It's our responsibility

Page 4

Here it is the spring of 2000 and after almost two centuries of illegal occupation by foreigners in our territories we still have to prove that we have lived here since the beginning of time.

As a First Nations person from the Shuswap Nation it would be easy to get discouraged and say, "I've got a good education. I can get a good job" and forget about our struggle and leave the messy business of sorting out our problems to someone else. That would be very easy indeed.

As First Nations people we have heard of the prophecies that our Elders tell us that we are the chosen generation to solve a lot of our problems. (Boy, is that a big load on our shoulders or what?) When you look back at our history you will see the systematic oppression in the form of laws, the forced assimilation in the residential schools, the absolutely devastating impacts of losing our language and culture and you are tempted to say 'why us?'

That is the path of least resistance and a major league cop-out.

One of the leaders that I look up to in Indian Country is Satsan (Herb George). He is cool under pressure and is a noted statesman and academic. He is also the architect of a measured approach to solving the land question. After successfully helping both the Gitxsan and his own nation the Wet'suwet'en win the Delgamuukw decision he successfull set out to prove Aboriginal title still exists in this province called British Columbia.

At the Delgamuukw National Process website (www.delgamuukw.org) you will find a plain language guide that is invaluable in laying out concepts of the Delgamuukw decision. (It really was a monumental job but it is done and very useful). Some of the finest legal minds in Canada have been hired by Satsan to define in plain language the most incredible legal tool available to us to use in proving our title.

The plain language guide says:

The Supreme Court laid out a number of principles relating to the following issues:

- Use of oral history to prove Aboriginal title.

- The test for proving Aboriginal title

- The content of Aboriginal title

- Government's ability to infringe Aboriginal title

- The province's ability to extinguish Aboriginal title

- Government's duty in negotiations

It is up to each of us and our governing representatives to breathe life into these words.

Another part of Satsan's strategy is to help tribes like the Interior Alliance here in the Interior of B.C. or the Northwest Tribal Treaty Agreement get together and lay frameworks for working together. The Northwest Tribal Treaty Agreement includes representatives from the Tsimshian, Haisla, Gitanyow, Gitksan, Haida, Wet'suwet'en, Lake Babine and Tl'azten First Nations, and they recently agreed to work on common issues and support each other on individual issues.

"The Working Committee and the Northwest Tribal Treaty Group will focus on such key issues as the development of a strategy to deal with treaty-related shortcomings and implementing the opportunities made available from the Delgamuukw Supreme Court decision," says a recent press release from their working group.

These agreements between the tribes is real power the federal and provincial governments have no influence over and signals the end of the divide and conquer strategies that have been successfully used against us in the past. Sounds simple but you have to overcome millenniums of mistrust between the tribes and that is not an easy thing to do.