>>WORTH REPEATING

Fact-challenged Nisga'a critics invent 'make-believe treaty' | Jim McNulty

Vancouver Province Column [11/21/99]

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Distortions and misrepresentations of the Nisga'a treaty have reached the stage where the weary tribe suggests there are now two treaties being debated.

"The first is the treaty we negotiated," the tribe told the House of Commons aboriginal affairs committee in Ottawa. "It is the treaty referred to by the government and the three opposition parties" other than Reform.

"The other is a 'make-believe treaty,' one that we never sought and would not accept it if were offered to us.

"It is the treaty described by the Official Opposition, the British Columbia Liberal party, and a variety of editorialists and other individuals."

Among other supposed ills, the make-believe treaty would undermine the Charter of Rights, deny Nisga'a people the right to hold private property, hurt aboriginal women, allow the band to impose taxation without representation, and dramatically alter the constitution. "The Nisga'a treaty, the real Nisga'a treaty, does not do any of those things," the tribe told the committee.

"But the constant invoking of the 'make-believe treaty' has resulted in a situation in which some members of the public" oppose the real treaty "because of the inaccurate statements about its contents." The best way to learn what the treaty does, the Nisga'a said, "is, of course, to read it."

The tribe delivered its comments to the committee on Nov. 4, but the bogus claims of critics didn't stop. That much was evident when the committee travelled to B.C. last week for hearings in Terrace, Smithers, Prince George, Victoria and Vancouver.

Anti-treaty gadfly Mel Smith claimed the document was unconstitutional. Gordon Campbell, the B.C. "Liberal" leader, called the process "a sorry, pathetic excuse for democracy." Fraser Institute shill Gordon Gibson resorted to shameless emotional blackmail when he lectured that "it will just hurt those newborn Indian Canadians with 'different' stamped on their foreheads."

Then there was Bill Vander Zalm and his Reform B.C. crowd. In Prince George, party vice-president Bob Zayonc had to be told to behave himself after interrupting the proceedings. One redneck on hand told Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell to "stop whining and go back to her reserve."

In Vancouver Friday, Vander Zalm entered the hearings with a motley squad of rabble-rousers who repeatedly disrupted a pro-treaty submission by business leaders including B.C. Hydro chair Brian Smith.

Not content with engaging in boorish behaviour and promoting outright falsehoods, the reactionaries also make the preposterous claim that the real Nisga'a treaty hasn't had sufficient debate. This is pure nonsense. As ex-premier Mike Harcourt told the committee, the treaty "is probably the most discussed, dissected and examined piece of legislation this province has ever seen."

It was debated in the B.C. legislature for longer than any other single bill in the province's history. It was picked over in 31 hearings in 27 communities by the legislature's select standing committee. It has been the subject of more than 500 public information and consultation sessions from 1991 to 1998. As of today, The Province and Vancouver Sun have carried a combined total of 912 articles that talked about the treaty.

The questions that have been asked have all been answered, repeatedly. And yet people still choose to be in denial about the facts. I'm left wondering how many critics have actually listened to the debate they say isn't happening, or followed the Nisga'a tribe's advice to actually read the treaty.

Damn few, I suspect.
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