as mineral claims and forestry licenses. “' During a recent inter- view Don Ryan, a lawyer for the GitksanWet’— suwet’an, outlined the boundaries of the area covered by the lis pendens. They cover a block from Legate Creek, east of Terrace, to Houston, and on a north-south axis from Spatsizi Park to QOotsa Lake. This area, Ryan said, constitutes the hereditary lands. of the Gitksan-Wet’suwet’an which have been alienated without com- pensation. | B.C. is unique among Canadian provinces in that it joined Confedera- ‘tion without having made adequate provision for Indian land reserves. In other provinces native land title is covered to a greater or lesser extent by treaties, but in 1871 the pressure for comple- tion of the transcon- tinental railway and a series of changes in federal government power allowed B.C. to join Canada with only !4 _ treaties on the books in- volving the southern area of Vancouver Island. Since Confederation the B.C. government has consistently maintained that it has no legal obligation to restore lost land to native people, and in fact argued that aboriginal title does not exist in B.C. Aboriginal title is recognized in the Part II of the Canadian Constitution and was upheld by a 1973 Supreme Court decision, but both Attorney General Brian Smith and B.C. Premier Bill Vander Zalm have stated that negotiations are. a federal responsibility and. that the. province. will seek compensation from the federal govern- ment for any lands which are returned to native control. Samuel Stevens, head of the native law faculty at UBC, stated in an in-. terview that the absence of treaties in B.C. could eventually prove to be,a legal advantage for natives in comprehensive land claim negotiations. “Natives in B.C. have a more | effective argument,’’ he said. ‘*Whether the province is responsible for compen- sating Indians for lost lands is still an open question.” The recent lis pendens decision, he pointed out, is the first in B.C. and its implications are not yet entirely clear. Stevens speculated that the lis pendens could -become a powerful lever in forcing the provincial government to negotiate, but he added that widespread use of the regulation will probably be limited because of the enormous expenses in- volved. Any band or council seeking a lis pendens must first in- stitute a claims suit against the provincial government and obtain a certificate of litigation, Stevens said. As an ex- ample he indicated the Meares Island action, which to date has cost- the plaintiff more than a million dollars with no decision in sight. Don Ryan argues that the litigation process is a- deliberate attempt to bankrupt © organizations. through repeated court pro- -cedures. .“‘The cheapest- way to settle this entire ‘matter for everyone .is’ through a constitutional appeal, but they’re tak- ing the hard way. The strategy is to run us out of resources, but in the. end they’re going. to: lose,” he said. . Steve Mazur at the — | Smithers branch of the B.C. Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing stated that his office has received no specific in- structions from Victoria regarding ‘the lis pendens, ‘‘At this point it’s business as usual,’’ he said, “‘but we expect further interpretation next week as to exactly what this is going to mean for us.’? Mazur in- dicated that the Lands. ministry has an am- bitious program for sell- ing off crown lands in the Gitksan claim area, with dispositions plann- ed for residential, recrea- ‘tional, agricultural and industrial plots in the vicinity of several ‘com- munities in the region. B.C.-Attorney General Brian Smith announced immediately after the court decision that the provincial government will appeal the ruling, but the event occurred just two weeks before the B.C. Social Credit. leadership convention and no action has been taken to date. Premier Bill Vander Zalm will be ‘making appointments for his new cabinet sometime this week, a circumstance which will probably further delay any legal moves by the government. native | per tee co ae ie : caer in . i Hl i A, coe ret