Territories

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Indigenous or Aboriginal: Which is correct? Throughout this course, you will see the terms Indigenous , Aboriginal and First Nations used to refer to the original inhabitants of the land we now call Canada. The reason for this is that different terms have been used since European explorers first came to North America and began to interact with the people who were already here. The video below explains a bit more about the history of terminology for the First People of Canada. For the purposes of this course, the three terms will be used interchangeably, although this is not always correct. Please ensure whichever term you use in your assignments, you capitalize it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEzjA5RoLv0 ntroduction to Territories At the heart of the traditional Indigenous people's world view is a profound respect for life and the natural world from which life springs. This respect is central to maintaining spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental equilibrium between all persons, and between humans and nature. Prayer and meditation is embodied in Indigenous traditions and ceremonies that recognize, celebrate, and assert what it means to be an Indigenous person, and which honour the relationship between humans and the land. This video explains the importance of the area around a beautiful ancient village site called Hauyat to the Heiltsuk people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voZBiMYcWGM

Underlying the appreciation for nature is an understanding that all life is interconnected, and that human beings are a part of a larger life cycle that allows you to travel through the world. Traditionally, Indigenous people lived off the land taking only what was needed. This concept has been passed down from one generation to the next in spite of the fact that, due to the colonial occupation, most Indigenous peoples were forced to radically change how they had lived for thousands of years. With the cultural genocide introduced by colonial settlers, with the incarceration of Indigenous people in reserve territories, and with the absence of a widespread fluency in traditional languages, the knowledge of the Elders has not been shared in those languages with today's younger generation to the same extent as in the past. Nonetheless, language revitalization initiatives are occurring in many Indigenous cultures. The traditional Indigenous family extends beyond one's immediate family relations; it includes siblings, parents, Elders, extended family, clan , band , and tribe . Historically, shared child care existed in every Indigenous community. The individual is considered the life of the group, and therefore the freedom and strength of the group is found in each individual. Life is understood as an ongoing process of connectedness to the world, and therefore the relationship between individuals, the community, and the world is considered sacred. The Shape of the Land The land provided everything that Indigenous people living in the territories we now call British Columbia needed to survive. However, the diverse physical geography influenced the

different cultural practices and reflect the areas each group inhabited. As you can see from the relief map of BC below, the place which today we call British Columbia is a land of many different climates and habitats, but there is one constant: this is a province of mountains. The land is dominated by a series of mountain chains running roughly north-south, from the Coast Mountains in the west to the Rocky Mountains in the east. Between the mountain ranges lie valleys and plateau regions such as the Cariboo, the Okanagan Valley, and the Rocky Mountain trench. On the coast, the would-be valleys are flooded by the sea, forming islands and fjords.

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Image: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=671618 If British Columbia is a place of mountains, it is also a place of water - of rivers, lakes, channels, and inlets. These waterways, formed by the mountains, define the land and its people. A

large part of B.C. is drained by four major river systems: the Fraser, Skeena, Columbia (see image below, Columbia River at Revelstoke, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River ), and Peace. These rivers and their valleys provide living space, transportation routes, and habitat for fish. Many of the abundant resources found in the province come from the mountains, including forests, food plants, minerals, game, and fur-bearing animals. The waters are equally rich, especially with fish like the Pacific salmon and oolichan. The ocean provides a wide array of food sources, from large sea mammals to small molluscs. Rivers and lakes, too, offer a variety of foods, including fish. This land and its resources shape the lives of the people who have lived here for thousands of years. The mountains create barriers for people, but they also act as landmarks and natural boundaries. Their peaks and ranges enclose many river systems, both large and small, and these watersheds are a logical way of defining territories. The territories of many First Nations of B.C. are based on the boundaries formed by watersheds. For thousands of years, Indigenous people have inhabited the valleys, plateaus, and coastline of this mountainous land, and

they have adapted to the variations in climate, topography, and resources in different ways, resulting in a wide variety of societies. Separate Indigenous languages are spoken by distinct groups. Of the sixty Indigenous languages in Canada, half are found in British Columbia. Each First Nation developed a unique relationship with the territory it inhabited. To a large degree, this relationship dictated the social organization and governance system. Generally speaking, interior people shared many similar features of social organization, as did the people of the coast. Interior societies generally had flexible governing systems, while those on the coast had much more structured governance. Interior societies were democratic and usually did not have a class system. Family groups associated together to form an identifiable group, sometimes referred to as a band. Their own name for this group usually referred to some feature of their territory. For instance, the Secwepemc people living near Skola'ten (Williams Lake) were the "People of Skola'ten." Interior groups had a head chief as leader, but usually he acted more as a father or adviser than a powerful ruler. He consulted with the Elders whenever important decisions were made. For some First Nations of the interior, this position was hereditary, usually determined patrilineally for others, the leader was elected according to his abilities and held a temporary position. The head chief was not the leader in all activities of the group. The person most qualified, or the one who had been specifically trained, was chosen to direct a particular activity. For instance, the best hunter would lead hunting expeditions; the bravest and most skillful warrior would lead warfare; the greatest orator would deliver speeches. The people of the coast have many different characteristics, but they share some common features which people who study cultures call the Northwest Coast culture. These societies had

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strict social codes to follow, with a rigid hierarchy whereby chiefs were ranked in importance, and a class system was made up of chiefs, nobles, commoners, and slaves. Physical Geography The diverse geography of British Columbia means that people survive differently depending on the area that they inhabit. B.C. geography includes prairies, mountains, plateaus, islands, river deltas, and heavily forested areas. Each area has a unique climate and ecosystem with distinctive vegetation, wildlife, and soil conditions. B.C. First Nations traditional lifestyles directly reflected the geographical areas they inhabited. Cities and communities are built in locations that can provide water, facilitate transportation, and foster economic opportunities. B.C. First Nations people had the same requirements when they established communities. The diverse landscape provided a wide range of options. B.C.'s landscape is characterized by a number of rugged mountain ranges and strong-flowing rivers. B.C.'s soil quality ranges from the very fertile soil of the lowlands and interior plateaus to acidic podzol (an infertile acidic soil characterized by a white or gray subsurface layer resembling ash that typically occurs under temperate coniferous woodland). The vegetation is so diverse that it includes that found both in rainforests and deserts. The wide range of climates found in British Columbia results from major geographic features and the fact that B.C. covers an enormous territory from southern to northern latitudes. Consider how different summers and winters are in B.C. depending on whether you are on the coast, in the interior, or up north.

It is important to understand the natural barriers and challenges that existed for B.C. First Nations people as a result of the physical geography of each territory, and also to appreciate the resources available in each region. The Coastal Region Indigenous groups comprising the Pacific coast include the seventeen cultures of the Coast Salish language family as well as the Haida, Tsimshian, Nisga'a, Haisla, Xai-Xais (Hai- Hais), Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuxalk, and Nuu-chah- nulth. In coastal Indigenous groups, due to the abundance of food year-round, permanent lodges were constructed and lined inlets forming a series of coastal villages. They were well protected from winter storms. Ocean fishing, river fishing, and the gathering of local edible plant life provided sustenance.

World famous Tofino is located in Clayoquot Sound, a region that takes its name from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations people who have resided here for thousands of years. Image by Robert Nathan Garlington Hierarchical social organization was common to all Indigenous people of the coastal region with three classes comprising the caste system: chiefs and nobles; commoners; and slaves. Slaves were captured enemies or individuals who entered slavery after failing to repay a debt. Slaves had no rights in society. The capture of slaves was conducted by warriors during aggressive strikes against competing First Nations. These strikes also allowed a group to acquire or expand into new hunting territories and increase social status. Warriors travelled in ocean-going war canoes and were protected by body armour made from wood and hides, completed by helmets with visors. The potlatch was and continues to be an all-important social gathering for Indigenous people of the coastal region. Potlatches were conducted to acknowledge changes in the social fabric of a community including marriage, the death of a family member, an individual's inheritance of an ancestral title, a chief's daughter entering womanhood, or a change in leadership. Because material wealth and land were given away generously at potlatch feasts, no member of a clan (with the exception of slaves) was without basic household goods. By receiving gifts at a potlatch, the guests in attendance implicitly communicated their acceptance of whatever change in social organization was being celebrated. The Southern Interior Region Indigenous groups of the southern interior banded together for mutual aid and then separated in accordance with semi-

