'Kick-start' sought in First Nation treaty talks

The B.C. Treaty Commission is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to shake up the complacency it says has set in around treaty negotiations with B.C. First Nations after 16 years of expensive talks and few success stories.

Chief Sophie Pierre, who heads the commission, said Wednesday that Harper must send a message to federal treaty negotiators that they are at the table to negotiate treaties, not stall potential settlements.

Pierre said Ottawa and the B.C. government must re-examine the settlement mandates they give to their negotiators, while aboriginals must work to resolve territorial issues between First Nations.

'It doesn't have the urgency' Sophie Pierre, St. Mary's Indian Band

She made the comments at a news conference where the treaty commission presented its 2009 annual report.

"Everybody's just gotten so used to this thing," said Pierre, the former elected chief of the Cranbrook-area St. Mary's Indian Band for more than 25 years.

"It doesn't have the urgency. People have forgotten why we got involved in this in the first place."

Pierre, appointed treaty commissioner last April, said of the three governments attempting to negotiate treaties in British Columbia federal, provincial and First Nations Ottawa is moving too slowly, which is why she is appealing directly to Harper.

"We're trying to do what we can to ensure we can get his attention, and that he sees the real benefit in giving the kind of direction that is needed," she said.

Treaty settlements offer economic, social and cultural benefits for First Nations, British Columbians and Canadians, Pierre said.

The treaty commission will repeat its kick-start message to the federal government later this month when members appear before the federal House of Commons finance committee in Ottawa, she said.

Cites two examples of 'inaction'

Pierre said the Powell River-area Sliammon First Nation has been waiting for two years to enter the final stage of treaty talks, but federal negotiators don't have the authority to reach a fish-sharing agreement with the Sliammon.

The federally-managed salmon resource is a vital cultural, social and economic aspect of aboriginal life in British Columbia and salmon allocations are always a major point in treaty talks.

A treaty with the tiny Yale First Nation in the Fraser Canyon is also waiting for federal movement on the salmon resource.

"From the government of Canada, there have been extended periods of silence and inaction creating the impression they lack commitment," said Pierre in a statement. "A worrisome example is their lack of a fish mandate."

Pierre states in the annual report that getting beyond the barriers to treaty settlements must become an urgent priority.

"Failure to act in a constructive and progressive manner will result in more litigation, confrontation, economic uncertainty and potentially the dissolution of the treaty process with no viable alternative," said Pierre in the report.