Okanagan band protest land claims bill

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Okanagan Indians took their campaign against a new British Columbia land claim bill to the highways last month.

Some 200 members of the Penticton Indian band mounted the 45-minute information blockades of the Yellowhead Highway May 26 to hand out pamphlets protesting the passage of the B.C. Treaty Commission Act (Bill 22).

The Okanagan Natives said they are angry because the treaty commission was set up without their approval to serve the interests of the provincial and federal governments.

"If we cannot depend on our leaders to protect our interests, we will have to stand up and protect them ourselves," said Penticton Indian band councillor Stewart Phillips. "The act was fast-tracked to express the concerns of the provincial and federal governments."

The treaty commission process is also flawed because it will not produce agreements that are enduring, he said.

"They will remain outstanding."

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs also rejected the passage of the bill, calling it "a law to commission the extinguishment of our Aboriginal title and Rights in British Columbia."

Union president Saul Terry said the province's First Nations have not consented to the negotiation process because there is no recognition of their ancestory's fundamental principles.

"We cannot remain silent," he said. "This law is a fraud."

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Andrew Petter said the Penticton Indians were not intentionally excluded from the treaty-making process.

"Some of the bands in the province have indicated that the province should not be included in the treaty process," he said. "I respect those points of view but a majority of First Nations, through the Summit, support the treaty commission."

The treaty commission act, unanimously passed by the B.C. legislature May 26 in Victoria, ensures the province will have stable, enduring body in place to oversee and aid the negotiations of just and honorable treaty settlements, Petter said.

Bands like the Penticton are still free to pursue their own treaties with the federal government if they choose, he added.

The treaty commission will be given final legal permanency with the introduction of a parallel federal act later this spring and by a resolution of the First Nations Summit.

Most First Nations people have also not been informed nor given their full consent to the treaty commission, Terry said. And while the commission bills itself as a voluntary process, the federal and provincial governments have refused to negotiate any other way, he said.

"The problem is that communities have not been involved," said Phillips. "We have high-powered leaders telling us what's good for us, but the communities are not sure what's going on."

The union proposed an alternative process that would outline fundamental principles and policies before treaty negotiations commence for each tribal territory in July, 1990.