St’át’imc Runner

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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
Tsepqw 2009 The St’át’imc Runner All Chiefs Assembly Page 11 Recognition Legislation: dead in the water The Discussion Paper on BC Recognition and Reconciliation Legislation proposed by the First Nations Leadership Council and BC early this year has been laid to rest. On Friday, August 28, at the All Chiefs Assembly in Squamish territory, the passing was marked with a song from Nuu-chah-nulth representatives. The song of going "on a new path, in a new direction," from the house of Maquinna, formalized the break. From the meeting of well over a hundred Chiefs, elected and hereditary, a group of eight Chiefs was struck up to review the structure and function of the First Nations Leadership Council. Many noted that the Council was engaged in high-level negotiations concerning aboriginal title, and that it should not be doing this. The exploration of legislation had been mandated by three provincial organizations whose elected leadership constitutes the Leadership Council. That is, the First Nations Summit, the Assembly of First Nations - BC, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The scope of the mandate was clearly not narrow enough, and the influence of the BC participants in writing the Discussion Paper, which described and defined the scope of the would-be legislation, produced a document that would have the indigenous nations recognize crown title on their lands. The crown cannot produce a deed or other proof of ownership of these lands. It is precisely the rejection of crown title, jurisdiction and authority of any kind on unceded and unsurrendered lands that, for a hundred and fifty years, the nations have organized their protest around. Almost every Chief present or represented at the August meeting believes that the proposed legislation would reduce the full scope of aboriginal title to something that would be defined and interpretable through a provincial Act, and, as legislation, be changeable and interpretable at the province's discretion. This would be a seismic shift from the current Hereditary Chiefs of the Ned’u’ten Nation, supported by the Lake Babine elected Council, read from a letter to the Premier of BC, Gordon Campbell: “We own and have jurisdiction of our traditional territories. We have not consented to this initiative. It is our opinion that the province does not have the jurisdiction to make such laws. The BC First Nation Leadership Council does not represent our clans or territories, therefore they cannot represent to you that they have our approval for the proposed legislation. Enacting such legislation would be intended Crown conduct that would interfere with our inherent rights, traditional governing and land systems.” internationally recognizable legal status of aboriginal title lands. The nations' true title is proven over and over through use and occupancy, oral and cultural identity and tradition, archaeological evidence, and, perhaps most significantly, the recognition of the nations by each other of their borders in longstanding Accords and Treaties between them that enshrine those sovereignties. What was the proposed legislation? The stated objective was that the legislation would be used to implement the stated aims of the "New Relationship." The initial idea was to make a BC Act that would create a procedural legality whereby provincial decision makers would be bound to consult and accommodate to a minimum standard. While this is a courtdirected reality, the province does not follow it with any consistency, nor does it have a definition for itself as to what would be the minimum legal requirement in consultation and accommodation. The legislation would define the province's responsibilities, for itself, in these areas. The concern is that if a piece of legislation was written by, for and in consultation with First Nations, that would legitimize and give power to BC's asserted jurisdiction here. It would appear that First Nations accepted BC's ability to define its obligations to them using its own laws. What is the status of the New Relationship? Separation. Divorce. Paperwork. Court dates. The only thing BC has to show for its grandly stated intentions is Forest and Range Agreements. These were designed by the province after the Haida case.. FRA’s were disputed in court by Huuay-aht, and found to be dismally inadequate, in no way upholding the "honour of the crown," as they were said to be. They were then replaced by Forest and Range Opportunities. What is "the honour of the crown"? We are not sure what "the honour of the crown" refers to. We are more familiar with the "dishonour of the crown." There is not a single treaty Canada has made with indigenous nations that has been upheld. Even very recently negotiated agreements, such as with the James Bay Cree and the Algonquin Trilateral Settlement, have quickly been rubbished at key junctures. What will happen next? Many Chiefs noted that there is now only a six month window before the 2010 Olympics, when world media will be focused on BC and Canada. The Chiefs were repetitive in their calls for action before and during that time, suggesting various plans to attract world media to the outstanding land question here. Many other struggles have been won because of world attention, such as in the ending of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
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