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Monthly Archives: January 2015

“Civil Courage Award” goes to would-be assassin of Sundancers

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Opinion

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chiune Sugihara, Civil Courage Award, Dosanjh, Gustafsen Lake, Raoul Wallenberg, Sundance, Ts'peten, Wallenberg-Sugihara

Ujjal Dosanjh, former Premier of British Columbia, received the inaugural Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Award on January 18, 2015, from the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society.

Twenty years ago, Dosanjh was an elected member of BC’s New Democratic Party government. In August of 1995, he received his first portfolios, most unusually suddenly serving in the posts of Attorney General of BC and Minister for Human Rights, and he was appointed to those roles at the critical moment of an escalating situation near 100 Mile House, the central interior of BC, in Secwepemc country.

Within weeks of becoming AG and Minister for Multiculturalism and Human Rights, Dosanjh gave the “green light to shoot to kill” Sundancers at Gustafsen Lake in 1995.

Six months ahead of this astonishing directive, the office of BC’s Attorney General had received a powerful legal document from the “terrorists,” as Dosanjh repeatedly referred to them in the press, in Secwepemc country. Their communication was in the form of a petition for a third party hearing of the land dispute between themselves and British Columbia, indeed Canada. The traditionalist Secwepemc nationalists had petitioned the AG because that officer possessed the only existing and appropriate mechanism to deliver the complaint to the Governor General of Canada, who could forward it to The Queen. BC’s Attorney General did not forward the complaint and gave no explanation.

Instead, the highest ranking RCMP officers, according to Superintendent Len Olfert during the ensuing trial, began to plan “Operation Wallaby” – a ground assault on a scale not seen since the Korean War – to dislodge the Sundancers from their sacred site by launching offensives from “Camp Zulu” built next to it as the RCMP base of operations. They began this planning in April, according to Olfert; more than two months before the first violent exchanges at the Sundance site were initiated. The first conflict was initiated by a dozen of Lyle James’ cowboys who rode through on horseback, over tents, shooting guns, and posted an eviction notice to a sacred staff which explained it was a good time to “string up some red niggers.” Lyle James possessed a license to graze cattle on the Sundance site.

By the time Ujjal Dosanjh was made AG, five months of planning had gone into what would happen next – following the Secwepemc petition and their intended continuation of the annual Sundance. But Dosanjh was the individual who authorized the deployment of 400 RCMP officers with full tactical gear and assault weapons, fixed wing surveillance aircraft, several helicopters, C-4 explosive (in contravention of the UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines) and requested the use of six Armoured Personnel Carriers from the Canadian military. At the time that these resources were seconded, there were seventeen people at the Sundance site and no evidence that they were in possession of any weapon more powerful than a hunting rifle, nor any demand more extravagant than a court hearing. The police carried AK-47s, AR-15s, and had Brownings which fire 50mm cartridges. When the siege was over, the province had the entire place logged to destroy the trees which were riddled with gunshot and they also saw fit to remove the empty cartridges from the grounds – two piles each the size of a small house. Miraculously, none of the Sundancers were killed. One was shot in the bicep as she fled a police ambush on the way to fetch water; she had been running away back to camp with her hands raised high above her head.

After the fact, once the Sundancers had surrendered to police on the advice of their spiritual mentors who were finally allowed entry through the police barricade; once they had been arrested, caged and transported to holding cells in 100 Mile House and Williams Lake; Dosanjh peppered reporters with rhetorical vitriol. He described the foxholes Sundancers had dug at the site to avoid bullets as structures of “serious horrible offensive dimension.” The Attorney General then said to the press, on the matter of the upcoming trial of the Sundancers’ “terror” activities – which apparently included only the fact that they were not willing to be displaced from their sacred site on the strength of a cattle grazing permit issued by BC in unceded Secwepemc territory, “I’ll let the people of British Columbia be the judge.” He had spent the past two months instructing the BC public on the faults and crimes of the Sundancers via CBC and every other media outlet.

The RCMP had employed Mike Webster, recently returned from an engagement at the Waco, Texas massacre, as their negotiator.

And now the man who was British Columbia’s top legal officer, loudly proclaiming full responsibility for “whatever” might happen during the weeks-long full-frontal assault on the people at the camp at Gustafsen Lake, has received an award for helping “improve the lives of others and society, while defying unjust laws, norms or conventions of the time and place.” He is reported to have explained his qualifications for the honour: “Guns must not be allowed to win. … You can’t have a world ruled by guns…” The selection committee noted that Dosanjh “continues to be a consistent voice for social justice and a critic of sectarian violence.” Apparently the main substance of his suitability for this award was his strong statement, in about 1985, against Sikhs from his homeland using violence to regain independence from Britain.

