NUU-CHAH-NULTH FIRST NATIONS:

HA-HOOLTHEE SHARING OFFER

(TREATY SETTLEMENT OFFER)

MADE TO CANADA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA
DECEMBER 11, 2000

Today the Nuu-chah-nulth Ha'wiih are tabling an offer to the Federal and Provincial governments for the settlement of the land and sea question. Our Ha'wiih are tabling this offer on behalf of the following First Nations:

Ahousaht, Che:k'tles7et'h'[1], Ehattesaht, Hesquiaht, Huu-ay-aht, Ka:'yu:'k't'h', Mowachaht/Muchalaht, Nuchatlaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Toquaht, Tseshaht, Uchucklesaht and Ucluelet.

Our Ha'wiih do not believe that it is productive to table an offer that is not close to being where settlement may lie and therefore they have tabled something that they can live with.

NUU-CHAH-NULTH HA'WIIH LAND OFFER TO
CANADA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Nisga'a process for offers should not be followed. Our Ha'wiih believe their offer is not unreasonable when compared to lands acquired under the Pre‑Emption Act (by everybody except Indians and Chinese) because of the discriminatory nature of that legislation. Our Ha'wiih believe that this offer will help right the wrong that was done at the time that pre-emption was taking place. The Act allowed settlers to acquire eighty acres (32.38 hectares) of land.

Land was calculated according to population and the Nuu-chah-nulth population was greater at the time of the pre-emption legislation than it is now.

Our land and sea offer is that we will settle for 3,336 square kilometres, more or less. This consists of the following:

 

Nation	Square Kilometres
Ahousaht	728
Che:k'tles7et'h'	99
Ehattesaht/Chinixihint	294
Hesquiaht	200
Huu-ay-aht	219
Ka:'yu:'k't'h'	201
Mowachaht/Muchalaht	297
Nuchatlaht[2]	99
Tla-o-qui-aht	400
Toquaht	114
Tseshaht	155
Uchucklesaht	90
Ucluelet	440

 

The sea area goes to the two hundred mile limit, and our Ha'wiih will negotiate exclusive areas of the sea and shared areas of the sea.

With regard to the land areas,

á        These are accurate within plus or minus 1%;

á        The areas shown for the Ahousaht, Che:k'tles7et'h', Ehattesaht, Huu-ay-aht, Ka:'yu:'k't'h', Mowachaht/Muchalaht, Nuchatlaht, Toquaht, Tseshaht and Uchucklesaht Nations include lakes and rivers;

á        The areas shown for the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht, Huu-ay-aht, Mowachaht/Muchalaht, Tseshaht and Uchucklesaht Nations include existing Indian Reserves;

á        The areas shown for the Che:k'tles7et'h', Ka:'yu:'k't'h', Nuchatlaht, and Toquaht Nations do not include existing Indian Reserves;

á        Specific locations for the Hesquiaht, Tla-o-qui-aht and Ucluelet Nations are still to be defined;

á        Additional areas for the Huu-ay-aht Nation are to be defined.

NUU-CHAH-NULTH HA'WIIH FISHERIES OFFER TO
CANADA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA

For thousands of years the Nuu-chah-nulth people have extensively depended on and cared for the aquatic resources of their sacred ocean and rivers.Ê Over 25,000 Nuu-chah-nulth used to live on the west coast of Vancouver Island, depending almost entirely on the sea resources.Ê Archeological analysis has conclusively identified the continual use of 22 species of sea mammals, 35 species of fish, and over 55 varieties of shellfish.Ê Traditional use studies validate the thousands of fish that each Nuu-chah-nulth family harvested to consume and trade with others.

Early Spanish, English, and Russian explorers observed and recorded these vibrant communities, and engaged in trade with Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen.Ê Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen continued in their undisturbed, exclusive access to all aquatic resources until the 1850âs, subject only to Nuu-chah-nulth management laws and protocols between Nations.Ê Until the early 1900âs, Nuu‑chah-nulth fishermen harvested almost all marine products on their coast for both consumption and commercial sale.Ê Mid-1890âs records of the International Pacific Halibut Commission document native fishermen selling millions of pounds of halibut to traders operating from packing vessels.

When the governments created reserves, extensive representations were made by various commissions asserting that the Nuu-chah-nulth people would always have food and economic access to the fisheries.ÊÊ Nuu-chah-nulth reserve lands arbitrarily determined by government during this period were a fraction of the size of reserve lands in inland regions, based on the aquatic resource dependence of Nuu-chah-nulth.

Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen adapted to the early influx of immigrant fishermen.Ê Nuu‑chah-nulth fishermen were recognized, sought, and exploited as skilled fishermen and navigators.Ê Since the 1950âs, Nuu-chah-nulth fishermen have been overwhelmed with countless damaging government regulations and policies that has diminished Nuu-chah-nulth access to aquatic resources.Ê These policies and restrictions have threatened the survival of not only Nuu-chah-nulth fishing access, but the very health of the fish they have always depended upon.

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih will reverse this situation through a fair and just Treaty Settlement, by re-establishing Nuu-chah-nulth jurisdiction and authority for managing aquatic resources in a manner that benefits the aquatic resources, Nuu-chah-nulth, and all Canadians.

