Nisga'a ancestral chief challenges treaty

Last Updated: Monday, October 4, 2010 | 8:15 AM PT Comments12Recommend12

The Canadian Press

A Nisga'a ancestral chief is scheduled to appear in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday to ask a judge to overturn the groundbreaking treaty that created the Nisga'a Lisims government.

James Robinson, who holds the hereditary title of Chief Mountain, wants the courts to rule the Nisga'a agreement violates the Canadian Constitution.

He says the Nisga'a Lisims government has the power to pass laws that supersede Canadian law — and that strips him of his constitutionally assured rights.

Robinson argues the Canadian Constitution should not stand second to a constitution passed by a government controlled by what he calls "family cliques."

On May 11, 2000, the Nisga'a Lisims government formally came into effect and the community passed its first laws.

The remote community located in the Nass Valley on the North Coast of B.C. was the first First Nation to sign a modern-day treaty with the province of British Columbia and the government of Canada in 1998.