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The Aboriginal Newspaper of British Columbia & Yukon
Published May 11, 1998
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A rare glimpse of the past! Artisans preparing for the Kwakiutl Summer Games are re-discovering some of the forgotten forms of war canoe construction. This is believed to be an unfinished Moon-chuh style, Salish war canoe. It was discovered on Comox Indian Band territory. Carvers are studying old photographs and museum pieces like the one pictured above to help give new life to ancient carving methods and designs. Photo credit: Malcolm McColl |
Editorial:Happy birthday to us
by Paul Barnsley
Kemano deals lead to Cheslatta
lawsuit
by Paul Barnsley
Bands build destination resorts,
wait for gaming decision
by Paul Barnsley
Man fights for recognition of
his people
by Malcolm McColl
Nearly forgotten war canoes displayed
at Summer Games
by Malcolm McColl
Indigenous music film to debut
in Vancouver
By Paul Barnsley
News in Brief
Band members build Elders Centre
Healing Fund foundation announced
Children and families ministry upgrades
Here is a full list of additional stories featured in the May, 1998 issue of Raven's Eye. If you are not receiving your own copy of Raven's Eye, then you have missed all this information.
Click here for Raven's Eye subscription information.
Premier told to consult, injunction threatened
Government said to be ignoring protocol
Reader angered by Bill C-31 fallout
Lumber Kings do it again
Open Invitation
Third time lucky or three strikes and out
Winery provides employment
Band prospersTaiaiake Alfred: No easy way out
Educator tells a story
Police arrested 14 members of the Native Youth Movement on April 21, ending the five-day occupation of the B.C. Treaty Commission offices.
The youth group occupied the offices in April last year and renewed their protest because, they said, their concerns have not been addressed. The arrests occurred without incident.
The Native Youth Movement opposed the British Columbia treaty process. Several of the members chanted "B.C. is Indian land" as they were escorted out of the offices by police.
Elders GatheringPrince George will be the scene of the 22nd annual British Columbia Elders Gathering from Aug. 10 to 12.
As many as 5,000 Elders from all over the province are expected to attend the gathering, which will be hosted at the Prince George Multiplex.
The event has proven to be a valuable forum for discussion of and planning for the future of the province's Aboriginal people.
The Elders will discuss several issues: preservation of traditional knowledge, Elder abuse, health issues, cultural issues, employment issues, copyright law as it deals with Aboriginal art and designs, institutional racism and Correctional issues.
"The main concern of the Elders is their youth," said gathering coordinator Christine Dawson. "This year's conference will strive to include the youth in meaningful ways."
Band members build Elders Centre
The Chehalis Indian Band has a good start on their new Elders centre, and nine band members have a new skill. A partnership involving the band, Sto:lo Nation Human Resources Development, Natural Resources Canada and Old Yale Log Homes provided training to the band members in the art of log home construction.
The log shell for the centre was erected in April. Other tradesmen will provide the finishing touches, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.
"This course and the completion of the Elders Centre have given us a wake-up call on the potential that exists in this community to do something about on-reserve housing, which is among the worst in Canada," said Chief Alex Paul.
Healing Fund foundation announced
Georges Erasmus, the former Dene Nation president, AFN national chief and co-chair of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People has signed on as the chairman of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
This group will administer the $350 million healing fund set aside by the federal government for victims of physical and sexual abuse in Canada's Indian residential school system.
Erasmus provided few details during a introductory press conference on May 4. He announced that the foundation has an eight-member board. Wendy Grant-John, physician/Nadleh Whuten member, Maggie Johnson, and Squamish Nation lawyer Teressa Nahanee will represent British Columbia on the board.
Children and Families ministry upgrades
In the wake of severe criticism from all sectors, the provincial government announced on April 28 that it will inject $60 million extra into child welfare.
The government announced it will hire an additional 225 child welfare workers. Critics say they can't be expected to get too excited about this because it took a lot of political embarrassment for the government to take action to protect the estimated 5,000 or more children in its care.
Kemano deals lead to Cheslatta lawsuit
By Paul Barnsley
Raven's Eye Writer
PRINCE GEORGE
A Cheslatta Carrier Nation official is predicting a very interesting trial when the Burns Lake-area First Nation's civil suit against the British Columbia government, the federal government and Alcan Aluminum gets to court.
A statement of claim filed by the band in Prince George Supreme Court on April 14 questions the validity of, and asks the court to void, every agreement made by the defendants regarding the Kemano hydro-electric and aluminum smelting projects.
