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

authority, the basis of Indian allotments, if allowed in the first place, was reduced to a maximum of
ten acres per family, even though standard pre-emptions for settlers were set at 160 acres.
Although some B.C. lands were set aside for Indians during the colonial period, this was not the case
in the Kootenay region. It was not until the entry into the Dominion of Canada by the Crown Colony
of British Columbia in 1871 and their agreement to transfer responsibility for Indian matters to the
Dominion through Article 13 that reserve allotments were made for all groups recognized by Canada
and B.C. as Indian bands. For the Ktunaxa, these allotments were made primarily in the 1880s.
However, these restrictive allotments of land under the reserve system combined with range land
alienation, cultural suppression by Federal and Residential School officials and disruption of fisheries
resources have severely disrupted the traditional way of life of the Ktunaxa.
8. TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE KTUNAXA AS SEEN BY EARLY EUROPEANS
The journals, letters and reports of the Plateau’s earliest fur traders and to a lesser extent its
missionaries, land surveyors and independent adventurers, are a major source of our understanding of
the extent of the territory traditionally controlled by the Ktunaxa. While their role included gathering
intelligence concerning the habits and territories of the Indians they encountered, their journals
writings are often sparse and imprecise in this regard but nevertheless have provided valuable
insights into aboriginal world of the Columbia Plateau at this time.
David Thompson
Arguably the best known and certainly the most celebrated of all the European trader/explorers in the
area, Thompson was the first literate trader to encounter the Ktunaxa in their homeland west of the
Divide. He and others in the North West Company realized that a rich source of furs lay to the west
of the Rocky Mountains in Ktunaxa territory and, inspired by the establishment of maritime trading
posts at the mouth of the Columbia and Alexander MacKenzie’s recent voyage to the Pacific in 1793,
they determined to cross the mountains and tap into that potential profit.
The opening through the Blackfoot blockade began when Thompson, hearing that a Ktunaxa party
was in the mountains nearby, went to meet them and proposed a visit by them to the local North West
post. 29 This led to a plan as described by fur trader Peter Fidler: 30
In the fall of 1800, 28 Cotton n haw men with 2 Women came into Acton House, our uppermost
settlement in the Saskatchewan river, with a few furrs [sic] – this is the first time they have ever seen a
House. After remaining here for a few days (no other Indians being near the house) 2 Canadians
accompanied them to their Country to examine it & learn whether or not any Beaver in any quantity
was to be found there – but as these two men could neither read nor write, what remarks they made was
merely verbal…They arrived at the House…on the 23 rd of May 1801.
Thompson and Fidler had successfully conspired to have the French Canadians, Le Blanc and La
Gasse [Legace], slip undetected through the Rockies and they lived periodically with the Ktunaxa in
29 From The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and of David Thompson, ed. by Elliott Coues [1897]; pp. 703-704.
30 HBCA E3/2; Acton [Old Acton] House later became known as Rocky Mountain House.
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