Indigenous Peoples -- Land Tenure -- British Columbia -- History, Nisga'a -- Claims -- History, Nisga'a -- Claims, Nisga'a -- Land tenure -- History, Nisga'a -- Land tenure, Nisga'a, Indigenous peoples -- Land tenure -- British Columbia, Indigenous peoples -- Land tenure, Indigenous peoples -- British Columbia -- Claims, Indigenous peoples -- Claims, British Columbia 

"Many jurisdictions face the challenge of aboriginal land claims, but that of the Nishga Indians of British Columbia's northern coast is perhaps the most crucial of all. Never invaded by armies, or even by significant numbers of white pioneers, never ceded by formal treaty, and never until the mid-twentieth century even subject to formal negotiation, the land of the Nishga is embroiled in a long-standing and critical dispute. The issue is so tense, and so fraught with legal and moral precedent, that the Supreme Court of Canada declined to face it squarely, with three judges opposed to the Nishga claim, three judges in favour of it and one judge refusing to rule on a technicality.

Who are these people? What is the source of their heartfelt disbelief that white society can claim this land? And what is the historical record that both sides cite as ample proof of their claims? From a carefully researched and compellingly written history of white-Nishga contact to a sharp analysis of the land claims issue as it now stands in the limelight of the late twentieth century, Raunet tells a fascinating story."--Back cover.