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.