Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, speaking in Vancouver in 1969, said, "We can't recognize aboriginal rights because no society can be built on historical 'might-have-beens.'" Nonetheless a resolution of longstanding Nisga'a land claims was eventually announced in Terrace on July 15, 1998. Chief Federal Negotiator Tom Molloy recounts the events leading up to the Nisga'a agreement in The World Is Our Witness: The Historic Journey of the Nisga'a into Canada (Fifth House, 2001 $29.95). The book is both a political history and a personal memoir beyond the boardrooms and press conferences. For example, he confides that once his youngest daughter, upset that he was denying her a special treat at home, cried out, "You call yourself a negotiator, but all you do is sit there and say no!" 1-894004-47-7

[BCBW 2001] "First Nations"