Treaty To Grant B.C. Native Timber Rights
10/26/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Treaty To Grant B.C. Native TIMBER Rights
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 26, 1999
OTTAWA, Ontario, Canada, October 26, 1999 (ENS) - The Canadian House
of Commons will review the Nisga'a Treaty today for approval in
principle of legislation which will provide land, timber cutting
rights, resource and self-government rights to a native British
Columbia tribe.
Federal Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault introduced the
legislation October 21, hoping to pass the Nisga'a Treaty before the
millennium. The treaty is the first modern-day land claims settlement
negotiated in British Columbia. Other settlements are being
negotiated under the B.C. Treaty Commission process.
Signed between the Nisga'a tribe of British Columbia, the province
and the federal government earlier this year, the treaty must be
passed by Parliament before it can be implemented.
As written, it gives the Nisga'a 2,019 square kilometers (780 square
miles) of land in the Nass River valley of northwestern British
Columbia. From the Skeena Mountains in the northeast, to the
intersection of the Alaska Panhandle and the B.C. coast, is Nisga'a
land. The treaty also gives the tribe C$255 million over 15 years, a
Nisga'a run government and control over land resources, including
timber rights. In return, tribal members will give up their tax-
exempt status and abandon further claims, said B.C. Premier Dan
Miller.
Should the treaty receive final approval, a five year transition
period will ensue, during which current provincial forest licensees
will phase out their operations on Nisga'a lands. During this period,
the Nisga'a Nation and British Columbia will jointly oversee the
forestry activities on Nisga'a Lands of such licensees.
A maximum of 165,000 cubic meters of timber may be harvested during
each year of the transition period, with the amount being divided
between the transitional licensees and the Nisga'a Nation.
Transitional licensees will be required to use reasonably available
Nisga'a contractors under full-phase logging contracts for 50 percent
of the volume they harvest in year one and 70 percent of the volume
they harvest in years two through five.
During the transition period, timber harvested from former Nisga'a
reserves may be exported in accordance with federal laws as if the
timber had been harvested from a reserve under the Indian Act.
Otherwise, British Columbia laws regarding the manufacture of timber
in the province will apply.
British Columbia will pay the Nisga'a Nation at least C$6 per cubic
meter harvested by transitional licensees during the transition
period. However, if either "industry performance" or billed stumpage
exceeds C$6 per cubic meter, British Columbia will pay the Nisga'a
Nation industry performance (up to a maximum of C$10 per cubic meter)
plus billed stumpage. "Industry performance" is determined by
deducting the estimated industry harvesting costs from the estimated
selling price.
The Nisga'a cannot establish a primary timber processing facility for
10 years after the treaty's effective date. But during this period,
the Nisga'a can establish a timber processing facility to provide
lumber for Nisga'a residential or public purposes, conduct value-
added timber processing, or enter into a partnership or joint venture
with the owner of an existing timber processing facility.
The treaty was ratified by members of the Nisga'a Nation in early
November 1998. On April 22, the Nisga'a Final Agreement Act was
passed by a free vote of members of the British Columbia legislative
assembly.
While the Nisga'a Treaty is being debated in the House of Commons,
Nisga'a Tribal Council communications staff will be working from a
temporary office in Ottawa.
"We're here to ratify the Nisga'a Treaty and to observe the debate at
this historic moment,"said Tribal Council President Joseph Gosnell.
"We intend to keep a close eye on the debate. And, we are going to be
extremely vigilant when it comes to correcting any and all
misinformation about the treaty -- in a timely and fact-based way,"
Chief Gosnell said.
The Canadian Reform party says it will do whatever it takes to derail
debate and force amendments to what it says is a flawed document.