Ih: British Columbia 21 native
land claims have been accepted
for negotiation by the federal
- government, Only one, the
Nisga’a, is active,

-.The Nisga’a have been trying to
resolve their Nass Valley land
claim dispute since 1913.

_ on 1968 the Nisga'a took their
‘land question to court in the now-
‘famous Calder vs the Attorney

“General of British Columbia case.

Five® years later, the Supreme

cet deen enna e ee ewe enero ns

Yukon
: ~ claim
: ~ settled

A comprehensive land claim in-

- : itiated by Yukon Indians in 1973
~~. “was settled this spring when a
«final agreement was reached: be-
«tween: the Council for Yukon In-

~ ‘dias; ihe Yukon NDP Govem-

smentand the federal government. |_|.
; : Under. the terms of the settle.” ”

oot ment:, 14 Yukon bands were
- given.'41,440 ‘square kilometes,
oe approximately 8 per cent of the
‘oe. YukotiJand base.
Existing third party interests,
and access to these interests, will
be protected on all the settlement
lands. - :

“Public — access
settlement lands is by agreement

tion purposes, the public wili be
allowed on all undeveloped
settlement lands,

which they operated.
“In addition-to a land setilement,

come eared from the capital will
be taxed.

which provides‘ certain tax” ex-
longer applies |
the Yukon.

. The settlement guaranteed that
the Council of Yukon. Indians

iment of lands, resources, fish and
wildlife.
‘A fish and wildlife enhance-
ment fund is one of the joint
projects which will be .managed
by the: Yukon territorial govern-
ment; federal government and the
Yukon Indian Council,

There are still several overlap-
ping..claims. remaining in the
B.C./Yukon boundary area. One

a - will be negotiated soon,

‘Although there are no examples
of. a successful setilement of a
lahd. claim in British Columbia,
we can look to nearby models for
guidance.

In the Northwest Territories, an
<°gpreement was reached between
“o' the federal government and the

“[nuvialuit in 1984,

“Sia Inuvialuit
whose population totalled ~ap-

' proximately 2,500 were affected

Westem Arctic Claim settlement.

4+. There were three main objec-

{fives recognized throughout ne-

4. 7-qrotiations of this claim: -

fo  * preserving Inuvialuit culture
-~. and values’ within a changing

to developed :

of the council. For casual recrea-

“Outfitters will be compensated .
for the’ loss of any land upon

the Yukon bands were given
$248 million in financial com-
“=pensation for lands and resources |.
that they historically used. Pay- —-
ment will be made. over a 15 year

This money is tax- free, but ine

In ‘other taxation changes, ‘Sec-
tion 87 of the federal Ihdian' Att, -

emptions for Indians on reserves,|
; to Yukon -
“s * eaerves, or to Indian residents in

will participate: in the manage-:

of-those claims has been made by _
the Dease River Band near Cas-.: |.
=-siar, It is expected that the claims a ©

communities .

by the agreement, called the’

Court of Canada rendered a split
Gecision on the question of
whether the Nisga’a retained
aboriginal title.

At that point the federal govern-
ment began to negatiate compre-
hensive Jand claim agreements.

In 1976, British Columbia en-

tered the negotiations in the role —

of an unofficial observer.
Aboriginal . rights were con-

firmed in 1982 in the Canadian .
the

constitution, and in 1990,

provincial government entered
thrée-way negoliatlons with the
federal’ government and the
Nisga’a,

The Nisga’a land claim entails
the following main components:

* Nisga’a self government

_* land

* natural resources

-* social-economic programs

* cultural programs -

_* compensation :
Several of these components

fall under the jurisdiction of the
provincial government. The fed-
eral government has been negoli-
ating with the Nisga’a on the is-
sues of self government, fisheries,
and cultural and socio-economic
programs.

An agreement on fisheries j is
very: ‘important to the Nisga'a,
since 70-80 per cent of the native
‘people who live in the Nass Val-

. [ey are. unemployed. An cnhatice-

ment: program is underway - to

Terrace Standard, Wedn

qd claims?

ensure the commercial fishing

community does not suffer,

Currently, the NDP government
claims it recognizes the political
legitimacy of aboriginal title and
the inherent right to self
govemment: |

To gain an understanding of .
what the resolution of the Nisga’a °

land claim might entail, read the

‘ accompanying articles on. the

settlement. of Yukon. and’ North-
west Territory land claims.

. Glacier. f weet

eet

*Rituinidau

- NISOAYA LAND
CLAIM BOUNDARY

Iver suai

Lake

oat SigAIOD 0

ng ay rary ny how by
FTA rio aee Se

. , spffice,,. ai

esday, August 26, 1992 — Page A5

LETTERS

TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

Tenant
jproblem

The Honorable
Colin Gabelimann
Attorney-General
Victoria, B.C,

~ Dear Sir: .

» Aufpassen (walch-out).:

-- Do not buy any rental units
in this province, there is nol,
longer law protecting your in-
_terests,
| - Your position as the At
: “tomney General might as well
not exist, because your underl-
| ings ‘aid your established order
_ [makes a mockery of any law in

British. Columbia. For cxam-

ple;:'A litle while back [ lost
$5000 worth in damages and 5
months of rent of both sides of
‘| the duplex because of a rent-
alsman ruling.
: Look: at yentalsman file:
481421, and that was when we
still presumably had a law. Let
this part. be an introduction to
you,

‘1 have complied with every
legal detail by serving a person
‘an’ eviction notice for” non-
payment of rent. | followed
through, asking for possession
‘and =< payment. through = the
Tenancy . Branch. I believe
Tenancy Branch’file is: 70421.

