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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
community.” 296 This is also the position put forward recently by Ron Ignace. 297 <strong>Evidence</strong>
presented in the Sexqéltkemc report in support of this assertion is a Memorial from the Shuswap
chiefs submitted to Wilfrid Laurier in 1910. 298 Statements in support of the assertion that the
Secwepemc “nation” as a whole functioned as a “confederated political entity” are not included,
apart from this 1910 Memorial, and reference to the so-called “Fish Lake Accord,” an agreement
that took place in the late 18 th century between a Kamloops chief and his half-brother, an
Okanagan chief, providing for a land transfer to the latter’s band. 299 The example, however,
shows political affairs being centered in the band.
Teit reported that the man designated chief of the Shuswap band or kingroup had little authority
or privileges; his main responsibility was to “look after the general welfare of the band,
regulating, when necessary, the gathering of the food supply, so that all could have an equal
share”. 300 The powers of the (loosely) hereditary chief – other than providing advice, acting as an
agent in dealings with strangers, and arbitrating disputes – were limited in his control over the
lives of co-resident families. 301 Some groups of Secwepemc also had war chiefs, hunting chiefs
and dance chiefs elected because of skill and achievement. It is to this type of leadership that
Boas refers when he states, “common people can, on account of bravery or wealth, attain a high
rank.” 302
Anthropologist James Brow’s 1972 study provides support for a common recognition of
Secwepemc territory without a paramount political organization. One Alkali Lake elder, David
Johnson, explicitly stated in a 1966 interview with Brow that:
Each band had its own chief, and there was no chief of all the Shuswap.
Each band was independent, but the Shuswap bands were all friendly
with each other. But I don’t know of any common organizations. 303
296 LeBourdais 2009, page 6. The reference for this statement is given as an unnamed 2009 manuscript by
Marianne Boelscher Ignace.
297 Ignace 2008, page 108.
298 LeBourdais 2009, page 6.
299 James Teit (1930). The Salishan Tribes of the Western Plateaus. Franz Boas, ed. Forty-fifth Annual
Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. United States Government Printing Office: Washington, D.C. Page
265
300 Teit 1909, page 570.
301 Verne Ray (1939) Cultural Relations in the Plateau of Northwestern America. Publications of the
Frederick Webb Hodge Anniversary Publication Fund, Vol. 3. Los Angeles: Southwestern Museum. Pp. 15, 18.
302 Boas 1891, page 85.
303 James Brow (1972). Shuswap of Canada [A Cross-Cultural Study of Ethnocentrism]. Human Relations
Area Files, Inc.: New Haven, Connecticut. Page 49.
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 70
Page 73 of 200