Stolen Lands, Broken Promises

259 Pages·2005·7.3 MB·English

by  Jody Woods

1
Stolen Lands,
Broken Promises
Researching the Indian Land Question
in British Columbia (Second Edition)
A publication of the
Union of BC Indian Chiefs
2
Copyright © 2005 by the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
Rights reserved. This book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. The book can be downloaded from the Union of
BC Indian Chiefs website at http://www.ubcic.bc.ca. No part of the book may be modified, re-
packaged, or resold without the written permission of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
Published by the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
500- 342 Water Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1B6
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises: Researching the Indian Land Question in British Columbia
(Second Edition)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-9684577-1-1
1. Indians of North America – British Columbia – Land tenure – History – Archival resources. 2.
Archival Resources – British Columbia. I. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.
While every effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information presented in this publica-
tion, the UBCIC does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained herein. Errors brought to the
attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future
editions.
Printed in Vancouver, British Columbia
The UBCIC acknowledges and thanks the Law Foundation of Canada, which has provided financial
assistance to this project to support legal education and research.
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
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Table of Contents
Foreword 5
Preface 7
Acronyms 11
Research Foundations
Chapter 1 Dispossession and Resistance in British Columbia 13
Chapter 2 Research Methods 39
Chapter 3 Resource Institutions 51
Chapter 4 Documents 81
Chapter 5 Basic Reserve Research 105
Approaches to Research
Chapter 6 Oral History 109
Chapter 7 Genealogy Resources 121
Chapter 8 Anthropology Resources 133
Chapter 9 Archaeology Resources 139
Chapter 10 Maps and Surveys 147
Chapter 11 Legal Resources 161
Table of Contents
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Topics in Land Rights Research
Chapter 12 Village Sites and Burial Grounds 169
Chapter 13 Fisheries and Fishing Rights 175
Chapter 14 Hunting and Trapping 181
Chapter 15 Pre-Confederation Reserves 185
Chapter 16 Reserves Held in Common, Commonages
and Grazing Reserves 191
Chapter 17 Surrenders 195
Chapter 18 Mineral and Timber Extraction 199
Chapter 19 Water, Riparian, and Foreshore Rights 207
Chapter 20 Accretions and Erosions 213
Chapter 21 Rights-of-Way 217
Chapter 22 Treaty Land Entitlement 225
Appendices
Appendix 1 Citation Examples 229
Appendix 2 Disclosure of Personal Information 8(2)(k) Form 233
Appendix 3 Freedom of Information Request Form 235
Appendix 4 Online Resources 237
Glossary 249
Index 255
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
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Foreword
By Chief Stewart Phillip
As Indigenous Peoples, we have witnessed how the official history of British Colum-
bia has attempted to legitimize the theft of our traditional lands and the efforts to destroy
our ways of life. However, since contact, we have continually resisted encroachment in our
territories and the infringement of our political and territorial rights. Confronted with
policy after policy designed to achieve our assimilation into the “fabric of Canadian society”
we have fought back, upholding our relationship to our lands and speaking out against our
dispossession. The phrase “Indian land question” embodies this struggle, as it was used by
BC government officials and reserve commissioners confronted by the “problem” of our
continued demands to have our title and rights to our lands and resources recognized and
respected.
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs is pleased to present Stolen Lands, Broken Promises:
Researching the Indian Land Question in British Columbia. In March 1973, the Union of BC
Indian Chiefs held its first community research workshop to address the fundamental re-
search issues of concern to Indigenous people in British Columbia. The success of that first
workshop and the demand for others like it led to the establishment of a central research
and resource facility to develop Indigenous peoples’ research skills and meet their research
needs. Since that time, the UBCIC Research Department and Resource Centre have ben-
efited from informed and specialized staff, community members willing to share their
knowledge and experiences and discussions with professionals in a variety of fields. Stolen
Lands, Broken Promises reflects over 30 years of expertise and an unwavering commitment to
empowering our people through information sharing and research skills development.
The struggle for a just resolution to the “Indian land question” and for self-determi-
nation defines the work of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. We believe that undertaking
historical research ourselves can be of great benefit in understanding the current situations of
so many of our communities. It is our hope that Stolen Lands, Broken Promises will provide
communities with the tools they need to begin and carry out their own research projects.