It is a point of wonder, given the first ever recipient of the award in their names, that Raoul Wallenberg and Chiune Sugihara are famous for preventing the deaths of Jews fleeing Nazi areas before and during the Second World War. Holocaust conditions in Europe have been successfully compared with the modern Canadian institutions of Indian Reserves, the Indian Act and Indian Status, which social/cultural/economic death-traps have repeatedly led to horrifying human tragedies across the state and at other times produced armed resistance such as at Cache Creek in 1974, Oka in 1990 and Ipperwash in 1995.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was nearly written in response to the Nazi modes of operation, at least along the lines of Raphael Lemkin’s response to the Nazi regime and others like it. The 1948 UN Convention categorizes the expressions of this crime against humanity, “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” as: forcible removal of children to another group; killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. The colonization of British Columbia has involved, and still involves today, actions described by every article in the Genocide Convention.

It may be appropriate to recall a few of Dosanjh’s activities following the Gustafsen Lake siege. Just before he became Premier of BC, he participated in a debate over the passage of the Nisga’a Final Agreement with Canada and BC. In that Agreement, the first of its kind in BC, less than half of Nisga’a adults voted to ratify the Agreement which modified their constitutionally protected aboriginal rights. Of the 3300 status Nisgaa adults, 2376 of them “enrolled” in the new Nisgaa Nation which would be created by the Agreement and constituted by Canada. 1451 of them voted in favour of the Agreement. The state considered only the votes of those people who had enrolled in the then-non-existent new Nisgaa nation to be created retroactively by the Final Agreement.

From the CPAC debate, January 19, 1999:

Geoff Plant (Reform) – “How did the [Nisga’a] Tribal Council become a nation? What is the process?”

Ujjal Dosanjh (NDP, Government of BC) – “This treaty has been initiated. This is the process of approval – at that point it is at the time of signing – transition from Tribal Council to First Nation.”

Plant – “The process of this legislative creation will constitute necessary recognition?”

Dosanjh – “Could have been by Order in Council, it didn’t have to be legislated… ”

Plant – “There is a problem of overlapping status and identity. Is there anything that would serve those persons Section 25 or 35 rights?”

Dosanjh – “No. Honourable Chair, I think the debate is going in the wrong direction.”

Jack Weisgerber (Reform) – “The first time there is a legally defined nation within Canada.”

Dosanjh – “This is not really a nation. All I care is what limitations, restrictions, restraints upon their rights are! The Nisgaa Nation would have attributes in this treaty, no more no less. This is all they get, this is all the rights they have (smiling). I don’t care if they call themselves Tribal Council or Nation.”

Mike DeJong (Liberal) – “Does this create liability if it’s wrong?”

Dosanjh – “We’re not transferring jurisdiction to the Nisgaa.”

DeJong – “If the Province lacks authority, does it create liability?”

Dosanjh – “It’s in the interest of protecting the honour of the Crown… We have the authority to enter this agreement: regarding the courts – that’s a hypothetical question.”

DeJong – “It’s not so hypothetical when there’s an action before the court.”

Glen Clark (NDP Government, Premier) – “It does not bestow right to go to court for Section 35 rights.”

Dosanjh – “This treaty is exhaustive definition of Nisgaa Section 35 rights (laughs), they will have no more rights than this; their rights under Section 35 have been exhausted, exhaustively defined. This does not create a third order of government, it creates municipal government, not requiring Royal assent – it proves the point we’ve been trying to make for a long time.”

So, in honour of people who got in the way of genocide and risked their own lives to save others, Ujjal Dosanjh is awarded recognition of exemplifying the achievement of “Civil Courage” and over many other nominees. A man who condemned Sikhs trying to regain their country; a man who condemned Secwepemc people to death – for protecting their sacred grounds and refusing to abandon their future as a people; a man who intentionally pushed to completion the Nisga’a vote for municipalization among voters who were not informed of the Spirit and intent of the “treaty.”

Congratulations, George Orwell – the only winner here.

