THE CHESLATTA STORY
by Mike Robertson
Settlement negotiations continued throughout 1992. Throughout the
negotiations, the Cheslatta people and the negotiating team were placed
under overwhelming financial, physical and mental duress. The Department
of Indian Affairs negotiators had no compassion, in fact the senior
negotiator stated on several occasions that he "...wanted to keep emotions
away from the table...". Unwillingness to bend on the part of the Federal
negotiators was a constant and unpleasant factor. At one point they even
threatened Cheslatta when we were preparing for a press interview on 21
April 1992 the fortieth anniversary of the 'evacuation.' They said, "You
go to the press, then you might as well forget about negotiations and go to
court." This is the attitude that persisted throughout.
Negotiations suddenly broke off in early December 1992. A 'take it
or leave it' offer was tabled by DIA and no further negotiations would take
place.
Cheslatta was faced with two options:
1. Break off negotiations and go to court; or
2. Accept the offer in principle and take the settlement to the
people for referendum.
Option 1 would have been a very difficult decision for the 30 year
Statute of Limitations had run out in 1982. Even though it was being
challenged re The Apsassin Case, there was no guarantee it would be
successful. As well, this option would have meant horrendous legal
expenses, a minimum of three years before we ever got a Supreme Court
decision, and, even if we were victorious, there was no guarantee what size
of settlement could be realized.
The people were tired. They were exhausted mentally and financially.
They agonized over their options. DIA knew that Cheslatta had no other
option except to accept the offered settlement. These were the terms under
which the DIA 'negotiated in good faith.'
It may sound like we are always complaining, however, one must
consider the circumstances and the chronology of the ten years of blood,
sweat and tears that went into seeing that Cheslatta received a fair and
just settlement. The DIA Specific Claim policies is no more than a process
of grinding down the claimant Band until people are so weary and
financially restricted that they finally break down and accept what is
being offered. DIA's policy is very clear: "If you can't beat them, then
starve them out."
Nevertheless, the Cheslatta people voted on 9 March 1993 to accept
the settlement offer of $7.5 million. After paying legal bills and
outstanding DIA loans, Cheslatta brought home approximately $6.2 million
dollars. The settlement was placed in a Trust and is strictly governed by
representatives of all Cheslatta families. There was no individual
distribution of settlement funds. The Trust does not allow any funds to
support battles such as Kemano 2 and forestry issues. The main goal of the
Trust was to allow for a monthly payment to all Cheslatta reserve members
over the age of 55. The settlement was quantified by calculating 1952 land
values, and what the Cheslatta people were paid in relation to what the
Ootsa Lake settlers received. The 'inadequate compensation' component of
outstanding Cheslatta grievances has now been addressed. There are,
however, many other outstanding issues with the Federal government
including the annual flooding of the graveyards, federal and provincial
Cemetery Act violations, the loss of Cheslatta traplines, the Catholic
Church problem, federal and provincial Water Act violations, federal
Fisheries Act violations, Alcan trespass, the federal fraud issues, and of
course ...KEMANO 2.
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Kemano 2 Note
As of 1 May 1994, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation has incurred a debt of
over $230,000 in their Kemano 2 battle. We have managed to raise a little
over $91,000 for the Cheslatta Kemano Defense Fund. This leaves a real
cash deficit of nearly $140,000. Once again, the Cheslatta people are
being burdened with another heavy debt load to carry and other program
funds are being redirected to pay the Kemano costs which deny services on
the reserves. (Expense example: Three times in the last 12 months, our
monthly phone/fax bill has exceeded $5,000!)
The government of B.C. had originally offered $100,000 to Cheslatta
and the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council to participate in the B.C. Utilities
Commission hearings. We refused the funding because it impaired our legal
position with the government. Later, when the federal government began
participating, we were offered another $100,000. This was refused on the
same grounds. If we had accepted the money then the federal government
would have satisfied their "fiduciary obligation" toward First Nations
which would have placed Cheslatta, among others, in a position of agreeing
with the BCUC process and severely limiting our future options. (Note:
Just recently we discovered that Ottawa had actually sent out $322,000 to
Vancouver under the orders to disperse it to Cheslatta and the Carrier
Sekani Tribal Council. The Vancouver DIA went against this directive and
only offered $100,00 which was flatly refused.) This means we have turned
down over $400,000 of government funding in the last 12 months. We would
rather die fighting in the poorhouse than to prostitute ourselves by
playing the government's dirty games.