Occupying the Land - Digital Library Of The Commons

of our territories. This ignorance and this disrespect continues....(Gisday Wa andDelgam Uukw 1989: 7-8; see also Pinkerton and Weinstein 1995: 65):)Specific intensive management practices pertaining to both plant and animal resources,including transplanting, thinning, weeding, selective harvesting, cultivating, pruning andburning, would have been undertaken on owned sites, and in many cases, as with theSaanich clearing of land for camas production and the Nuu-Chah-Nulth cultivation ofclover and silverweed gardens, these very practices would have helped to determine andperpetuate ownership (Peacock and Turner 2000; Turner and Peacock 2000; Turner 1999;Bouchard and Kennedy 1990).Common Features of Ownership Practices of B.C. First NationsThese two general models of ownership and tenure, although very diverse and complex,have a number of general characteristics and features in common. In both models, thereare rights to exclude outsiders, with the potential for strict enforcement, even death, totrespassers who come without permission or to those who transgress the rules of properconduct toward the resources, the habitats where they occur, or the rightful users. In both,there are also sanctions against greed and unwillingness to share. A chief or householdhead who does not properly or adequately provide for his people or share his wealththrough potlatching, feasting or other means is subject to dishonour and may even losehis position, or risk war against his group (R. Atleo, pers. comm. to NT, 1999; Weinstein1994). There are also rules to be observed regarding the overseeing of first foodceremonials, the maintenance of equipment and habitats and the stewardship of theresources. Failing to look after and maintain the resources was seen as shameful. Thecommonalities and general characteristics of both models, and essentially of allownership systems are itemized as follows:• Reasons for Ownership: Ownership and control of land and resources is inextricablybound to the economic system and requirements of a people; culturally importantresources that are most intensively cultivated or cared for have the most stringentcontrols and well defined boundaries.• Boundaries: Tenure patterns have long-standing historical recognition, often tied to’creation’ stories of families and lineages. Basic units of ownership, generally at thefamily level, are often nested within larger community or territory wide systems.Smaller holdings might mark boundaries with posts or poles, while larger areas arebetter defined by geographic features or culturally delineated symbolic crests andsongs or dances.• Harvest and Exclusion Rights: Right of harvest and access to resources is onlyavailable through marriage and kinship ties with other families, communities andNations which provided broader access to other harvest sites during possible times oflocal resource failure. The right to exclude or control access by others is the keystoneof stewardship.17