Dosanjh - Hume opinion 1995 Van Sun

William Ignace, one of the "terrorists" on whom Dosanjh unleashed 400 RCMP with shoot-to-kill orders. Here he is at his farm in Chase.  Ignace, known as Wolverine, spent five years in prison for his role at Gustafsen Lake in 1995 - convicted of attempted murder - when what he actually did with his .22 hunting rifle was to disable an Armoured Personnel Carrier by shooting out the power steering column when it was exposed, under the tank, by a pine tree that partially lifted the tank off the ground as it rolled through/over the forest in pursuit of him. Meanwhile, a state shooter of unknown affiliation was standing up through the trap door on top of the tank, firing on Wolverine.

William Ignace, one of the “terrorists” on whom Dosanjh unleashed 400 RCMP with shoot-to-kill orders. Here he is at his farm in Chase.
Ignace, known as Wolverine, spent five years in prison for his role at Gustafsen Lake in 1995 – convicted of attempted murder – when what he actually did with his .22 hunting rifle was to disable an Armoured Personnel Carrier by shooting out the power steering column when it was exposed, under the tank, by a pine tree that partially lifted the tank off the ground as it rolled through/over the forest in pursuit of him. Meanwhile, a state shooter of unknown affiliation was standing up through the trap door on top of the tank, firing on Wolverine.

George Manuel addressing the Union of BC Municipalities, 1977

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Union of BC Indian Chiefs

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aboriginal rights, aboriginal title, George Manuel, UBCIC

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Nuxalk Nation Position 1995

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aboriginal rights, aboriginal title, Canadian Charter, House of Smayusta, INTERFOR, Ista, Nuxalk, Royal Proclamation 1763, Sovereignty

Nuxalk Nation Position

September 10, 1995

First of all we, the Nuxalk Nation, would like to acknowledge Tatau, The Creator, through Manakays, the Great Spirit, for all that he has provided since the beginning of time and still provides today.

We, the Nuxalk Nation, stand in the position of sovereignty against International Forest Products (INTERFOR). We cannot and will never as the Nuxalk Nation compromise this position.

The Sovereignty of the Nuxalk Nation comes from Tatau, the Creator. It is not granted nor subject to the approval of any other nation. As the Nuxalk Nation we have the sovereign right to jurisdictional rule within our own territory. Our lands are a sacred gift. The land is provided for the continued use, benefit and enjoyment of our people, the Nuxalkmc, and it is our ultimate obligation to Tatau, the Creator, to care for and protect it.

INTERFOR has continually raped our lands and continues to do so today! Our old villages, hunting grounds, fishing grounds, grave sites and sacred areas are being destroyed. Our fish and animals that we need to feed our peoples are disappearing. Our food plants, medicinal plants and trees are being trampled on and destroyed, all for the corporate value of the lumber.

We, the Nuxalk Nation, take this stand today and forever to state: “That we are appalled at what INTERFOR has done and is still doing today, to our Nuxalkmc Territory. We have never nor will we ever give our consent to INTERFOR or any other corporation to develop within our territory.

“Our territory is ours, the Nuxalkmc, and we have never ceded it to the Canadian or B.C. provincial government.

“Our nation is not interested in entering into any treaties (B.C. Treaty Commission), agreements or any sort of arrangement with the Canadian government or the British Columbia government concerning our Nuxalk Nation hereditary rights and title.”

The power that these two governments claim to have over our territory is an illegal power within their own jurisdiction as shown in the Constitution which reflects to the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

The following section is from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to remind you that the Royal Proclamation is still legal and binding.

CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms….

General

  1. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal people of Canada including
  2. a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and
  3. b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claim agreements or may be so acquired.

The following section is recited from the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763:

The Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763, (by the King, A proclamation, George R)

And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to Our Interest and the Security of Our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians, with whom We are connected, and who live under Our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds;

… beyond the Heads or Sources of any of the Rivers which fall into the Atlantick Ocean from the West and North-West, or upon any Lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them. And

…lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall into the Sea from the West and North West, as aforesaid; and We do hereby strictly forbid, …Our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above reserved, without Our especial Leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained. And We …strictly …require all Persons… who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon … Lands, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements.

… if, at any Time, any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said Lands, that same shall be purchased only for Us, in Our Name, at some publick Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians to be held for that Purpose by the Governor or Commander in Chief of Our Colonies  … and in case they shall lie within the Limits of any Proprietary Government, they shall be purchased only for the Use and in the Name of such Proprietaries, conformable to such Directions and Instructions as We or they shall think proper to give for that Purpose…

The sovereign Nuxalk Nation Chiefs have given INTERFOR notice that they are trespassing on Nuxalk Nation Territory that has never been sold or ceded, and that the Canadian court system has no jurisdiction over our territory. This is also to serve notice that we do not recognize any court injunctions served to any Nuxalkmc or to our guests (Forest Action Network) of the Nuxalk Nation invited into our traditional territory by our hereditary leadership.

