Behind the scenes of the highly controversial James Bay Hydro-Quebec power…
Time Immemorial
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Part of AS LONG AS THE RIVERS FLOW series
The Nisga'a tribe of northwestern British Columbia has long led the fight for aboriginal rights in Canada. In TIME IMMEMORIAL, Hugh Brody chronicles the Nisga'a struggle as they take their case for land rights all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Documentary footage, archival material, and interviews recount the cultural clash over four generations of Nisga'a, which only now is receiving official attention from the provincial government, 119 years after British Columbia became a part of Canada.
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Citation
Main credits
Brody, Hugh (screenwriter)
Brody, Hugh (film director)
Cullingham, James (film producer)
Raymont, Peter (film producer)
Martin, Kent (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Kirk Tougas; editing, Haida Paul.
Distributor subjects
Canadian Studies; History (World); Indigenous Peoples; Law; Native PeopleKeywords
; "Time Immemorial"; Icarus Films; documentary; doc; Native American; Indigenous; British Columbia;
WEBVTT
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[soft dramatic music starts]
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[soft dramatic music ends]
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[drum rolling]
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I was led to believe that my people were defeated,
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that we\'re primitive, and that there wasn\'t an intelligence
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to draw from in my heritage dance.
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[Tantoo speaking in Nisga\'a langauge]
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I\'m Tantoo Cardinal.
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Welcome to \"As Long as the Rivers Flow\",
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a series of films about my people\'s efforts
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to gain control over our future
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about just how wrong that childhood idea was.
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For the Europeans who landed on these shores,
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this river was undeveloped, full of resources
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waiting for exploitation.
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No one was making use of it.
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For the native people, it was perfectly developed.
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The land was our mother.
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It provided sustenance for all.
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Tonight\'s film, \"Time Immemorial\"
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directed by Hugh Brody is about the Nisga\'a,
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a nation with a special relationship with the land.
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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[blades whirring]
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It was approximately 130 years ago
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that our leaders first posed to question
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to the then colonial government
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were the British Columbia would take an active part
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in the Nisga\'a land question negotiations.
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Late yesterday afternoon, they had reached their decision
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and the decision was a unanimous decision
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that they will join in
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with the Nisga\'a land claim negotiations immediately.
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[gentle brooding music]
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[percussive music]
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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Our people for over a century had been waiting.
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And during that century,
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because the discussions that we are about to undertake
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did not happen, our lives were arbitrarily subjected
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to federal statutes.
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And it\'s not a very pretty story.
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And we want the state from the beginning
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that the paramount issue here is that we are dealing
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with the lives of people, the lives of Nisga\'a.
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[bird squeaking]
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[people laughing]
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[drum roll]
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[tambourine rattling]
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Come on, baby.
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Sweat it.
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[people laughing]
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Hey, hey.
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[people laughing]
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[man faintly speaking]
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David couldn\'t.
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Oh.
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[audience clapping]
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$20.
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Phoebe, thank you.
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[children laughing]
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[children laughing]
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[metal clanking]
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$2, Maloney
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[children laughing]
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Macaroni.
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[bird chittering]
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[soft drum music]
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[man singing in Nisga\'a language]
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It\'s sort of a ritual
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before we begin to talk about the land,
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because the Nisga\'a land lies devastated
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at this point in time because of the encroachment
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of industry that my ancestors are trying to regulate
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through negotiations as the European landed on our shores.
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So before we get into this discussion regarding our land
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and my people that I can well remember
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that are now long gone to the happy hunting ground,
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the great beyond, those people who donated their lives,
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their time to the struggle to try and achieve a settlement,
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a just and honorable settlement with a white man.
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[birds chirping]
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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[bird clucking]
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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is nothing other than 30,000 savages.
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Joseph Trot, lieutenant governor of the province
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of British Columbia, 1872.
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[bird whistling]
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the government gives notice that the land
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outside of the reserves may be purchased by white man.
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What is not reserves may be bought by anyone
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under the laws of the country.
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[birds chirping]
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Peter O\'Reilly Indian Reserve Commissioner,
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September 3rd, 1888.
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[birds squeaking]
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and plant instead Christian truth
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to change the natives from ignorant, blood thirsty,
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cruel savages into quiet, useful subjects
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of our gracious queen has been the object.
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Robert Tomlinson missionary, January 1870.
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and you can imagine I guess the canoes are coming
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around the bend and the people seeing them.
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But before that, they already knew
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that there was some strange bearded men
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they\'ve never seen before were coming.
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And they were looking through these instruments
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and people were curious.
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When the head, Wet\'suwet\'en, when it was in the canoes,
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it looked very strange instruments
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when he personally went down and asked, who are you people?
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Why are you here?
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And what are those things in your boat, in your canoe?
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And he was told through the interpreters
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that the queen had sent these men
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and those instruments were instruments
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that were going to cut reserves for them.
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And the land was going to be a gift to them from the queen.
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They looked at each other.
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Did you hear that?
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Look at all the land we got here.
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Did you hear what this man just said?
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The queen is going to give us more land.
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He looked around and all our lands are up in the mountains
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where we get the mountain goat
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and the river here is a bounce with salmon.
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We have trees, we have berries,
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and I don\'t think we need any more land.
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What\'s the queen talking about giving us some more land?
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Then through further dialogue, it is quite evident
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that what was actually meant was that the Nisga\'a lands
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had now been taken over arbitrarily.
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And that now these people survey were now coming there
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to cut reserves, small reserves, where our people were going
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to be put in camp, I guess would be the word.
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was Sgat\'iin, Israel Sgat\'iin.
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Sgat\'iin picked up his muzzle loader, you know, walked up
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to the survey and pointed it right in his belly.
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How can you cut land that doesn\'t belong to you?
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You know, we are not going to allow you.
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I\'m going to ask my warriors now
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to confiscate your equipment.
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And that, they did.
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[percussive music]
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the upper Nass village.
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The Gitlaxt\'aamiks people with their chief, Sgat\'iin,
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adhered to the theory that the country belongs to them
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and that they would not be satisfied
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until they had received payment
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for all the land outside the reserves,
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which were to include the entire valley of the Nass river
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extending from mountain to mountain.
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Peter O\'Reilly, May 5th, 1888.
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[man shouting]
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Then meetings started to to happen all over the Nass
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where it got around what was happening.
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So while they were talking,
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the surveyors took another route.
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They came inland.
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And then the Nisga\'a woke up one day
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and told that you no longer can go here
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and you no longer can go there.
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No longer can you look up those mountains
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and say that it\'s yours.
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It now belongs to the queen.
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we have never accepted the reserve system.
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[children laughing]
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Debbie, Debbie.
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Thank you.
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[audience clapping]
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One full cotton crochet thread.
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One lady\'s jacket.
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Lorna J. Azak.
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of giving away property.
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Among the Nisga\'as, every man has practiced it.
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one Tupperware ice bucket set,
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one seven piece tables.
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and at the revelries at the conclusion of these host
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a feast is given.
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And after the feast, the property is distributed.
