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| Nisga’ a hire vote overseer
as treaty finish gets close

SPECULATION IS grow-
ing that a Nisga’a treaty is
close to being signed,

Helping fuel the rumours
is the search now underway
for a referendum = com-
missioner to oversee a treaty
ratification vote by all
Nisga’a.

Although the job is to last
just three months, Nisga’a
Tribal Council president Joe
Gosnell continues to play
down the idea that a deal is
imminent,

“Whether it's imminent
or not, we have to prepare
for it,’’ Gosnell said of the
treaty signing. ‘It’s coming
up but when remains to be
seen.”

Federal officials are
believed to be checking the

: availability of Prime Minis-
: ter Jean Chretien for poten-
, ial dates for an initialling
, ceremony in the Nass val-

ley.

If a deal were reached in
the next few weeks, that
ceremony could take place
in early to mid-July.

Afier such a ceremony,
legislation to implement the
treaty would be drawn up
and then debated in the
legislature in Victoria and in
the House of Commons in
Ottawa.

Nisga’a, federal and
provincial negotiators were

: holed up in talks last week

at the Terrace Inn here.
Gosnell said the main ob-

- stacle to the talks continues

to be language over ensur-

_ ing certainty.

- last

Although the provincial
government is no longer in-

“The last word will
be the vote from
our people. We're
saying to them be
informed of the con-
tent of the docuw-
ment so you will be
in a position to
make an informed
decision, not a deci-
sion based on one
small section of the
documeni.”

sisting that the Nisga’a
“cede, release and = sur-
render” their aboriginal
fights 1o all land = and
resources in exchange for
the treaty, a deal on the is:

sue is still clusive.

**We have not agreed on
any of the options ihat have
been provided to date,’’
Gosnell said. ‘“We are still
in negotiations as to the pre-
cise wording that will go
into the treaty.”’

Gosnell also said money
has also arisen as a key is-
sue in the final stages of ie-
gotiating the treaty,

He said that involved both
the lump sum amount of
money to be turned over to
the Nisga’a as well as nego-
tiations over the ongoing
subsidies by governments of
various services,

Gosnell refused to elabo-
tate on those issues, how-
ever,

He said the Nisga’a have

Nisga’a claim
word spreading
far and wide

TI'S THE KIND of public
recognition factor a public
relationsfirm dreams. about
for a
manufactiring client.

And as talks progress
toward the conclusion of a

Nisga’a land claim treaty, .

results of a recent opinion
poll are being viewed as
astounding.

The poll of nearly 2,600
people across Canada, con-
ducted in April, found that
51 per cent had heard of the
Nisga’a land claim.

In B.C, itself, 81 per cent
of those polled had heard of
the Nisga’a land claim.

A provincial aboriginal af-
fairs ministry official says
one answer might be that
there is an agreement in
principle in place to settle
the Nisga’a claim as op-
posed to other negotiations
which aren't as nearly as far
along.

“Nisga'a is the one thing
you can talk about. It’s the
most advanced treaty table
we have right now,’ said
Peter Smith.

“When the AIP (agrce-
ment in principle} was
signed (in 1996), we literal-
ly got hundreds of calls im-
mediately and we're con-
tinuing to get them in
droves.”

He said that the Nisga’a
and federal and provincial
governments have all spent
a lot of time and money in
talking about the Nisga’a
claim.

“It's hard not to think of
an area where Nisga’a
hasn’t been discussed,’
Smith said.

Public. information and’

awareness may range from
publicity surrounding
Nisga’a Tribal Council Joc
Gosnell’s greeting to the
APEC leaders in Vancouver
November, to the
presenting of a button
blanket to the new Anglican
primate back East this
Spring to an economic op-

portunities conference
hosted by the Nisga’a.
Smith is particularly

struck by the high national
recognition factor considcr-
ing that there are a maulti-
tude of other high profile
native issues.

Even those who oppose
land claims help spread the
word. about the Nisga’a
claim because they have to
refer to it when speaking

their piece, be said,
Smith said he’s continual-
ly fielding calls fom

t- food oY car” Teporters*frowe, ulttside “md e

inside the province £ and from
students working on various
academic projects,

Also taking calls and visits
is John Watson, ihe regional
director for the federal In-
dian Affairs department in
Vancouver.

“In terms of issues
Nisga’a is right up there
with the Royal Commission

on Aboriginal Peoples and .

that was five years in the

‘making and 600 public hear-

ings,” he said.

Watson added that the
Nisga'a have maintained a
consistent pattern of speak-
ing lo as many groups as
possible to spread the word

about their claim.

But what has him most
surprised is the level of jn-
ternational interest in the
Nisga’a claim.

Watson and his staff have
played to host to journalists
from around the world and
from diplomats from Asia
and New Zealand,

**There’s a message there

from potential investors in

this country that they're
looking at the willingness to
conclide treaties and, in
particular, this deal,’ said
Watson.

Joe Gosnell

also proposed including a
reference in the preamble of
the treaty thal would recag-
nize the spirit of reconcillia-
tion called for by the
Supreme Court of Canada in
its Dec. 11 landmark Del-
gamuukw ruling.

Talks still continue on that
idea, he added.

Internal Nisga’a critics — .

who want Gosnell to

demand more in the treaty '
in Jight of the high court de-

cision — pressed Gosnell on
the issue at the spring
Nisga’a convention.

But Gosnell said the crili-
cism there was not as great
as he had expected.

He said he is continuing to
emphasize that the Nisga’a
will soon get to vote on the
treaty being concluded, and
if they prefer to delay sign-
ing the treaty or take a dif-
ferent direction, they'll have
a chance to vote no,

“The last word will be the _

vote from our people,” he
said, ‘‘We’re saying to them
be informed of the content
of the document so you will
be in a position to make an
informed decision, not a de-
cision based on one small
section of the document.’’

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