Mike Robertson, the Nation's policy advisor, said many people who occupied prominent federal positions under the Progressive Conservative government of the 1980s will be called to testify.
"It will be the first time we've been able to cross-examine witnesses and present evidence in court, and, yes, some high profile politicians and business people will be called to testify, including Tom Siddon, who was Indian Affairs minister back then, and even [former Prime Ministers] Kim Campbell and Brian Mulroney," he said.
Bringing suit under his own name and on behalf of the entire Cheslatta Indian Band membership, Chief Marvin Charlie claims that his people were flooded or burned out of their ancestral homeland in order that dam projects which would generate the hydro-electric power needed to run the Alcan Aluminum smelter in Kitimat could be completed. In his statement of claim, Chief Charlie tells the court that his people were never consulted about any of the agreements concerning the Kemano Projects.
"We have run out of options," Chief Charlie said. "The only way to get Alcan, Canada and B.C. to account for their actions is through the justice system. We were not consulted in the 1950s - Kemano I; we were not consulted in 1987 - Kemano II; and we weren't consulted in 1997, which we now call Kemano III. Nobody was consulted, the farmers, the trappers, the municipalities, the commercial fishermen - nobody! Now we are expected to live with this forever? I don't think so!"
A significant portion of the statement of claim deals with the Cheslatta people's claim to Aboriginal title to the land in question. That means that the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision, Delgamuukw, will be cited as an authority during trial. In Delgamuukw, the highest court in the land ruled that Aboriginal peoples who can prove Aboriginal title to lands must be fairly compensated for any infringement of their title. The Cheslatta lawsuit claims that Alcan has been "unjustly enriched at the expense of" the Cheslatta people and asks the court to order the aluminum giant to turn over all the proceeds of their operations in the region to the band. Alcan announced a net profit of $640 million in 1997. If the Cheslatta lawsuit succeeds, the corporation would be facing a cost that runs into the billions of dollars.
Robertson said the Delgamuukw decision was a factor in the band's decision to take this matter to court, but it was not the main factor.
"Yes, it allowed us a lot of confidence to go into this, but the main strength of our case is the evidence we've gathered over the last 17 years. We have over 120,000 pages of documents we've compiled through freedom of information applications or that have been leaked to us. We've got a strong case, and they're going to have to face the evidence, the real facts that we have."
The Cheslatta claim also questions the actions of the provincial government in granting water licenses to the company. The action calls for the court to rule that several provincial water licenses are invalid and that the provincial Industrial Development Act is null and void. The court is also asked to issue an injunction ordering the parties to repair all the damage they have allegedly done within the 120,000 acre traditional Cheslatta territory.
The First Nation also alleges that Alcan and Department of Indian Affairs officials evacuated the Cheslatta people from their villages in 1952, with only two weeks notice, and then proceeded to burn the villages. They further claim that rising water levels caused by the dams built as part of the Kemano Project washed more than 60 graves into a lake.
Chief Charlie said there will be a lot of support for his band's court action.
"The fact is, the Upper Nechako River and its watershed is owned and operated by the Aluminum Company of Canada," he said. "And up to now, nobody has been able to do a thing about it. We hope to be able to change that."
The defendants have 30 days from April 14 to file a statement of defense with the court.
By Paul Barnsley
Raven's Eye Editor
As we enter the second year of life for Raven's Eye, we are encouraged by the growth of this "remarkably intelligent little paper," as Globe and Mail columnists, Terry Glavin, so kindly described us in print a few months back.
We're making friends in all corners of the province, as writers and thinkers about Aboriginal issues see the opportunity to contribute to a paper that stands out from the crowd a bit.
As a rookie editor who's making the transition from being a blissfully happy reporter with no administrative duties to the person who has to look after the less than thrilling details of newspaper work, it has been a year of growth for me as well as the paper and the second year should be easier than the first.
It hasn't been a bump-free road getting this new paper established. We've made some mistakes but we've also produced some very solid and useful work along the way. Having been on the British Columbia scene for a year now, we've got a better idea of where we need to go in the future. Our mistakes as well as the moments our readers tell us have been our best are both part of the learning experience. We'll use the good and the bad to guide us and help set goals for the coming year(s).
I see our main failure to be that this paper doesn't have a better relationship with the First Nations Summit. That's one of the goals for the next twelve months. But rest assured, those of you who aren't big admirers of the treaty process, any relationship we form with the Summit - as with any other political group - will not be uncritical.
