The UPPER SKEENA COUNSELLING & LEGAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY has been in operation since 1977 created because of the huge gap in understanding why so many Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en were being imprisoned without due process i.e., without a lawyer or access to legal advice or even legal information. Furthermore, much residue was and still exists from Indian Act practices whereby many Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en were criminalized for breaching sections of it such as participating in their traditional feast system and speaking their language. The Indian Act and many following amendments along with the Criminal Code of Canada continues to criminalize the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en. For that matter, there are Indian Act sections that continues to criminalize Aboriginal people for doing such things as selling produce off reserve.

The USCLAS has evolved over the past 25 years to meet the changing needs of both the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en people. More recently the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan Nations have become more distinct as nations. The earlier objective of the USCLAS office was to provide legal services to all peoples in the Gitxsan and Wet'suwe'ten territories.

Although the USCLAS continues to have a special focus on meeting the needs of Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en people there has always been an open policy to assist all people living in the area who cannot otherwise obtain legal assistance for financial or other reasons. At the same time, Legal Services Society has historically recognised and supported the USCLAS Board in the need for real community control and autonomy in the delivery of legal services to Aboriginal people.