News

For Immediate Release
4:00 p.m. PST

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and leaders are returning to the Supreme Court of Canada March 24-25 in another attempt to make Canada and BC obey the law of the land.

The Gitxsan are intervening in a case involving a neighboring First Nation, the Haida. BC and a forest company are taking the Haida to the SCC appealing a lower court decision. In that case, the BC Supreme Court ruled the province and the forest company neglected to consult the Haida, or accommodate their interests, when a forest tenure agreement was renewed between the Ministry of Forests and Weyerhaeuser Ltd. In the precedent-setting Gitxsan Delgamuukw decision from Dec. 11, 1997, the SCC said consultation and accommodation must occur when aboriginal rights are infringed.

“We are returning to the highest court in the land to hold Canada and BC’s feet to the fire,” said Gitxsan Treaty Office executive director Gordon Sebastian. “Nothing significant has happened in the last six years as far as consultation and accommodation on the Gitxsan territories is concerned. BC, Canada and companies are behaving as if the Delgamuukw decision never happened. It is the shameful behaviour of bullies who think they have power.”

Gitxsan hereditary chiefs maintain that meaningful consultation and accommodation will help turn around the dreadful social and economic conditions found in the traditional territories. The future had a rosier look after the 1997 Delgamuukw decision. But in the last six years both levels of the Crown have refused to enter into the type of consultation envisioned by the SCC. Since 1997, prime socioeconomic indicators, such as employment and health figures, have worsened in the Gitxsan territories. Communities are experiencing unemployment rates of more than 90%. The infant mortality rates per 1000 live births are 35% higher than the BC average. The average age of a social assistance recipient is 23.

“These are numbers more often associated with developing nations, not what Canadian’s expect from a so-called just society,” said Sebastian. “The lack of improvement in our living conditions can be directly linked to things like BC, Canada and companies not consulting with us or accommodating our interests on our territories.”
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For more information:

Gordon Sebastian, Gitxsan Chiefs’ Office executive director
BC: (250) 842-6780, (250) 847-9224
Ottawa: (250) 847-0494, (613) 232-2200
Gwaans (Beverley Clifton-Percival), treaty negotiator
BC: (250) 842-6780
Ottawa: (250) 847-0494, (613) 232-2200
Tenimgyet (Art Matthews), hereditary chief & petitioner
BC: (250) 842-6780
Ottawa: (250) 847-0494, (613) 232-2200