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Such a custom clearly strikes at the root
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of any real improvement.
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Robert Tomlinson, missionary, September 1874.
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it was quite obvious to my people
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that they had considered the culture of my people
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as the enemy.
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The enemy that they wanted to stamp out.
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some of the missionaries, you know, were like secret agents.
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They were sent to promote, you know, the union
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with the government.
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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[bird squeaking]
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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so forefathers, were encouraged
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to chop down their totem poles,
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which was considered as a deity that was being worshiped.
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Now, the missionaries, they did not realize,
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maybe they did realize what those poles stood for.
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They stood for history, the history of our people,
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the history that told about the time of the flood,
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the history that told about the migration of our people
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when they were washed away by the flood,
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looking for their homeland.
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And that was what those poles stood for.
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you\'re supposed to do it with authority.
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So all the animals and the human beings
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without the two main can hear the main.
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So I\'ll try the best of my ability not to use the mic,
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but to use my own voice.
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[man singing in Nisga\'a language]
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Thank you.
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[people clapping]
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They were famous for, I say, spirituality
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since they believed that they were a part of the land.
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And so I believe that there was some sort of a collusion
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between a government and a missionary.
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[soft music]
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However, there is now a process of reconciliation
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between the church and my people.
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Page two, the invitational.
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And then we will say the confessional in English.
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[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
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belonging to the Nisga\'a nation.
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It also signifies our covenant with our creator,
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K\'am Ligii Hahlhaahl.
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Txeemsim was the messenger that K\'am Ligii Hahlhaahl sent
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to be with the Nisga\'a.
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And Txeemsim was his grandson.
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And Txeemsim found that there was great hardship
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because of the semi-darkness.
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In our story, it begins like this, you know,
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before the light of day, we lived in semi-darkness.
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And so Txeemsim went back to his grandfather\'s heaven
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and brought the light back.
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And that is what the red signifies within our spirituality.
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Enlightenment.
266
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267
00:19:07.230 --> 00:19:08.130
268
00:19:08.130 --> 00:19:09.693
269
00:19:09.693 --> 00:19:12.270
like you see the many buttons here.
270
00:19:12.270 --> 00:19:16.350
Originally, that would reveal our property rights,
271
00:19:16.350 --> 00:19:19.770
our holdings, our mountains, our streams.
272
00:19:19.770 --> 00:19:24.000
In our history, we are told that we communicated
273
00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.530
with the animals.
274
00:19:25.530 --> 00:19:28.680
And this was one of the special rights
275
00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:33.180
that the Canada people held in trust for the creator.
276
00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:36.543
And that is to be able to interpret the ravens cry.
277
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:42.300
So this today, you know, is the chief\'s blanket.
278
00:19:42.300 --> 00:19:47.190
It speaks of the authority of that person.
279
00:19:47.190 --> 00:19:51.840
And again, you know, with us, it was sharing
280
00:19:51.840 --> 00:19:53.370
the chief\'s men, for instance, you know,
281
00:19:53.370 --> 00:19:55.590
doesn\'t own his life.
282
00:19:55.590 --> 00:19:57.960
It belongs to his whole house.
283
00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:00.222
And that\'s what the blanket means.
284
00:20:00.222 --> 00:20:03.417
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
285
00:20:03.417 --> 00:20:07.750
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
286
00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:15.603
287
00:20:16.638 --> 00:20:20.888
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
288
00:20:22.230 --> 00:20:26.313
We\'re honoring the invitation of my brother, the witness.
289
00:20:27.210 --> 00:20:32.210
It\'s important part of our culture.
290
00:20:34.702 --> 00:20:39.420
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
291
00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:42.600
It is my hope and my prayer
292
00:20:42.600 --> 00:20:46.170
that I will fulfill the requirements
293
00:20:46.170 --> 00:20:48.531
of the name that I hold.
294
00:20:48.531 --> 00:20:53.130
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
295
00:20:53.130 --> 00:20:58.130
296
00:20:59.300 --> 00:21:03.750
is so deeply embedded that it\'s hard for me to explain
297
00:21:03.750 --> 00:21:08.517
to you what it means to be a Nisga\'a.
298
00:21:08.517 --> 00:21:12.767
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
299
00:21:22.184 --> 00:21:24.934
[bird squealing]
300
00:22:00.103 --> 00:22:03.000
301
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:04.620
we\'ll leave the net that way.
302
00:22:04.620 --> 00:22:09.620
303
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:10.983
midnight tonight.
304
00:22:12.215 --> 00:22:14.965
[water sloshing]
305
00:22:18.771 --> 00:22:22.467
The eulachon came at an opportune time of the year
306
00:22:22.467 --> 00:22:26.913
for our people and saved them from a certain starvation.
307
00:22:28.320 --> 00:22:31.800
And in fact the name of the community,
308
00:22:31.800 --> 00:22:34.620
I mean Fishery Bay was called [speaking in Nisga\'a language]
309
00:22:34.620 --> 00:22:37.680
that has to do the soul or the heart of the people,
310
00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.513
the Nisga\'a.
311
00:22:39.540 --> 00:22:41.490
You said that life started here for us.
312
00:22:47.473 --> 00:22:50.140
[fish thudding]
313
00:22:58.588 --> 00:23:01.110
[fire crackling]
314
00:23:01.110 --> 00:23:05.170
315
00:23:05.170 --> 00:23:10.170
And that was when this supernatural man traveling,
316
00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:13.543
he called Txeemsim, his name\'s Txeemsim.
317
00:23:14.884 --> 00:23:18.798
And when he got around 10 mile point,
318
00:23:18.798 --> 00:23:21.150
you know where 10 mile point is?
319
00:23:21.150 --> 00:23:25.263
Where loose pattern, his canoe, he saw a seagull diving.
320
00:23:26.670 --> 00:23:30.243
It was a big heron in his mouth.
321
00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:35.500
So he grabbed that heron away from the seagull.
322
00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:38.700
[chuckling] And now he\'s gonna do a trick.
323
00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:41.793
Now, he make his canoe down, go down,
324
00:23:43.410 --> 00:23:46.140
diving down in the water and go way down.
325
00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:49.110
That\'s where the eulachon people live,
326
00:23:49.110 --> 00:23:50.463
way down the bottom sea.
327
00:23:52.320 --> 00:23:54.597
Txeemsim fool them.
328
00:23:54.597 --> 00:23:59.597
That\'s why the eulachon came here early March every year.
329
00:24:00.450 --> 00:24:03.393
That\'s why our people still survive today.
330
00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:07.860
We really praise this little fish
331
00:24:07.860 --> 00:24:10.230
\'cause they save our great grandfather\'s lives
332
00:24:10.230 --> 00:24:11.899
long time ago.
333
00:24:11.899 --> 00:24:14.816
[birds chittering]
334
00:24:16.140 --> 00:24:19.570
You know, the dead eulachon drift it down the river
335
00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:22.290
early in spring in May,
336
00:24:22.290 --> 00:24:24.690
then the spring salmon arrive and they stayed.
