Evidence on the Adequacy of First Nations Consultation - BC Hydro ...

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
It is not readily apparent from the historical records if hunters from the South Thompson area
continued travelling east to hunt, but there are bits that provide some guidance. Ashdown Green,
a surveyor and member of the Columbia River Exploration party in 1865, observed his guides
from the area of Chase on the South Thompson holding a war dance before taking him to the
Columbia River, as they would be “entering a hostile country.” 331 This and other statements in
these journals and in other sources indicate there were hostilities between the Shuswap and the
Sinixt at this time. Mrs. Dehart also noted hostile relations between the Shuswap and Ktunaxa. If
was her opinion that the Ktunaxa decided to be friendly and to allow her ancestors occupation of
the Columbia Valley. 332 In the 1880s, Canadian Pacific Railway Chief Engineer Sandford
Fleming remarked that his Secwepemc guides were "on their own ground" once they had reached
Three Valley Lake (west of Revelstoke) heading west, 333 but his statement was meant to
distinguish Secwepemc territory from Sinixt territory, and not what area Secwepemc hunters
may have travelled.
The 24 July 2009 Sexqéltkemc report acknowledges that:
Indigenous people associated with other tribes may have used the same
area, provided they made their presence and amicable intentions known,
or travelled there as guests of the resident First Nation. While
incursion into a neighbouring First Nation’s territory and
exploitation of their resources was not uncommon, when done without
permission it often resulted in forceful retaliation. 334
Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Government Printing Office: Victoria BC. Mr. Turnbull’s Journal [20 July 1865-
29 November 1865]. Page 32.
330 Walter Moberly (1866), In, British Columbia (1869). Columbia River Exploration, 1866: Reports and
Journals Relating to the Government Exploration of the Country Lying Between the Shuswap and Okanagan Lakes
and the Rocky Mountains. Government Printing Office: Victoria BC. Journal of the second year’s work…[28 March
1866-13 September 1866]. Page 17.
331 Ashdown Green (1865). In, British Columbia (1866). Columbia River Exploration, 1865-6: Reports
and Journals Relating to the Government Exploration of the Country Lying Between the Shuswap and Okanagan
Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Government Printing Office: Victoria BC. [Mr. Green’s Journal 26 July 1865 – 7
December 1865.] Page22.
332 Dehart 2006, page 29.
333 Sanford Fleming (1884). England and Canada: A Summer Tour Between Old and New Westminster.
Dawson Brothers Publishers:Montreal. Page 304.
334 As noted in the LeBourdais 2009 report at page 6, and discussed above in the present report, the source
of this quote is: Randy Bouchard and Dorothy Kennedy (2005a). First Nations Aboriginal Interests and Traditional
Use in the Waneta Hydroelectric Expansion Project Area: A Summary of Known and Available Background
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 76
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