DIRK MEISSNER
Nov 18,2006
Canadian Press
Victoria area aboriginals have agreed to drop a lawsuit that claimed ownership of the property that houses the 108-year-old B.C. legislature building in exchange for a $31.5 million settlement.
Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, B.C.'s Aboriginal Relations Minister Mike de Jong and the chiefs of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations attended an initialling ceremony Saturday inside the stately legislature building.
The aboriginals had claimed the legislature was built on part of a four-hectare reserve created in 1854 by B.C.'s former colonial governor Sir James Douglas.
The James Bay Reserve, which includes the legislature property, was originally part of a treaty settlement, but it was taken back by the government for the legislature site.
Chief Andy Thomas of the Esquimalt First Nation called the land a "precious gift" from his ancestors.
"Today, I am humbled by my grandfathers, whose strength and wisdom has protected and preserved these lands for the past 150 years," he said.
Added Chief Robert Sam of the Songhees First Nation: "The vision and commitment of our people today will help us achieve our goals for tomorrow. The membership will make the final decision on this very important proposed settlement offer."
Prentice said the settlement is of enormous symbolic importance for the country.
"These are the kinds of things we must resolve if we're going to move forward with new relationships with Aboriginal people," he said.
Seventy-five per cent of the settlement money will come from the federal government, while the rest will come from the province of B.C.
"Because it's such an old claim it goes back before B.C.'s entry into confederation," Prentice said. "So you get into some fairly complicated legal and jurisdictional arguments as to who's actually responsible for the cost of the claim."
The three sides must ratify the agreement within 60 days. The two aboriginal bands must ask their tribal members to endorse the settlement, but what process that will include has yet to be determined.
In the lawsuit, the bands claimed damages for loss of use, breaches of fiduciary duty and trespass, but the settlement halts the case and ceases any claims to the James Bay Reserve, including the legislature, said a source familiar with the settlement.
"It shows that governments and First Nations can indeed negotiate even these kinds of difficult issues," said the source. "This is a case where the litigation was not going to make for a good settlement, but negotiation did."
The Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations are two of less than 20 B.C. First Nations who have land-claims treaties.
The Songhees and Esquimalt treaties date back to the mid 1800s, when Douglas, who was representing the British Crown, reached land deals with southern Vancouver Island aboriginals that gave them rights to village sites and hunting and fishing grounds.
Most of the almost 200 B.C. First Nations do not have land-claims treaties.
The Nisga'a aboriginals of northwest B.C. signed the province's first modern-day treaty in 1998. The land, cash and self-government deal was reached after more than 100 years of on-again, off-again talks.
Last month, a Prince George area First Nation initialed a treaty with the federal and provincial governments after almost 15 years of talks.
They were the first to do so under a long-running treaty negotiation process with more than 60 B.C. First Nations and the B.C. and federal governments.
The B.C. government said recently it expects final agreements with the Tsawwassen First Nation in suburban Vancouver and the Maa-nulth Tribal Group on the west coast of Vancouver Island to be initialled before the end of the year.
The two-term B.C. Liberal government has become a firm support of the treaty negotiation process in the past 18 months after questioning the treaty process early in its mandate.