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nomadic seasonal practices. Unlike coastal First Nations, no rigid class system existed among southern interior First Nations groups with the exception of the Dakelh, the Tsilquot'in, and the Tahltan. The Dakelh adopted the social hierarchy similar to that found in the coastal region as a result of trading skins and moccasins with the Nuxalk. The Nuxalk traded cedar boxes and blankets from the Chilkat First Nations people in Alaska as well as the Tsimshian. Tsilquot'in class structure was influenced through trade with the Nuxalk. Similarly, the Tahltan adopted social coastal customs as a result of trade with the Tlingit. Salmon fishing territories were often the subject of disputes between warring nations. Negotiations between groups to resolve the conflict would occur via an intermediary negotiating group presiding over the region. The negotiations included trade and the exchange of captives. The appointment of chiefs among the southern interior Indigenous people was patrilineal, though chiefs had to prove their ability to lead once appointed. A village chief could only recommend a course of action for his own village, but was able to secure strong relationships with other groups. Marriages between individuals from different groups often occurred for political and economic reasons. The St'at'imc were well situated to facilitate trade between coastal Indigenous people and groups in the southern interior. Goods traded from the coast included dentalium shells, dugout canoes, wood, and berries; these were exchanged for dried berries from the interior, tanned hides, and mountain goat wool. The St'at'imc traded dried salmon for the dried trout of the Nlaka'pamux and Ktunaxa First Nations. Both the St'at'imc and the Secwepemc First Nations accumulated wealth as a result of their strategic locations that enabled them to act as middlemen for trade. Among the Ktunaxa, hunting and gathering roles and responsibilities between men and women were essentially egalitarian. Woman Elders were respected as the holders of traditional knowledge. A council of Elders appointed a

hereditary leader in Ktunaxa villages. A special chief would be elected to lead in both war and the buffalo hunt. Sweat lodges and fasts were conducted for the purposes of spiritual purification. Bloodletting was conducted as a cure for sickness. Shamans among the Ktunaxa shared some customs with Indigenous people from the plains region, such as the Sun Dance and the use of medicine bundles. A shaman was considered by the people Ktunaxa to be an intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds. Indigenous people of the Arrow Lakes (image above, image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Upper_Arrow_Lake_B C.jpg ) area spoke the Sinixt dialect. Some of these people who lived in the southern Arrow Lakes area integrated with related Indigenous people in the U.S. and moved to the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State when the B.C. border was defined in 1870.

The Northern Interior Region The northern interior region is composed of Indigenous groups found in the Yukon and B.C. The term “Dene,” meaning “the people of the land,” includes those Indigenous people located in northern B.C., the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories whose languages belong to the Athapaskan language family. Northern Interior First Nations in the Yukon The following northern interior First Nations groups are located in the Yukon (with Kaska territory extending down into B.C.), and are speakers of languages belonging to the Athapaskan language family:  Gwich'in  Han  Kaska  Northern Tutchone  Tagish  Upper Tanana The Gwich'in and Han languages are different from other languages in the Athapaskan language family, though they do share some similarities. Regional groups were typically not cohesive units and there was little formal political organization. Family identity was passed on through matrilineal descent and leaders were selected on the basis of individual qualities of skill and accomplishment. Regional gatherings occurred annually, usually during the caribou hunt. The world view of these different groups shared common perspectives regarding the relationship between the land and the spirit world. The belief in reincarnation exists among people of the Athapaskan language family. Animal spirits and supernatural beings communicate with shamans, who were considered an intermediary between the supernatural and

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natural worlds, to locate game and cure illness, and medicine people conduct healing rituals and ceremonies. Birth, puberty, and death were marked by special ceremonies. People of the northern interior region were mainly caribou hunters and lived in close relationship to the land. They used tepees and ridgepole lodges which were huts built using poles covered with bark or skins. In the summer months, lean-tos were also used. The main means of transportation prior to European contact was birch-bark canoe during the summer, and toboggan and snowshoes in the winter. With the virtual extinction of the sea otter, the Tagish First Nation extended trapping territories inland to find additional furs. Consequently, they became a trade intermediary between the Tlingit on the coast and Athapaskan groups who were located further inland. As a result of their contact with the Tlingit, the Tagish practiced the potlatch ceremony and constructed houses using coastal design features. As with other Indigenous people of the northern interior, honouring reincarnation was an important aspect of Tagish culture. The potlatch ceremony served as a means to transmit ancestral names from one generation to the next. These names were closely associated with societal rank, another cultural attribute that the Tagish held in common with coastal First Nations.

Tlingit and Inland Tlingit traditional territory also extended into the Yukon, Alaska, and B.C., though the Tlingit language is considered a distinctly separate language. Northern Interior First Nations in BC The following First Nations of the northern interior are located in B.C.:  Dakelh  Tahltan  Gitxsan  Wet'suwet'en Dakelh Groups among the Dakelh First Nation were affiliated with specific gathering locations, hunting territories, and fishing areas where weirs were constructed. The inheritance of these areas was passed on according to the relationships held between kin. The potlatch was practised extensively by the Dakelh.

They were extensively involved in trade along the “grease trails”, exchanging hides, berries, and dried meat for oolichan grease. They traded with the Nuxalk, Gitxsan, and Sekani First Nations. Dakelh women at Fort St. James (from: http://www.quesnelmuseum.ca ) The Tahltan Among the Tahltan, hereditary rights were held by the leader of a family and clan and leadership was reliant upon a leader's appropriate behaviour and ability to acquire wealth. Leaders designated resource management by assigning specific locations to families. The Tahltan owned slaves, either captured or acquired through trade with other Indigenous groups. The Tahltan were also active traders, exchanging oolichan grease from the Tlingit for obsidian , leatherworks, and snowshoes.

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Tahltan dancers, c 1914. (from: http://knowbc.com/ebc/Books/Encyclopedia-of-BC/T/Tahltan ) Gitxsan and Wet'suwe'ten The rich cultures of the Gitxsan and Wet'suwe'ten First Nations are also found in the northern interior. Though the cultures are distinct, some traditional practices were shared such as the burning of the dead. The potlatch ceremony is central to the social organization of both cultures and celebrates marriage, funerals, adoptions, and assuming new names. Forms of cultural expression among the Gitxsan and Wet'suwe'ten include Chilkat blankets and totem poles.

Gitksan people at Hazelton (from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitxsan#/media/File:Githaz.jpg ) The Northeast Region The Dunne-za and Sekani live in the region of the Peace River, the Sekani occupying more southerly territories. E'cho Dene territory extends into the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and northern Alberta. Dunne-za When the Dunne-za prepared for a traditional hunt on the land, visionaries known as “dreamers” helped locate game. Once game was located, it was surrounded by the hunters. Visions were equally important for young Dunne-za, who went out on the land to conduct a vision quest during which they acquired supernatural powers from animal spirits.

In the summer, the small winter hunting band of the Dunne-za regrouped and conducted ceremonies together. Here they played the hand game known as lahal. This video explains the history of lahal and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBHge8wzR0 Sekani The Sekani traded furs and treated hides with the Tahltan and Dakelh First Nations groups. Goods from the coast were also procured through the Tsimshian. The use of clan crests and the potlatch system was adopted through contact with the Tsimshian. The traditional Sekani way of life was based on hunting and gathering. Although fish formed part of the diet, the Sekani relied more heavily on game, in contrast to their Carrier and Babine neighbors. Plant food consisted largely of berries, especially of blueberries. The Sekani traditionally cremated their deceased. After cremation was discontinued, the Sekani revived an old custom, probably never entirely abandoned, of covering the dead man with the brush hut that had sheltered him during his last days and then deserting the locality for a period. Persons of influence were buried in coffins raised on platforms or trees.

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Sekani Tree Burial (from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekani ) E’cho Dene The E'cho Dene are closely related to the Gwich'in First Nations people of the Yukon, and the Dogrib and Hare of the Northwest Territories.