So, with this, we, the Nuxalk Nation will do whatever we have to within our own traditional Nuxalk jurisdiction to stop INTERFOR from any development on our territory. We do this as our obligation to Tatau, the Creator, and also to ensure that our lands provided for our children, grandchildren and children yet unborn.

Way!

NUXALK STRONG NUXALK FOREVER

Signed:

Chief Nuximlayc (Lawrence Pootlass)

Chief Qwatsinas (Edward Moody)

Chief Liciwmutu7gayc (Taylor T)

Chief Slicxwliqw’ (Charles Nelson)

Chief Sats’alanlh (Peter Schooner)

…and others

House of Smayusta

PO Box 8, Bella Coola, V0T 1C0

Nuxalk Nation Position 1995 p.1Nuxalk Nation Position 1995 p.2Nuxalk Nation Position 1995 p.3

Lil’wat BCR 1989: to dissolve imposed ‘Indian Act’ band council

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aboriginal rights, BCR, Canada, Canadian Constitution, Lil'wat

Band Council Resolution

The Council of the Mount Currie Band

Vancouver District

British Columbia

November 9, 1989

Do Hereby Resolve:

The Chief and Council of the Líl’wat Nation, in response to a consensus of the Líl’wat People, is advising the Prime Minister of Canada, by means of this resolution, as follows:

WHEREAS the Líl’wat Nation does not have a treaty with Canada,

WHEREAS the Royal Proclamation 1763 is a statute of Canada that requires First Nations’ consent to land cessions by treaty, and imposes on Canada an agency-like trust obligation to serve the best interests of treaty and non-treaty peoples,

WHEREAS the Líl’wat Nation did not consent to provincial laws, settlements, policies or other measures that purport to extinguish Líl’wat Title to traditional territories and resources, and which demonstrate Canada’s failure to protect Líl’wat interests against third parties,

WHEREAS Líl’wat traditional territories have been expropriated without consent or compensation, and Líl’wat political, cultural, spiritual and economic institutions have been subjected to process of destruction sanctioned by federal legislation and policy, in contradiction to Canada’s trust obligation,

WHEREAS the Líl’wat Nation can document and prove that severe economic, social, psychological, and physical damage has been inflicted on Líl’wat as a people, and as families and individuals, by Canada and by agencies acting on Canada’s behalf,

The Chief and Council, acting on behalf of Líl’wat, do therefore resolve and declare that they:

  • Assert their original title to all Líl’wat traditional territories and resources, which have been demarcated by Líl’wat boundary markers from time immemorial.
  • Reject the governance of the ‘Indian Act’ in its present and any future amended versions because it is based on precepts that deny the fundamental rights of Líl’wat people to function and survive as a distinct Nation enjoying sovereign powers on Líl’wat traditional territories.
  • Reject such concepts as devolution which assume the Líl’wat people are progressing through succeeding stages of ‘fitness’ to a condition of total assimilation and absorption into the general population of Canada.
  • Reject fiscal arrangements between Canada and the Líl’wat Nation which require that program design, standards and priorities be determined and managed in accordance with prescriptions laid down by Canada and the province in accordance with their laws, rather than Líl’wat laws.

AND FURTHERMORE, the Chief and Council, acting on behalf of Líl’wat do resolve and declare that hereafter:

  • Líl’wat is embarking on a transitional period of reconstruction and renewal which will preserve the Chief and Council system imposed by the ‘Indian Act’ only until such time as a Líl’wat Government by and for its people is fully restored.
  • Líl’wat expects Canada to enter into bilateral negotiations to determine the amount of reparations payable to Líl’wat for damages resulting from unlawful expropriations of territory and resources, environmental degradation on Líl’wat territories and damages inflicted on Líl’wat society and people.
  • In the interim, Líl’wat is classifying the accumulated value of federal funding to date for capital improvements on Líl’wat traditional territories as offsets to the reparation debt owed by Canada to Líl’wat. Funding for services which have contributed to the dislocation and degradation of Líl’wat society shall not be entered into this calculation.
  • Agreement between Canada and Líl’wat on a reparation amount shall represent the total amount that will be paid to Líl’wat in annual instalments, and shall be the source from which Líl’wat will cover all its future program costs.
  • And finally, concurrently with the discharge of Canada’s reparation debts to Líl’wat over time, Canada and Líl’wat will enter into negotiations for the admission of the Líl’wat Nation into confederation as a distinct society with a defined sphere of sovereignty entrenched in the Constitution, and Líl’wat territories permanently established and protected by boundaries.

