SKIDEGATE, B.C. — The federal government and the Haida Nation have signed a historic agreement recognizing Aboriginal title over the archipelago of Haida Gwaii off British Columbia’s northern coast.
Recommended Videos
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree told the crowd gathered for the official ceremony in the Skidegate Community Centre that it was a moment where history was being made.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the agreement enshrines the right of the Haida to control their own destiny.
The Big Tide Haida Title Lands Agreement affirms that the Haida have Aboriginal title over all of the islands’ lands, beds of freshwater bodies, and foreshores to the low-tide mark.
The agreement transitions the Crown-title land to the Haida people, granting them an inherent legal right to the land.
The transfer of the underlying title would affect how courts interpret issues involving disputes.
Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Council of the Haida Nation, said the ceremony represents a move from an era of denial, occupation and resistance to one of peaceful coexistence and recognition that “this is Haida land.”
Trudeau told the crowd Haida Gwaii is a special place for his family after first visiting with his father and brothers in 1976. He said “everything has come full circle” with the ceremony on Monday.
Trudeau was visibly emotional as he said he couldn’t think of a better place to make one of his final trips as prime minister.
“Haida Gwaii belongs to you, the Haida people,” he said, with tears on his face, as the crowd cheered, clapped and rose to its feet. “This is only the beginning of a new chapter” between the Haida Nation and the Canadian government, Trudeau said.
Anandasangaree said in an earlier interview that the agreement will kick off a five-year transition period and will require legislation to iron out all the details about how this will apply in practice.
He said this is the first time the federal government has recognized Aboriginal title through negotiations.
Ottawa said it will work respectfully and co-operatively with the Haida Nation on matters relating to Haida Gwaii.
It said both governments have agreed the shift will be “orderly and incremental” to provide stability to residents and other interest holders.
The agreement follows similar recognition by the B.C. government last year.
It resolves a four-decade-long fight that began with a logging blockade and became an intensely fought legal battle.
The agreement comes more than two decades after the Council of the Haida Nation launched a legal challenge against Canada and the province, seeking a declaration of Aboriginal title.
The ministry said the three parties have been negotiating since 2021 to “incrementally negotiate” matters that would otherwise have to be litigated.
It said Canada provided $59 million in funding to the Haida in an “advance capital transfer” to boost the nation’s “governance capacity building.”
About 15 per cent of Haida Gwaii is owned, managed or used by the federal government, including a national park and Haida heritage site.
A further two per cent are owned byother parties.
Alsop has called the new law in B.C. a “step toward peaceful coexistence” with the province.
He said in April that the nation planned on taking control of Haida Gwaii’s economy according to its values and traditions, taking a sustainable rather than exploitive approach to the land and the sea.
The provincial Opposition B.C. Conservative Party has criticized the agreement, saying it puts private landowners “at the mercy of Haida (and) future Haida Indigenous law.”
But the First Nations Leadership Council in B.C. has said the agreement does not affect private property rights.
Anandasangaree dismissed the concerns about impacts on landowners as a “lot of noise.”
“One of the key elements of this agreement is that private title will not be impacted in any way,” he said. “Your ability to get a mortgage, or ability to get the property encumbered for construction for putting on a lien — all of those will continue.”
The federal Haida Nation Recognition Act was passed last year.
The ministry said Haida lands held as reserves under the Indian Act will stay under federal jurisdiction until the Haida council, Old Massett Village and Skidegate bands and members initiate negotiations.
— With files from Kyle Duggan in Ottawa