Tribal Boundaries in the Nass Watershed

by Neil J Sterritt

In Tribal Boundaries in the Nass Watershed, the Gitksan and Gitanyow present their response to the use of the treaty process by the Nisga'a to expand into Gitksan and Gitanyow territory on the upper Nass River and demonstrate the ownership of their territory according to their own legal system. They call upon their ancient oral history (adaawk) and their intimate knowledge of the territory and its geographical features to establish, before witnesses, their title to lands in the upper Nass watershed.

This book makes a significant contribution to the question of how First Nations in central British Columbia traditionally establish their rights to territory and how these rights are played out in treaty negotiations.

348 pp — ©1999