The Reserve System We the Original Peoples of this land know the Creator put us here. The Creator gave us laws that govern all our relationships to live in harmony with nature and mankind. The Laws of the Creator defined our rights and responsibilities. The Creator gave us our spiritual beliefs, our languages, our culture, and a place on Mother Earth which provided us with all our needs. We have maintained our Freedom, our Languages, and our Traditions from time immemorial. We continue to exercise the rights and fulfill the responsibilities and obligations given to us by the Creator for the land upon which we were placed. The Creator has given us the right to govern ourselves and the right to self-determination. The rights and responsibilities given to us by the creator cannot be altered or taken away by any other Nation. – A Declaration of First Nations from the Assembly of First Nations Before colonizers arrived, First Nations people and Inuit had the use of all the land and water in what is now Canada. Their traditional territories were (and are) very large. When Europeans arrived, they and the First Nations people and Inuit came into conflict over who would control these lands and resources. The Creation of Reserves Under the Indian Act , the Canadian government defined a reserve as land that has been set aside (not apart) by the government for the use and benefit of an Indian band. Reserve land is still classified as federal land, and First Nations do not have title to reserve land. Reserves were often created on less valuable land and sometimes located outside the traditional

territory of the particular First Nation. If the First Nation had lived traditionally by hunting and gathering in a particularly rich area, confinement to a small, uninhabitable place was a very difficult transition. Allotted reserves were always small compared to the First Nations’ traditional territory. Reserves in the 20th century In the early 20th century, there was a rapid increase in poverty on reserves due to imposed laws and policies. Canadian laws made it illegal for First Nations people to use traditional means of resource distribution and limited their ability to fish and hunt. An amendment to the Indian Act in 1927 also made it illegal for them to challenge their situation in court. Many First Nations people living on reserves found that they could not sustain themselves or their families. However, leaving the reserve meant facing discrimination and assimilation in the cities and giving up their rights as Status Indians. The Reserve System: Important Facts It is important to know the following facts:  First Nations people were not consulted when reserves were created. They did not give consent.  They were not compensated for the lands that were taken from them.  Since their creation, reserves have been moved and reduced and their resources have been taken – all without compensation for First Nations.  Until as recently as 1958, people living on reserve needed written permission from the Indian Agent in order to leave the reserve for any reason. The Reserve System Today Many First Nations people continue to live on small reserves, which the government still controls. This is a source of much of

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the conflict between First Nations and the government, at both provincial and federal levels. Today, First Nations people still live with the problems created by the reserve system:  There is often not enough land for all members to have housing.  Some services are provided only to people living on reserve, so people living off reserve do not get the same services.  Many reserves are very isolated and do not have basic services, such as electricity or running water. Despite the hardships caused by the reserve system, reserves, as communities, are also a place of cultural survival, where Indigenous languages are spoken and taught in schools and cultural practices are thriving. The following video explains how the reserve system in BC came to be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLtw8nzSU7Q Text from: https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationfoundations/chapter/the- reserve-system/ What is “title?” Aboriginal title refers to the inherent Aboriginal right to land or a territory. The Canadian legal system recognizes Aboriginal title as a sui generis, or unique collective right to the use of and jurisdiction over a group’s ancestral territories. This right is not granted from an external source but is a result of Aboriginal peoples’ own occupation of and relationship with their home territories as well as their

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ongoing social structures and political and legal systems. As such, Aboriginal title and rights are separate from rights afforded to non-Aboriginal Canadian citizens under Canadian common law. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWIXIuh_oo For more on Aboriginal Title, see: https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/aboriginal_title / Calder Case Calder v. Attorney-General of British Columbia [1973] In 1967, Frank Calder and other Nisga’a elders sued the provincial government of British Columbia, declaring that Nisga’a title to their lands had never been lawfully extinguished through treaty or by any other means. While both the BC Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal rejected the claim, the Nisga’a appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada for recognition of their Aboriginal title to their traditional, ancestral and unceded lands. Their appeal was a landmark move that posed considerable risk not only to the Nisga’a, but to all Aboriginal peoples hoping to have their rights and title affirmed and recognized. What the Supreme Court concluded was groundbreaking. While the lower levels of court had denied the existence of Aboriginal title, the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that Aboriginal title had indeed existed at the time of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision was the first time that the Canadian legal system acknowledged the existence of Aboriginal title to land and that such title existed outside of, and was not simply derived from, colonial law.

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However, the Court was split on whether the Nisga’a’s claim to their lands was valid. Three judges ruled that while Aboriginal title may have existed at one point, it had since been extinguished by virtue of Confederation and colonial control over the land. Three other judges affirmed the Nisga’a’s Aboriginal title, arguing that it had never been extinguished through treaty or statute. The seventh judge dismissed the case on a technicality. While the Nisga’a did not win their case and the ruling did not settle their land question, it did pave the way for the federal government’s Comprehensive land claims process, which sets up a process for Aboriginal groups to claim title to their territory. The province of British Columbia, however, refused to acknowledge Aboriginal title until 1990, when the British Columbia Claims Task Force was established. This would then lead to the B.C. Treaty Process and the settling of the first modern land claim in British Columbian history, the Nisga’a Final Agreement in 1998. The Supreme Court’s acknowledgement of the existence of Aboriginal title also opened the door for other Aboriginal rights cases, most notably Delgamuukw v. British Columbia (1997), which further defined Aboriginal title. As a landmark case, the Calder decision continues to be cited in modern Aboriginal land claims across Canada, as well as internationally in Australia and New Zealand. Source: https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/calder_case / Sparrow Case R. v. Sparrow [1990] In 1984, Musqueam band member Ronald Sparrow was arrested for fishing with a net longer than was permitted by

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his food fishing license. His arrest and subsequent court case led to one of the most defining decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada regarding Aboriginal rights. Musqueam community members recognized Sparrow’s arrest as a threat to their collective rights, and to the rights of Aboriginal people across Canada. As such, the Musqueam band decided to defend to the charge against Sparrow. They outlined five main arguments:  That the Musqueam retained the right to fish on the territories they had inhabited and fished on for centuries;  That Musqueam’s rights to the land and its resources had never been extinguished by treaty;  That Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act reinforced Musqueam’s right to fish;  That any infringement on Aboriginal fishing rights was invalid, as evidenced by Section 35, unless justified as being a necessary measure of conservation, and  That a restriction on net length infringed on Musqueam’s fishing rights and was not justified by reason of conservation. Sparrow was cleared by the Supreme Court and his ancestral right to fishing was upheld. Source: https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/sparrow_ca se/ Delgamuukw This case is also referred to as the Gitksan Wet'suwet'en land claim. In 1984, 51 Gitksan Houses and 13 Wet'suwet'en Houses started an action claiming Aboriginal title, including ownership and jurisdiction over their traditional territories.

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The case was heard in May 1987. The trial lasted 369 days. The case made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada in June 1997. The Supreme Court agreed that Aboriginal title to Gitksan Wet'suwet'en lands had never been extinguished; the courts suggested that both parties return to the negotiating table to settle the land claims. The courts did establish three important findings in their rulings:  Aboriginal title is more than hunting and fishing rights. Aboriginal title may allow First Nations people to sell fish caught under old food fishing licenses, if it can be demonstrated that the fishery area in question was controlled by First Nations prior to European contact. Tsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia A landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that established Aboriginal land title for the Tsilhqot'in First Nation, with larger effects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0tVBIMKZEM This story from a member of the Sto:lo nation is an example of an oral story that it has been determined by the courts can be used as proof of the use of a territory by an Indigenous group.

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Yewal Sí:yá:m (respected community leader) Albert “Sonny” McHalsie of Shxw’øwhámél. "Archaeologists tell us that we have been here for at least 9,000 years*. Our Elders tell us we have been here since time immemorial. They also tell us through sxwoxwiyámx (stories and legends) that many of our resources were at one time our ancestors. Many of our people have stories about a particular resource which at one time may have been their own people. For instance, people at a village near Hope claim the sturgeon as their ancestor; others from a village near Chilliwack and Agassiz claim the mountain goat as their ancestor. One legend common to all Stó:lø tells the story of the origin of the cedar tree. It goes like this: At one time there was a very good man who was always helping others. He was always sharing whatever he had. When XeX`a:ls (the transformers) saw this they transformed him into a cedar tree so he would always continue helping the people. And so to this day he continues to give and share many things with the people—cedar roots for baskets, bark for clothing, and wood for shelter. So our resources are more than just resources, they are our extended family. They are our ancestors, our shxweli (spirit or life force).

