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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
In another report the present authors made a statement concerning the Aboriginal perspective on
“places of cultural significance,” and pointed out what is meant by use of the term “traditional
territory”:
It should also be noted, however, that First Nations have a relationship
with much broader territories than the specific sites identified by name.
They used and occupied lands that we refer to commonly as their
“traditional territory.” Their use of such territory was not necessarily to
the exclusion of other indigenous people, but this territory did contain
a particular group’s winter villages and customarily-used resourceharvesting
sites. In the present report, when we speak of a specific area
being within the “traditional territory” of a certain people, we mean that
the area was used primarily by these people and that they and other tribes
regarded it as their territory. Indigenous people associated with other tribes
may have used the same area, provided they made their presence and
amicable intentions known, or travelled there as guests of the resident First
Nation. While incursion into a neighbouring First Nation’s territory and
exploitation of their resources was not uncommon, when done without
permission it often resulted in forceful retaliation. 293
This passage is noted here because a portion of it has been cited in the July 2009 report entitled
“Tult, Transformation of Energy Into Matter,” prepared by Sunny LeBourdais for the Lakes
Division (“Sexqéltkemc”) of the Secwepemc Nation. Sunny LeBourdais introduces the statement
by saying that resources “were managed by the community [and] were accessible by all its
members.” 294 The LeBourdais report also states:
Each ‘Division’ or People also had the responsibility of defending the
boundaries of the Nation. The Secwepemc Nation was well defined in
terms of its boundaries and the laws governed who were allowed to use
resources within its boundaries.” 295
Thus, it is the position of the report written on behalf of the Sexqéltkemc that resource
management occurred at the band level but that the bands coordinated themselves into the
“Nation.” The study also concludes that while there “was no chief at the Nation level[,] the
Secwepemc society functioned as a confederated political entity with representation from each
293 Randy Bouchard and Dorothy Kennedy (2005a). First Nations Aboriginal Interests and Traditional Use
in the Waneta Hydroelectric Expansion Project Area: A Summary of Known and Available Background
Information. Prepared for Waneta Expansion Power Corporation, Castlegar BC (Revised in November 2005 from
the August 2004 report with the same title). Page 12.
294 Sunny LeBourdais (2009). Tult, Transformation of Energy Into Matter. Report prepared for
Sexqéltkemc: the Lakes Division of the Secwepemc Nation. Page 6.
295 LeBourdais 2009, page 6.
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 69
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