Nisga'a chief Joe Gosnell is flanked by BC Premier Glen Clark and federal Indian affairs minister Jane Stewart at the historic signing of the Nisga'a treaty.

The Nuu-chah-nulth agreement follows on a similar agreement-in-principle signed in February with the Sliammon First Nation near Powell River. That agreement would transfer $24.4 million and 50 sq km of Crown land (along with 19.07 sq km of existing reserve land) to the 870 Sliammon people.

Prior to these agreements the treaty process appeared to be on life support. Both First Nations and members of the public were expressing impatience at the slow pace of negotiations. And the Liberal Party under its leader Gordon Campbell, widely expected to win the upcoming election, has served notice that it intends to hold a referendum on the broad principles underlying the process.

Agreements-in-principle are an important stage in the treaty process, but they do not inevitably lead to a final agreement. In 1999, for example, negotiators for the Sechelt people signed an agreement-in-principle that was later taken off the table when community opposition to it became apparent. To date the Nuu-chah-nulth, the Sliammon and the Sechelt are the only three First Nations to have reached the agreement-in-principle stage of negotiations, though rumour has it that further announcements are imminent. No final treaties have been successfully negotiated to conclusion.

The treaty process in BC is relatively short-lived. It was only in 1990 that the provincial government changed a long-standing policy and agreed to become involved in negotiations. In 1993 the province established the BC Treaty Commission to facilitate the treaty process--the commission does not negotiate treaties itself--and First Nations began coming to the table. Between 40 and 50 First Nations are now involved in some stage of negotiations, comprising about two-thirds of the province's 197 bands. Other bands remain opposed to and outside of the process.

According to the process, worked out in consultation with First Nations, negotiations follow six steps.

1. A First Nation files a Statement of Intent indicating that it wants to begin negotiations.
2. The three parties to negotiations--the province, the federal government and the First Nation--indicate that they are prepared to proceed.
3. A Framework Agreement sets out the parameters of negotiations.
4. An Agreement-in-Principle establishes a framework for a final treaty.
5. A final treaty is negotiated and ratified.
6. The terms of the treaty are implemented.

The most high-profile treaty signed in BC to date, the Nisga'a Treaty, ratified in May 2000, was negotiated outside this formal process because it resolved a claim that originated long before the process was installed. Prior to Nisga'a there were only a small handful of treaties involving BC First Nations. During the 1850s, Governor James Douglas authorized a series of 14 land purchases from First Nations on Vancouver Island. These purchases, also known as the Vancouver Island Treaties, involved 927 sq km of land, about 3 percent of the Island. The only other treaty affecting BC First Nations prior to Nisga'a was Treaty No 8 in the northeast corner of the province.

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