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Province waits to hear from Haida on land offer


Attorney-General Geoff Plant says that he is still waiting to hear the Council of the Haida Nation's response to the surprise treaty offer made by the provincial government almost three months ago.
"I have not yet received a formal response from the Council of the Haida Nation," Mr. Plant told the Observer in a telephone interview Monday November 17. "I am not able to say we've broken the log jam in treaty negotiations."
In early September, the provincial government out of the blue offered the CHN control over a total of 200,000 hectares on the islands, which amounts to approximately 20-percent of the land here. In exchange, the province wants the CHN to drop its aboriginal rights and title case and return to the treaty negotiation table.
At the time, CHN president Guujaaw dismissed the offer, saying it amounted to a suggestion that the Haida give up the other 80-percent of the islands.
Mr. Plant said he did not want to speculate about will happen if the CHN does not respond to the offer by the province's deadline of March 3, 2004, or if the CHN rejects the offer.
"We'll have to probably wait and see what actually happens," he said.
The provincial government intends to continue exercising its power to administer crown land, Mr. Plant said, although he admitted that recent court decisions have made the exact scope of that power unclear.
"I think that the court cases have created challenges for government, but at the end of the day, government is the decision maker," he said.
Mr. Plant said that one reason the province is interested in negotiating a treaty with the CHN rather than going to court is because lawsuits are so expensive. Right now, the provincial government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in litigation with aboriginal groups.
"I believe you're always better off negotiating than litigating," he said. "It is very expensive."