We also learned that the story we published about Chief Simon Baker was one of the best received articles of the first year. The lesson we learned there is that our readers want a certain number of good news stories and we'll try to deliver that on a regular basis.
But, as some wise old journalism professor once said, in countries where the newspapers are full of good news, the jails are full of good people. We'll keep the edge that has earned us the admiration of a growing number of supporters in the province, but we'll temper it with more community news.
As more and more people find out about this paper, the number of really capable writers whose talents are made available to us keeps growing. We hope to add work by more people with real insight and original ideas. It's not something that will be easy to do, but we also desperately want to find someone to continue the gutsy, yet wise and vital work that Arnie Louie began. We want to identify the most important issues in the daily lives of our readers and then get the most knowledgeable and most intelligent people who are working in those areas to tell us what they think.
I urge you, the reader, the most important person in the Raven's Eye mix, to tell us what you think we should work on, where you think we can do the most good for our readers.
We've already established that off-reserve residents, Aboriginal women, Métis people and other people who may not be part of the establishment in Aboriginal communities, have or will have a place to tell their stories in this paper. We also encourage Aboriginal writers and photographers to use Raven's Eye as a way to get established in the field. We see this as another important function of the paper.
So thanks for being with us through year one and here's to bigger and better things in the future.
Bands build destination resorts,
wait for gaming decision
By Donna Rae Paquette
Raven's Eye Writer
CRANBROOK
Two British Columbia Indian bands say construction of destination resorts on their territories is going ahead despite the fact they are still awaiting a provincial decision on whether their applications to add casinos to the projects will be approved.
The St. Mary's Band, located outside Cranbrook, and the Shuswap Band, near Invermere, are part of the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council at the base of the Okanagan, a popular resort area for tourists from across the country.
The St. Mary's band's proposed $32 million St. Eugene Mission resort spreads over 320 acres of reserve land and includes an aquatic centre with water slides, indoor and outdoor pools, an interpretive centre featuring Aboriginal art and crafts, a tipi camp, a 124-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course and, if approved, a casino featuring card games and slot machines.
The Shuswap band's proposed $70 million Eagle Rock resort will have a 150-room hotel, convention and recreation centers, a 150-site recreation vehicle park, an 18-hole golf course and 400 residential units.
Both bands are part of the five-member Ktunaxa Kinbasket Tribal Council that jointly owns the St. Eugene Mission Development Corp.
St. Mary's Chief Sophie Pierre says her band has been preparing for this for a long time and its members are looking forward to the resort's April 1, 1999 grand opening, with or without a casino.
She said construction of the casino phase could start within weeks of getting license approval, but the original Jan. 1998 announcement date for provincial licensing approval has been delayed by the province until at least late May of this year.
St. Eugene's Mission resort will employ 120 full-time permanent staff. The casino, depending on the size allowed by the license, could employ an additional 150 to 200 people. The band is now offering training programs in an effort to, as much as possible, staff the resort with band members and other Aboriginal people. Unemployment among the reserve's approximately 300 members is normally between 30 and 50 per cent at this time of year. Most employed males work in the forestry industry in silviculture, or in clearing and fire fighting with B.C. Forestry, which is all seasonal work. The resort will provide year-round jobs, creating more stability for band families.
Chief Pierre said the casino addition has never been the reason for the project, and financial spinoffs from gaming aren't that big a draw.
"There's no money to be made in it because the government keeps a big chunk," she said. "The licensee keeps less than 50 per cent of the casino profits. It's strictly a revenue-generator for the province, not the casino operator. We're building a resort. The provincial government recently said they would be willing to accept proposals for casinos in destination resorts. A casino has never been our focus. It's an additional feature, another form of entertainment to offer to people who come to the resort."
She said St. Mary's was working with the Shuswap band in order to maximize the potential for each other's ventures.
Three years ago the two band councils, along with tribal council members Columbia Lake, Tobacco Plain, and Lower Kootenay, passed bylaws to license casinos on reserve land.
But they were forced to take the matter through British Columbia's courts after the Department of Indian Affairs disallowed their bylaws.
Charles A. Webb, Indian Affairs' director of band governance, said the bands do not have the power to license casinos.
Although Indian reserves are a federal responsibility and Section 81 of the Indian Act states a band may pass bylaws to raise money by licensing businesses and to control games, that authority did not extend to licensing casinos. The federal government passed that responsibility over to the provinces 30 years ago, he said.
St. Mary's and the three co-applicant bands sought to take the fight to the Supreme Court of Canada, but their application for a judicial review before that court was disallowed. They now are applying under provincial rules and hope to have approval before the resort construction is completed.
