Cascade NTFP Regional Profile.pdf - First Nations in British ...

Cascades NTFP Profile
island on Harrison Lake and west of the Fraser River to the headwaters of Lillooet
River, Ryan River and Black Tusk (St’át’imc 2007).
The Secwepemc do not have any permanent settlements within the District, but they do
have communities in close proximity to the District boundary. The Secwepemc are
represented by the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, Northern Shuswap Tribal Council /
Treaty Society and there are a small number of independent bands (SNTC 2007). For the
purpose of a court proceeding, Ignace (2005) describes the Secwepemc territory:
The term “Shuswap” is an Anglicization of the term Secwépemc, which means
"spread-out people" (Ignace 1998). It refers to the members of the largest Interior
Salish speaking Aboriginal Nation in Canada whose Aboriginal territory
encompasses some180, 000 square kilometres (Palmer 1975a) in the south central
area of what is now British Columbia, stretching from the British
Columbia/Alberta Border near the Yellowhead Pass to the plateau west of the
Fraser River, southeast to the Arrow Lakes and to the upper reaches of the
Columbia River. The Secwepemc homeland is traversed and characterized by the
two major rivers of the British Columbia Plateau, the Fraser River and the
Thompson River, including its North and South branches. Most of the
Secwepemc communities are and were located along the valleys of these rivers
and their main tributaries, although the resource use territories encompassed the
entire area associated by Teit and others with Secwepemc territory
The Okanagan Nation bands (Sylix) are represented by the Okanagan Nation Alliance
(ONA) at the tribal level, there are two member band communities within the District,
Upper Nicola and Upper Similkameen – both of these communities are also sometimes
listed as members of the Nicola Tribal Association. The Okanagan Nation describes their
traditional territory as follows:
Traditionally, Okanagan’s occupied an area which extended over approximately
69 000 square kilometres. The northern area of this territory was close to the area
of Mica Creek, just north of modern day Revelstoke, BC, and the eastern
boundary was Kootenay Lake. The southern boundary extended to the vicinity of
Wilbur, Washington and the western border extended into the Nicola Valley
(ONA 2007).
The majority of Nlaka’pamux communities lie within the bounds of the Cascades Forest
District including: Coldwater, Cook’s Ferry, Kanaka Bar, Lower Nicola, Lytton,
Nicomen, Nooaitch, Shackan, Siska. and Skuppah. The First Nation is represented by
three different tribal councils, Nicola Tribal Association (NTA), Nlaka’pamux Nation
Tribal Council (NNTC) and the Fraser Canyon Indian Administration; there are also
unaffiliated bands. Tmixw Research describes the Nlaka’pamux territory as follows:
The Nlaka’pamux Nation are Interior Salish speakers, making up 16 communities.
The Nlaka’pamux Nations’ homelands encompass much of the Cascade Mountain
Range including the drainages of the Fraser, Thompson, Tulameen, Similkameen,
Coquihalla and Nicola river systems in the interior of British Columbia (B.C.),
and extends into the northwest region of Washington State. (Markey and Sandy
nd)