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

6. Allan Smith
In 1984, on behalf of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Smith prepared a report entitled Kutenai
Indian Subsistence and Settlement Patterns, Northwest Montana. Although the reasons for
commissioning the report concerned Ktunaxa groups in the Lake Koocanusa area of Montana, Smith
pointed out [p. 7] that the study should take a look at the whole of the Ktunaxa range:
The Lake Koocanusa groups were, however, by no means limited in their subsistence foraging to their
own band lands. In their food quest they wandered freely over the total territory of the Upper Kutenai
and seasonally even joined Lower Division people in exploiting their downriver food resources.
In assessing the origins of the Ktunaxa, Smith writes [preface, p. vii]:
A tentative reconstruction of the subsistence and settlement patterns of the Upper Kutenai suggests four
successive protohistoric and early historic periods: (1) a prehorse, prefirearms, prebison period when
hunting, fishing, and plant gathering were pursued year-round in a relatively balanced manner west of
the Continental Divide by small wandering camps; (2) a period when mid-winter foot treks for bison
meat east of the Rockies were initiated by certain groups near the mountains but otherwise life was little
changed; (3) a late prehistoric period which saw the introduction of the horse, and a significant turn on
the part of several bands toward equine-dependent bison hunting on the Plains during warmer seasons
to complement the earlier winter bison hunts on foot, toward a decreased utilization of the traditional
food resources within their tribal homeland, and toward fewer but larger and more sedentary settlements
when resident in their own territory; and (4) an early postcontact period when firearms were obtained,
bison hunting received a still greater emphasis on the part of most of the Upper people, and certain
minimal elements of Western culture were adopted.
Smith evaluates the relevant work on traditional territory done by numerous ethnographers,
sometimes addressing shortcomings he perceives in their analyses. Like Turney-High, he points out
that Verne Ray spent very little effort in gathering Ktunaxa data. His discussion of Teit’s work is
also interesting. For example, he notes [p.12] that “Teit recognizes no distinct Lakes “tribe” in the
Arrow Lakes sector and along the Columbia to the north.” He also asserts that “Teit’s findings seem
to establish beyond argument that the Kinbasket group represented an early postcontact thrust of
various eastern Shuswap peoples into aboriginal territory of the Columbia Lakes Band of the
Kutenai.” 80
His map [Figure 11] shows the northern boundary of Ktunaxa between present day Donald and
Golden, crossing eastward through the Rockies via Howse Pass. It draws the western boundary of
the Ktunaxa roughly in line with the Purcell Mountains, denying the Ktunaxa a share of the
Revelstoke and Arrow Lakes areas.
Smith appears to suggest that it’s more than coincidence that Ray, who spent a great deal of time
among the Fort Colville Indians, and Teit who lived with and married into the Shuswaps delineate
vastly greater areas for these tribes than other ethnographers. This appears to be a gentle criticism
that some ethnographers have exhibited a bias in favour of their subject tribes when it comes to
delineating traditional boundaries.
80 Although much of the Columbia Lakes Band derives from the followers of Chief Michelle, who arrived from the U.S.
in the 1850s, they were joined by other Ktunaxas whose ancestors had occupied the area for a very long time.
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