_ Forme, Ivan Batagelj, here is
| where the law’ of. British

‘| Columbia ceased to exisi, As
far as all of you legal nice
‘people ate concermed, this per-
son is’ still living iti my place
, and not paying a cent..

Because your. false represen-
tation forbids me to evict. this
person on my. own, your nice
organizations have chosen in-
ertia instead of acting on this
matter.

With this non-action of the
Tenancy Brauch, ] have not |
been given Iegal possession of
my. house as. of yet. In the
‘meantime, L:advise you as I
have been advised by a-judge,
R.C.M.P,, by. aur M.P, office,
by MLA. office,. by the
‘R.C.M.P, re Comm. Farrell

issioher akster dite,
RG MBOELG,, i Treille saan
office, there are ‘no legal steps"
that I can take, neither to col-
lect the rent owing, or evict
».| this person. -

. Although J used the haw ofa.
| Batagelj and Staff Sgt. J. Veld-
| man as a‘ mediator, the: poor-

[man legally bad his hands tied:

‘| by the flaw and could do noth-
Ting else but mediate, which he
did successfully since ‘the’ per-
son left since the end of June,
1992.
_—- Now, since I am not allowed
“Jto sue ‘in small debt courts
“| without your goons. applying |
-/} Tenancy Act, and short of col- |
*Plecting the money coming. to-
[me by|.dirty means, in your

pes parliamentary. words, what in

fuddle duddle would you sug-
gest? When are you going to

northern saciety;

* preparing the Inuvialuit to be
equal and effective participants in
the northern and national
economies;

* preserving and promoting. the
Arctic’s wildlife’ and environ-
ment,

The Inuvialuit received title to
91,000 square kilometres of the

435,000 square kilometre area-

they used to occupy. The North-
west Territories is approximately
3,5 million square kilometres,

The Inuvialut selected these
lands on the basis of their biologi-
cal productivity, or traditional
huntiig, trapping and fishing ac-
tivities by the Inuvialuit.

-Some of ‘the laid was also
selected because of economic ap-
‘portunities, or because it was an
historic Tnuvialuit site or burial
ground.

Lands which contained proven
oil or gas reserves and lands that
were privately owned or being
Used for public works were not
available for selection.

Settlement lands given to the
Inuvialuit can only be sold to
other Inuvialuit or to the crown.
Unimproved Inuvialuit lands. are
exempt from property tax, but im-

provements and the procecds*

from any development are tax-
able.
The

federal = government

_ Protecting environment key in

reserved the right to regulate de-
velopment activities and retains
ultimate responsibility for en-
vironmental management,

Title to the land is held by six
non-profit Inuvialuit Community

Corporations, through the In-.

uvialuit Land Corporation. Other
Inuvialuit corporations include
ones which direct development
and investment. — -

They manage the $152 million
which the federal goveriment
gave them as financial compensa-
tion for land and resources.

The Inuvialuit were granted ex-
clusive rights to harvest certain
species of wildlife, including fur-
bearers, subject to general conser-

NWT

vation and public safety laws,
Other native peoples continue to

have traditional harvesting rights,

as do trapline operators. -
The Inuvialuit were. also. given

preferential right to harvest fish -

and marine mammals for food in
the setilement region. They can
apply to catch or to bunt for com-
mercial sales,

One of the most important .

results of the settlement has been
the protection .of the Arctic en-

vironment. The management of —
renewable and ; non-renewable —

resources has been in local hands
for cight years, benefiting both
the Inuvialuit and third parties, as

several layers of government.

have been removed.

amend this law to be just?

Are you going to arrest the
‘| Tenancy Act officials for’ per-
| petrating a fraud and_protect-
| ing a criminal?

Al this poiat, I’d like to ad-

vise you that during this non-
paying period this person used
ihe living quarters suite as a
dispatch office for a courier
service and delivery company.
That includes a radio transmis-
sion antenna nailed, to - the
house to communicate to her
drivers.
_ On this information given to
you E.donot ask - ‘demand, in
writiiig, possession of my suite
and ruling -on.. the’ monctary
malter.so-I can sue in small
courts,

“1 also suggest an-inquiry of
the head of the Tenancy Act.

Ivan Batagel]
Terrace, B.C,

leaning ow (0 Peed,

ing. caused. over 15 000
car crashes. ° oa

Don’t speed

Don’t speed this labour.
day week September 2-8,

Police are’ cracking
down on drivers who
speed.

In 1990 there. were 171
car crashes in Terrace.

- Speeding was a factor in

_ many of the crashes.
In B.C, in 1990, speed-

Not only do people get
hurt, but ICBC insurance
rates go up.

So police are handing
out more speeding tickets,

The tickets cost drivers
lots of money.

In ‘April this year, the |.
fine for speeding went up f-.
to. $100.
-Adkm/h over the speed
it you pay: $150. a

If you drive

TERRACE
“HEALTH RESOURCE
_ DIRECTORY

GET the resource book by phoning 63

es

‘where to go to get help,
: ource Health Directory.

‘if: you have a problem

-you where to go if you or

beaten oy eet

~ Helpful

“There is a new guide
"book which tells - you

‘It is the Terrace Re-

The guide will help you

vith your landlord.
The. guide will also tell

your. children are -being