The Province of British Columbia is unique
on the subject of treaties with First Nations. While in the
rest of Canada,
it was the policy of the colonial government to sign treaties
with aboriginal people, there are very few colonial government
treaties
in British Columbia. As a result, there has been a long history
of what has been called the “Land Question, ” and
the search for a solution. Thus far there has been much debate
and
little in the way of real solutions for First Nations in
British Columbia until the advent of the British Columbia Treaty
Process.
The communities who make up what is known as
In-SHUCK-ch are very proud to state that we were first
in the door at
the British
Columbia Treaty Commission offices on December 15 1993 to offer
our Statement of Intent to enter the treaty process. We then
worked very hard to finish a Framework Agreement (Stage 3)
in 1997. Immediately after, we began negotiating an Agreement
in Principle and had anticipated completing that stage in December
of 1999.
In-SHUCK-ch took a two-year hiatus from the
negotiating process in order to spend more time explaining
treaty in the communities.
During that two-year break, N’Quat’qua, one of
the member communities, elected not to return to treaty negotiations.
We miss their presence at our negotiations but respect their
decision. Without N’Quat’qua, we needed to reenter
the treaty process as a new entity and therefore began anew.
We submitted a new Statement
of Intent, with map, on April
24, 2002. Our new Framework Agreement was signed on April
1 2003. We are currently in Stage 5 and making rapid
progress
once again.
In-SHUCK-ch is involved in the British Columbia Treaty Process
for many different reasons. A number of our community members
have spoken out about the poor present day conditions and their
fears about the future. Encroachment on the land around the
traditional territory and the inevitable devolution of the
Department of Indian affairs would leave us with few future
opportunities unless we acted soon. One of our elders stated
the situation most clearly:
“We have no say in our land. We don’t own it.
We have been corralled on reserves that are getting too small
for us to live on. Even this small piece of land is not ours.
The only thing that we sign for and own is a car. We pay for
a house but we don’t own it because we don’t
own the land. The Queen holds our land.”
Negotiating a treaty is the solution for In-SHUCK-ch. We have
decided to become active participants in determining our own
future. When Final Agreement has been completed, we will have
the tools to deal with the past, the present and the future.
We will govern ourselves on a land base, which will provide
us with economic opportunities for revenue and employment,
we will interact with the regional districts and the local
communities on a government to government basis and we will
maintain and enrich the cultural traditions which define who
we are.
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