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The Nisga'a Nation is a legally constituted self-governing First Nation within Canada under the terms of the Nisga'a Final Agreement. This treaty, which came into effect in 2001, was the first treaty negotiated in the province of British Columbia since 1899. Though the Nisga'a continue to govern themselves through their traditional Feast System, they have re-defined their own political landscape as a Nation and established a new relationship with Canada and the province of British Columbia. This article weaves together the perspectives of both an insider and an outsider to the present political reality of the Nisga'a Nation.
La nation Nisga'a est une Première nation autogérée légalement constituée au Canada en vertu des dispositions de VAccord définitif Nisga'a. Entré en vigueur en 2001, l'Accorda été le premier traité négocié par la province de la Colombie-Britannique depuis 1899. Bien que les Nisga'a continuent de se gouverner eux-mêmes dans le cadre de leur système traditionnel de « fêtes », ils ont redéfini leur propre paysage politique à titre de nation et établi de nouvelles relations avec le Canada et la Colombie-Britannique. Le présent article intègre les points de vue d'une personne de l'intérieur et de quelqu'un de l'extérieur pour présenter la réalité politique de la nation Nisga'a.
The Nisga'a
Look at our faces. We are survivors. We have a story to tell.
(Calder 1993)
On 11 May 2001, after a hard fought struggle that took place over the period of one hundred and thirteen years, the Nisga'a Nation became a legally constituted self-governing First Nation within the Canadian state. The Nisga'a Final Agreement vjqs the first treaty to be negotiated that encompassed lands in what is now the province of British Columbia since the signing of Treaty 8 in 1899. This marked a new beginning for the Nisga'a people. Though they had for millennia, and continue today, to govern themselves through their Yukw (Feast System), as a result of this agreement they have left behind the internal and external political relationships that were determined for over a century by the Indian Act. In the process of negotiating a new relationship with the federal and provincial governments, the Nisga'a re-defined their own political landscape as a Nation. This article weaves together the perspectives of...