St’át’imc Runner

Page 10
Alkstálhcw
The St’át’imc Runner September 2009
Líl’wat Returns to SCC
Chief Leonard Andrew made a
presentation to the St’át’imc Chiefs
Council at their July meeting.
Prior to that, Líl’wat Council made
a decision concerning the abeyance
letter that was sent to SCC in 2005:
that they would like to participate
once again with the SCC.
In 2005, the negotiations
with BC Hydro triggered the
abeyance letter. Líl’wat was going
to negotiate with BC Hydro separately,
and this never happened.
Líl’wat had a few meetings with
BC Hydro, but have now decided to
come back to the SCC table for
hydro negotiations.
Also, Líl’wat wanted to
have a protocol among the
St’át’imc communities for working
together. “Way back we started
talking about the issues and the
Declaration. When Líl’wat pulled
out (of SCC), Chief and Council
looked at all the issues and how fast
the community was growing, this is
even separate from the Olympics.
There were a lot of deficits and
when I became a Chief, I decided to
try do something about this. I
always have said we are St’át’imc
and we are one. When we are talking
about Líl’wat Nation we are
really talking about our community.
Would like to begin working with
all our neighbours and begin working
with the Nation.”
“There is change coming
and we are going to have to start
dealing with this. What are we
going to look like in 10, 12, or 20
years? We have economic development
happening, building schools
and homes for our people. We are
now dealing with our territory and a
lot of our dealings are with our territory.
“What are all our dealings
as a tribe? A lot of issues are
important to us all. Look at
Chehalis and what is happening
there because of treaty.
“All Líl’wat is asking really
is to have a protocol amongst ourselves.
We already have protocols
with other neighbours. Basically
Barrick Gold - “Mine.”
Barrick Gold is the
largest gold and copper mining
company in the world. Barrick
has a mining claim near Poison
Mountain in northern St'át'imc,
and this summer has contracted a
Prince George company to do
exploratory drilling.
This Canadian corporation's
reputation is also the worst.
Most recently the company saw
fit to fire on protesters in
Tanzania, killing one and wounding
many. The list of broken
promises to the list of indigenous
nations around the globe is too
long to even begin.
The claim was explored
in the 1980's and never mined.
Technology has greatly advanced
since then, so a new exploration
was required to assess the potential
value of the claim.
The Xwísten Lands and
Resources found about the plans
in May, and called for a meeting
to find out what the company's
plans were. While Barrick had
apparently been consulting with
communities north of the
St'át'imc border, Xwísten was not
on a list of Bands provided to the
company by BC ministries,
because they do not have a
Forest and Range Agreement.
The FRA's include a map of a
community's stated traditional
territory.
Over the summer, twelve
drill holes have shown about 16
grams of copper per ton of gravel,
and 12 grams of gold.
Exploration was slowed when
the camp had to be evacuated on
August 30. A wildfire on Big
Dog mountain burned one of the
old camp's cabins, and came very
close to the new camp.
Barrick will decide whether to
sell the claim or keep it depending
on the results of the new
explorations.
Chiefs discuss shared
areas with Chehalis
Chehalis now feels there is little
time to resolve their land
dispute with the In-SHUCK-ch
of southern St’át’imc. A ratification
vote on the treaty
group’s Final Agreement may
be as close as next Spring.
Several areas of land are at
issue for Chehalis, but most
especially 20 Mile Bay on
Harrison Lake.
The St’át’imc Chiefs
Council met on Tuesday,
September 1, in Líl’wat. All eleven
community Chiefs were present.
Important guests from
Chehalis were also in attendance.
Chief Willie Charlie, Councilor
Boyd Peters, Fran Douglas, Senior
Research Assistant, Aboriginal
Rights and Title, and
Archaeologist Gordon Mohs came
to discuss the question of our
shared areas along the Harrison
Lake.
Chehalis has now
approached the Chiefs Council
since their discussions with In-
SHUCK-ch have been fruitless.
What are the inter-tribal
boundaries? Traditionally the families
there were cooperative; both
sides recall sharing the lake and
valley for hunting, fishing and
gathering. Now that the land is
assigned cash values by a modern
economy, it becomes difficult to
share.
The In-SHUCK-ch
Agreement in Principle, in the BC
treaty process, was revealed in
2006. This document came as a
shock to Chehalis, whose then-
Chief Alex Paul believed he had
reached agreement with the In-
SHUCK-ch Chief Negotiator that
areas around and south of 20 Mile
Bay would not be in the treaty
negotiations. 20 Mile Bay is now
an important part of the proposed
Treaty Settlement Lands. It is also,
and has always been, an important
village and burial site for Chehalis.
The fee simple title ownership of
the place would be unacceptable to
Chehalis, and they have always
made this clear.
The treaty controversy
within St’át’imc, home to three
other formerly attempted modern
If the treaty was ratified, BC
would recognize fee simple
title ownership of the property
by In-SHUCK-ch. BC and
Canada maintain, in the treaty
itself, that this does not affect
anyone else’s aboriginal rights.
Chehalis thinks it does, and
their last option is to take up
the issue with the St’át’imc as
a whole.
day treaties with BC and Canada, is
substantial. The matter has not
been addressed directly between the
Chiefs. A ratification vote on the
Final Agreement is imminent. This
will force Chehalis, according to
Mohs, to provide proof of their
strength of claim to lands as far
north along the lake as Port
Douglas, Xáxtsa7. This is where
solid lines on maps come in.
Such legalistic and exclusive jurisdictions
is not part of indigenous
history in many cases, particularly
this one.
Chief Harris of Xáxtsa7 has
explained how the families along
the lake were always in a state of
accommodation and support, even
while the rest of the two countries
may have been at odds. They relied
on each other, and relied on the
hunting, fishing and gathering lands
between them respectfully and
mutually. The Lillooet River provided
a great trade route from the
Fraser valley to the interior.
Several of the St’át’imc
Chiefs spoke to the ideal situation
of an open, honest and evolving
protocol between Chehalis and
St’át’imc in these lands. Chehalis
responded that they have exhausted
their good faith in discussions with
the treaty group, which actually
asserts that St’át’imc has no interest
in those lands.
Several Chiefs were able to
point to examples of other shared
area protocols, such as that between
Líl’wat and Squamish; with
Nlaka’pamux to the east, primarily
regarding fisheries, and the beginning
of dialogue with Tsilhqot’in to
the north and Secwepemc to the
north east.
Further meetings between
the Chiefs Council and Chehalis are
anticipated.
Next SCC meeting:
Tuesday October 6, Xwísten