Habitat Protection and Restoration

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih remain committed to protecting and restoring their aquatic resources to their productive capacity for the benefit of all Canadians.Ê The goal is to restore all aquatic resources to levels that formerly sustained healthy and vibrant coastal communities.Ê Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih have previously proposed through the Nuu‑chah-nulth Treaty process a $21 million Tsuh-tsuh-thluk Trust to be funded by Canada ($10 million), BC ($10 million) and Nuu-chah-nulth ($1 million) governments.Ê The revenue from the Tsuh‑tsuh-thluk Trust would be used exclusively to fund fisheries habitat protection and restoration projects, in addition to funding available through non-Treaty sources.

Management

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih offer to share their demonstrated expertise in all aspects of aquatic resource management with Canada and British Columbia.Ê Prior to contact, abundant aquatic resources sustained healthy Nuu-chah-nulth Nations.Ê Various Federal and Provincial agencies and ministries have proven that they can not effectively manage the aquatic resources in Nuu-chah-nulth Ha-hoolthee.Ê Nuu‑chah-nulth Haâwiih offer to share their management responsibility through joint processes, such as the Nuu-chah-nulth/WCVI Aquatic Resource Management Board.Ê Shared management responsibility will include shared jurisdictional authority to control access through allocation and licensing to WCVI aquatic resources.

Exclusive Management Areas

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih will retain exclusive management jurisdiction over selected areas of their Ha-hoolthee.Ê In general, these areas will focus on specific areas of significant cultural, spiritual and life-giving importance to Nuu‑chah-nulth Haâwiih.

Enforcement

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih will empower Nuu-chah-nulth Resource Guardians to protect the resources and their habitats.Ê Nuu-chah-nulth offer to share Enforcement responsibilities with Canada and BC through a shared system to be jointly negotiated.

Allocation

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih offer to jointly allocate aquatic resources to meet Nuu‑chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic needs and the food, economic and recreational needs of other harvesters and non-consumptive users.Ê

Nuu-chah-nulth food and ceremonial needs will depend on the number of Nuu‑chah-nulth, and the increasing reliance of aquatic resources as part of a healthy diet.Ê

Nuu-chah-nulth economic needs will depend on the number of Nuu-chah-nulth, and the increasing participation of Nuu-chah-nulth in all aquatic resource related activities (e.g., harvesting, processing, marketing, aquaculture, tourism).

Based on projected growth in Nuu-chah-nulth population, an increasing portion of Nuu-chah-nulth food needs coming from aquatic resources, and an increasing portion of Nuu-chah-nulth families earning a living from the aquatic resources, Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih will share with other users aquatic resources in excess of the following Nuu‑chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic needs:

 

Year	Food and Ceremonial Needs (edible kg)	Economic Needs (Year 2000 $)
2000	415,000	$23,670,000
2005	498,000	$28,050,000
2010	591,000	$32,840,000
2015	695,000	$38,150,000
2020	814,000	$44,180,000
2025	938,000	$50,370,000
2030	1,071,000	$56,980,000
2035	1,217,000	$64,140,000
2040	1,379,000	$71,990,000
2045	1,559,000	$80,730,000
2050	1,761,000	$90,470,000
and continuing

 

Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih share Canadaâs view that fishing opportunities for all users must relate to the health of fish stocks.Ê The specific annual allocation of species (Table 1) to meet Nuu-chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic needs will depend on the abundance of the species.Ê The allocation of species to meet Nuu-chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic needs will not be limited by artificial allocation barriers.Ê The task of the joint allocation process will be to allocate aquatic resources to meet Nuu‑chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic treaty protected objectives, and to allocate additional resources to other harvesters and non-consumptive uses.

To meet in part increasing Nuu-chah-nulth economic objectives, Nuu-chah-nulth will be afforded preferred opportunities to develop and access ãnewä fisheries and opportunities created through changes in fisheries management policy and regulation.Ê Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih will retain exclusive harvesting rights to selected species in their Ha-hoolthee.Ê In general, these will be species of significant cultural, spiritual and life giving importance to Nuu-chah-nulth Haâwiih.

Table 1.Ê A list of species to meet Nuu-chah-nulth food, ceremonial and economic needs.

 

	Finfish	Shellfish	Marine Mammals
	sockeye salmon	mussels	fur seals
	chinook salmon	chitons	harbour seals
	coho salmon	limpets	sea lions
	chum salmon	abalone	grey whale
	pink salmon	snails	humpback whale
	halibut	butter clams	sea otters
	blackcod	manila clams	other marine mammals
	ling cod	littleneck clams
	greenling	geoducks
	red snapper	other clams
	rock fish	goose barnacles
	other groundfish	oysters
	herring	scallops
	herring spawn	other shellfish
	mackerel	crabs
	sardines	octopus
	hake	sea cucumbers
	tuna	sea urchins
	steelhead	shrimp
	cutthroat trout	prawns
	anchovy	squid
	dogfish	other invertebrates
	other sharks and skates
	sturgeon
	other finfish

 

NUU-CHAH-NULTH HA'WIIH CASH OFFER TO
CANADA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA

In terms of cash our Ha'wiih are offering to settle for $950,000,000 for the cash component. Our Ha'wiih believe this is a reasonable offer considering that the value of timber and other resources, primarily fish that have been taken from their territories is conservatively estimated to be well in excess of twelve billion dollars.

CONCLUSION

In recognition that much work has already been done in the Nuu-chah-nulth negotiation, our Ha'wiih believe that an Agreement in Principle can be achieved quickly if satisfactory answers to the issues of management off treaty lands, extinguishment, fisheries, and taxation can be found.