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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
2.0 POTENTIAL ABORIGINAL RIGHTS AND TITLE INTERESTS IN
THE COLUMBIA VALLEY TRANSMISSION PROJECT STUDY AREA
2.1 Historical Observations of Aboriginal Occupation
It is of interest to this present study where fur traders met Aboriginal people identified as either
Ktunaxa or Secwepemc and whether these people or any other First Nations were encountered in
the Columbia Valley Project area. Hence, the following sections review evidence concerning: the
identity of Aboriginal peoples from west of the Rocky Mountains who visited fur trade posts in
what is now Alberta (2.1.1); and, the identity of Aboriginal peoples met by the traders once they
had crossed over the Rockies into the Columbia Valley (2.1.2).
2.1.1 Visitors to Fur Trade Posts East of the Rocky Mountains
In the late 18 th century, Aboriginal people from the west side of the Rocky Mountains made
attempts to travel east of the mountains to trade with the North West Company’s (“NWC”) Fort
George—and likely the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (“HBC”) Buckingham House—both located
on the North Saskatchewan River near the present Elk Point, Alberta, and both built in 1792. At
times, travel depended upon having arranged for safe passage through enemy lands, specifically
the area occupied by the Peigan (Blackfoot). The Piegans are a member of the Blackfoot
Confederacy 6 and by at least the 1790s inhabited southern Alberta and northern Montana.
In 1792, Hudson’s Bay Company servant, surveyor and map maker Peter Fidler made what is
generally regarded as the first contact with the Ktunaxa when he made a reconnaissance of the
area between the HBC’s Buckingham House and the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Old
Man River. While among the Peigans near what is now called Crowsnest Pass in the Rocky
Mountain foothills of southern Alberta, Fidler wrote in his journal of 30 December 1792 that
some “Cottonahew” [Ktunaxa] were visiting the Old Man River to trade their horses:
a few Tents of Cottonahew Indians are at the Naw pew ooch e tay cots
river (Old Man), wishing our Indians to visit them with Goods, to barter
for Horses. 7
6 Comprised of the Kainai (or Blood), Peigan, Siksika. The first two groups resided along the Old Man
River at the time of Treaties.
7 Bruce Haig, editor (1991). A Look at Peter Fidler’s Journal: Journal of a Journey Overland from
Buckingham House to the Rocky Mountains in 1792 &3. An Historical Research Centre Limited Edition. HRC:
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 3
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