Emboldened by a Supreme Court decision two weeks ago that affirmed aboriginal title for the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, the Gitxsan are now serving eviction notices to CN Rail, forestry companies and sports fishermen operating within their territories in northwestern B.C.
The Gitxsan have given the companies until August 4 to suspend activities within 33,000 square kilometers of territory in northwest B.C. over which the 12,000-strong nation claim title.
"There is no legislative authority for these government bureaucrats to make determinations regarding Gitxsan strength of title and rights,” said Gitxsan negotiator Beverley Clifton Percival. “Without the consent by the Gitxsan hereditary chiefs, they are trespassers."
The recent Supreme Court decision affirming aboriginal title for the Tsilhqot’in over 1,750 square kilometers of land southwest of Williams Lake was based on a previous landmark court decision brought by the Gitxsan – the Delgamuukw decision.
That decision confirmed aboriginal title existed, but put the onus on each First Nation with unresolved claims to prove their own particular title. The Tsilhqot’in were the first aboriginal group in Canada to do so.
Unlike the Tsilhqot’in, the Gitxsan have been at the treaty table under the B.C. treaty process. The Gitxsan signed a framework agreement in 1995, and has been working with senior governments to resolve some outstanding issues.
According to a Gitxsan treaty update in 2012, a major obstacle in negotiations has been the Gitxsan’s matrilineal social structure, in which land is owned within lineages along matrilineal lines – something the Gitxsan said could not be recognized in a treaty agreement with senior governments due to a conflict with Canada’s Charter of Rights.
Another major sore point has been an offer to the Kitsumkalum and Kitselas of land through the treaty process of land that the Gitxsan claim belongs to them.
“Right now we’re really frustrated with the Crown because they’ve never acted honourably,” Percival said.
CN Rail runs through the southern portion of Gitxsan territory, including through New Hazelton.
Asked if the Gitxsan will consider blockading the railway, should CN Rail not cease operations, Percival said the Gitxsan are considering all options.
CN Rail did not return calls.
