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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
Salish neighbours were the Ktunaxa’s and Blackfeet’s southern neighbours, the Flathead, 15
whose name for themselves is “séliš”, a term later anglicized as “Salish” and applied to an entire
Language Family that includes the Shuswap. It is stated in the Handbook of North American
Indians that the term “Salish” is not used in the Handbook to identify the Flathead people “to
avoid confusion with the widespread use of Salish for the whole Salishan family.” 16 Indeed, half
the languages of the Plateau Culture Area belong to the Salishan Language Family. 17
The Flathead people, as well as the Ktunaxa, had documented hostile relations with the
Blackfeet. 18 They are mentioned in fur trader David Thompson’s journal of 22 November 1800.
Writing about a meeting with “Sac o tow wow, the Principal Chief of the Pekenows” [Peigans]
who paid him a visit while camped on the Bow River, Thompson reports that the Chief “spoke
to us upon several Subjects—about the Kootanaes &c &c; he complained of our having armed
them by which means the Flat Heads would also acquire Arms to their great Hurt.” 19
In 1798, two Ktunaxa in the company of the Piegans visited Edmonton House 20 and advised the
traders of the quantity of furs available in their homeland. The House journal reports: “Beaver
are said to be numerous in the Country of the Cotta na ha’s and nothing will prevent the
Canadians [North West Company] getting part of them.” 21 The term “Cotta na ha” is clearly the
writer’s transcription of the term “Ktunaxa.” In that same year, 1798, according to historian and
archaeologist David Chance’s review, the North West Company “made their move to get close to
15 The term "Selish" (Salish) was originally applied by non-Indian fur traders to the Flathead, a group of
people occupying the easternmost area of what is now Washington State. When early linguists discovered that the
language spoken by these people was but one of a large number of related languages, they applied the name to the
whole family of languages. For additional comment on the hostile relations between the Peigans and the Flathead,
see Barbara Belyea (1994). Columbia Journals: David Thompson. McGill-Queens’s University Press: Montreal. She
refers to the “Salish who lived alone the Clark Fork and Kootenai rivers” (Belyea 1994, page 199).
16 Carling Malouf (1998). Flathead and Pend d’Oreille. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12,
Plateau (ed. by Deward E. Walker Jr.). Smithsonian Institution: Washington D.C. Page 312.
17 Dale Kinkade, Bill Elmendorf, Bruce Rigsby and Haruo Aoki (1998). Languages. Handbook of North
American Indians, Vol. 12, Plateau (ed. by Deward E. Walker Jr.). Smithsonian Institution: Washington D.C. Page
52.
Montreal. P. 15.
River.
18 Malouf 1998, page 305.
19 Barbara Belyea (1994). Columbia Journals: David Thompson. McGill-Queens’s University Press:
20 Also known as Fort Edmonton and located where the Sturgeon River meets the North Saskatchewan
21 Chance 1981 (page 29) here mentions the Edmonton House journal, as cited in Hugh Dempsey (1973).
History of Rocky Mountain House. Canada Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History, No. 6.
Ottawa. Page 11.
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