A constitutional expert who represented British Columbia in federal negotiations, Melvin H. Smith Q.C. later campaigned for the No side of the national referendum that was kiboshed by Elijah Harper. He expressed his views on Aboriginal land claims in Our Home or Native Land? (Victoria: Crown Western, 1995) and co-edited Beyond the Nass Valley; National Implications of the Supreme Court's Delgamuukw Decision (Fraser Institute, 2001) with Geoff Plant.

[BCBW 2003] "First Nations"