?Flawed Nisga?a Elections?
Mrs, (Fred) Rose Doolan
942 11th East
Prince Rupert, BC
V8J 3Y1

February 9, 2005

Attention: Mr. Brian Tait

Re: Flawed Nisga?a Elections

My Matriarch name is Sim Git Luu Tdaa, and I am from the house of Sganism Sim-oogit, Chief Mountain, from the Kincolith Reserve. My parents (Edward and Dorothy Robinson) and Grandparents (Steven and Mary Barton) (James and Selina Robinson) who are all deceased, were all raised in Kincolith, My mother is the 5th generation of mothers that were born in the Chief Mountain House.

I have been reading the letters concerning the ?Flawed Nisga?a Elections? and the mismanagement of the Nisga?a dollars that belongs to the whole nation, and I am very interested to see if any justice will come out of this situation. My letter is not on the flawed Nisga?a election, but it contains the same discrimination that you are talking about. I believe the Nisga?a Treaty was flawed from the beginning, and the national voting that took place was bogus.

The reason I am writing to you is that you must have a good heart to desire Honesty and Transparency in our nation, and to get your attention on what I believe are some of the flaws of the Nisga?a treaty which led to the Nisga?a Lism Government. The elected officers should have let the respected elders from the beginning correct the wrongs and we would not have to face all this dishonesty and corruption in our Nation today.

My brother James Robinson, my husband Fred and I attended the meetings before the treaty was signed and we were totally amazed at the disrespect we seen in these meetings. We were told to ask any questions on the floor; but were cut off and told that we were out of order if the question was something they did not want to answer.

Different individuals asked questions concerning the education funds for our children and grandchildren yet to come, our aboriginal title and the Ango?askw that were been exchanged for the modern day treaty.93% of the Lands were been signed away and this included 52 Reserves from Kincolith, which included Sganism Sim-oogit, also known as Saga Ween?s Ango?askw (Hunting grounds.)

According to our Ayuuk, the responsibility of the Hereditary Chief is to defend the Land and speak for the rights of the People that have been in trusted to him. Respected elders approached my brother Chief Mountain, to take his responsibility and speak up on the flaws of the treaty. Chief Mountain spoke up to protect the land that is assigned to his Hereditary Name and defend it for his people. Since that day our family has been the target of slander, disrespect and maligned in a manner no one should endure. Our family was marked as witchcraft. We were raised in a Christian family and I thank God that we were taught to pray, forgive, and respect people. We believe in the freedom of speech, to gather and express our opinions etc. In addition respecting other people?s opinions even if they differ from our own under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Constitution. Which has been taken away from us under the Nisga?a treaty.

Our family received threatening letters from the Chairman of Ayuukhl Nisga?a Committee to remove our brother?s hereditary title for speaking on the flaws of the treaty. So, we wrote letters to the editor of the Daily News, to bring this matter to the attention of our Nisga?a nation which the Daily News refuse to write because someone from the Lisms Government threatened to sue if our letters were printed. CFNR was not allowed to broadcast an interview that was held on behalf of our family. And still today it has not changed, we are not entitled for any help in our community and where our parents house stood in Kincolith, our neighbor Bob Stewart was allowed without our brother?s consent to take two feet of our late parents property, which by law is in my brother?s name. Our immediate family members are refused jobs. Our children are spit at. Now where is the justice in all this? Where is the respect that our fore fathers taught us?

Our family attended the funeral of a highly respected elder who was very close to our family in New Aiyansh at which, Emma Nyce use his death as an opportunity without any respect for the Chief who died and challenged our family to attend her feast in Gitwinksihlk on October 28 2000. At which time she stole our Hereditary Names from our family and no one stood up for the truth. Stealing is a sin according to the Bible.

Our nephew Don Stevens was given the Name Saga Ween in 1993.at our late uncle Chief Mountains (Hubert Barton?s) memorial Stone moving feast which was hosted by our brother James Robinson (current holder of Chief Mountain.) Approximately 400 people witnessed the late Simoogit Bayt N?eekhl (Gordon McKay) adaawak on our family?s hereditary names, along with many other highly esteemed senior elders from Kincolith and from all the surrounding villages. There were Hereditary Chiefs from Skidegate, Massett, Vancouver, and the Tsimshian Nation also in attendance.

Our Hereditary names were also registered at the NTC Office in 1993,which was later brought over to the Nisga?a Lisms Office after the treaty was signed in 2000.We believe that these are official documents that were tampered with, which is when we believe the Nyce Family was backed up by the government officials who abused their power as elected officers to conspired against our family.

We have had many meetings and traditional feasts where we have videotapes of Respected Elders and Chiefs who encouraged us to walk with honor in our hereditary names and spoke and retold the story of Chief Mountain and Saga Ween. Honorable Chiefs like Simoogit Kw?axsuu (Morris Haldane,) Simoogit Axdii Min?aajax (Max Haines,) Simoogit Ni?iskw?axsoo (James Stewart,) Simoogit Gwak?aans (William Angus,) Simoogit Gwis Kien (Rueben Morgan,) Simoogit Gitxhoon (Ernie Morven), Simoogit Niys Wii Amootkw (Fred Doolan) Respected elders Fred Lincoln, We also have video tapes of the late Chiefs Anthony Calder, Graham Moore, Chester Benson, Jeffery Benson, Mathew Adams and Gordon McKay telling the story on Chief Mountain and Saga Ween. Documents were left for our family by our late grandfather Sam Lincoln and our uncle Hubert Barton who held title to these names. We also have videotapes of Matriarch Nits?iits?Geehl (Sadie Tait) Nits?iits Da?a (Addie Harris) Naa?idaa (Laura Lincoln) Dalda (Esther Adams) Dorothy Young and the late Bessie Nelson who witnessed the proceedings and retold the same story. All these respected elders are from Kincolith. And in all these stories, not once was the name Gosnell or Nyce mentioned in connection with the Chief Mountain house, except that they had no title to the name.

Why is no one listening to the hearts of our respected elders and people? Does everyone who speaks out against the treaty process or the flawed Nisga?a election have to pay for it like our family has? I was raised in Kincolith and I married there and I have never seen people mistreat or disrespect one another like they have treated our family since the treaty was signed.

We are a young family who is trying to teach our young people in our house our culture and to respect and walk with honor the names that has been given to them, but this teaching is proving to be difficult as our young people have not witnessed anything except disrespect from the people we are expected to honor and respect.

I hope others are not experiencing the same negativity and if they are. They should be encouraged to speak out about it.

Thank you Mr. Tait for encouraging us to write to our government, because it has given me the opportunity to write to you about the concerns I have. Our brother and family have done nothing to deserve this kind of harassments. As I shared earlier, I pray that more of our respected elders, such as you will find it in their hearts to stand for the truth; our young people are watching and willing to learn. It is entirely up to us what legacy we will leave our children in the Nisga?a Nation.

Thank you and we will be praying for you.

Mrs. Anonymous