337
00:24:24.690 --> 00:24:27.990
Eulachon make fun of the spring salmon.
338
00:24:27.990 --> 00:24:29.550
You guys are too late.
339
00:24:29.550 --> 00:24:33.900
We already saved the Nass River people\'s lives. [chuckles]
340
00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:36.253
That\'s what they said to the spring salmon.
341
00:24:36.253 --> 00:24:39.030
The spring salmon got mad and they turned around.
342
00:24:39.030 --> 00:24:41.730
They said, ah, you little fishy, you\'re too small.
343
00:24:41.730 --> 00:24:45.960
Even your head\'s not big enough to make a Nisga\'a full
344
00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:47.460
when they eat your head.
345
00:24:51.178 --> 00:24:54.178
[people chattering]
346
00:24:59.248 --> 00:25:01.998
[water sloshing]
347
00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.880
348
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:15.030
by appointment, a deputation of Indians from Fort Simpson
349
00:25:15.030 --> 00:25:19.215
and Nass River was received by the premier at his residence.
350
00:25:19.215 --> 00:25:20.762
[latch rattling]
351
00:25:20.762 --> 00:25:25.095
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
352
00:25:42.269 --> 00:25:45.600
353
00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:50.157
We never thought we would come to visit you in your house.
354
00:25:50.157 --> 00:25:52.623
You have the power to give us what we want,
355
00:25:53.460 --> 00:25:54.693
which is to be free.
356
00:25:56.070 --> 00:25:57.963
You can keep a bird in a cage,
357
00:25:58.890 --> 00:26:01.650
but even if that cage is beautiful,
358
00:26:01.650 --> 00:26:03.213
the bird will never be free.
359
00:26:04.470 --> 00:26:05.703
We want to be free.
360
00:26:06.840 --> 00:26:10.503
How can we ever be free under the laws of Queen Victoria?
361
00:26:12.270 --> 00:26:14.520
Charlie Barton, interpreter.
362
00:26:14.520 --> 00:26:18.770
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
363
00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:24.030
364
00:26:24.030 --> 00:26:26.760
you will never get such a title as you claim,
365
00:26:26.760 --> 00:26:30.120
and that you will not be paid for your land.
366
00:26:30.120 --> 00:26:32.730
It was surveyed for the Nass.
367
00:26:32.730 --> 00:26:35.970
You say you do not want me to mark out the land for you.
368
00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:40.110
We will therefore conclude this meeting and part, friends.
369
00:26:40.110 --> 00:26:43.143
Peter O\'Reilly, August 1888.
370
00:26:53.834 --> 00:26:55.800
[bird squeaking]
371
00:26:55.800 --> 00:26:57.000
372
00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.060
They continue to dialogue with the government.
373
00:27:00.060 --> 00:27:03.000
And they told the government, now look,
374
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.260
the Nass Valley is so vast and its resources are so vast.
375
00:27:07.260 --> 00:27:09.330
We can live peacefully together.
376
00:27:09.330 --> 00:27:11.070
We can work out something.
377
00:27:11.070 --> 00:27:13.800
We can work out some sort of an arrangement,
378
00:27:13.800 --> 00:27:17.370
a legal arrangement, where our lands will be here
379
00:27:17.370 --> 00:27:19.560
and the white man\'s land will be here.
380
00:27:19.560 --> 00:27:22.950
But first of all, we want to inform Canada
381
00:27:22.950 --> 00:27:27.416
where our tribal lands are first since time immemorial.
382
00:27:27.416 --> 00:27:31.749
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
383
00:27:40.830 --> 00:27:45.830
They then put together a petition, the famous 1913 petition.
384
00:27:46.020 --> 00:27:48.213
And they sent it over to England.
385
00:27:49.590 --> 00:27:52.950
Through a series of meetings with Canadian official,
386
00:27:52.950 --> 00:27:55.440
they said, we will allow your petition to go
387
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:57.900
to his majesty\'s privy council over in England.
388
00:27:57.900 --> 00:27:59.250
We\'ll allow that.
389
00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:04.250
If you promise that whatever the outcome,
390
00:28:04.890 --> 00:28:06.510
whatever the outcome of that,
391
00:28:06.510 --> 00:28:11.370
that you will relinquish your land here in British Columbia.
392
00:28:11.370 --> 00:28:13.380
Whatever the outcome of that,
393
00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:15.439
our people would not agree to that.
394
00:28:15.439 --> 00:28:19.106
[dramatic percussive music]
395
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.311
396
00:28:31.311 --> 00:28:34.144
[people laughing]
397
00:28:35.707 --> 00:28:39.750
398
00:28:39.750 --> 00:28:41.310
and brothers, especially the brothers
399
00:28:41.310 --> 00:28:42.753
that putting their feet up.
400
00:28:44.167 --> 00:28:45.761
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hooo ♪
401
00:28:45.761 --> 00:28:47.851
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hee ♪
402
00:28:47.851 --> 00:28:49.548
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hooo ♪
403
00:28:49.548 --> 00:28:51.356
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hee ♪
404
00:28:51.356 --> 00:28:53.046
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hooo ♪
405
00:28:53.046 --> 00:28:54.702
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hooo ♪
406
00:28:54.702 --> 00:28:55.535
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee ♪
407
00:28:55.535 --> 00:28:59.473
♪ Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hee ♪
408
00:28:59.473 --> 00:29:01.306
♪ Hee ♪
409
00:29:02.262 --> 00:29:05.262
[audience clapping]
410
00:29:09.963 --> 00:29:13.703
[man faintly speaking]
411
00:29:13.703 --> 00:29:16.953
412
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.710
And \'cause I didn\'t know how lucky that was
413
00:29:22.710 --> 00:29:25.710
until my later years when I found out that I was adopted
414
00:29:25.710 --> 00:29:29.400
by perhaps one of the most outstanding Indian fighter,
415
00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:31.413
Indian politician of the day.
416
00:29:32.410 --> 00:29:36.900
And I was in the old sailing fish boat with him.
417
00:29:36.900 --> 00:29:41.160
And, of course, he had all the books, piles of documents,
418
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:43.083
which poor men couldn\'t read.
419
00:29:44.603 --> 00:29:47.370
And I was 12 years old in 1927.
420
00:29:47.370 --> 00:29:50.460
And he figured that it was high time
421
00:29:50.460 --> 00:29:53.160
that this boy he was building up to be a champion
422
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.550
of this whole case, high time for the boy
423
00:29:56.550 --> 00:29:57.480
to receive these books.
424
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:01.140
So he took all these documents and placed them before me
425
00:30:01.140 --> 00:30:02.737
in this little fish boat.
426
00:30:02.737 --> 00:30:06.027
And he said, \"Start reading them.\"
427
00:30:07.380 --> 00:30:11.313
428
00:30:12.667 --> 00:30:14.070
\"We\'ve had enough of this.\"
429
00:30:14.070 --> 00:30:18.150
From here on, if you continue to talk about any land claims,
430
00:30:18.150 --> 00:30:19.920
grievances, it\'ll be illegal.