This resolution was passed at a duly convened meeting of the Chief and Council on November 9, 1989.

A quorum of this Band is seven.

(Signed)

Chief Fraser Andrew

Councillors

Marie Leo

Vera Edmonds

Cecil M. Edmonds

Brian Lester

Katherine Wallace

Allan Stager

George Leo

Marvin Wells

Shirley Wallace

Joe Joseph

Felicity Nelson

Normaline Lester

MCIB BCR Nov 9 1989 - p 1MCIB BCR Nov 9 1989 - p 2

“ALL OUR RELATIONS” A DECLARATION OF THE SOVEREIGN INDIGENOUS NATIONS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations, Union of BC Indian Chiefs

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

aboriginal rights, aboriginal title, All Our Relations, Declaration, Indigenous Peoples, UBCIC

We, the Indigenous leaders of British Columbia, come together united and celebrate the victory of the Tsilhqot’in and Xeni Gwet’in peoples in securing recognition of their Aboriginal title and rights – and all those Indigenous Nations and individuals that have brought important court cases over the years resulting in significant contributions in the protection and advancement of Aboriginal title and rights, including the Nisga’a, Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’in, Haida, Taku River Tlingit, Musqueam, Heiltsuk and Sto:lo – shining light on the darkness of years of Crown denial of our title and rights. After pursuing different pathways, we now come together to make this solemn Declaration out of our common desire to be unified in affirming our Aboriginal title.

As the original Peoples to this land, we declare:

  • We have Aboriginal title and rights to our lands, waters and resources and that we will exercise our collective, sovereign and inherent authorities and jurisdictions over these lands, waters and resources,
  • We respect, honour and are sustained by the values, teachings and laws passed to us by our ancestors for governing ourselves, our lands, waters and resources.
  • We have the right to manage and benefit from the wealth of our territories.
  • We have the inalienable sovereign right of self-determination. By virtue of this right, we are free to determine our political status and free to pursue our economic, social, health and well-being, and cultural development.
  • We have diverse cultures, founded on the ways of life, traditions and values of our ancestors, which include systems of governance, law and social organization.
  • We have the right to compensation and redress with regard to our territories, lands and resources which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without our free, prior and informed consent.
  • We will only negotiate on the basis of a full and complete recognition of the existence of our title and rights throughout our entire lands, waters, territories and resources.
  • We acknowledge the interdependence we have with one another and respectfully honour our commitment with one another where we share lands, waters and resources. We commit to resolving these shared lands, waters and resources based on our historical relationship through ceremonies and reconciliation agreements.
  • We endorse the provisions of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international standards aimed at ensuring the dignity, survival and well-being of Indigenous peoples.

We commit to:

  • Stand united today and from this time forward with the Tsilhqot’in and with each other in protecting our Aboriginal title and rights.
  • Recognize and respect each other’s autonomy and support each other in exercising our respective title, rights and jurisdiction in keeping with our continued interdependency.
  • Work together to defend and uphold this Declaration.

We, the undersigned, represent First Nations who carry a mandate to advance Title and Rights in our homelands today referred to as British Columbia and exercise our authorities in making this Declaration. We welcome other First Nations not present today to adhere to this Declaration if they so choose.

Signed by UBCIC Chiefs on November 29, 2007

Líl’wat Nation Declaration January 14, 1983

05 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Canadian Constitution, Lil'wat

We, the People of the Líl’wat Nation declare that our land and rights as a Nation have never been relinquished by ourselves. The Creator placed us here on our land with the right to self-determination. The right to self-determination and the right to exist as a people is sacred in our way, and we believe we have that right.

Canada’s unilateral action in patriating its constitution without the consent of the Indian people and its blatant disregard of rights to self-determination of Indian People is regarded by the Líl’wat Nation as a bold and callus act against sovereign people.

