Sechelt band headed for final step in treaty process

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It was history in the making at the Sechelt Band hall Jan. 26, with hundreds of locals, Elders, school children and media members turning out for the presentation of the draft treaty agreement-in-principal that has taken more than 200 public consultation meetings and five years to complete. Although the deal isn't signed yet, it represents the culmination of Stage 5 of the British Columbia Treaty Commission's six-stage process.

Within sight of the old residential school building, Chief Garry Feschuk, federal negotiator Tom Molloy, provincial negotiator Murray Rankin and Premier Glen Clark, along with local MLA Gordon Wilson - who was named the province's new minister of Aboriginal affairs within the week - applauded the historic occasion.

Calling the agreement-in-principal "a victory for the Sechelt people," Chief Feschuk fielded questions from a mob of reporters outside the Sechelt administration building during a break in the historic presentation ceremony on the Sunshine Coast.

"We've given up a lot but we've negotiated a lot also. . . . We've made sure there is something for everyone in this package," he said, adding that third parties shouldn't be afraid of the deal that has taken thousands of hours of consultation.

"We will negotiate lease agreements with B.C., and with resource companies. . . and anyone wanting to cross our lands should continue, as an act of courtesy, to phone the band office first, as they do now," he said.

Once the draft deal is initialed by all parties, the final agreement will be hammered out. The Sechelt Band is the first First Nation to reach Stage 5 in the B.C. treaty process. Currently, 51 First Nations - representing 70 per cent of the province's Aboriginal population - are involved in the treaty process. The draft deal includes provisions for taxes, both provincial and federal, land and cash deals, resource management deals and the assurances by all parties that the Sechelt Indian Band Self Government Act - enacted in 1986 - will continue.

Premier Clark said the agreement is a powerful signal that the treaty commission process is working.

"As a province, we have to prove that confrontation and litigation are not solutions. We have to negotiate with respect, and the Sechelts have demonstrated that it can be done," he said.

Federal MP John Reynolds - whose riding includes the Sunshine Coast - said his Reform Party would respect "agreements done in the proper manner."

"I've spoken to a lot of people I respect and they seem in favor of it," he added.

Sechelt mayor Bruce Milne said the agreement would lift a cloud from economic development in the surrounding community.

"It's a good deal for everyone," he said.

Former Sechelt band councillor Theresa Jeffries praised the agreement.

"This is for the future of our children and our grandchildren. I want them to say when it comes their time and they are running our village, that we did a really good job. . . that we looked to the future," she said.

The draft agreement will give the Sechelts an additional 933 hectares of land, almost doubling the acreage they currently own, plus the option within the next 24 years to expand those lands to 3,055 hectares. The draft agreement includes the local gravel lands currently mined under lease by Construction Aggregates, and the future lands provision includes the land that the only hospital on the Sunshine Coast is constructed on.

The cash settlement will give the 900-member Sechelt Band $40 million in cash for a "prosperity fund," $2 million to implement the phases of the treaty, a $1.5 million payment from the federal government for economic development and a $4 million loan from the provincial government.

Other highlights of the agreement include provisions for agreements with the province and the Royal BC Museum on the future disposition of cultural artifacts in their collection; the right to participate in the management of public water supply processes; the right to participate in the administation of provincial environmental assessment planning processes; and the right to manage and harvest forestry lands in the Sechelt treaty area.

Under the taxation agreement, the Sechelts will begin paying transaction taxes after eight years, and federal income tax after 12 years, a major departure from the band's original demand for a 50-year exemption period.

Extensive fish and wildlife management plans will be ironed out in the final agreement, although the draft agreement indicates the Sechelts will receive 11 existing commercial fishing licenses, and 16,250 sockeye, 2,700 pinks, and 3,700 chum salmon each year for the first 10 years, plus a maximum of 12,500 chum annually from the Jervis Inlet area, while other agreements for harvests in other areas will be negotiated. The final draft will provide for non-salmon allocations of fish and shellfish, including ling cod, halibut, herring, crabs, clams, shrimps and prawns, and sablefish.

Controversy had erupted previously during the consultation process over wildlife harvesting rights and the right to hunt elk, which are a recently introduced species on the Sunshine Coast and not a traditional food source.

The draft agreement also provides a strict criteria for who is eligible to benefit under the treaty process. Eligible voters must be 18. Ineligible voters include non-Aboriginal people who became band members through marriage after 1985 and who have since divorced; also non-Aboriginal children born to non-Aboriginal people who became band members through marriage before 1985.

Several conditions in the agreement exclude persons enrolled in other treaty processes. The draft agreement also designates a dispute mechanism process.