431
00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:24.920
432
00:30:26.520 --> 00:30:28.713
the land question case in 1927.
433
00:30:30.750 --> 00:30:31.600
It wasn\'t enough.
434
00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:36.120
A year later, they introduced a law
435
00:30:36.120 --> 00:30:41.120
that any lawyer could be told not to touch the question.
436
00:30:46.830 --> 00:30:49.650
437
00:30:49.650 --> 00:30:51.630
Our objective is to continue
438
00:30:51.630 --> 00:30:55.230
until there is not a single Indian in Canada
439
00:30:55.230 --> 00:30:58.230
that has not been absorbed into the body politic.
440
00:30:58.230 --> 00:31:00.303
And there is no Indian question.
441
00:31:01.290 --> 00:31:04.773
Education is in the forefront of their requirements now.
442
00:31:06.120 --> 00:31:08.910
Duncan Campbell Scott, deputy superintendent
443
00:31:08.910 --> 00:31:12.860
of Indian Affairs, 1913 to 1932.
444
00:31:12.860 --> 00:31:15.777
[ceremonial music]
445
00:31:22.560 --> 00:31:25.563
446
00:31:27.144 --> 00:31:31.290
In number one dormitory, I seen younger children there,
447
00:31:31.290 --> 00:31:36.290
maybe five, I would believe six, somewhere around there.
448
00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:40.323
The first thing I noticed right away was how they looked.
449
00:31:42.030 --> 00:31:44.313
They had a very strange look in their faces.
450
00:31:45.210 --> 00:31:47.673
Their hair was completely cut right off.
451
00:31:49.086 --> 00:31:50.853
They had very short haircuts.
452
00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:57.440
And their eyes, they didn\'t look very happy at all.
453
00:31:58.620 --> 00:32:00.093
Very sad looking eyes.
454
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:06.870
Very frightening thing to see.
455
00:32:06.870 --> 00:32:09.843
First time I\'ve ever seen anything like that in my life.
456
00:32:12.540 --> 00:32:15.280
I knew very little English language
457
00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:18.750
and I tried to use our own Nisga\'a language
458
00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:23.750
is when I found out the harsh realities of being confined
459
00:32:23.790 --> 00:32:25.293
in a residence school.
460
00:32:27.330 --> 00:32:31.080
I didn\'t expect to get strapped that time, but I did.
461
00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:32.490
I went to the principal\'s office
462
00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:34.890
and I was strapped for using their own language.
463
00:32:35.970 --> 00:32:38.010
You are not supposed to use your language
464
00:32:38.010 --> 00:32:40.713
in this school, was his words.
465
00:32:41.550 --> 00:32:44.250
You did not come here to learn your native language.
466
00:32:44.250 --> 00:32:47.460
You are now here to learn as a Caucasian.
467
00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:50.253
As we see it, how he said it,
468
00:32:52.290 --> 00:32:54.813
and my heart was beating very fast at that time,
469
00:32:55.699 --> 00:32:58.834
I didn\'t understand what the meaning of his words were.
470
00:32:58.834 --> 00:33:01.751
[ceremonial music]
471
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:26.480
472
00:33:27.540 --> 00:33:29.223
for the people of New Aiyansh.
473
00:33:30.270 --> 00:33:34.300
They would like to mark this occasion by giving the honor
474
00:33:35.580 --> 00:33:38.430
to the lieutenant governor of British Columbia
475
00:33:38.430 --> 00:33:41.703
to cut the ribbon on this occasion.
476
00:33:47.228 --> 00:33:48.570
477
00:33:48.570 --> 00:33:50.310
478
00:33:50.310 --> 00:33:55.310
Ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a great pleasure for me
479
00:33:56.220 --> 00:34:01.220
to come here and to cut the ribbon, opening this arch
480
00:34:03.810 --> 00:34:07.280
and this new village of Aiyansh.
481
00:34:08.793 --> 00:34:09.626
[people clapping]
482
00:34:09.626 --> 00:34:14.626
I have cut the ribbon.
483
00:34:23.654 --> 00:34:28.321
I\'m going to give each of little girls a piece of ribbon
484
00:34:29.273 --> 00:34:34.273
to keep the memory of you having held the ribbon
485
00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:36.003
for me to cut.
486
00:34:39.150 --> 00:34:42.510
So you might like to have that to hang
487
00:34:42.510 --> 00:34:45.119
in your community hall.
488
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:48.952
And I also brought a picture of my self along.
489
00:34:50.125 --> 00:34:52.961
I thought I had signed this picture.
490
00:34:52.961 --> 00:34:54.296
491
00:34:54.296 --> 00:34:57.296
[people chattering]
492
00:35:02.896 --> 00:35:04.926
493
00:35:04.926 --> 00:35:07.509
[man laughing]
494
00:35:10.350 --> 00:35:12.003
495
00:35:13.680 --> 00:35:15.873
They made us forgot our own language.
496
00:35:17.250 --> 00:35:18.993
God gave us our own language.
497
00:35:21.900 --> 00:35:22.740
It was taken away.
498
00:35:22.740 --> 00:35:24.890
They were trying to take our language away.
499
00:35:26.370 --> 00:35:30.200
500
00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:36.363
at the 10th annual convention in Canyon City,
501
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.600
the discussion regarding where do we go from here
502
00:35:41.970 --> 00:35:45.960
took about two days of continuous debate.
503
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:47.580
What are we going to do?
504
00:35:47.580 --> 00:35:49.470
Our lands now are taken away,
505
00:35:49.470 --> 00:35:52.740
and both levels of government have now told us
506
00:35:52.740 --> 00:35:54.690
that they don\'t recognize the existence
507
00:35:54.690 --> 00:35:56.640
of Aboriginal title in our land.
508
00:35:56.640 --> 00:35:57.543
What do we do?
509
00:35:59.100 --> 00:36:02.070
510
00:36:02.070 --> 00:36:04.773
your opinion and questions.
511
00:36:07.350 --> 00:36:11.010
512
00:36:11.010 --> 00:36:13.350
of the district tribal council.
513
00:36:13.350 --> 00:36:15.603
As 10 conventions now we have taken.
514
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:18.510
No result.
515
00:36:18.510 --> 00:36:20.223
No accident, no accident.
516
00:36:21.090 --> 00:36:21.923
Waiting.
517
00:36:22.890 --> 00:36:25.650
That\'s the reason why I said in that meeting,
518
00:36:25.650 --> 00:36:26.580
I\'ll make a motion.
519
00:36:26.580 --> 00:36:30.060
Mr. Chairman, I said that we go now.
520
00:36:30.060 --> 00:36:33.510
We want to get the settlement once and for all now,
521
00:36:33.510 --> 00:36:36.000
not another a hundred years from now.
522
00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:38.437
We\'re not gonna sit here and allow the white men to use
523
00:36:38.437 --> 00:36:43.437
and to make fun of us in this land of ours.
524
00:36:44.640 --> 00:36:47.640
We\'ve been sitting here, take a look around you.
525
00:36:47.640 --> 00:36:51.060
There\'s people in New York now getting rich over my country.