The Shuswap band's proposed Eagle Rock resort was initially opposed by the town of Invermere's district council and by RCMP community consultation groups. But the Shuswap council is going full-steam ahead. According to Invermere district councillor Bob Campbell, a 2,300 sq. m. casino with 300 slot machines and 300 gaming tables on the reserve would bring financial hardship, crime and theft and would create a negative impact on the town.
Invermere is the closest community to the Shuswap Band.
However, the towns of Kimberly and Cranbrook, immediately next to St. Mary's, are welcoming the St. Eugene Mission resort. Judy Urban, president of the Cranbrook Development Authority, says the new project will be an additional draw to the mountain area's ski hills, fishing and natural beauty.
Man fights for recognition of his people
By Malcolm MacColl
Raven's Eye Writer
CAMPBELL RIVER
European immigration into Canada has been catastrophic for the people already living here, and Laichwiltach traditionalist George Quocksister of Campbell River says his family suffered more than most.
On the West Coast, the deluge began around 1792.That year, two foreign fleets, British and Spanish, sailed into the region. The British stayed. George Vancouver was the commander of the fleet. At that moment, the future existence of the Indigenous people's way of life came into question. The families that made up the tribes of the inside passage began to struggle for their survival. While an overwhelming loss of life decimated the coastal tribes, a benign-looking commerce flourished. Chinook Wawa, or Tshinuk Wawa, allowed the parties to trade.
The jargon was created by people who rushed over to seize the bounty of the land. They seized everything they wanted, carrying little books of Chinook to enable the communication. They were traders, trappers, missionaries, prospectors, and then settlers. Quocksister is an Elder who holds the jargon in low esteem.
"The Chinook language, more than anything else, was used to steal and is designed to steal," he said.
Chinook was used by up to 100,000 people at its peak. As well as diphtheria, small pox, and measles, the Europeans carried little booklets of Chinook. The languages of the coastal people did not survive in the face of the Chinook spoken by an ever-growing white population.
Quocksister said the loss of the coast tribe languages changed more than communication. The languages were the defining borders of the tribes. The loss of languages made the borders of the tribes disappear. Quocksister believes this was the sole purpose of Chinook. Before the languages died away, these people knew their territory by the words they spoke. Today what remains are a few hastily recorded place-names associated with remnant bands of the original First Nation tribes. And Quocksister suggests an even worse scenario.
"Kwakuitl is a bull**** invention of the residential school system. There is absolutely no tribal history whatsoever in Kwakuitl," he said. adding that he believes an alien education system was imposed to erase the history of the tribes.
When that job was done, the government made appropriate changes to the Indian Act, and modern First Nations politics were created.
Gone were the days of villages built at carefully chosen locations. Indians went where they were put. Other Indians went nowhere because the key to tribal survival is the extended family, and these families were connected by language. When the people knew their family history, when their names were links to the land, it provided the knowledge that locations belonged to them. All links shattered when the words were removed from existence.
Who are the Kwakuitl? According to Quocksister, the Kwakuitl are squatters who were enabled by the government. Kwakuitl was a hodgepodge of bands that were subjected to repeated land seizures and relentless chasing from the lands.
"Kwakuitl have no idea where they came from or any of their family or tribal histories," he said. "The last of the Weiwaikum tribe died in 1935."
By these deeds, the Quocksister clan lost the benefits accorded to most First Nations people in Canada. He sees Delgamuukw as a sign of hope. Quocksister believes that the inherent rights of the people who were here first have finally been recognized. He says it is through the inherent right recognition that the Quocksisters will battle over territory.
"The real problems start with the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the region," said Quocksister. "There was no point in fighting the government through the Indian Act because it did not go back far enough. I'm talking about 10,000 years ago. Not yesterday."
Nearly forgotten war canoes displayed at Summer Games
By Malcolm MacColl
Raven's Eye Writer
PORT HARDY
Artisans will have a real treat for the spectators at this year's Kwakuitl Summer Games. A traditional style of coastal war canoe that had nearly been forgotten is under construction and will be available for viewing.
The games take place from June 26 to July 1.
Organizers are excited because it has been several years since their games have not been overshadowed by other events. In fact, it's the first year since 1992 that no major outside event takes the place of this gathering. In the past few years, the games were on hiatus while special events like the North American Indigenous Games and the Commonwealth Games took their place.
