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VANCOUVER - Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed his government Friday to a modern-day treaty that will give a West Coast native band a guaranteed quota of Fraser River salmon, a move that has angered one of Harper's MPs and disenchanted many of his long-time loyalists.
The treaty, also controversial because it awards the Tsawwassen First Nation more than 200 hectares of prime coastal farmland that the natives can use for industrial use, is valued by the native band's lawyers at about $119 million.
After 13 years of negotiations, the deal is expected to be put to a vote in the B.C. legislature and the House of Commons in the next few months, where its is likely to easily pass. The 358 members of the Tsawwassen band, which is located on a slice of waterfront near
``This is a great day for us,'' said Tsawwassen Chief Kim Baird on Friday. ``We value this deal at $119 million. We've calculated the value of the agricultural lands.''
But to get the proposed treaty, the second in less than six weeks under B.C.'s treaty process, Harper has had to pay a political price.
Conservative MP John Cummins, a longtime loyalist, has publicly criticized the treaty as creating a ``racially based'' fishery because a side-agreement awards the natives a share of the salmon fishery _from 0.7 to about three per cent, depending on the species. The treaty values the salmon fishery at under $2.7 million annually.
That has also drawn the ire of some West Coast fishermen, who believe Harper has abandoned his promise to oppose such a fishery with preferential quotas. Phil Eidsvik, the head of the Fisheries Survival Coalition, has accused the Conservative government of a ``massive betrayal.''
Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, who took part in the ceremony Friday on the reserve, has said that there is room for a fellow Conservative MP to disagree. But he supported what was in the treaty.
``It charts a future based on respect and co-operation,'' Prentice said in a statement.''As the first final agreement in B.C. Lower Mainland, it serves as an excellent showcase for reconciliation among communities and their governments.''
There are far larger stakes than fish at play in this treaty.
Both the federal and provincial governments are hoping to expand a container port that sits just off the waterfront property of the tiny B.C. native band. A treaty will make it possible for a major expansion because the Tsawwassen want to use some of the 207 hectares of farmland they will be granted to build warehouses and storage facilities for the millions of containers that could be arriving from
As well, the treaty will mean the Tsawwassen will be giving up their status as a reserve. That means that after 12 years after the treaty becomes law, the natives will lose their tax exempt status under the Indian Act and must pay the same taxes as other Canadians.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who has been promising a ``new relationship'' with the province's approximately 180,000 aboriginals, has called the treaties an important step toward creating ``certainty'' for businesses in the province.
The Tsawwassen reserve is a typical example of the poverty that B.C.'s natives endure.
The average family income is about $20,000, about one third that of the surrounding non-native communities. Unemployment is above forty per cent and the reserve suffers from a lack of municipal services most take for granted, such as bus service, ample supply of water and even electricity.
That was evident Friday, just before the proposed treaty was initialed. The electrical supply form B.C. Hydro cut out, leaving the natives scrambling for a generator to light up the ceremony in their long house.