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Our shxweli includes our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, cedar tree, salmon, sturgeon and transformer rocks. Our Elders tell us that everything has a spirit. So when we use a resource, like a sturgeon or cedar tree, we have to thank our ancestors who were transformed into these things. We don’t like to think that our ancestors came over the Bering Land Bridge. We have always been here." *In fact, a newer find on the West Coast of BC shows that settlements date back to at least 14,000 years ago. Traditional Resource Management Indigenous people's traditional way of life integrated social, economic, and spiritual elements, and the natural world and the human world were all one. It is important to understand what is meant by the spiritual to realize its significance in First Nations' relationship with the land and their views about resource management. The 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples defined it clearly: "Spirituality, in Indigenous discourse, is not a system of beliefs that can be defined like a religion; it is a way of life in which people acknowledge that every element of the material world is in some sense infused with spirit, and all human behaviour is affected by, and in turn has an effect in, a non- material, spiritual realm." One example of this view of nature is in First Nations' celebrations of the earth's annual rebirth. People showed their respect and appreciation for the new season by

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addressing plants and animals as living entities. They thanked them for sharing themselves, and also explained to them in what ways the people would make use of them. Further respect was shown for the resources, especially the major meat sources such as salmon or moose, by following certain rituals when disposing of the unused portions. Often bones and guts were burned or placed in water so scavenging animals could not eat them. Almost every First Nation named the months after the major seasonal activity that was carried out during that time, or the actual resource gathered. For instance, the Tsimshian call June "Salmonberry Month" and July "Sockeye Month." Special spiritual ceremonies often celebrated the arrival of key resources. These included First Salmon, First Fruit, and First Root ceremonies. Some were quite simple, showing reverence and thanks, while others were complex. For instance, the First Salmon ceremony of the St'at'imc people began when a special man, the seer, received the first sockeye from the fisherman who caught it. The seer and another Elder set the salmon on a bed of boughs, and they presented to it a series of wooden rods which were individually marked and decorated. These rods represented the Elders of the village, and through the rods, each Elder was introduced to the salmon. Having been welcomed, the salmon was boiled and shared among the whole community. Everyone who took part in the ceremony later gave one salmon to the seer. These were all cooked and eaten by everyone during a feast that included dancing led by the seer. This short film explains the importance of salmon to the people of the coast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- zdzvS1FSwk

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The ways that resources were administered varied from place to place. Generally a band would hold certain territories in common, but other bands were permitted to share these areas. For instance, among the St'at'imc a family held rights to specific fishing spots, but once they had caught all the fish they needed, others were permitted to use the same places. Hereditary chiefs were responsible for the prosperity and safety of their groups. They organized their group's economic activities, maintained its prestige and social position through feasts and potlatches, and acted as leaders of spiritual pursuits. However, they required the support of the resource- use unit's members. Decisions were made by consensus through a council of Elders and chiefs. All members of the group gave some of their labour and food and materials for the common good of the group, and the chief used this wealth in his potlatch. Thus it was required of everyone in the resource-use unit to manage the land and resources of their particular territories. Harvesting Resources With such a diversity of people using an abundance of different resources throughout British Columbia, a wide variety of technologies were developed and used for harvesting and processing the resources. The rich and varied material cultures of the First Nations of B.C. show the high degree of skill the people had to effectively use the natural resources at hand. Gathering Plants Plants were an important raw material for many aspects of First Nations' daily, ceremonial, and spiritual life. Hundreds of

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different plants provided food, as well as materials for medicine, tools, dyes, containers of all sorts, fuel, and fibre. Most plants could be easily harvested by hand or with simple tools. Berries were picked and placed in woven baskets. Digging sticks were made to collect root vegetables and trees were felled by chopping with adzes (the picture on the left shows approximately what an adze, a tool for carving and shaping wood, would have looked like) or controlled burning around the base. In some areas, plants were tended to ensure a better crop; for example, on southern Vancouver Island, where camas fields were maintained by controlled burning. Sometimes materials were harvested from living trees. One cedar plank might be split off a standing tree. Barks were gathered in the spring when the sap was running, making it easier to separate bark from wood. Cedar bark was pulled off in long, narrow, vertical strips, and in the interior, the bark of trees such as birch and pine was cut off in sheets. Long roots were dug and pulled from the ground. Harvesting certain plants was often a group activity, especially when they had to be picked in the short period when they were ripe, or were collected in large quantities. The harvesting of plants usually involved a spiritual element. Many groups celebrated a First Fruit ceremony in which the first berry of the year was welcomed and thanked in a ritual. Whenever they took a resource, First Nations people thanked the plant for giving of its bounty. Today many First Nations

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people continue this practice when they gather plant materials. Fishing Many skills were required to catch and preserve a good supply of salmon, whether they were caught in the ocean, at a river's mouth, or in the fast-moving waters of a river canyon far inland. Usually catching the fish was a cooperative effort involving a family group operating a fish trap. People needed to have an intimate understanding of the ways of the water, to be able to read the tides and winds on the ocean, or the currents and eddies on the river so they could successfully harvest the salmon. Some salmon were caught in the open ocean using trolling hooks or nets, but most were caught in the tidal waters near the shore. Beach seines were large nets set out parallel to the shore from a canoe. When enough fish had congregated between the net and the shore, men on the beach hauled in the net, pulling the fish onto the shore, where they could be gathered. In Coast Salish territory, off the shores of southern Vancouver Island, a reef net was suspended between two canoes with stone anchors holding it in place on the ocean bottom. At the right moment it was hauled up to the surface and the trapped fish were removed. At river mouths and estuaries, where salmon wait before heading upstream, people used the tide to their advantage by building stone traps. At high tide, the salmon could swim over the circular stone walls, but as the tide went out, they were stranded and could be gathered by hand. The tidal flats or rocky shores at the mouths of most salmon rivers along the coast had such stone traps, and the remains of some of them are still visible today. Different techniques were used once the salmon entered the rivers. Groups worked together to build and use weirs, fence-

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like structures which allowed water to flow through but blocked salmon on their relentless journey upstream. Weirs could be built across a small river to stop the salmon, which could then be gathered by spears or dip nets. More elaborate structures could guide the fish into traps. Basket traps were large, circular traps placed in the water that funneled the salmon into the tapered end. More solitary methods using dip nets and spears were often used in faster water. Platforms and stages were built out over the river on rocky promontories. Still in use today; these are usually built in precarious spots where it would be too dangerous simply to fish from the shore. Gill nets, which catch the gills of fish in the mesh of the net as they attempt to swim through, also remain in use today at age-old fishing sites on rivers. Another method involved fishing at night from canoes using torch lights to attract the fish. One person held a burning torch over the water, while another speared the salmon or trout.

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Many technologies were used for catching other varieties of fish. Oolichan arrived in rivers in such large quantities that they could be caught in long, funnel-shaped nets, in dip nets, or with rakes. These rakes were also used for herring. Halibut, which live on the ocean bottom, were caught with highly specialized hooks which were anchored in groups near the ocean floor. Two different styles of halibut hook were developed. On the south and central coasts, they were made of one piece of hard wood, usually yew bent with steam to form a U shape. On the north coast, two pieces of wood were lashed together to form a V shape. One of these pieces had an elaborate carving. Freshwater fish were caught with similar methods to those used in the salmon fishery: hooks, spears, and gill nets. Ice fishing was common in the interior during winter, when fine fishing lines of sinew were dropped through a hole in the ice with a baited stone or bone hook attached. When a fish was caught it was hauled through the hole, or if it was large, speared first. The largest fish in B.C.'s rivers, the sturgeon, grows up to six metres in length and can weigh as much as 600 kg. Sturgeon were usually fished from canoes. Sometimes they were speared with large, double-headed harpoons and sometimes trapped in a large trawl net.

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Hunting Moose, caribou and deer were the primary sources of meat for many interior people. Hunters required highly developed tracking skills, as well as an intimate knowledge of the vast territories where the animals travelled. They needed to understand animal behaviour so they could attract the animals using sounds that mimic those made by the deer or moose. Sometimes individuals hunted these animals using bows and arrows, but more often, people worked together to hunt whole herds of caribou or deer. Some groups worked in hunting teams, where a line of men would close ranks and encircle the deer, allowing the best archers to shoot them. Some groups used fences or corrals. Fences were built along travel routes in the mountains, while corrals were built at small lakes, either in the water or on the shore where the deer would come out of the lake. Deadfalls were used to trap other mammals, from large game like bears to mink and over. These are traps which drop a heavy log when triggered by animals entering them. Some people dug pits along the animals' paths, covering the holes with light vegetation. The unsuspecting animal would break through the covering and be trapped in the pit.

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Preserving and Using Resources Indigenous people developed highly efficient and sometimes quite sophisticated technologies to process the resources they harvested. Much of their labour was spent preparing stores of food for the winter. Many of the tasks requiring time to create a product, such as weaving a basket, making clothing or carving a mask, were done in the long winter months. Preserving Food In the past, the most common way used to preserve the large stock of food needed to last through the winter was drying. Sometimes meat was dried by wind or sun, and sometimes by the heat and smoke from fires. The meat, whether it was from salmon, deer, or other animals, had to be expertly cleaned and prepared for drying. Usually some kind of structure was built to dry or smoke the meat. In the Fraser Canyon, you can still see dozens of open air racks along the shores where salmon are hung to let the dry, hot summer winds remove the moisture. In most Indigenous communities throughout the province you will find smokehouses, small structures used generation after generation to hang salmon or meat over a fire. From community to community methods of cutting and drying differ, with a variety of finished products. Sometimes salmon is dried completely, resulting in a light, nutritious food that is easy to store and to pack when travelling. At other times, it may be half-dried, letting the smoke do most of the curing.

