New Aiyansh, BC
August 4, 1996
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Respected elders, chiefs, honoured guests,
members of the Nisga'a Nation.
Today is a glorious day!
Aama sa tgun ahl Nisga'a ganhl British Columbia.
This is a great day to be Nisga'a!
This is a great day to be British Columbian!
Today is the day we celebrate that we can sit
down at the same table, talk and achieve results.
Today we turn our backs on the injustices of
the past and face the future together.
We have waited for this day a long time-when
we achieve a great reconciliation and a sense of closure.
We celebrate the successful negotiation of
a Final Agreement between Canada, the Nisga'a Nation and British
Columbia - and we recognize a struggle that has helped define
our understanding of justice and reconciliation.
This begins the healing that will bring us
all into the twenty-first century a stronger, prouder and more
united country.
We are accepting today the work done to reach
agreement on behalf of British Columbians, the Nisga'a and all
Canadians. Our Agreement was more than a century in the making,
including several years of intense negotiations between three
parties.
Our Agreement is important not only to the
Nisga'a and their neighbours in the Northwest - it is a powerful
message to all British Columbians, to Canadians and to the world:
- that we are determined to complete the unfinished
business of the past century.
- that we will strive for justice and to reconcile
divided communities.
- and that we will achieve the certainty and
opportunity that all British Columbians desire.
I want to congratulate the Nisga'a elders,
Chief Gosnell, the executive and village councillors, the negotiating
team and all of the Nisga'a First Nation-those who are here today
and those who will be coming home to a stronger, more dynamic
community.
I want to congratulate and thank Minister Stewart,
chief negotiator Tom Malloy and the Canada team and officials.
Tomorrow we must continue our work to renew the treaty process-to
ensure it delivers to all First Nations the opportunities that
will flow to the Nisga'a as a result of our Agreement today.
I want to thank the BC Minister of Aboriginal
Affairs, Dale Lovick and negotiators Jack Ebbels, Trevor Proverbs
and their entire team. They have done a spectacular and difficult
job, and Dale has taken on the commitments of his colleagues and
former aboriginal affairs ministers Andrew Petter and John Cashore.
And we must all acknowledge the contribution
of a man who is really one of the co-authors of this Agreement.
The first BC Premier to articulate a fundamental personal commitment
to modern treaties. He is a friend of all British Columbians,
Mr. Mike Harcourt.
I said it before: we have waited a long time
for this day.
But none of us should be mistaken-we are going
to have some difficult times ahead of us yet. We will have to
confront the words and deeds of those who would deny our history.
Those who are blind to the injustice of the past and who reject
30 years of negotiation and compromise.
We cannot erase the past. History made us who
we are and shaped the values we live by.
This Agreement is about more than redressing
past wrongs. It is about moving forward together. It is about
the future.
Like many of you here and across the province,
I am a parent. And I am concerned about the world my children
will grow into.
It could come sooner, or it could be later-but
my wish is that when my children finish high school, they will
graduate into a world where all BC kids, aboriginal and
non-aboriginal, have the same opportunities for a bright future.
The way forward will be difficult. But we can
hold no higher hope for our children than they will live in a
society where citizenship carries the same value for all and pride
in our province and country is shared by all.
And we can give our children no greater gift
than our work to build that society today.
My congratulations to the Nisga'a Nation and
to all of us. Thank you very much.
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Nisga'a Final
