Dear Sir:
Some Nisga’a people have become disenchanted because the Nisga’a government has not adequately explained citizen’s housing rights under section 9 (Loans and Defaults) of the Nisga’a Village Entitlement Act.
The act says that, before a Nisga’a village can “take back” an Entitlement (analogous to a Certificate of Possession under the Indian Act), the village government “must file in the Nisga’a land title office a notice of the proposed taking in the prescribed form...”
Yet, instead of receiving Nisga’a Land Title forms, many homeowners received summary eviction notices – none of which even mention the Nisga’a Village Entitlement Act.
Perhaps if Nisga’a citizens understood their rights under this act, there would be less animosity amongst those who have lost their homes.
It would be helpful for the Nisga’a government to regularly publish housing statistics: How many evictions? How many notices issued under the Act?
How many homes “taken back” by the Nisga’a village? Names of those acquiring entitlements. etc. etc.
David Dickinson,
Hazelton, BC