Nelson Leeson, National Post Published: Friday, July 18, 2008

John Carpay's op-ed ("Flouting Nisga'a tradition -- and Canadian democracy," July 9) is so riddled with inaccurate and inflammatory assertions that we found ourselves wondering whether he had actually read the text of our treaty with the federal government. Since Mr. Carpay is legal counsel for two Nisga'a individuals and a corporation currently challenging the validity of the Nisga'a Treaty in a lawsuit currently before the British Columbia Supreme Court, we assume that he must have done so. Thus, we are left to question why he wrote what he did.

We write to set the record straight. For example, it is simply not true that Nisga'a Lisims government can "determine who is -- and who is not -- a voting Nisga'a citizen" or that "Nisga'a politicians can effectively hand-pick the voting population." The Nisga'a Treaty, the Nisga'a Constitution and the Nisga'a Citizenship Act all guarantee that every person of Nisga'a descent has the right to be a Nisga'a citizen, and all Nisga'a citizens 18 years and older have the right to vote -- a right that categorically cannot "be denied to Canadians of Nisga'a ancestry on an arbitrary, case-by-case basis."

Mr. Carpay also incorrectly states that the Nisga'a government may establish "Nisga'a correctional services for persons imprisoned" under Nisga'a laws. He is perhaps confused between "correctional services," which deal with imprisonment, and "community correction services," which deal with persons who are not in custody.

He also complains that the Nisga'a nation receives transfer payments from the federal and provincial governments for programs and services such as health, education and social services. This leads one to wonder both whether he also objects to similar transfer payments to provincial and municipal governments, and whether he really believes that these services should no longer be funded by the federal and provincial governments -- to whom, under the Nisga'a Treaty, our citizens will be paying taxes.

He also complains that the Nisga'a government may enact laws that prevail over Canadian law, without mentioning that such laws deal with subjects that are internal to the Nisga'a nation. Why should the federal or provincial governments be able to determine how the Nisga'a nation deals with matters such as our lands, our assets, our culture and our language?

Mr. Carpay's description of Nisga'a history and culture is woefully uninformed: As long ago as the 1890s, the Nisga'a hereditary chiefs and matriarchs formed the Nisga'a land committee and adopted the philosophy of the common bowl, under which all Nisga'a would be treated equally in the just and equitable settlement of the land question.

When negotiations with Canada and British Columbia were concluded a century later, the Nisga'a Treaty was not entered into exclusively by the Nisga'a Tribal Council, it was entered into by our nation as a whole after a referendum vote. The great majority of our people agreed that the treaty was the basis under which we would enter into Confederation.

Of course, there was not unanimity at the time of the ratification of the Nisga'a Treaty, and in our nation, as in all communities, there are those who wished for more and who are quick to criticize the steps that have been favoured by the majority. This is of course their right.

But the disturbing fact is that Mr. Carpay's article, and the lawsuit in which he is acting as counsel, are based on the denial of aboriginal peoples' inherent right to self-government and the belief that aboriginal peoples must always be subordinate to the federal and provincial governments.

If Mr. Carpay and his clients succeed with their lawsuit, the Indian Act would once again govern our lives, we would be returned to our tiny reserves and the great progress that has been made by the Nisga'a nation would be lost. We are confident that the courts and the Canadian people will never allow such a backward step to occur. - Nelson Leeson is president of the Nisga'a Lisims government.