ude NISGA’A LAND CLAIM By JEFF NAGEL TERRACE — As a possible “agreement -setiling the Nisga’a - land claim nears, neighbouring tribal -groups are becoming mor _.and More politically active. -Both: the western Gitksan of .Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool) - and the Tsimshian are stepping “up! their activity to remind the ~ > Nisga’a and government negotia- tors that they, too, have land - Claims to the area. "Some 16,000 square kilometres . of. the 25,000 square kilometre “Nisga’a land claim, centred on - the: Nass’ River valley, is also “claimed by the Gitanyow. ‘The two-groups have been ne- -gotiating for more than 10 years trying to settle the so-called over- + lap question. ~ This summer Gitanyow natives ~ > pré-building at least three smoke _... houses at’sites. on the Nass River “ethat: they say have been wed his- torically by thelr people. “All of the sites fali within the a ilisputed overlap area. -ooThe. move is part of the a Gilanyow strategy. to demonstrale . @ presence on the land. . 2.“We've always’taken the fish “out of the Nass,’’ says Gitanyow - chief councillor Glen Williams, -*Ninety-five per cent of our fish- Ing interest is on the Nass and it's ~ been like tliat for centuries.” ss Last week Gitanyow natives. _-were seen fishing at a fish ladder _- ‘Near Meziadin. On Saturday they - Staged an official opening for an- other s smokehouse in the disputed , territory. - Nisga’a ‘leaders have queried — the new. Gitanyow presence, ‘But: "Williams says — the smokehouses _ Teflect the Do Gitanyow history on the Nass. »\ Hesays they are being con- tructed by ‘the house groups that “own those particular fishing sites . = and those particular territories... 7. “Qur people have been on the ; tertitory for hundreds of years, “We ‘liaven’t seen any Nisga’a, “ever in recent times, And there ’< are people in ‘the Nisga’a com- . - amunities:who know this. They a. know where the boundary is.”” - “ Nisga’a leaders have questioned , “why the village of Gitanyow isn't "located on the Nass (it’s - about Ababa ir -" §Okin ‘away) if 'the fiver. “was's ‘So ~ central to theli tives.’ Rh 2D OT Williams’ takes‘ particular of- fence at that line of questioning. : He names at feast six historic : Gitanyow village siles in the ~> overlap area, most of them on el- ther the. Nass o River. - J) "Let the Nisga’a tell you where “t their village sites arc. Right to the -cbeadwaters of the Nass. Can they 3 Pin point them the way I can pin- Slaim concern highest here Native issues. have been in the “limelight lately, foiiowing the .crecent. announcement on land °-¢laims cost-sharing and the court of appeal’s decision on the “ Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en claim, or Cranberry “¥et'.such ‘issues aren’t a top priority for British Columbians, according: to a communications study on B.C, land claims. --The Decima research study also fiotes there is much interest and support for: the settlement of na- tive: land claims, e study was meant to develop communications program to it- crease: public awareness about B.C.‘land claims and the federal government’s. negotiation efforts vith First Nations. 72eitem. questionnaire that was in December 1992, : The questionnaire ‘focused on one main ‘topic: ‘Which groups . British Columbians ate, inter- ested-in-what information about land ‘claims, and-how would. they like-to receive it?*? While ‘the study involved a yriad of questions, survey breakdowns and. percentages, & The survey included a-26-page, . _ _ formation given to:918 British Columbians Stakes rise in overlap game 3 b Gitan dw \, a\ Hazelton i, . aN . ! \) - Z 7 ss in he Kitwanga wee gt g he fe We Smithers Q ; mii THE OVERLAP: Solid line outlines the Nisga’a land claim, The broken tine marks the Gitanyow ~ Claim, The dark shaded area marks the disputed zone shared iy the two claims. point our village sites?” - -Gitanyow hereditary chief Herb Russel] says Nisga’a and Gitanyow families — some of which are closely related — have ’ had informal understandings for years relating to joint use of the Nass. a ‘It’s the politicians that arc trying to impede on that undet- Standing,’’ he said, The Nisga’a also face political challenges at the other side of their land claim, 6... «1 inte Asi’ dnlairgerhidint” ofthe "Tim- shian land claim now puts a large area: of ‘the Nisga’a: claim sur- rounding Portland Inlet and the mouth of the Nass under dispute. The Tsimshian now draw the boundary of their claim at the point where the Nass meets tidewater — at the Nisga’a vil- lage of Greenville. ‘They say we're expanding our claim but we're not,” says Tsim- shian. Tribal Council’ president Art Sterrith ‘We're just putting the detail into ourmap.””