Aboriginal Canada Revisited

THE NISGA'A COMMON BOWL IN TRADITION AND POLITICS

Mansell Griffin and Antino Spanjer THE NISGA'A COMMON BOWL IN TRADITION AND POLITICS I n the year 1887; a delegation of Nisgaa travelled by canoe and steamboat to Victoria in order to discuss their land question with the governor of British Columbia. Trie length of that journey must have seemed immense to the Nisga'a back then, but it wasnothing compared to the time they would need in order to get an answer to that question. In 1913 they brought it before His Majesty's Privy Council in London, but it was not until 2000 that theyfinallyachieved what no other First Nation in a Canadian province had achieved before: they were given the rights to about atenth oftheir traditional lands (Raunet 1996, 79-80, 136-137). You may ask how the Nisga'a Nation accomplished all this? What made them so exceptional, exceptional in away that a First Nation ofapproximatelyfivethousand people from Northwestern British Columbia became a subject of interest in the newspapers around the world? The answer to this question fills about two hundred pages. It is the official document that now grants the Nisga'a Nation the exclusive rights to their land: the Nisga'a Treaty. Because ofthis treaty,the Nisga'a Nation receivedmedia attention that still is unprecedented in Aboriginal Canada. Because of this treaty, a referendum 72 NIS'oA A COMMON BOWL on the treaty process in British Columbia was held in 2002—a referendum that almost split the province. In fact, this treaty can be called a landmark victory for Aboriginal Canada. Some people disagree, but it clearly is alandmark and, taking the current political situation into account, it will probably remain the most significant and comprehensive treaty within the Canadian provinces for a long time. Fact is at least that "British Columbia has yet to sign a final treaty with the almost two hundred aboriginal nations involved in the land-claims negotiations that began more than ten years ago." If the minister responsible for treaties, Tom Christensen, is only "cautiously optimistic" that "modern treaties are within reach in British Columbia," it is probably wise that he "wouldn't make a time prediction" (Meissner 2006, 2). THE SOURCE OF SUCCESS How did the NisgaaNation manage to get to such a comprehensive treaty—a treaty that gavethem their own government, in aprovince that has ahistoryof being the most backward in Canada regarding Aboriginal issues?1 One could argue that it is because of the persistence of the Nisga'a Nation. The answer is a function of the persistence of the Nisga'a Nation. It is not without reason that Daniel Raunet gave the title Without Surrender, Without Consent to his book about the Nisga'a Nation—recommended to anyone who is interested in the history of a successful land claim, and in the history of a remarkable First Nation. As the title of Raunet s book suggests, it is, centrally, persistence that helped the Nisga'a Nation. They fought more than one hundred years to get their treaty.But there is more to it than just persistence. Especiallynowadays, you need to be clever to achieve your goals. It is political manoeuvring and public relations that make the difference. Both are skills that the Nisga'a leaders, during the decades of negotiations, became masters of. Thejournalist Alex Rose, who worked for the Nisgaa Nation for many years, put it like this: "The Nisga a are not exactly manipulators, but are very skilled at getting their message out."2 He is right about this.Without cleverpublic relations, the Nisga'a Nation may never have achieved their treaty, especiallyin a time when 73 MANSELL GRIFFIN & ANTING SPANJER some people criticized it to be a third order of government, and claimed it to be unconstitutional. With this background arid within the preceding context, we will now take a closer look at the Nisga'a concept of the Common Bowl, a concept that the Nisga'a Nation promoted allthrough their campaignfor atreaty.It isaconcept which states that allNisga'a lands and resources are common property, and it forms the basis of modern Nisga'a administration. Indeed the idea ofsharing, fundamental to this concept, was always part of Nisga'a culture. In fact, the concept of sayt k'il'hl wo'osihl Nisga'a (One Nisga'a Bowl or Nisga'a Common Bowl) has been around since time immemorial.Evidence ofthis canbe found in a number of traditional Nisga...