The Tsilhqot’in National Government introduces Nemiah Declaration

B.C. aboriginal band enacts laws to govern territory after historic court win

Canadian Press

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. – A British Columbia aboriginal nation granted rights and title by Canada’s high court has introduced its own laws governing its territory and resources within the area. The Tsilhqot’in National Government has enacted the so-called Nemiah Declaration that prevents mining and commercial logging, stops commercial road building and requires visitors to get permission before entering the land. The Tsilhqot’in Nation, located west of Williams Lake in the B.C. Interior, was granted 1,750 square kilometres of land in a Supreme Court of Canada decision last June. The nation first created the declaration in 1989 in response to the threat of widespread clearcut logging, prompting years of negotiations that culminated in the high court’s ruling.

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