To ensure the protection of our Lil’wat Nation against any aggressive action by another nation or infringement by any colonial power or government,

WE, THE LIL’WAT NATION THUS SHALL AND FOREVER MORENEVER AGREE TO ASSIGN OUR RIGHTS TO ANY PERSON OR COLONIAL POWER OF GOVERNMENT, THUS:

  1. We will not be invitees to a conference where our rights as a sovereign people is to be discussed. Our attending such a conference will be as equal participants.
  2. Lil’wat People’s participation must be full, equal and ongoing at all levels of discussion whether preparatory or otherwise.
  3. Our representation will be chosen by our people and not by anyone or by any other colonial power or government.
  4. No decision affecting Lil’wat Peoples’ rights shall be made withut first receiving our consent and bearing the Lil’wat Government’s seal.
  5. Lil’wat people will decide how our consent is to be given.

Signed by: Chief Leonard Andrew

Lil'wat delegation meeting with UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, S. James Anaya, October 10, 2013, Musqueam.

Lil’wat delegation meeting with UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, S. James Anaya, October 10, 2013, Musqueam.

Gitksan-Carrier (Wet’suwet’en) Declaration, 1977

01 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Carrier, Gitksan, Gitxsan, Nishga Declaration 1980, Wet'suwet'en

Since time immemorial, we. The Gitksan and Carrier People of Kitwanga, Kitseguecla, Gitanmaax, Sikadoak, Kispiox, Hagwilget and Moricetown, have exercised Sovereignty over our land. We have used and conserved the resources of our land with care and respect. We have governed ourselves. We have governed the land, the waters, the fish and the animals. This is written on our totem poles. It is recounted in our songs and dances. It is present in our language and in our spiritual beliefs. Our Sovereignty is our Culture.

Our Aboriginal Rights and Title to this Land have never been extinguished by treaty or by any agreement with the Crown. Gitksan and Carrier Sovereignty continue within these tribal areas.

We have suffered many injustices. In the past, the development schemes of public and private enterprise have seriously altered Indian life and culture. These developments have not included, in any meaningful way, our hopes, aspirations and needs.

The future must be different. The way of life of our people must be recognized, protected and fostered by the Governments of Canada and the Laws of Canada. Only then will we be able to participate fully in Canadian society.

We, the Gitksan and Carrier People, will continue to exercise our Sovereignty in the areas of Education, Social and Economic Development, Land Use and Conservation, Local and Regional Government.

We have waited one hundred years. We have been patient. Through serious negotiation, the basis for a meaningful and dignified relationship between the Gitksan and Carrier People and the Governments of Canada and of British Columbia will be determined. These negotiations require mutual and positive participation by the Federal Government and the Provincial Government.

Today, the Governments of Canada and British Columbia undertake a bold new journey to negotiate with the Gitksan and Carrier People. During this journey, we will fulfill the hopes and aspirations of our ancestors and the needs of future generations.

Let us begin negotiations.

Recognize our Sovereignty, recognize our rights, so that we may fully recognize yours.

Kispiox

November 7, 1977

Note: since this Declaration it has become usual to use the name “Wet’suwet’en” instead of “Carrier” in the case of the houses which allied with the Gitxsan in the Delgam Uukw court action.Gitxsan-Carrier Declaration

Carrier Sekani Declaration, 1982

01 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Kerry Coast in Indigenous Declarations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Carrier, Nishga Declaration 1980, Sekani

Carrier Sekani Declaration and Claim, 1982

April 15th, 1982

Whereas we of the Carrier and Sekani Tribes have been, since time immemorial, the original owners, occupants and users of the north central part of what is now called the province of British Columbia and more specifically that area of the said province outlined in red contained in the map attached hereto as schedule “A” [herein referred to as “the said lands”].

And whereas in addition to the original ownership, occupancy and use, we have exercised jurisdiction as a sovereign people over the said lands since time immemorial,

And whereas this original ownership, occupancy and use, and jurisdiction by our people over the said lands has never been surrendered by our people through conquest, treaty or any other legal means to the British Crown or to its colonial governments or to the Crown in right of the province of British Columbia or to the Crown in right of Canada or to any other government,

And whereas this original ownership, occupancy and use by our people, and jurisdiction over the said lands has never been superseded by law,

And whereas much of the said lands is, without our consent, now occupied and its resources used by peoples not indigenous to our lands,

And whereas such occupation and use by non indigenous people to the said lands is without compensation to our people,

We, the representatives of the Carrier and Sekani Tribes hereby declare and assert our continued original ownership, occupancy and use of, and jurisdiction over the said lands and all its resources,

And we further declare and assert the continued existence of those rights which flow from our original ownership, occupancy and use of, and the jurisdiction of the said lands and all its resources,

And further we hereby demand of the governments of Canada and British Columbia compensation for their past, present and proposed use and occupancy of our lands and all its resources.

Executive of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council

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