After nearly 20 years in negotiations, the Yale First Nation has a treaty: an agreement with the governments of B.C. and Canada that includes land, money and fishing and forestry rights on nearly 2,000 hectares in the Fraser Valley Regional District north of Hope.
The parties involved in the agreement say it will bring certainty and economic opportunities to the Yale, a group of about 150 people who live along the Fraser River in an area where aboriginal people have fished for centuries.
But Doug Kelly, Grand Chief of the Sto:lo Tribal Council, says he and others are already considering legal action to oppose the pact, saying it could lead to clashes on the Fraser River during fishing season and was signed over repeated, long-standing concerns of the Sto:lo.
"What that treaty does is create the space for Yale – our brothers and sisters – to make arbitrary decisions about who may fish in the five-mile canyon fishery area and creates in essence a recipe for serious conflict," Mr. Kelly said on Tuesday.
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