? The Tsimshian were a divided people when they first filed their land claim neaily 10 years ago. Two separate claims were made ‘— one by the Council of the Tsimshian Nation and the other . by the Aled Tsimshian Tribes, “They say we're expand- ing, our claim, but ..we’re not. Weire. just, putting-the detail into our map:”” Those claims represented only the areas exclusively claimed by . those two groups, Sterritt says. They did not include an addi- tional ‘common’ area of owned by all Tsimshians, © It is that area, he says, that Is now being added to Tsimshian claim maps, stretching their claim through Nisga’a claimed territory tothe mouth of the Nass. “They want to settle and we © want to help them do that,”’ Ster- Tilt says. But how that can be done is the matter of much debate. -Stermiit says both sides agree some form of mediation is re- quired — the degree of that mediation {s what’s in question. “The Nisga’a want more harsh mediation. A more non-native ap- proach. We want to give the tra- aitonal probes a ‘better. ~Shanee: to... 3 WOEK RE? ma Sterritt admits the process for settling the overlaps has “bogged down.” But he says criticism that the Tsimshlan ‘are redrawing their Maps late in the game is un- founded. ‘The Nisga’a have flip flopped maps back and forth as well,” he says, ““Thelr . maps lave changed,”’ Decima survey probes attitudes general summary of the Tesults was provided. Ht stated that many B. C ers are directly affected by land clalms, and that there was much public concern and support for the issue. Yet many respondents also felt that limits needed to be placed on claims, in terms of scope and cost, ‘The federal. government was seven as having the most responsi- bility for resolving claims, al- though ‘neither the federal nor. provincial governments maintains ‘ahigh level of public confidence. In addition, the news media were found to be the main in- source, although sources differed throughout the province. Finally, respondents want “basic, unbiased information’ aboutland claims issues.° Along with the summary were 41 pages of detailed findings that examined many aspects of the public’s awareness and concern for land claims, Some of those in- - Cluded the following: « Nearly 50 per cent of respon- dents claimed the economy or wn- employment as the most impor- tant issues facing B.C. Only two per cent felt that native issues were the most critlcal. * Land claims also fell into last place when repondents were asked to choose the federal government's top priority. Again, the prime issue was economic - . 45.9 per cent oF those polled felt that controlling government spending took top spot. « However, when asked about the most important issue facing B.C. Natives, 29 per cent af respondents fell that land claims deserved this distinction. The _ fext closest issue was self government, atli percent. — ‘+ Contact between Natives and other British Columbians arc highest in the North Coast, with a overall contact rate of 67 per cent,” ¢ The North Coast also stood out as having a high level of con- ce about land claims issues - 59 per cent of respondents from the area felt resolving claims was very important. + 57 per cent of respondents supported comprehensive land - claims, while 30 per cent opposed them. The report stated that this was a ‘significant. shift’? from previous land claims studies. * 35 per cent of respondents were ‘‘sympathizers’”’ for land claims - they felt Natives were entitled to claim settlements, but were wary of costs and govern- ments. 24 per cent felt there was , no problem to address, and were concerned about costs and deci- sion makers, 23 per cent did not’ feel there was inequity in Native treatment and opposed claim scitlements; however, they also were not alarmed by the costs and felt the governement would take care of the issue. Lastly, 17 per cent were the most supportive. They acknowledged. there was a land claims problem, were not alarmed about costs and tnsted+ governments, The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 14, 1993 - Page A5 _LETTERS TO THE TERRACE STANDARD More to Daycare issue Dear Sir: given to the fact that the noise ] am writing this letter partly level and traffic will increase in response [0 ‘Tracy dramatically in this area which LeBlond’s letter printed in the al present is very low. May 26 issue and also to In- —_IE this business goes through _form people that there is a little we will be looking at approxi- more going on with this whole mately 30 cars per day coming daycare issue than is being said down this street that would or printed, otherwise not be here. First of all, I too was at the As it stands now, the 4800 city council] meeting April 5. It block of Hamer is a dead end was not a meeting to discuss and the 4600 block can only be concems affecting childcare. accessed by the far end. So It was a meeting concerning basically the 4700 block. is a local daycare facility trying mostly used by the people who fo have the zoning’ laws live here. changed. An increase in traffic, start-- At present it is legal to obtain ing at 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m., is a licence for up fo eight chil- very scary as there are several dren in RL -residential areas. small children in this area. As ‘Mr. Bromley. of Discovery for the noise, we all know whal . Daycare is trying to have this just a handful of children can number of children boosted to ‘sound like in ‘the playground, sixteen (pethaps twenty-four if Would you want that in your he can!) backyard? - This would affect anyone This. area was zoned R1 living in and paying laxes in some fourly years ago. Why R1 zoning. should Mr.Bromley be allowed As far as 1am concemed this to improve his quality of life at is a business Mr. Bromley is our expense? There is plenty of trying to open in a beautiful, space available in this town for quiet and well maintained daycare facilities where zoning neighbourhood. allows, It was made quite clear at the As a working mother, it has council meeting that his mort- been my experience that as gage payments could not be numbers increase, quality met on just eight children. It decreases in the daycare field. seems he would need at least Perhaps it would be more double that (0 pay for the home beneficial to see more eight- | where he intends to put his child facilities spread through- daycare centre in the two-car out the Terrace area than let garage out back. one mat change an existing If you ask. me, he is looking law. for the best of both worlds, Yours sincerely, Absolutely no. thought was. Laurie Monture. World not so bad because you have opened my eyes to the fact that it’s not all bad and thai there aw good folks out there. In turn 1 might do the same for someone else. So the next time I find some- thing I might remember how I ’ felt.and do the right thing and return it and that body might After that I was all mad and dothesameandsoon — upset. My, view..of-thesyorld-.¢ The othes nightZ. was. looking » wasn’t so hot. Little didsL know |. al 8 purse ‘I received: fromuny .. that I was to be in for a great grandmother. It-has a Native shock come Monday when I design of a frog I kept looking went to Ihe Skeena Mall ad- at it and:I kept thinking that il ministration office to find my. looked ugly and the . frog bus pass attached to a paper looked funny the way that it and all I had todo was sign for was smiling. Then. J thought it and I would have it back. about it some more and -that [had closed my mind to the frog kept looking happier and fact that there might be some happier. and maybe that was - really good people in this why my grandmother liked it town, so much. Maybe it was what It’s like that teenager who is she put into it that made her drawing the Playboy bunny:on happy and. bave to figure out ‘that mountain! [ think that what I want to put into it that bunny looks far better that a made it to make me happy. big old number, Where as an- 1 guess what I am trying to other lady thinks the mountain say is we all get out of this would be better with nothing world what we put into it. If 1 onit. want to believe the world is It, all has to do with what ° bad, all I will open my eyes to each of our own values and: is the bad and if I open my beliefs are. The value for one -eyes to the good, all I will sce might be more than for the is the good. other or vice-versa. I hope that this letler gets It’s like chose to believe the seen by a lot of you, you get world was no good and I. what you want out of it and would never get my bus pass. helps you like that person who back, bul whoever found it. found my bus pass. . believed the world was good See you when I see you and in turn showed me their when and if] see you. bellefs and values by returning © Be happy!l! Take carell!l. ~ it. ' Yours sincerely, For that sincerely thank you Dawn Wale. Dear Sir: The other day when I] went to the mall I was so busy paying attention to what I was doing I lost my bus pass. I thought for certain that my pass was gone and since if was my first time using it Ihad just thrown away $24.00. The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor. We ask that they be signed and a phone number be. included. Letters are subject to editing for reasons s of length and for good taste.’ Unsigned letters are thrown away. You can fax your letters in to 638-8432. The deadline is noon Friday. the ‘Start is for ‘people ring ho w fo rea, Soccer Young soccer players were on the field again - | last Saturday. 7 The games were at Christy Park, In the photo, Crampton j Cubs coach Steve Cullis q helps the team’s goalie put on his gloves. The Cubs were playing | the Skeena Sawmills campaign was held. ; a Speed campaign 7 happened because of _ ' speeding. Police constable Good- Safety, not speed. That was the message - from the police. They held an Unsafe win said the campaign Speed Campaign June 28- was a success, . July Se Last year, there were | It was the second time 431,000 speeding charges a his year thatthe — . throughout] B.C. ~ In 1991, there were. 123 During the campaign, _ crashes in Terrace, there were nine car acci- A third of those in-. dents. But none of them . volved speeding. .