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People on the coast stored food in bentwood boxes beneath the raised floors around the sides of their longhouses. In the interior, where people were more mobile, raised caches were built. These were small storehouses built high above the ground so that animals could not invade them. In other interior villages, where people lived in pit houses for the winter, dried salmon, deer, and other foods were kept in underground pits. Hides The hides of animals such as deer, moose, and elk were valuable for clothing and footwear and were also used to make shelters such as tipis. Sometimes the raw hide was used, such as for making cord and drums, but frequently the skins needed to be tanned Tanning was a complex technology, requiring a great deal of skill and knowledge. First, it was essential to skin the animal and scrape the hair and fat off without making any cuts or tears, and secondly, knowledge of the chemical process of tanning, as well as the critical timing of all the steps was necessary. A common tanning solution was made from the brains of the deer or moose, which were boiled with bones and marrow. Part of the processing of hides could also include hanging them over smoldering fires to smoke them.

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Making Household Goods Weaving Plant fibres were woven into clothing, mats, and baskets, and used in twine and rope. Women usually had the role of gathering and processing the necessary plants. They had specialized knowledge of where and how to gather the plant materials, and the skills to process them and create a finished product.For example, making traps or nets for fishing took considerable time--sometimes as much as a whole winter--as well as resources. On the coast, the most common plant used to make nets was the stinging nettle; in the interior it was "Indian hemp" (Apocynum cannabinum). The strong fibres were removed from the stems of these plants and twisted into twine. Other products made from plants required similarly sophisticated technology. Baskets woven from cedar bark, spruce roots, reeds or grasses came in many different styles depending on their purpose. Some were made watertight for carrying liquids, usually by weaving them very tightly, or sometimes by applying a sealant such as resin. Others were

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loosely woven to allow water to drain out. Throughout much of the province, birch bark baskets were common. The waterproof and rot-resistant bark was sewn with spruce roots to form watertight containers. Weaving and basket-making were developed into complex and highly sought-after arts, almost always carried out by women. As well as making utilitarian objects, women created fine textiles from both plants and animal hair spun into thread. These were most often made into robes that signified great power and social status, or had spiritual significance. The expertise of Coast Salish women in creating valuable textiles was highly regarded. They raised a breed of dog especially for its soft hair, which was spun using a spindle whorl, a unique tool which helped the spinning process. The thread was woven using a special type of loom with free- floating roller bars. Mountain goat wool was also widely used in weaving blankets. Because it was relatively rare and difficult to obtain, it was reserved for ceremonial robes of high-ranking people. On the northern coast, two types of ceremonial robes known as the Raven's tail blanket and the Chilkat blanket were created using complex weaving processes. The Coast Salish wove their own style of blanket from mountain goat hair. Making Tools Winter offered an opportunity to replenish the tools that would be needed for the coming year. Usually everybody knew how to make the tools they would require, and men and women were responsible for making the implements they used. In some cases experts might be called upon to make very sophisticated items. Nothing was wasted: people made use of practically every part of the resources they harvested. For example, when a

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moose was killed, those parts that were not used for food could be used in other ways. The skin, of course, was tanned for many uses. The antlers were used as moose calls, imitating the sound of a moose rubbing its antlers against the trunk of a tree. They were also shaped to make knives and scrapers. Other bones were fashioned into tools such as awls and needles. Sinew from the muscles made a tough thread, while the stomach was cleaned and used as a bag. A hunter's most important equipment was his bow and arrows, and the skill with which he could make them determined, to a degree, the success of the hunt. Bows were made from a strong supple hardwood such as yew or maple, while the string might be made from sinew or the fibre from Indian hemp. The construction of arrows varied according to their purpose. One type might simply have the shaft sharpened to a fine point for small prey like birds, while others had large detachable stone points for killing large game. Great expertise was required in using the materials. For instance, it isn't a simple matter to shape a stone into a projectile such as a spearhead or sculpted form like an anchor. To make a sharp projectile, you must understand the structure of the stone and know how shards will flake off when you strike it a certain way. To sculpt the stone, you must have the knowledge and the patience to grind, pierce, and smooth the material, creating a tool of great utility as well as beauty. Woodworking, too, required great skill, and often men specialized in building large items such as canoes. One of the most useful household items made on the coast, but also traded into the interior, was the cedar bentwood box (sometimes known as a kerfed box). Highly sophisticated techniques enabled the wood-worker to make the sides of a box out of one piece of wood, using steam to bend the wood

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after the corners had been carefully notched or kerfed. The bent wood was joined with pegs or lashing and a tight- fitting lid and bottom were added to make a tightly sealed container. These boxes were made in many sizes and used to store any manner of goods, from foods such as dried salmon and oolichan grease, to fishing gear, to chiefs' ceremonial objects. They were also used for seating. Modern Resource Management The Esk'etemc First Nation, located in the middle of BC near Williams Lake, is an example of a Nation that have brought traditional resource management practices into the modern day.

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Alkali Resource Management Ltd. is an award winning company that manages the forestry practices for the Esk'etemc First Nation on their traditional land. This video shows how traditional ideas around resource management are practiced by this 21st century company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlpX0GGstJI Case Study: The Gitxsan - Resource Management in the Past and Present Although the Gitxsan live 300 kilometres inland from the ocean, their society shares features of Northwest Coast culture. Their language, Gitxsanlivimuxw, is related to the Tsimshian and Nisga'a languages. Gitxsan territory covers about 30,000 square kilometres in the upper Skeena River watershed. This large territory is managed by Wilp or House Groups. These are closely aligned extended family groups which have stewardship over particular territories. Rights to territories and resources therein are hereditary, passed on from generation to generation through the matrilineal line. The head chief of the Wilp holds a great deal of power in managing the resources

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and economy of the people, but he or she requires the support of the people of their Wilp to successfully manage the lands and increase the group's wealth. These hereditary rights are reaffirmed at public ceremonies called yawk or potlatches. At the yawk, narratives called adaawk are recounted and dramatized. The adaawk tell of the origins of the House Group's relationship with its territories through encounters of ancestors with supernatural creatures or natural phenomena on their lands. The adaawk may only be told by members of the Wilp, and the accompanying privileges of dances and songs are also restricted to members. Connected with the territories and the adaawk, as well, are the crests which are displayed on regalia, robes, house fronts, and totem poles.

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Colonization and settlement radically changed the way the Gitxsan were able to manage their resources. Forestry became the leading industry in the region, and while it offered some paid employment to Gitxsan people, it removed control of the forests and other resources from the Wilp. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Gitxsan and the Wet'suwet'en took

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the governments of Canada and British Columbia to court, seeking a solution to long-outstanding issues of Aboriginal title and land claims. Their case, commonly referred to as Delgamuukw, was to a great extent based on their traditional laws which governed the House system. Much of the evidence recounted the adaawk of each Wilp, and stated for the record the individual hunting, fishing, and berry sites managed by each chief. The initial judgement of the B.C. Supreme Court, which denied the validity of adaawk and other oral histories as evidence, was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997. The federal court acknowledged that the Gitxsan and the Wet'suwet'en hold Aboriginal title and that the adaawk are admissible in Canadian courts. Following the Delgamuukw decision, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Gitxsan signed a Reconciliation Agreement with the Province of British Columbia. In part, the province agreed that the Gitxsan would play a major role in managing the resources of their traditional territories. This includes Wilp- based forestry planning and a concerted effort to improve the depleted salmon stocks in the Skeena River. Part of the challenge for the Gitxsan in reasserting control in the management of the resources in their traditional territory is to re-introduce holistic management. Under government control, for example, salmon are managed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, a federal body. The land which forms the habitat of the salmon, however, is governed by the provincial government, as is the forestry industry, which has an enormous impact on salmon habitat. The Gitxsan model for forestry management combines Indigenous knowledge with the latest technology. It puts environmental and cultural considerations first when it comes to deciding where and how logging will take place in their territories. Inventory maps which show significant biological,

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ecological, and cultural elements are crucial to the model. This has involved mapping in great detail each resource using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. These maps show everything from trade and access trails to sites for medicine gathering and berry-picking, spiritual camps and ancient villages, as well as fishing sites and hurting territories. The Gitxsan are acknowledged as leaders in using "high-tech" GIS technology to assist with continued stewardship of their ancient territories. This video highlights the relationship between the Gitxsan people and their traditional territories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmgqPXgYJ8s Case Study: The Dunne-za - Hunters and Dreamers Before the modern world imposed itself on their lands, the Dunne-za (also sometimes spelled Dane-zaa and sometimes known as the Beaver) lived an extremely adaptable lifestyle that made the most efficient use of the land and the resources available in the harsh climate of northeastern B.C. They integrated the spiritual and economic worlds in ways that are difficult for us to understand today. By becoming aware of the world view of the Dunne-za, however, we can appreciate the diversity of ways that First Nations people related to the land.