526
00:36:51.060 --> 00:36:52.863
Our mountains are getting stripped.
527
00:36:53.850 --> 00:36:55.503
Everything is taken away from us.
528
00:36:57.928 --> 00:37:00.600
And I think I can say it and excuse my language,
529
00:37:00.600 --> 00:37:02.580
we are getting fed up.
530
00:37:02.580 --> 00:37:04.320
I\'m getting fed up.
531
00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:08.580
I went last year where my father and I used to trap
532
00:37:08.580 --> 00:37:11.823
across here, that isn\'t a tree left there.
533
00:37:14.580 --> 00:37:16.560
If it wasn\'t those animals at that time,
534
00:37:16.560 --> 00:37:18.333
I wouldn\'t have been standing here.
535
00:37:19.830 --> 00:37:21.153
This is what hurts me.
536
00:37:21.990 --> 00:37:24.060
I want that to be clearly understood.
537
00:37:24.060 --> 00:37:25.473
It hurts me deeply.
538
00:37:27.150 --> 00:37:29.820
What I said to George, don\'t sing that song anymore.
539
00:37:29.820 --> 00:37:34.006
I meant it, George, because this is my land.
540
00:37:34.006 --> 00:37:36.721
I want the settlement now.
541
00:37:36.721 --> 00:37:37.880
I thank you.
542
00:37:37.880 --> 00:37:40.713
[people clapping]
543
00:37:49.406 --> 00:37:53.739
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
544
00:37:58.933 --> 00:38:02.403
545
00:38:04.050 --> 00:38:07.350
His nephews brought them forward, pushed the wheelchair,
546
00:38:07.350 --> 00:38:09.153
all eyes were on this old gentleman.
547
00:38:10.230 --> 00:38:12.420
That\'s when he said, how much longer
548
00:38:12.420 --> 00:38:14.340
are you young people going to wait?
549
00:38:14.340 --> 00:38:16.770
He said, look at you sitting there.
550
00:38:16.770 --> 00:38:18.670
How much longer are you going to wait?
551
00:38:20.670 --> 00:38:22.188
You\'ve got your arrows.
552
00:38:22.188 --> 00:38:23.867
He said it all in Nisga\'a.
553
00:38:23.867 --> 00:38:26.043
And he said it was a lot of emotion.
554
00:38:27.330 --> 00:38:32.330
The time now is ripe to test the British justice.
555
00:38:32.700 --> 00:38:34.890
Let\'s test the white man\'s justice.
556
00:38:34.890 --> 00:38:36.690
Let\'s see if it can work for us.
557
00:38:36.690 --> 00:38:39.600
Let\'s see if it\'s going to be just for us.
558
00:38:39.600 --> 00:38:40.983
Here\'s my money.
559
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.730
He went up to the table like this.
560
00:38:44.730 --> 00:38:46.260
He put it down.
561
00:38:46.260 --> 00:38:48.663
And he instructed his nephews to count them out.
562
00:38:50.227 --> 00:38:55.227
$500 he had of his savings, his life savings.
563
00:38:55.290 --> 00:38:58.380
This is how much my land means to me, he said.
564
00:38:58.380 --> 00:39:01.890
My land is priceless, but this is all I\'ve got.
565
00:39:01.890 --> 00:39:04.620
Go fight him in his own courts, he said.
566
00:39:04.620 --> 00:39:06.180
Go fight him in his own law courts,
567
00:39:06.180 --> 00:39:08.460
wherever that might take you.
568
00:39:08.460 --> 00:39:09.990
And that\'s what the Nisga\'a did.
569
00:39:09.990 --> 00:39:11.070
570
00:39:11.070 --> 00:39:11.940
Don\'t go away.
571
00:39:11.940 --> 00:39:14.939
Do you wanna talk about Indians and the land problem?
572
00:39:14.939 --> 00:39:16.710
Go ahead, please.
573
00:39:16.710 --> 00:39:19.290
574
00:39:19.290 --> 00:39:21.120
go to the victor?
575
00:39:21.120 --> 00:39:22.800
In any country in this world,
576
00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:24.150
you would never have been looked after
577
00:39:24.150 --> 00:39:25.920
the way you have been here.
578
00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:26.976
Thank you very much.
579
00:39:26.976 --> 00:39:28.110
580
00:39:28.110 --> 00:39:31.230
I\'d just like to remind the lady that in this province,
581
00:39:31.230 --> 00:39:32.820
the Indian people were never conquered.
582
00:39:32.820 --> 00:39:34.740
We were the owners.
583
00:39:34.740 --> 00:39:37.203
And Sir Francis Drake recognized
584
00:39:37.203 --> 00:39:38.940
that we were the owners of this land.
585
00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:43.560
And the following imperial statutes right up to 1861
586
00:39:43.560 --> 00:39:48.560
all recognized in writing that this was Indian territory.
587
00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:50.460
588
00:39:50.460 --> 00:39:52.350
and the federal government at the time of confederation,
589
00:39:52.350 --> 00:39:53.910
which really double crossed you.
590
00:39:53.910 --> 00:39:56.160
591
00:39:56.160 --> 00:39:58.942
in Victoria made the first issue
592
00:39:58.942 --> 00:40:02.070
that we were not the owners of the land.
593
00:40:02.070 --> 00:40:04.890
And they made it stronger when they wrote the BNA Act.
594
00:40:04.890 --> 00:40:05.723
See?
595
00:40:05.723 --> 00:40:07.620
When they wrote their constitution
596
00:40:07.620 --> 00:40:09.870
is that the province own the land and we don\'t.
597
00:40:09.870 --> 00:40:13.629
And this is what we\'re testing on this writ.
598
00:40:13.629 --> 00:40:16.712
[car engine purring]
599
00:40:18.473 --> 00:40:23.390
So we entered the Supreme Court of British Columbia in \'68,
600
00:40:25.740 --> 00:40:29.880
but I suppose the strength
601
00:40:29.880 --> 00:40:32.640
of provincial government beliefs right from time
602
00:40:32.640 --> 00:40:36.000
of confederation, that these rights have been extinguished,
603
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:37.650
stood, right?
604
00:40:37.650 --> 00:40:38.583
And so we lost.
605
00:40:40.140 --> 00:40:42.540
One to nothing in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
606
00:40:42.540 --> 00:40:44.790
And, of course, you can\'t just stop there.
607
00:40:44.790 --> 00:40:49.390
We had to appear before the British Columbia Court of Appeal
608
00:40:51.150 --> 00:40:51.983
a year later.
609
00:40:53.223 --> 00:40:55.223
And, of course, the same thing happened.
610
00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:58.440
We lost three to nothing.
611
00:40:58.440 --> 00:40:59.273
Yeah.
612
00:41:01.350 --> 00:41:05.193
Then, of course, we got to worrying.
613
00:41:08.717 --> 00:41:11.610
We thought that if we go to the highest court in the land
614
00:41:11.610 --> 00:41:16.610
and we lost, then it would\'ve been a real critical thought
615
00:41:18.060 --> 00:41:20.430
that if you lose in the highest court,
616
00:41:20.430 --> 00:41:25.430
the land that would, to us, may kill the case forever.