Each of these projects contributes to the protection of our political and territorial rights
and to strengthening our social, cultural and economic traditions for future generations.
Chief Stewart Phillip
President, Union of BC Indian Chiefs
Foreword
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Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
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Preface
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises: Researching the Indian Land Question in British Columbia is the
second edition of the research manual first published by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs
Research Department in 1998, under the direction of Leigh Ogston. Like the original
publication, the revised manual is intended as a practical, hands-on resource for Indigenous
community members wanting to conduct research on a variety of issues affecting traditional
territory and reserve lands in British Columbia. The manual is specifically designed to guide
community members with little or no experience of formal research practices through the
process of planning and successfully completing lands related research projects that have a
strong historical component. Most of these projects will rely heavily on historical documents:
typically, written and graphic records produced by federal and provincial government bodies
and stored at government and corporate archives, libraries and offices. For readers already
equipped with a measure of practical research experience but undertaking a lands related
project for the first time, Stolen Lands, Broken Promises will provide an introduction to some
of the principal events that have impacted Indigenous lands in BC and the major research
topics that have emerged as a result of them. It is our hope that Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
will also be useful to more experienced researchers wishing to brush up on skills or searching
for current resource information.
The second edition is an attempt to address the stated needs of community members
by building upon the comprehensive groundwork laid by the former UBCIC Research
Department staff. Part of that groundwork consists of providing introductions to research
approaches and technical procedures; more fundamentally, it advances the belief that
conducting our own historical research about our own lands is an important tool in fighting
for recognition of our political and territorial rights and protecting Indigenous ways of life.
Each of our communities continues to experience the impacts of our dispossession of our
traditional lands and the devaluing of Indigenous traditions. The more we understand
about the historical structures and procedures which have resulted in our current circumstances,
the more empowered we become to demand and bring about change. Whether a project’s
objective is to record a family history, to document changes to reserve lands or to gather
evidence for an impending land title claim, our communities grow stronger as a result of
our collective efforts to build a base of shared knowledge and expertise.
The current UBCIC Research Department staff formed an editorial board in the
summer of 2004 to incorporate the generous amount of feedback we received from
Indigenous community researchers into a revised publication. We have also accounted for
the significant changes made to the organization of provincial government ministries and
Crown corporations since 2001, and the ways that the proliferation of new technologies
Preface
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have transformed information production and gathering in the years since the first manual’s
release. Throughout the drafting process we have benefited from the insights and
recommendations of professional and community reviewers who volunteered their time
and expertise to this project. We are especially grateful to the High Bar First Nation for
granting us permission to reproduce a number of documents related to their reserve lands.
We have used these documents as examples of archival records in sections of the manual.
We extend particular thanks to Chief Lenora Fletcher and Band Administrator Terry Wardrop
for their ongoing support of our work.
Structure of the Manual
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises generally follows the structure of the original manual. It is
divided into three sections: Research Foundations, Approaches to Research and Topics in
Land Rights Research.
In Research Foundations, we have tried to provide a thorough overview of key
components involved in most Indigenous land rights research projects. We recommend
that new researchers review this section from beginning to end before starting a project;
more experienced researchers may find it more useful as a refresher or quick reference
when a specific piece of information is required. Chapter 1: Dispossession and Resistance
in British Columbia, is a narrative chronology of historical events focusing on provincial
and federal government land policies, as well as Indigenous responses to them. This chapter
will provide a general historical context for commonly referenced documentary materials
and the research topics discussed throughout the manual. Chapter 2 is an introduction to
research methods. This chapter begins with a discussion of principles of high quality research,
including research ethics, planning a project, collecting and evaluating research materials and
presenting and storing research findings. Chapter 3 lists important resource institutions,
explaining the differences between local resources, archives, specialized and academic libraries
and government offices. The chapter also outlines the kinds of materials available at different
institutions. Chapter 4 introduces the main sources of documentary records used in
researching Indigenous land issues in BC. The chapter is organized as a series of entries that
explain what each document is, what kind of information it contains and where to find it.
