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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
The SNTC asserts an interest in a large territory identified as “Secwepemcul’ecw Traditional
Territory” that purports to be based on “extensive research of historical maps and documents,”
including maps by Marianne Boelscher. 288 The most recent map illustrating as
“Secwepemcul’ecw Traditional Territory” can be found on the Shuswap Nation website. 289 The
area delineated as Secwepemc territory is greatly expanded from the map accompanying
Marianne Boelscher Ignace’s 1998 article on Shuswap in the Handbook of North American
Indians. 290 Importantly for the purposes of the present study, this Secwepemc territorial map now
includes the area south of Windermere, as far as the Canada-US border, and therefore
encompasses all of the territory in southeast BC generally associated with the Ktunaxa. Although
this most recent Secwepemc territorial map is not in accord with the maps on which it is said to
be based, no other explanation is offered. Additionally, the Shuswap Band has a map delineating
its own “Traditional Territory.” The Shuswap Indian Band submitted a copy of this map during
regulatory proceedings for the proposed Glacier Howser Hydroelectric Project. This map is
available online. 291
Recognition of a “Nation”
The data suggest that land and its resources were the common property of the Secwepemc, with
certain bands having customary use of particular areas. Only when individuals invested special
labour (as in the construction of deer fences) was privileged access to resources acknowledged.
Where resources were not particularly valued or were very plentiful, the uninvited presence of
non- Secwepemc was tolerated, providing they did not harass any Secwepemc parties or steal
their property. The Secwepemc use of territory was not necessary to the exclusion of other
indigenous people. Teit gives an account of the Sekani Athapaskan intruding upon Shuswap
territory in the Upper Fraser River area. 292 After annoying the Secwepemc for several years,
including murdering a few people, an allied Secwepemc war party eventually drove the Sekani
back over the mountains.
288 Anthropologist Dr. Marianne Boelscher Ignace is the wife of former Skeetchestn (Deadman’s Creek)
Chief , Dr. Ron Ignace, who recently completed his doctoral dissertation in anthropology. See Ron Ignace (2008).
Our Oral Histories Are Our Iron Posts: Secwepemc Stories and Historical Consciousness.” Ph.D dissertation,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.
289 Available online: http://www.shuswapnation.org/pdf/maps/Secwepemc-Map-2009_07_09b.pdf;
accessed 7 November 2009. This map is dated 13 March 2009 and apparently was added to the website in
September 2009.
290 Marianne Boelscher-Ignace. Shuswap. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12, Plateau (ed. by
Deward E. Walker Jr.). Smithsonian Institution: Washington DC. Page 204.
291 Available online at:
http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/documents/p282/d30019/1243973541507_2a1586e8d579998eae738cd87064fab
12176cfc051ed407d456a922c101567f0.PDF; accessed 9 November 2009.
292 Teit 1909, page 546.
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