617
00:41:26.280 --> 00:41:28.740
And that nobody else will be able to bring it
618
00:41:28.740 --> 00:41:30.543
before any courts.
619
00:41:31.710 --> 00:41:33.690
That part was very fearful.
620
00:41:33.690 --> 00:41:35.343
We had to make a decision.
621
00:41:36.810 --> 00:41:40.320
The niche that tribal council isn\'t on trial.
622
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:42.963
The Nisga\'a people are not on trial in this issue.
623
00:41:44.190 --> 00:41:47.340
The Indians in British Columbia are not on trial.
624
00:41:47.340 --> 00:41:49.072
British justice is on trial.
625
00:41:49.072 --> 00:41:50.446
[people clapping]
626
00:41:50.446 --> 00:41:52.779
British justice is on trial.
627
00:41:54.310 --> 00:41:57.977
I believe that British justice will prevail.
628
00:42:00.300 --> 00:42:05.300
And if it does not prevail, the Indians and British Columbia
629
00:42:05.463 --> 00:42:08.130
will be prepared to go to the Hague.
630
00:42:08.130 --> 00:42:10.173
The court of law will over,
631
00:42:11.040 --> 00:42:13.443
if not even to the United Nations.
632
00:42:14.520 --> 00:42:16.740
We\'re not going to stop.
633
00:42:16.740 --> 00:42:18.550
We\'re not going to be defeated.
634
00:42:18.550 --> 00:42:20.490
[people clapping]
635
00:42:20.490 --> 00:42:24.233
636
00:42:25.199 --> 00:42:28.380
took out of their pockets money.
637
00:42:28.380 --> 00:42:30.963
We never got one penny from the government.
638
00:42:32.430 --> 00:42:37.430
The court cases took us from the provincial courts
639
00:42:37.770 --> 00:42:39.390
where we lost.
640
00:42:39.390 --> 00:42:41.700
And then we decided to take it to the highest court
641
00:42:41.700 --> 00:42:44.253
of the land, the Supreme Court of Canada.
642
00:42:45.120 --> 00:42:46.500
643
00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:48.120
that the judgments in the courts
644
00:42:48.120 --> 00:42:50.610
of British Columbia be set aside.
645
00:42:50.610 --> 00:42:53.670
We request that this court issue a declaration
646
00:42:53.670 --> 00:42:56.313
that aboriginal title has never been extinguished.
647
00:42:57.660 --> 00:43:00.450
The appellants are known as the Nisga\'a tribe
648
00:43:00.450 --> 00:43:03.153
living today in four villages in the Nass Valley.
649
00:43:04.110 --> 00:43:06.720
They are the descendants of the Indians who have inhabited
650
00:43:06.720 --> 00:43:09.900
since time immemorial the territory delineated in the map.
651
00:43:09.900 --> 00:43:12.750
652
00:43:12.750 --> 00:43:13.583
Bye.
653
00:43:14.487 --> 00:43:17.087
And I remember 40 of us appearing in [faintly speaking].
654
00:43:20.010 --> 00:43:21.240
To make the long story short,
655
00:43:21.240 --> 00:43:23.253
when we went there to hear the case,
656
00:43:24.930 --> 00:43:29.930
Spence, Emmett Hall, Bora Laski said,
657
00:43:33.600 --> 00:43:38.070
not only said that the title and rights existed
658
00:43:38.070 --> 00:43:39.303
prior to confederation,
659
00:43:40.590 --> 00:43:42.990
they also said that had never been extinguished.
660
00:43:44.460 --> 00:43:46.650
What a victory, you know.
661
00:43:46.650 --> 00:43:51.000
Three to three to us was a major victory even to this day.
662
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:54.273
And even though other cases have enhanced the Calder case,
663
00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:58.530
that case was major.
664
00:43:58.530 --> 00:44:02.490
665
00:44:02.490 --> 00:44:04.290
It took us quite a while to see him.
666
00:44:06.270 --> 00:44:07.830
When we finally met him,
667
00:44:07.830 --> 00:44:12.830
he says the Nisga\'as do have some rights after all.
668
00:44:14.640 --> 00:44:16.170
And that\'s when he informed us
669
00:44:16.170 --> 00:44:18.480
that they will put together a policy,
670
00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:20.940
which is in existence today.
671
00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:24.780
After that, it opened the land mass,
672
00:44:24.780 --> 00:44:28.440
40% of the land mass of Canada for settlement.
673
00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:31.457
That\'s a settlement of the land question issue.
674
00:44:31.457 --> 00:44:32.910
[birds chittering]
675
00:44:32.910 --> 00:44:34.383
But at that point in time,
676
00:44:35.340 --> 00:44:38.670
the government of British Columbia would not even come near.
677
00:44:38.670 --> 00:44:41.160
They did not feel
678
00:44:41.160 --> 00:44:44.640
that Supreme Court judgment adequately address
679
00:44:44.640 --> 00:44:45.663
the legal issue.
680
00:44:48.720 --> 00:44:53.130
They will not recognize the existence of Aboriginal title.
681
00:44:53.130 --> 00:44:58.130
You\'ve gotta bear in mind that this has been the position
682
00:44:58.290 --> 00:45:00.843
taken by successive governments
683
00:45:00.843 --> 00:45:04.260
that have taken office in the provincial legislature
684
00:45:04.260 --> 00:45:06.404
since the time of confederation.
685
00:45:06.404 --> 00:45:08.460
[bird squealing]
686
00:45:08.460 --> 00:45:13.320
Regardless of any court decisions or legislations,
687
00:45:13.320 --> 00:45:15.780
we do what our ancestors have been doing
688
00:45:15.780 --> 00:45:20.780
and we will continue to harvest the eulachon, it\'s ours.
689
00:45:21.240 --> 00:45:23.193
After all, Aboriginal title is us.
690
00:45:24.060 --> 00:45:26.130
We are the history of Canada.
691
00:45:26.130 --> 00:45:29.760
No courts can erase that from any individual.
692
00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:31.516
Life goes on regardless.
693
00:45:31.516 --> 00:45:34.266
[bird squealing]
694
00:45:49.494 --> 00:45:52.501
[wood rustling]
695
00:45:52.501 --> 00:45:55.251
[fire crackling]
696
00:45:57.270 --> 00:46:02.270
697
00:46:03.240 --> 00:46:08.240
We use it for our toast in the morning instead of butter.
698
00:46:08.580 --> 00:46:13.580
And we used it for our shortening baking cake, hot biscuits.
699
00:46:15.150 --> 00:46:18.693
And we also use it for our medicine.
700
00:46:20.280 --> 00:46:24.060
Like if you have an infection on your body,
701
00:46:24.060 --> 00:46:25.893
the grease can heal that.
702
00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:28.680
If you have a sunburn,
703
00:46:28.680 --> 00:46:31.830
you can rub grease all over your body.
