RPT - Indian land negotiations in Canada clear hurdle Story-Date: 10:11 p.m. PST Saturday , April 17, 1999 RPT - Indian land negotiations in Canada clear hurdle By Allan Dowd SECHELT, British Columbia (Reuters) - The settlement of Indian land claims in western Canada took a small but symbolic step forward Friday with the signing of the first tentative treaty for an urban area. The agreement in principle between the Sechelt Band, Canada and the province of British Columbia was hailed as an example of how negotiations can settle the land disputes that have cast a cloud over the region's economy. "That's our rights. That's our land claim," Sechelt elder Theresa Jeffries said as she waved a copy of the agreement to the crowd of about 300 people gathered in a modern tribal long-house on Sechelt's outskirts. Negotiators hope to finalize the agreement by the end of the year. The tribe -- which also spells its name Shisha'lh -- has about 1,000 members. Its traditional land base along the coast has had to face rapid non-Indian population growth with the expansion of Vancouver -- about 50 kilometers to the south. The tentative agreement calls for paying the Sechelt C$42 million, giving them treaty rights to a small amount of land with resource rights to its massive gravel deposit. Band members will gradually lose their tax-free status. The issue of land rights has been left unresolved in British Columbia since the mid-1800s when Europeans and Chinese began to arrive in the region. Provincial officials refused to even discuss the issue with aboriginal groups until the 1970s. "You are showing the way to the rest of the province that it can be done," Premier Glen Clark told the ceremony. The province's first modern-day treaty was initialed last summer with the Nisga'a Tribe, but unlike the Sechelt the Nisga'a territory near the Alaska panhandle has few non-Native members. Non-Sechelt residents in the community of about 8,000 people said they generally supported the agreement. "I think it is a good idea that everything is finally getting settled," said Jennifer Braun. Business and political leaders have complained that the uncertainty caused by unresolved land claims has weakened British Columbia's economy - which is highly dependent on logging and mining. More than 40 tribes and bands are negotiating claims for land areas ranging from unpopulated mountain ranges to downtown Vancouver. The Nisga'a treaty has run into political and legal opposition. It is awaiting approval by the British Columbia Legislature and Canadian Parliament, although it was overwhelmingly approved by the Nisga'a people. Clark and others said they expected the Sechelt treaty will face less opposition, in part, because people in more populated southern British Columbia are more familiar with it than they were the Nisga'a treaty process. Officials have expressed optimism of also reaching tentative land claims agreements later this year with the In- Shuck-Ch/N'Quat'qua Indians in Pemberton and the Ditidaht First Nation, on Vancouver Island. REUTERS For more information, visit the NewsHound website at http://www.newshound.com or send an email to speak@hound.com.