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The beautiful Peace River Valley is part of Dunne-Za traditional territory. Image from: By Jeffrey Wynne - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60769404 The Dunne-za were, and still are, excellent hunters. Their principal food sources were large mammals, primarily moose, but also caribou and bison. Their lives were organized to be closely attuned to the behaviour of these animals, which could be unpredictable. Hunters had to be ready to follow the random movements of the game, and the whole community needed to be able to cope with an uncertain food supply. Thus it was essential to be able to track the animals, and to organize society in ways that could survive on limited food if necessary. Families belonged to a loose association of relatives in a kinship group which could change its composition to adapt to the seasons and the available resources. A family group of

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thirty people was the optimum size for survival and would require, on average, one moose a week. People came together in larger groups in summer and fall when game was more plentiful, but at times when they knew they were more vulnerable to starvation, they separated into smaller groups. As hunters in vast tracts of land, the Dunne-za had incredibly detailed mental maps of the land and an internalized geographical sense that infused all aspects of their lives. The directions and the path of the sun were more than hunting guides, they were fixed points of stability in an otherwise flexible world. For example, a hunter slept with his head pointed east, to where the sun rises. Beside him hung a medicine bundle, a source of spiritual power acquired from an animal he had contact with when he was young, As a boy, he went alone into the bush on a vision quest, where he encountered what is called his medicine animal, learned its unique song, and received instructions on how to make his medicine bundle. Now, as a man, the power of this animal helped him to dream about his hunt. He believed that dreams came from where the sun rises, and in his dream he travelled back to his encounter with his medicine animal, but at the same time he could see ahead to his future hunt. In his mind he travelled ahead of his tracks in the bush, and was able to see his future prey. In his dream he would kill the animal and then, the next day, he knew just where his path would cross that of his prey, and he would easily track it and kill it. Such a dream kill did not necessarily happen at every hunt, nor could all hunters dream in this way. However, dreams were an important experience for all Dunne-za people. The songs that were discovered through dreaming were performed at gatherings, such as the summer meetings when several hundred people would come together.

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The performances had a particular structure which reflected the people's relationship with the land, their society, and their spirituality. At the centre was a fire, around which people danced in the direction of the sun's path. The dances around the fire were seen as a symbolic walk along the trail to heaven. People also paid attention to the directions when arranging the seating at a gathering. Men sat in the northern half of the circle, women in the southern half. Hunters sat in the eastern section of the men's side, so that their songs came from the east, just as did their dreams. At the west, where the sun sets, sat a specially revered man known as the Dreamer, whose dreaming ability was so powerful that he could see the trail to the heavens. The social system of hunter societies such as the Dunne-za appears on the surface to be very simple, partially because they had little material culture for observers to see. However, even in this brief look at their society, we can appreciate the complexity of their spiritual culture, and how, still today, it is integrated with their relationship to the land. The Dunne-Za are currently concerned about the impact the Site-C dam will have on their traditional territories, and their ability to use the resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=IrZ-o4MkIGg One of the issues facing Indigenous people since contact is access to their traditional resources. The reserve system and the encroachment of settlers on their traditional lands has created barriers to this access, interrupting their traditional ways of life. There have been court cases brought by

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Indigenous people that have clarified their rights to access resources. Van Deer Peet v. The Queen is one of them. Van der Peet v. The Queen “The doctrine of Aboriginal rights exists… because of one simple fact: when Europeans arrived in North America, Aboriginal peoples were already here, living in communities on the land, and participating in distinctive cultures, as they had done for centuries. It is this fact, and this fact above all others, which separates Aboriginal peoples from all other minority groups in Canadian society and which mandates their special legal status.” – Chief Justice Lamer in R. v. Van der Peet, para 30. In 1987, Dorothy Van der Peet, a member of the Tzeachten Band of the Sto:lo Nation, sold 10 sockeye salmon to non-Indigenous people. She was charged and convicted of illegally selling fish under the Fisheries Act . She had been fishing with a license that only allowed her to catch fish for her own personal use. During the trial, Van der Peet argued that she was only using her Indigenous rights to sell the fish if she so desired. She argued that her Aboriginal rights had not been extinguished. She was found guilty and fined $50. Van der Peet appealed the ruling and her case was eventually heard in the Supreme Court of Canada in November 1995. The court had to decide whether the law that prevented the sale of fish infringed on Van der Peet's Indigenous rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. The court decided that Van der Peet had no Indigenous right to sell fish and it upheld the verdict of the lower courts. The judges did, however, define the requirements that an activity had to meet to be protected as an Indigenous right:

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 The activity had to exist before the arrival of the Europeans.  Modern activity must have been practiced continually in a similar fashion according to pre-contact practices, customs, and traditions.  The activity had to meet an “ integral to a distinctive culture” test. The judges defined “integral” as being a practice, custom, or tradition that had been central in significance to the particular First Nation in question. Van der Peet successfully appealed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Justice Selbie ruled that the trial judge, who had ruled that in traditional society the Stô:lô people did not sell their fish commercially, had made an error. Judge Selbia said we cannot compare modern definitions of commercial fishing with the economy of the past. Trade and economies have changed. He ruled that Van der Peet had proved that her Indigenous right to fish included the right to sell the fish she caught. Transportation Bridges Throughout the interior, people usually walked as their main mode of transportation, until the arrival of the horse in the early 1700s. They developed extensive and well- maintained networks of trails. Where trails needed to cross rivers, people built bridges, usually simple log structures. However, the Gitxsan developed a unique technology for constructing cantilevered bridges over deep river canyons. During the

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winter, people used snowshoes to travel between villages or to work their traplines. Canoes On the coast, transportation was mainly by canoe. Cedar was used almost exclusively, except for some small river canoes which might be made of birch or spruce. The cedar canoes, which reached a size of eighteen metres, had a remarkable streamlined design, were able to travel great distances on stormy seas, and could carry a large cargo or as many as twenty passengers. Each one was made from a hollowed-out tree that was steamed to stretch the gunwales to a broader shape. In the interior, where cedar was not so plentiful, birch bark canoes were the most common type. Dugout canoes made from cottonwood, cedar, or ponderosa pine were also used. Skin canoes were most common in the far northern reaches

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of the province, although they were sometimes used as hunting canoes in the Bark Canoes Bark canoes were efficient for river and lake travel, but were not used for ocean-going transportation. Single sheets of bark were cut and pried from standing cottonwood, spruce, red cedar, white pine, and sub-alpine fir trees. In the Bridge River area, the bark of paper birch trees was used. Smaller canoes were made of birch bark. These canoes could be propelled by a single-bladed paddle handled by one person. They were strong enough to carry heavy loads, though they were extremely light in weight. The canoes were easy to carry on portages, could carry large loads in shallow water, and were easy to repair on the trail using resources from the land. The art of bark-canoe building has decreased since European contact; older canoes have not preserved well, as they dried out in museums when not in use. Bark canoes are the prototype for our modern-day wood and canvas canoes, wooden strip canoes, and fiberglass and aluminum canoes. Athabaskan Canoes Slave, Beaver, Locheaux, Hare, and Dogrib people used both bark canoes and dugout canoes for inland travel. Spruce bark was commonly used by these peoples rather than birch,

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because birch trees were too small in the traditional northern territories of these First Nations peoples. Interior Canoes The Lillooet commonly used bark canoes before iron tools became available. The most common type was the sturgeon- nosed bark canoe. Other canoes had a rounded high bow and stern, though canoes with long, flat, projecting bows and sterns were also used. In the Lakes region, which includes the Arrow Lakes, Slocan Lake, and the Columbia River from Revelstoke in the north to Northport, Washington in the south, people were more mobile and relied heavily on canoe transportation. They used white pine bark to make the sturgeon-nose canoe, which was large enough to carry two people. Dugout canoes were sometimes made from ponderosa pine, cedar, cottonwood, or grand fir. Sturgeon-nosed Canoe In the Ktunaxa region, bark canoes were the main form of transportation in the months when the river was not frozen. The sturgeon-nosed canoe is a distinctive model of bark canoe that was used in the Ktunaxa area of British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho. It was made of birch, spruce, fir, white pine, or balsam bark with cedar root or wild cherry bark for binding, and pitch from the ponderosa pine or Douglas fir for caulking. The keel line extended into end “rams,” and the canoe was framed with well-spaced battens. Some of the

