Aboriginal Peoples: Claiming Aboriginal Peoples: Claiming Territory, Resources, and Territory, Resources, and

CultureCulture

David Rossiter, WWUDavid Rossiter, WWUStudy Canada Summer Institute, 2010

Franklin Carmichael – Lake Wabagishik

www.bced.gov.bc.ca

Source: Coast Salish Historical Atlas

Modes of DispossessionModes of Dispossession

• Violent conquest

• Divine right / sovereign claim

• Treaty negotiation

• Claiming “empty land” / wilderness

www.kstrom.net

Atlas of Canada

Institutional Support for ClaimsInstitutional Support for Claims

• Royal Proclamation – 1763

• Calder Decision – 1973

• Constitution Act – 1982

• Delgamuukw Decision - 1997

BC Treaty Commission

• Established in 1992• Neutral body mandated to facilitate

negotiation of comprehensive land claim agreements

• 58 nations currently participating• Six stages of negotiation

– 2 Final Agreements ratified, 1 awaiting ratification

– 5 in stage five (Agreement-in-Principle)

www.nativemaps.org

Nisga’aNisga’a

• Land claim finalized April 2000– 100+ years in the making

• 1,992 sq. km returned to Nisga’a

• self-government

• creation of preserved areas outside claim

• cash compensation– compensation– capitalization

James Bay CreeJames Bay Cree

• Quebec begins dam project in 1971– No EIA, no consultation with Cree and Inuit

• 1975 – James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) signed

• 1994 – Premier Parizeau cancels project

• 2002: “La Paix des Braves”– Territorial agreement between Que. and Cree– 80% of local people voted for agreement

Eeyou Istchee Eeyou Istchee (“our land, (“our land, Cree land”)Cree land”)

www.gvrd.bc.ca

Land, Resources, Culture

• Dispossession of land and resources accompanied by cultural dispossession– Banned practices (eg. potlatch)– Limited access to legal system– Residential schools

• Fundamental to installing colonial geographic order

• Reconciliation only in last generation

George Southwell – Building Fort Victoria, 1930