With their turn to host the summer's main athletic event rapidly approaching, on April 21, organizers from the games' host Campbell River Indian Band and the Quadra Island Cape Mudge Band, met to pull together the final details of the 1998 version of the 17-tribe event. The committee included Lorraine Henderson, Lavern Paglas, Terry Henderson, Nadine Wilson, Christine Roberts and Dana Roberts, with John Henderson in the chair.
For six days, beginning on the last day of school for the Kwakuitl District schools, athletes and other participants will gather for the competition. They kick-off proceedings on the evening of June 26 with a night of adult-oriented games at the Eagle Lounge. That evening's activities include pool, darts, shuffleboard and crib tournaments.
On June 27, it's golf, slo-pitch, basketball and bowling. The next day features soccer, badminton and lahal (a Kwakuitl bones game that Chief John Henderson wishes he could introduce to a brand new Campbell River Indian Band Casino).
June 29 sees volleyball, bingo and the swimming competition, followed the next day by track and field.
All ages are scheduled to compete at the sports venues around Campbell River. There will also be a dinner and dance at the Thunderbird Hall.
Still to come will be the main event, the canoe races, the next day at 9 a.m. in the estuary, followed by the finale, a fisherman's relay, that same afternoon. The war canoe races will be the cultural highlight of the week's activities.
An early account by one of the "first" European observers of Aboriginal peoples on the West Coast marvels at the preparations of a tribe in Haida territory before a launch of the war canoes for a long sea voyage.
The Englishman noted that these men were about to embark for a serious undertaking on a distant coast. They would spend many hours pounding away with paddles. The men about to take to sea spent an entire week hanging around the shore drinking sea-water. The preparation of drinking the sea-water was obviously in anticipation of many days ahead with the constant spray of salt sea water.
The red cedar war canoes in which they took to the seas of the inside passage no longer exist. What is built today by the bands is a hybrid version drawn from a number of different styles that have become extinct. The modern builders still compose the war canoe out of a single red cedar log, but they use modern fasteners, paint and finishes and storage facilities.
Calvin Hunt is one such builder. He said the modern version, called a Northern war canoe, evolved out of two older styles.
"A Northern falls somewhere between a large Head Canoe and a smaller Moon'chuh," he said.
Around the turn of the century, during Canada's prohibition of the Potlatch, war canoes were destroyed. Because of this, Hunt laments, there is a lack of examples to work from. At Hunt's Copper Maker Gallery and Workshop in Port Hardy (at the northern tip of Vancouver Island) they build the adaptation called the Northern war canoe.
"The Fort Rupert Band is building a Head Canoe. Not one of these has ever been seen, and I don't think there's been a Head Canoe around here for a couple hundred years," Hunt explained.
Using old photographs, the builders at the workshop have spent the past couple of years recreating a Head Canoe. Despite unexpected delays, Hunt expects that "a phoenix of another sort" will rise in June.
Hunt's builders are unveiling a lost style of war canoe at the games, but it won't be entered in any race. When he was asked if one of the Fort Rupert Band war canoes might be racing at the games, Hunt replied, "Uh, no, I think we'll just use white man's canoes for those races."
Rita Coolidge, her neice Laura Satterfield and sister Priscilla Coolidge perform songs from their Cherokee heritage in a film which will be screened in Vancouver this month.
Indigenous music film to debut in Vancouver
By Paul Barnsley
Raven's Eye Writer
VANCOUVER
Singing Our Stories, a film about Aboriginal musical traditions, will debut in Vancouver on May 19 at the Robson Square Media Centre.
Many of the people who attend the debut will have already seen the sixth film produced by Gibsons resident Annie Frazier Henry, a woman of Blackfoot, Sioux and French heritage - the 49 minute production aired on Vision TV in mid-April.
The filmmaker travelled around North America capturing various cultures and their music on film. From the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina to Vancouver Island to the plains of southern Alberta to New Mexico, the music of the original people of each region is explored and enjoyed.
"The idea of having or finding your song has been part of Native spirituality for thousands of years," Frazier Henry said.
The women who preserve the traditions of their people are the stars of the show. Whether it's well-known recording artist Rita Coolidge and her relatives singing the songs of their Cherokee grandmothers or the Monk -Sanders Family Singers - four generations of Tuscarora women or the Namgis Traditional Singers who perform ceremonial Potlach songs; the Buffalo Women's Society or New Mexico's Zuni Olla Maidens, the music reflects the heart of a people.
Singing Our Stories was produced in association with Vision TV, the Knowledge Network and Saskatchewan Communications Network. It is distributed by the National Film Board.