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battens were lashed to the ribs. This construction led to the nose of the canoe being submersed under water, which meant that these canoes were easier to paddle in strong winds. The canoes were also quiet when being paddled, which was a beneficial feature while hunting in marshy areas. In the 1940s, sturgeon-nosed canoes were still being constructed by one family in Creston. The Ktunaxa also used spruce-bark canoes, hide-covered bullboats, and reed rafts. The bullboat was made from an uncured hide stretched over a circular frame. Reed rafts were used in lakes. Dugout Canoes For Indigenous people of the coast, the dugout was the canoe of choice, because they had large trees, mainly cedar, available to them, and the coastal waters could be much rougher than lakes or rivers, so they needed a bigger craft. Before metal tools were readily available, Indigenous people often hollowed out dugouts by burning them with controlled fires and then removing the charred wood with an adze. Another technique was to chop notches across the inside width of the canoe and then split out the wood between the notches, repeating the whole process until the desired depth was achieved. In more recent times, chain-saws have been used to eliminate the laborious chopping of notches as well as to rough out the exterior shape of the hull. Seagoing canoes of the Pacific Coast were often widened through soaking the hull with hot water and spreading the gunwales apart. Indigenous people of the Thompson area traveled in dugout cedar canoes that were made by the Lower Thompson First

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Nations, and traded upriver. Further upriver, bark canoes were sometimes made. The Shuswap used bark canoes or cottonwood dugouts. Dugouts became more widely used with the availability of iron tools in the 1800s. Bark canoes were made of spruce bark or white pine bark. Smaller canoes were made of birch bark. Dugout canoes were made of red cedar, cottonwood, or Sitka spruce. The Haida people would travel by canoe from their home territory, Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, to the southern coast of British Columbia—a round trip of more than 1600 kilometres. Northern style dugout: https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/water craft/wad03eng.html Different types of canoes were made for different purposes. Canoes were used for:  transportation of people or freight  war  fishing and hunting  racing  whaling  sealing

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 children’s use  trade Freight canoes, also known as “moving canoes,” were used to move household goods and the housing planks for west coast houses. A marriage canoe was made by laying planks across two canoes to make a floating stage. The style of fishing, hunting, and transportation canoes would vary depending on whether they were used for ocean travel or river travel. Some canoes were designed to carry only one person, whereas others were designed to carry two people; some larger canoes carried many people. War Canoe The Four Basic Dugout Canoe Types River Canoe

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The river canoe is flat in the middle and at both ends. It is shallower than ocean-going canoes and has a rounded bottom. Coast Salish Canoe The Coast Salish canoe has a bow that slopes more gently than the northern canoe, and it has a rounded bottom. The gunwales end in a concave flare. West Coast Canoe The west coast canoe has a relatively flat bottom and a vertical stern. The flat gunwales sweep up at the bow, and a stylized bow piece that looks like a wolf head is added. The stern is also added separately. Nuu-chah-nulth canoes were a traditional trade item. A Nuu-chah-nulth canoe might be traded to the Makah, the most southern Nuu-chah-nulth group in Washington State, and then to the Lower Chinook peoples.

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Northern Canoe The northern canoe is large with a high prow and vertical cutwater—it has a sharp front, so it can cut through big waves. The sides are flared, and the bottom is rounded.On the West Coast, canoes were made of cedar. Bill Reid, a renowned Haida artist, has described cedar as the ideal gift to the people of the West Coast from the Creator: it provided clothing, housing, household materials, fuel, and transportation. The main body of the West Coast canoe was made from one log. Depending on its purpose and type, the canoe ranged in size from 5.5 meters to an impressive 17.1 meters. Historically, canoes were made of whatever material was available. In addition, people with specific tools and specific training were needed to successfully build canoes. Canoes were also made for specific needs that included fishing, whaling, sealing, traveling, and for children to play in so that they could learn at the same time. On the West Coast, the whale hunt with its large canoes became a common theme in art, in story, in song, and in names. Images of whalers in a canoe hunting a whale are distinctive and whaling was a defining West Coast activity involving rituals, roles and rank in the preparation, the hunt, the whale’s arrival at the village, and the butchering and distribution of the whale meat.

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Modern Use of the Canoe T oday, canoes have been replaced with speedboats, fishing boats, cars, buses and ferries. These modes of transportation have become more viable and more convenient. Canoes are still being made, but in different ways and for different purposes. For example, Bill Reid made a 15-metre Haida war canoe for Expo ’86, the 1986 World Fair in Vancouver. He then made a fibre glass re-creation of the canoe for the Canadian Museum of Civilization—using fiberglass allowed the canoe to withstand fluctuations in climactic conditions. The purpose of this canoe in this case was not transportation, but to serve as a symbol of northwest coast culture. This monumental bronze sculpture of a canoe carrying 13 figures, called “The Spirit of Haida Gwaii,” (image left), from is another symbol of northwest coast culture created by Bill Reid. The sculpture was cast in 1991, is now housed in the lobby of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The sculpture weighs in at close to 5000 kilograms, and is considered Bill Reid’s masterwork. The building’s architect invited Bill Reid to create a dynamic piece of art to balance the building’s classic style.

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Canoes of cedar are still made and used for a variety of reasons. One particular use of canoes today is to reconnect First Nations people with their culture as a healing experience. Canoe making may have skipped a generation, but there are still First Nations people making canoes on the West Coast. Even before the modern revival of the canoe tradition, there were canoe makers in communities up and down the coast of British Columbia. When British Columbia hosted the world’s fair Expo 86 in Vancouver, the province wanted to showcase First Nations peoples and cultures. One of many events honouring this theme included a canoe sea voyage by a crew of Heiltsuk people who paddled from their home of Bella Bella to Vancouver. The journey was hundreds of kilometres and was conducted under the leadership of Frank Brown, a Heiltsuk community member. Three years later, the Heiltsuk took up another challenge—to paddle to Seattle, Washington along with five other ocean-going nations, to join in celebration of Washington State’s 100th anniversary. At this event, Frank Brown invited all canoe nations to gather in Bella Bella in 1993. These nations joined together with other First Nations communities that built their first canoe in 100 years. Heiltsuk hosted 23 canoes in their community. The Heiltsuk’s canoe trip to Expo 86, the Paddle to Seattle event in 1989 and the Heiltsuk’s Quatuwas-People Gathering Together event have resulted in the annual event known as Tribal Journeys or Canoe Journeys, held during the summer months. One community hosts the event and paddlers from other communities make the canoe journey to the location of the host. The host community welcomes approximately 5000 visitors and guests for about five days during the event. The visitors take turns sharing traditional songs and dances. Tribal Journeys has been a deeply meaningful experience for those who participate, both young and old.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROneqaSl3_E Indigenous Transportation in the North Traditionally, the Inuit inhabitants of the Arctic were hunters and gatherers who moved seasonally from one camp to another. The Inuit used sleds and skin-covered boats, with regional variations in both design and use. Dogs pulled sleds and served as hunting animals, locating seal breathing holes in the sea ice, hunting muskoxen, holding bears at bay and serving as pack animals in the summer. Men used single-seat kayaks for hunting sea mammals, and for hunting caribou in rivers and lakes. In the Beaufort Sea and along the Alaskan coast, large skin-covered umiaks were used for whale hunting, although in the Canadian Arctic (and Greenland) women more often used such boats to transport households from place to place. Source: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tr ansportation-in-the-north The Horse By the mid-1700s, the Indigenous groups in the Interior of what is now British Columbia had horses. Seldom has the introduction of any animal so significantly changed the culture of a people. The people could cover great distances on horseback and, perhaps more significantly, they could transport greater amounts of food and material goods. By the time the early fur traders arrived in New Caledonia, as the Interior of British Columbia was then known, the horse was already a fixture and had become a symbol of wealth among Indigenous people. The First Nations of the Interior plateau of British Columbia were the first stock raisers and, over the

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years, they learned the advantage of good pasturage and water for the health of their animals. Horse saddled in traditional Thompson style. AA-00816 - Courtesy Royal British Columbia Museum To the Native people of the Interior, horses became more than useful beasts of burden. The social structure of the community came to be based upon ownership of horses, and horses eventually functioned like currency. Even though they were a symbol of individual wealth, the animals also belonged to the entire community so that, in times of scarcity, they were shared among the people. This distribution of essential resources was one of the principal roles of the chief. He was the wise leader, the one who made sure that all in his band were cared for, and horses were the community’s major resource. Native culture remained centered around horses up until modern times. Source: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions- exhibitions/buckaroos/english/native-horsemen.html

