Treaty deal in Fraser Canyon riles aboriginal neighbours

As the Yale First Nation celebrates the final few steps in ratifying a modern treaty decades in the making, a much, much older dispute threatens to overshadow it with the potential for violence.

Sophie Pierre, the province's chief treaty commissioner, has called on the Yale and its neighbours, the Sto:lo Nation, to engage in some old-style, fierce, but non-violent talks outside the treaty to settle a dispute over historic salmon fishing sites in B.C.'s Fraser Canyon.

The neighbouring Sto:lo Nation say the Yale land-claims deal gives the Yale aboriginals exclusive domain over the sites.

"Quite frankly, that doesn't fly," said Sto:lo Nation president Joe Hall, who was at the B.C. legislature last week asking the B.C. government to stall passage of the treaty.

"That's the proposal, that the Yale would become the gatekeeper for territory traditionally owned by the Sto:lo," he said.

"We can't understand why there's a rush to push the treaty through in the wrong fashion."

The Yale treaty will become the third successful modern treaty under British Columbia's treaty negotiation process, introduced in 1991.

Most of the province's more than 200 aboriginal First Nations are without treaties, with only about two-dozen dating back to the province's colonial era in the mid 1800s.

The Sto:lo have been using the Fraser River fishing sites for thousands of years, but they say the treaty gives the Yale, who are Sto:lo people, the right to control access to their traditional fishing areas, including requiring the Sto:lo apply for permits to fish where they've always fished.

Yale Chief Robert Hope was at the legislature earlier this month celebrating the treaty deal, which gives the 150-member First Nation, located about 175 kilometres north of Vancouver, self-government rights, about $13 million and ownership of almost 2,000 hectares.

He said the treaty between the Yale, the B.C. government and Ottawa, gives his people rights to determine their own future.

Yale adviser Jim Wild said the band is reviewing its permitting options, but wants to cool down any speculation that it has plans to limit or shut down the fishery.

Most people fishing on the river wouldn't need a permit because boats would likely be launched from the nearby provincial government site, said Wild.

But the Yale will consider asking people who camp on their land to apply for permits and that could include aboriginals who set up racks to dry salmon caught in the Fraser River, he said.

The band doesn't expect permits would be issued for at least another two years.

"People tend to blow this out of proportion," Wild said. "It makes a warm situation hotter."

The B.C. and federal governments must still ratify the treaty. The B.C. Treaty Commission oversees the province's three-government treaty negotiation process.

Pierre, who called on British Columbia and Ottawa to quickly ratify the deal, attended the ceremony but did not mention the dispute with the Sto:lo directly, saying instead there are outstanding issues with neighbours that the Yale must negotiate.

Pierre said in an interview that the Yale and Sto:lo need to embark on negotiations that do not involve an expensive court process, which will almost inevitably result in courts telling the two sides to sort out their differences.

She said aboriginals traditionally have been able to work out problems in the past, and this dispute may require intense, face-to-face talks, which could get rough, but not to the point of provoking violence.

"We're encouraging First Nations to look at their traditional ways of dealing with these issues," Pierre said.

"As aboriginal people, we didn't live here jolly and happy all of the time. There's always been conflict. Let's not take it all the way back to the point where we're killing each other."

Pierre said she supports treaty making, and there should be no stopping the Yale Treaty from being ratified, but the two sides should start talks about how to settle the fishing dispute outside of the treaty.

"All of those people are going to be in the canyon just as they've always been there for thousands of years, and I can't believe this is the first time they've ever had a battle about fish," she said.

Pierre suggested the two sides work out a protocol arrangement that allows them to consider talking about the fishing dispute, and then move to a mediation process.

"We're there to provide an opportunity for them to find a facilitated or mediated kind of solution, something that will let them go forward without them threatening each other to take out the guns," she said.

Mary Polak, B.C.'s minister of aboriginal relations, said she met with the Sto:lo and assured them they will continue to have access to the Fraser Canyon fishing sites.

She agreed the Sto:lo were not completely satisfied with their meeting with her, but she said of the 203 First Nations in British Columbia, only one is not involved in a land dispute with another First Nation.

"We want to ensure that they (Sto:lo) continue to have access to their places for fishing, for drying their food, for camps," said Polak. "We're committed to ensuring that their rights are not extinguished in any way."

Polak discounted concerns the B.C. Lt.-Gov. Steven Point, a Sto:lo, would in any way impede the final passage of the treaty.

Point gives royal assent to all government laws.