704
00:46:31.830 --> 00:46:34.260
And it\'s the same way with these eulachon.
705
00:46:34.260 --> 00:46:37.830
When they\'re really dry, you can see the oil
706
00:46:37.830 --> 00:46:40.290
in this eulachon when they\'re really dry.
707
00:46:40.290 --> 00:46:42.660
You can take it out and rub it on your face.
708
00:46:42.660 --> 00:46:45.783
That keeps the mosquitoes away from you.
709
00:46:46.680 --> 00:46:49.110
And they do all sorts of things there.
710
00:46:49.110 --> 00:46:53.613
I haven\'t tried it myself, but I know it worked. [giggles]
711
00:46:53.613 --> 00:46:56.613
[people chattering]
712
00:47:00.210 --> 00:47:01.260
Oh, it\'s good enough.
713
00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:04.953
714
00:47:05.910 --> 00:47:10.735
She\'s our elder that\'s teaching us this procedure.
715
00:47:10.735 --> 00:47:12.068
716
00:47:13.475 --> 00:47:15.369
Oh, that should be good enough
717
00:47:15.369 --> 00:47:16.202
Yeah.
718
00:47:16.202 --> 00:47:21.202
You put earth the different way. [faintly speaking]
719
00:47:22.333 --> 00:47:25.348
It\'s faster when you go on this side.
720
00:47:25.348 --> 00:47:26.820
[people chattering]
721
00:47:26.820 --> 00:47:28.620
722
00:47:30.220 --> 00:47:31.770
[people chattering]
723
00:47:31.770 --> 00:47:36.770
We\'re doing this so we can have air and sun on the fish.
724
00:47:40.380 --> 00:47:45.380
If we\'re lucky, it\'s gonna stay nice for a week and a half,
725
00:47:47.220 --> 00:47:49.113
and they\'d be ready to come off.
726
00:47:52.590 --> 00:47:54.033
There. How\'s that?
727
00:47:56.010 --> 00:48:00.150
728
00:48:00.150 --> 00:48:01.320
to our people.
729
00:48:01.320 --> 00:48:05.220
We have always had a form of education.
730
00:48:05.220 --> 00:48:07.380
Ours, I guess, before contact was made
731
00:48:07.380 --> 00:48:09.933
with more, you know, the practical,
732
00:48:10.920 --> 00:48:12.573
more the vocational type.
733
00:48:13.470 --> 00:48:16.500
But every individual within our community, you know,
734
00:48:16.500 --> 00:48:21.000
was trained to be something, so that they could contribute
735
00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:24.442
towards the wellbeing of that community.
736
00:48:24.442 --> 00:48:27.442
[people chattering]
737
00:48:29.520 --> 00:48:32.550
738
00:48:32.550 --> 00:48:35.370
were very influential in terms of what went on
739
00:48:35.370 --> 00:48:37.890
in educating the natives.
740
00:48:37.890 --> 00:48:40.740
With the boarding home program, it was much the same way.
741
00:48:41.910 --> 00:48:44.640
And so what has education done for the Nisga\'a
742
00:48:44.640 --> 00:48:46.800
and for other native peoples in Canada
743
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:51.800
has been that they\'ve created generations of dysfunction.
744
00:48:55.260 --> 00:48:57.994
There\'s massive social problems as a result
745
00:48:57.994 --> 00:49:01.290
of the abuse the students received
746
00:49:01.290 --> 00:49:03.900
of being taken away from their parents.
747
00:49:03.900 --> 00:49:06.930
So the parenting skills were lost.
748
00:49:06.930 --> 00:49:09.120
They were taken out of their culture.
749
00:49:09.120 --> 00:49:13.050
So a lot of the dynamics of the culture were lost.
750
00:49:13.050 --> 00:49:16.320
They were forced to speak English and they were not allowed
751
00:49:16.320 --> 00:49:18.600
to speak their own language at all.
752
00:49:18.600 --> 00:49:19.980
Non-native society thought
753
00:49:19.980 --> 00:49:23.313
that native people should be become white people.
754
00:49:25.890 --> 00:49:28.950
755
00:49:28.950 --> 00:49:33.450
with our one year spending our time
756
00:49:33.450 --> 00:49:35.460
in the residence schools over,
757
00:49:35.460 --> 00:49:37.140
we came back on the train again.
758
00:49:37.140 --> 00:49:38.883
Again, the trip took three days.
759
00:49:40.830 --> 00:49:41.973
I got off the train.
760
00:49:43.380 --> 00:49:44.913
I looked in my mother\'s face.
761
00:49:54.960 --> 00:49:56.013
I used English.
762
00:50:00.180 --> 00:50:02.493
She asked me why I used the English.
763
00:50:04.020 --> 00:50:06.363
I told her that\'s what we went away for.
764
00:50:13.500 --> 00:50:17.133
I forgot this language that time.
765
00:50:18.180 --> 00:50:20.320
It took me many years to use it
766
00:50:22.530 --> 00:50:26.954
through the help of my father and my mother.
767
00:50:26.954 --> 00:50:31.071
[faintly speaking] The Nisga\'a language.
768
00:50:31.071 --> 00:50:35.654
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
769
00:50:39.175 --> 00:50:42.420
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
770
00:50:42.420 --> 00:50:47.420
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
771
00:50:47.781 --> 00:50:51.352
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
772
00:50:51.352 --> 00:50:53.084
[student speaking in Nisga\'a language]
773
00:50:53.084 --> 00:50:56.682
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
774
00:50:56.682 --> 00:50:58.927
[student speaking in Nisga\'a language]
775
00:50:58.927 --> 00:51:03.517
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
776
00:51:03.517 --> 00:51:08.490
777
00:51:08.490 --> 00:51:11.673
in terms of, you know, self-government.
778
00:51:12.540 --> 00:51:14.670
The Nisga\'a tribal hasn\'t been idle, you know,
779
00:51:14.670 --> 00:51:17.580
since the split decision was handed down.
780
00:51:17.580 --> 00:51:18.933
We have been working.
781
00:51:19.800 --> 00:51:21.183
782
00:51:23.460 --> 00:51:25.171
783
00:51:25.171 --> 00:51:28.171
[people chattering]
784
00:51:29.070 --> 00:51:32.490
785
00:51:32.490 --> 00:51:35.250
or linking up with the Terrace School District,
786
00:51:35.250 --> 00:51:36.180
which is Terrace, of course,
787
00:51:36.180 --> 00:51:39.352
is the closest local non-native settlement.
788
00:51:39.352 --> 00:51:42.843
And the Nisga\'as met with the Terrace school board.
789
00:51:42.843 --> 00:51:44.239
790
00:51:44.239 --> 00:51:45.267
791
00:51:45.267 --> 00:51:48.153
And you don\'t push your fish together.
792
00:51:50.190 --> 00:51:51.930
If you push your fish together,
793
00:51:51.930 --> 00:51:53.640
they\'re gonna all rot together.
794
00:51:53.640 --> 00:51:54.473
See?
