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Rep wants Sandspit to consider Protocol Agreement

By Heather Ramsay--Regional District representative for Area E Travis Glasman wants his community to consider a revised Protocol Agreement.He brought the revised document to the June 20 Moresby Island Management Committee meeting, but it was tabled to the July meeting, as it wasn't on the agenda."I'm asking MIMC to support me in ratifying the Protocol Agreement," he said as he passed the document to the elected committee members at the table.The document was revised to include a clear definition of Haida Aboriginal Title, which Mr. Glasman said is one of the pieces of the Protocol Agreement that has given people in Sandspit some concern in the past. The definition states that title is held within the bounds of the Canadian constitution and Canadian case law.MIMC chair Gail Henry said it wasn't appropriate to get into a discussion on the topic until everyone had a chance to read it.Committee member Bill Quaas says the Protocol Agreement has been divisive in the community since it was first introduced. He said a committee recommended to MIMC last year that the community not sign the protocol. He thought that the issue had been decided. He said the outcome was that the community communicate with the Haida in another way."Can we not spend our time figuring out how to communicate instead," he said.Mr. Glasman says he doesn't think the topic should die with a single motion. "Things change," he said. "I don't think old politics should bar us from continuing to work collectively with the rest of the islands."Warren Foster noted that earlier in the meeting someone mentioned how Sandspit had been left out of another matter again. "Sandspit never will get acknowledged unless Sandspit steps up to the plate."The topic will be added to the agenda and discussed at the July 11 meeting.