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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
band of the latter [the Kinbasket Shuswap] located there permanently in
close proximity to the most northern settlement of the Kutenai. 196
Teit’s date of 1810 seems a little early when examined against the historical record. And Teit,
too, thought so. In his collection of notes dated 1908-1920 he stated that it was probably
somewhat later, the date being “not quite certain.” 197 When discussing tribal boundaries in his
1910-1913 notes, he suggested that the migration occurred “about 70 years ago,” placing it at
circa 1840. 198 The historical evidence of Father de Smet does confirm that hunters identified as
Shuswap hunted in the Columbia Lakes area in the mid-1840s. As already noted, Chief
Kinbasket, himself, advised Walter Moberly that his people “are a portion of the Shuswap tribe
(from Little Shuswap Lake), and settled here about 20 years ago [c. 1846].” Chief Kinbasket had
nothing to gain by misrepresenting this history. He was well placed to provide accurate historical
information.
In sum, since at least the 1840s the Shuswap Kinbasket family has formed the core of an
independent band centred at the north end of Lake Windermere where they have lived and used
the local resources. In-marrying spouses came from the surrounding area, but the band has
maintained a distinct identity.
Until 2005, the Ktunaxa Nation Council represented this Shuswap Band politically and continues
to claim territory associated with them. A Ktunaxa interest in the Lake Windermere area is
consistent with the historical and ethnographic data that represents early 19 th century use and
occupation.
2.2.4 A Possible Earlier Occupation
Studies prepared by Fish Lake Consulting on behalf of the Shuswap Indian Band in 2008 and
2009 point to the presence of one or more house pits in the Columbia Valley as evidence of non-
Ktunaxa occupation at an earlier time. 199 Such features indicate the location of previouslyoccupied
winter homes. It is the view of the Shuswap Indian Band that these archaeological
features remain from village sites of the Shuswap Band’s immediate ancestors and that culturally
these people were Interior Salish.
196 Teit 1914, page 284.
197 Teit 1908-1920.
198 Teit 1910-1913.
199 Information correlating pit houses with “Interior Salish” is reviewed extensively in the Shuswap Indian
Band’s TUS (2008). Additional information on this issue and the regional archaeology is presented in the December
1999 archaeological study, “Archaeological Investigations at the Salmon Beds,” prepared by Rod Heitzmann of
Parks Canada. Available online: http://www.livinglandscapes.bc.ca/cbasin/salmonbeds/index.htm
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