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Language As you learned in the lesson "The Shape of the Land", the geography of BC had a huge impact on the development of the culture and way of life of the Indigenous people that live here. The physical geography of B.C. also had a huge influence on the development of language families - geography influenced the emergence of seven distinct language groups, within which . Each geographical area had unique resources, which resulted in B.C. First Nations people in each area adapting differently. For example, transportation on the coast of B.C. was much easier using the ocean whereas in the interior navigation on rivers and lakes was not as easy and consequently less widely used. B.C. First Nations cultures reflect the respective geographical regions in which they reside; some groups were isolated, and others had greater common connections. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQsAtZV631w Indigenous communities in B.C. are the most diverse of any area in North America, and reflect the diversity and complexity of the B.C.'s landscape. Look at the map below. It shows the number of traditional territories in B.C., but does not come close to illustrating the vast diversity that exists amongst the communities within each territory. The First Nations communities of B.C. differ greatly from each other in terms of language, governance, settlement patterns, traditional trade routes, and much more. For example, there are approximately 60 Indigenous languages in Canada, but more than half of these languages are in B.C. Why is there so much diversity in B.C.? The answer

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has to do with the province's geography. B.C. is rich in a wide variety of resources yielded from the land, the ocean, the rivers, and mountains. This variety and diversity in resources and geography has allowed complex First Nations societies to develop. Language Isolates As you learned in the introduction, there are seven separate language groups in BC. Many of the languages are related,

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but those seven families are “as different from each other as English and Chinese,” according to Aliana Parker, Language Programs Manager with B.C.’s First Peoples’ Cultural Council. Tsilhqot’in and Dakelh (both part of the Athabascan Language Group) and Gitsenimx (spoken by the Gitxsan Nation in Northern British Columbia) are the three most widely spoken Indigenous languages in the province. Others, like Haida in Haida Gwaii and Ktunxa in the Kootenay region, are known as language isolates, unique to those nations. Conditions that led to so many languages are mostly tied to BC’s vast terrain, which spans a gamut from island, coast, and agricultural plains to high-elevation desert and Rocky Mountains. Languages develop in specific reaction to topography. Travel between these areas was difficult, so in some cases there was very little contact between different nations, leading to languages developing that had no relation to other languages in the area, language isolates . This video explains language isolates: Housing The land we now know as British Columbia encompasses a wide range of climates and geographies. As you are learning, this diversity affected First Nations cultures to a great extent and resulted in numerous distinct First Nations cultures in British Columbia. House construction techniques are another area where we can see this diversity.

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Coastal Housing Though the structural framework for traditional coastal First Nations houses was for the most part similar, tremendous diversity existed in the variety of exterior and interior house paintings found in different villages, as well as among carved interior house posts, painted screens, house frontal poles, and free-standing memorial poles. Houses up and down the coast showed common construction techniques and characteristics: massive posts and beams, generally of red cedar, created a sturdy frame; houses had low doors for safety reasons—enemies had to stoop down to enter the house, putting themselves in a vulnerable position. Houses expressed the rank and ancestral heritage of their inhabitants. Designs incorporated into winter houses expressed family histories and a family’s relationship to supernatural ancestors. Family crest carvings and inherited treasures were stored in the houses. In addition, ceremonial dances, dramas, and potlatches were all conducted in winter houses. Houses were given names, and among many groups once the houses were constructed, they were honoured with potlatch ceremonies. The longhouse was an important cultural entity. It was a part of the Northwest Coast social organization, and long-houses were armed and decorated with crests. As well as providing daily living space, they were used for all the important events such as potlatches. Coastal Housing Design examples There are many different styles of housing created by the First Nation's people. There are some examples below.

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Tsimshian House A house style of Tsimshian villages (around present day Terrace and Prince Rupert) was constructed of massive cedar posts and beams. The walls are constructed of vertical wallboards, which are set into grooved timbers at the top and bottom. These boards can be removed.Below is a painting of a village from 1865. Lax Kw'alaams (Fort Simpson). Painting by Fredee Alexcee, 1865. Library and Archives Canada. The ancestors of the Tsimshian speaking peoples probably migrated from the Interior Plateau and initially lived in Plateau-style pit houses (see below). Over time the group changed into four distinct groups, each centred on a specific location in Tsimshian territory. The Nisga’a were spread in villages along the Nass River, the Gitksan along the Upper Skeena River, the Coast Tsimshian along the Lower Skeena River and on the Coast at its mouth, and the Southern Tsimshian further down the Coast. For more interesting information on Tsimshian housing, check out this website:

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https://www.sfu.ca/brc/art_architecture/nw_coast_architecture /tsimashian-architecture.html Nuxalk House - Bella Coola area Traditional Nuxalk houses were of a shed-roof and plank construction, and some early Nuxalk houses were elevated on pilings. Nuxalk house frames were sometimes built with three structurally distinct “bays,” which delineated three separate areas in the house’s interior, all of which shared a common hearth. Nuxalk House Haida House Haida houses (Haida Gwaii) were constructed of western red cedar with a framework of stout corner posts that supported massive beams. The frame was clad with wide planks. The tools required for building houses included sledgehammers, adzes, hand mauls and wedges for splitting wood.

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Haida House Interior Housing Tipis Most interior Indigenous groups used different architecture for summer shelter than they did for winter. Many houses were light and portable, as people moved to different resource sites in the summer. In some areas, such as the northeast, tipis were the principal type of shelter, as they were on the Prairies. These tall conical tents covered with moose or caribou hides were light and easily transported.

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Tipi Pit Houses The people of the southern interior developed a unique winter home that is usually called a pit house because a pit was excavated in the ground to create a living space. They were usually circular with a conical roof built of beams and posts. People entered through the central smokehole, which held a ladder made from a log. As many as thirty people lived in these structures over the winter. The earth acted as insulation, and the houses were comfortable and easy to heat. In 2011, the Westbank First Nation, from the Okanagan area, researched and constructed a winter dwelling, or `pit house` based on traditional Okanagan First Nation designs. Elders and youth designed the model based on their research on ancient winter dwellings.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqjxIJVyDgQ Clothing and Personal Adornment Clothing The traditional lifestyle of most of B.C.'s interior First Nations people demanded flexibility and ease of travel. People could only carry the articles they needed for survival: their clothing, tools, daily utensils, and weapons. These items were made with great skill and decorated in ways that reflected the people and the land. The messages carried by this artistic expression are for the most part lost to time. However, there is no doubt that the art of the interior people carried messages to the human world and the spiritual world. Clothing was the most vital form of personal adornment. A person's clothing communicated his or her place in society and displayed the skill of the woman who created it and the wearer's status and wealth. The quality of the skins and the decorations of quills, beads, and shells showed a man's skill as a hunter, his wealth, and his trading abilities. Many people, especially high-ranking men, had special "dress" clothes that were only used for meeting delegates from other nations.

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Clothing was the supreme expression of skill and artistry for women, as they played the principal role in its creation. They tanned the hides, sewed the garments, and decorated them. Most clothing in the interior was made from the skins of deer, moose, and caribou, with some even made from salmon skin. In the southern interior, women also wove garments of sophisticated design from natural fibres made from Indian hemp, cedar, sagebrush, and willow. Wool and hair were spun into thread that was woven into blankets and robes. Skins were usually painted with natural paints made from plants and clay in a palette of reds, browns, greens, and blues. They were decorated with bone, porcupine quills, feathers, beads, and shells. Interior people traded for shells like dentalium and abalone from the coast to add value and status to their clothing. After European contact, manufactured beads made a colourful addition to decoration on clothing such as jackets, gloves, and moccasins. Clothing was more than just protection from the elements or a display of social status. It had a spiritual dimension and was thought of as part of the person who wore it. To Athapascan

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people, clothing was said to be like a "second skin. It could take on qualities of the owner, and could even be manipulated in ways that could cause good or evil. Wearing the clothing of another person was sometimes believed to transfer the qualities of the owner to the new wearer. The image on the right is a traditional Athapascan men's summer outfit. It is decorated with decorated with red ochre, dentalium (beads made with seeds) and dyed porcupine quills. Image from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/gwic hin The full meaning of the art displayed on clothing is not understood today. However, there are suggestions that at least sometimes it was intended to please the natural or spiritual worlds as well as fellow humans. For instance, one characteristic design element involves outlining in red ochre areas such as sleeves, hemlines, and seams. Among the Nlaka'pamux these were sometimes called "earth lines." They were painted over joins or openings to bring protection and good luck. Personal Adornment Decorating the face by painting or tattooing was a sign of beauty or of status. Face painting was more common among men than women. Black and red were the

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main colours used. Tattooing was also common, though women were more often tattooed than men. The tattoos were made using a needle made from a porcupine quill or a thin, sharp bone. The needle pulled a fine sinew thread coated with charcoal under the skin to leave a mark. Men frequently had parts of their body such as their arms tattooed as a protection to keep them strong and healthy. A great deal of attention was paid to the hair, especially by men. It was arranged and decorated with feathers and dentalium shells. High-ranking Dakelh men were known to have worn ceremonial wigs made of materials such as human hair, sea lion whiskers, and dentalium. Other personal adornments worn by both men and women included pendants and ornaments worn in piercings in the nose or the ears.

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