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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
3.0 FIRST NATIONS WHO MAY CLAIMS RIGHTS AND TITLE
INTERESTS
Several First Nations’ political organizations are claiming interests in all or portions of the
proposed Columbia Valley Transmission Project area. These organizations are: the Ktunaxa
Nation; the Secwepemc Nation; the Shuswap Indian Band, and; the Sexqeltkemc or Lakes
Division of the Secwepemc Nation (comprised of the Neskonlith, Adams Lake, and Splatsin
[Spallumcheen] Bands).
The overlapping claims put forward by these Aboriginal organizations arise from overlapping
assertions of rights and title. There is also disagreement among the Aboriginal claimants on the
identification of the appropriate political entity that may hold the rights and title interests.
Hence, there is disagreement among the First Nations themselves regarding whose interests they
purport to represent, with occasional conflicts separating individual “Band” interests from those
being asserted by larger “Nation” governments, resulting in dual organizations claiming to
represent the same aboriginal interests. There is disagreement on the history of the Shuswap
Indian Band who assert ancient Aboriginal rights and title interests, with the result that this Band
is in conflict with the Ktunaxa Nation, with the former government not recognizing the Band’s
political autonomy or the Band’s interpretation of the historical data on which its claim rests.
The following section discusses the identity and interrelationship of these claimant groups and
reviews the territory being claimed by them, as presented by the First Nations, themselves, in
correspondence, reports, treaty statements, and through First Nation-sponsored web pages on the
internet. Information presented here focuses of the data used by the specific group for the basis
of their claim.
The discussion that follows is divided into three sections based solely on the Aboriginal speech
community, in order to address most easily the complex relationships between particular
claimant groups: Ktunaxa or Kutenai-speaking claimants (2.1), and ; Secwepemc or Shuswapspeaking
claimants, including the Sexqeltkemc or Lakes Division as well as the co-called “Snare
Indians” (2.2).
3.1 Political Representation of Ktunaxa or Kutenai-speaking claimants
In 1970, a single political organization known as the Kootenay Indian District Council was
established to represent all the Ktunaxa Bands in British Columbia. Between the years 1991 and
2005 this organization also included the Secwepemc-speaking Shuswap Indian Band at
Invermere and was known by the name “Ktunaxa/ Kinbasket Tribal Council” (KKTC). Since the
departure of the Shuswap Band in 2005, however, the name changed to “Ktunaxa Nation
Council” (KNC). Documents available online indicate that the split was not welcomed by the
Ktunaxa who continue to assert their earlier occupation of the Invermere area and the superior
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