About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
In this book, 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 the 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.
Contributor Notes
Neil J. Sterritt is a member of the Gitskan Nation and was president of the Gitksan-Wet’suwet’en Tribal Council from 1981 to 1987. Susan Marsden, Peter R. Grant, Robert Galois, Richard Overstall and Neil Sterritt were all involved with the “Delgamuukw v. the Queen” case – Grant as a lawyer, Overstall in coordinating the research, and the others as expert witnesses.
Editorial Reviews
This book is a factum on Nisga’a tribal history in respect of tribal boundaries in the watershed of the Nass River. It is a powerful statement of Nisga’a history on the one hand and a cogent review of political and legal aspects of the Nisga’a tribal claim on the other ... the side effect of such research is the great legacy of excellent scholarship, of which this book is an exemplary example.
— Canadian Historical Review
The book is filled with appealing maps, labeled with both native and English names, and contains supporting statements from inland nations. It is too bad that arduous attention to detail and such a convincing historical overview have failed repeatedly to convince the provincial legal mind.
— Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Winter 1999/2000
