Canada's Haida Indians reject islands land offer VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A native Indian leader rejected a new offer Thursday to help settle a land dispute in the Queen Charlotte Islands, off British Columbia's north Pacific Coast, which the government wants to open up drilling for offshore oil and gas.
The provincial government offered the Haida Nation 20 percent of Queen Charlottes, an archipelago south of the Alaska Panhandle, in return for the Haida suspending lawsuits that lay claim to the entire area, which is also known as Haida Gwaii, and its resources.
"They are clearly trying to provoke something here," said Guujaaw (his full name), president of the Council of the Haida Nation, who described the offer unveiled Wednesday as "designed to be rejected."