Chapter 5 introduces the process of conducting basic reserve research, providing examples
of key research questions and important documents.
The second section, Approaches to Research, highlights important forms and fields
of research relevant to Indigenous land issues. Chapter 6 describes the practice of conducting
oral history research. Chapter 7 reviews important genealogy resources for family and
community history projects, and for other types of land rights projects. Chapters 8 and 9
outline important resources that are the products of anthropology and archeology studies.
Chapter 10 provides information on basic maps and map-related resources, as well as
where these resources can be found. The Approaches section ends with a discussion of legal
resources in Chapter 11.
Section three, Topics in Land Rights Research, consists of a series of chapters on
specialized research issues, such as village sites and burial grounds, fishing rights, pre-
confederation reserves, water rights and rights-of-way. Each chapter in this section begins
with a brief introduction to the issue, followed by an historical overview, a recommended
research path and list of sources for further reading.
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises
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While we have tried to be as complete as possible, there are undoubtedly issues we
have had to leave out due to time and space constraints. We have made every effort to be
accurate in our descriptions and contact information, however please know that resources
change regularly. We will continue to update the manual to reflect these changes, in print and
also on our website at http://www.ubcic.bc.ca. Remember that the research path you
choose will require adjustments and we encourage you to use your initiative and creativity.
We welcome your feedback on all aspects of manual and wish you every success with your
research projects.
A Note on Terminology
Throughout Stolen Lands, Broken Promises, the terms “Indigenous” and “Indian” are
used in general discussions. The term “Indigenous” refers to the original peoples of a given
territory. Accordingly, this term encompasses the people, cultures, traditions, values and
beliefs that descend from them. The term “Indian” refers to individuals and collectivities
recognized as “Status Indian” under the Indian Act. Similarly, the term “Indian reserve” is
used to refer to lands reserved for Indians under the Indian Act. The terms “Aboriginal
Title” and “Aboriginal rights” are used to refer to the collective rights inherent to Indigenous
people as recognized in the Canadian Constitution and defined by the Canadian courts.
“First Nation” is used as a proper noun only. “Community” is used to refer to the local
network of relations rooted in an historical connection to the land and each other. Efforts
have been made to use terms from Indigenous languages to describe particular peoples and
places wherever possible. Finally, please note that words or phrases that appear in bold are
Glossary terms, which are defined at the back of the book.
Acknowledgements
The editorial board consisted of Jody Woods, Robyn Laba, Rick Pesklevits, Maureen
Buchan, Lana Lowe, Rose Ellis, Janet Shaw, Lola Antonius, and Joanna Reid. We would like
to thank the following people for their contributions:
Don Bain, Executive Director of UBCIC provided input and support throughout
the process. Clo Ostrove of Mandell Pinder provided legal supervision and helpful feedback.
The High Bar First Nation very graciously allowed us to use document examples related to
their reserves. We would also like to thank Angie Bain, Jenn Cole, Wade Grant, Brad
Hornick, Kim Lawson, Rob Manery, Kazu Sakatani and the UBCIC staff for their significant
contributions.
We benefited from the feedback of many researchers and experts during the review
process. Many thanks to Ralph Abramson, Taiaiaike Alfred, Michael Asch, Lucy Bell, Ken
Brealey, Heidi Brown, Keith Carlson, Jessica Clogg, Julie Cruikshank, Margaret Inoue,
Matthew Evenden, Dan Gottesman, Larissa Grant, Cole Harris, Douglas Harris, Harold
Harry, Gene Joseph, Arthur Manuel, Kenichi Matsui, Bruce Miller, Guy Patterson, Donna
Parisien-Guiboche, Rudy Reimer, Chris Roine, Lyn Ross, Susan Rutherford, Dave Schaepe,
David Smith, Cari St.Pierre, Terry Tobias, James Tulley, Terry Wardrop, and Wikaninnish
(Cliff Atleo Sr.).
Preface
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This publication was made possible through funding from the Law Foundation of British
Columbia. Student funding from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s
Summer Career Placements Program allowed the Research Department to hire a project
coordinator in the summer of 2004.
Stolen Lands, Broken Promises