795
00:51:54.473 --> 00:51:57.780
796
00:51:57.780 --> 00:52:00.360
to make the school make the education relevant
797
00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:04.590
for the students was to have the Nisga\'a language
798
00:52:04.590 --> 00:52:07.560
and culture taught in the school.
799
00:52:07.560 --> 00:52:10.590
800
00:52:10.590 --> 00:52:14.300
you know, they said, what\'s good enough for Outhill
801
00:52:14.300 --> 00:52:15.633
to be good enough for you?
802
00:52:16.950 --> 00:52:19.020
So we were still compelled
803
00:52:19.020 --> 00:52:21.570
by federal government to negotiate with them.
804
00:52:21.570 --> 00:52:23.013
And this went on and on.
805
00:52:25.740 --> 00:52:30.740
It was almost a racist, you know, confrontation later on.
806
00:52:31.710 --> 00:52:36.710
So our people said, well, it\'s probably God sent,
807
00:52:36.930 --> 00:52:39.330
you know, that we\'re not going to join them.
808
00:52:39.330 --> 00:52:41.677
Let\'s try it on our own.
809
00:52:41.677 --> 00:52:46.260
[teacher speaking in Nisga\'a language]
810
00:52:54.195 --> 00:52:57.630
We now have completed 15 years of operations
811
00:52:57.630 --> 00:53:00.720
and we are still alive and growing.
812
00:53:00.720 --> 00:53:02.550
We are in control
813
00:53:02.550 --> 00:53:06.033
and we are now delivering quality education to our people.
814
00:53:06.870 --> 00:53:11.280
Out of, I believe, there are 43 teachers
815
00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:15.150
who are working for us, I think 11 of them are in staff,
816
00:53:15.150 --> 00:53:16.980
professionally trained teachers.
817
00:53:16.980 --> 00:53:19.080
Again, this was one of our dreams.
818
00:53:19.080 --> 00:53:22.589
One day, it\'ll be staffed by all of our own people.
819
00:53:22.589 --> 00:53:25.589
[people chattering]
820
00:53:26.702 --> 00:53:28.431
[trumpet music ends]
821
00:53:28.431 --> 00:53:29.865
822
00:53:29.865 --> 00:53:31.993
823
00:53:31.993 --> 00:53:33.403
824
00:53:33.403 --> 00:53:35.091
825
00:53:35.091 --> 00:53:36.626
826
00:53:36.626 --> 00:53:38.638
827
00:53:38.638 --> 00:53:39.965
828
00:53:39.965 --> 00:53:41.607
829
00:53:41.607 --> 00:53:46.440
[instructor speaking in Nisga\'a language]
830
00:53:49.106 --> 00:53:49.953
[students speaking in Nisga\'a language]
831
00:53:49.953 --> 00:53:51.480
832
00:53:51.480 --> 00:53:53.433
Now, the school district 92, Nisga\'a,
833
00:53:55.273 --> 00:53:58.290
the Nisga\'a language is being taught there.
834
00:53:58.290 --> 00:54:00.030
Now that there are some children now
835
00:54:00.030 --> 00:54:03.660
that are coming out of the Nisga\'a High
836
00:54:03.660 --> 00:54:06.030
that speak the language.
837
00:54:06.030 --> 00:54:11.030
And even me now, I could only count up to 20 in Nisga\'a.
838
00:54:11.970 --> 00:54:14.970
My daughter came home and she counted to me.
839
00:54:14.970 --> 00:54:16.610
So she went past my little 20,
840
00:54:16.610 --> 00:54:18.603
and I think she went right up to 50.
841
00:54:18.603 --> 00:54:22.103
[ceremonial lively music]
842
00:54:56.580 --> 00:55:00.363
843
00:55:01.410 --> 00:55:04.353
there was a signing ceremony held in Greenville,
844
00:55:05.460 --> 00:55:08.760
which indicated that the province
845
00:55:08.760 --> 00:55:12.450
had agreed to join negotiations.
846
00:55:12.450 --> 00:55:14.670
Now, this does not mean
847
00:55:14.670 --> 00:55:18.060
that we have settled the Nisga\'a land question issue.
848
00:55:18.060 --> 00:55:22.630
It only means the beginning point of negotiations.
849
00:55:22.630 --> 00:55:25.463
[birds squeaking]
850
00:55:27.389 --> 00:55:29.972
[horn honking]
851
00:55:36.842 --> 00:55:40.650
852
00:55:40.650 --> 00:55:45.650
for the past 120, 130 years has been to go out there
853
00:55:46.260 --> 00:55:47.493
and negotiate,
854
00:55:48.450 --> 00:55:52.020
adjust an honorable settlement with a white man.
855
00:55:52.020 --> 00:55:55.543
[percussive music]
856
00:55:55.543 --> 00:55:58.563
It is going to be a very tough grind.
857
00:55:59.460 --> 00:56:04.460
In March 1991, another court case came down
858
00:56:04.710 --> 00:56:08.190
that sled hammered all the aboriginal rights
859
00:56:08.190 --> 00:56:09.273
that were recognized.
860
00:56:10.410 --> 00:56:15.410
But we are going to the negotiation table with our position,
861
00:56:16.440 --> 00:56:18.030
our historic position,
862
00:56:18.030 --> 00:56:21.540
that we have unextinguished title to our lands.
863
00:56:21.540 --> 00:56:25.020
Despite the many occurrence of the courts,
864
00:56:25.020 --> 00:56:26.550
they cannot erase us.
865
00:56:26.550 --> 00:56:27.963
We are part of the land.
866
00:56:30.086 --> 00:56:32.919
[birds squeaking]
867
00:56:35.370 --> 00:56:40.370
868
00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:44.560
in the memory of those great leaders
869
00:56:45.990 --> 00:56:50.080
and the people who supported them, the thousands of Nisga\'a
870
00:56:51.300 --> 00:56:52.680
who are no longer here,
871
00:56:52.680 --> 00:56:57.680
who supported the Nisga\'a land question what it is today.
872
00:56:58.096 --> 00:57:00.929
[birds squeaking]
873
00:57:03.140 --> 00:57:07.640
[people speaking in Nisga\'a language]
874
00:57:28.642 --> 00:57:32.892
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
875
00:57:36.846 --> 00:57:39.679
[birds squeaking]
876
00:57:43.229 --> 00:57:47.479
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
877
00:57:54.053 --> 00:57:55.548
[drum rolling]
878
00:57:55.548 --> 00:57:59.798
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
879
00:58:04.331 --> 00:58:06.914
[drum rolling]
880
00:58:08.726 --> 00:58:12.976
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
881
00:58:15.863 --> 00:58:18.446
[drum rolling]
882
00:58:19.517 --> 00:58:23.767
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
883
00:58:26.933 --> 00:58:29.387
[drum rolling]
884
00:58:29.387 --> 00:58:34.048
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
885
00:58:34.048 --> 00:58:36.956
[drum rolling]
886
00:58:36.956 --> 00:58:41.206
[man speaking in Nisga\'a language]
887
00:58:50.756 --> 00:58:53.339
[drum rolling]
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 59 minutes
Date: 1991
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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