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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
Indian River” on his map, at the headwaters of the Athabaska River. 344 Though Jenness
concluded that the “Snare Indians” were a band of Shuswap-speaking people, he suggested that
by 1910 “they survived, perhaps, in the mixed Cree-Iroquois-Shuswap band near Jasper, which
Teit estimates to number about seventy.” 345
However, there are significant omissions to the documentary evidence Jenness examined in
coming to his conclusion. Importantly, he omits Teit’s unpublished notes—which were publicly
unavailable at the time—compiled after the 1909 publication of The Shuswap, upon which
Jenness did rely. In his “Notes to Maps on the Pacific Northwest,” prepared 1910-1913, Teit
states:
I judge that the Snare Indians of Henry and Thompson were Athapascans,
probably a part of the Sekani who may have followed south along the
west side of the Rockies further than other Sekani at the time of the
Sekani invasion of Shuswap territory at the heads of the Fraser and North
Thompson Rivers. 346
Teit’s notes dated 1908-1920 set out reasons why he does not accept that the Snare people were
Secwepemc. He does suggest, however, that another Athapascan tribe may have occupied the
upper Columbia and upper Kootenay rivers, although he adds:
Of course we have no evidence as yet beyond H & T’s statements
[Alexander Henry and David Thompson] to show the Snare Indians (or
any other people) occupied the upper Columbia and upper Kootenay
region prior to the Kutenai, and H & T furnish no positive evidence, their
remarks on the subject being largely conjecture. 347
Father P.J. De Smet provides support for the Snare Indians having an Athapascan association, for
in 1847 he met “Capote Blanc” and identified him as a Carrier (Athapascan) man. 348 The identity
of “Capote Blanc is noteworthy as he is said to have been one of the last of the “Snare Indians”
and was identified the same year (1847) by Paul Kane as a Shuswap Chief.
344 Diamond Jenness (1939). The “Snare” Indians. In, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of
Canada. Third Series, Vol. XXXIII, Section II. Page 104.
345 Jenness 1939, page 105.
346 Teit (1910-1913). Notes to Maps of the Pacific Northwest. American Philosophical Society Library,
Philadelphia. Boas Collection 372, Roll 4, No. 1, Item 59 (copy held by the B. C. Archives and Records Service,
Victoria. Add. Mss. 1425, Microfilm A-239).
347 James Teit (1908-1920). Salish ethnographic materials. American Philosophical Society Library,
Philadelphia. Boas Collection 372, Roll 16, S .7 (copy held by the B.C. Archives, Victoria. Add. Mss. 1425,
Microfilm A-247).
348 J.G. MacGregor (1974). Overland by the Yellowhead. Western Producer Book Service: Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. Page 67.
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 80
Page 83 of 200