Periodical
Indian World - volume 3, number 7 (October 1980)
- Title
- Indian World - volume 3, number 7 (October 1980)
- Is Part Of
- 1.06-01.04 Indian World
- 1.06.-01 Newsletters and bulletins sub-series
- Date
- October 1980
- volume
- 3
- issue
- 7
- Language
- english
- Identifier
- 1.06-01.04-02.10
- pages
- 36
- Table Of Contents
-
Ceremony........................... 2
State of Emergency: Trudeau's Constitution
would wipe out Aboriginal Rights..............4
Constitution Express...........................5
B.C. Bands Take Trudeau to Court...............6
Indian Child Caravan...........................7
President's Message............................9
Our World...................................10
News News News.............................12
Not Guilty: Fountain Band Victory..............13
In the News..................................14
Special Supplement: Assembly!...............16
Resolutions..............19
Breach of Treaty: Recording Elders' Evidence.....23
Up-dates.....................................24
First Annual Indian Fall Fair....................25
Ah Indian Doctor's Booklet....................28
To help a sick friend...........................28
Health workers start consultations...............29
Communications Our Way...a letter............29
Book Review: Indians Don't Cry................ 30
Help Wanted.................................31
Our Way is to Share...........................32
Indian Languages in Training...................32
Our Spirit is in our Languages...................33
Editorial.....................................34
Indian Government Founders Honoured..........35 - Contributor
- s Faye Edgar
- Darrell Ned
- Pauline Douglas
- George Manuel
- Fay Wilson
- Gordon Antoine
- Derek Wilson
- Louise M
- el
- Winona Stevenson
- Lorna Bob
- Violet Birdstone
- Carmen Maracle
- Bess Brown
- Maxine Pape
-
Glen
Williams
Carmen Maracle - Angeline Eagle
- Mary Schendlinger
- Type
- periodical
- Transcription (Hover to view)
-
INDIAN WORLD
"THE CHOICE IS OURS"
UBCIC NEWS
OCTOBER 1980
CELEBRATION
The Wedding
When an Indian loses his cultural identity, he faces the
forlorn existence of wandering in No-man's land. His
chances of attaining equality alongside the white man
range from nil to very slim. Almost all Indians have had
to wrestle with this form of alienation at one time or
another.
Elmer and Fay were one of the many who have
endured the ill fortune of struggling with an identity
crisis. The great Creator of all good things had brought
them into the world to live a good life, the way their
people once had. But they carried no hope because their
people, the Homalco people, had been forced by the
white man and his religion to live as a second rate white
man. N o one knew any songs or dances. Very few knew
about the Indian way but they were too ashamed to talk
about it. In desperation the Homalco people abused
their bodies, minds, spirits, and hearts.
When the corruption of the white man's world had
driven Elmer and Fay apart and all respect was gone the
Great Creator spoke to them through other people. The
message was simple: " Y o u r culture is there i f you want
it."
From this point onward life has been wonderful for
Elmer and Fay. After a bit of searching, they've
discovered their culture wasn't completely lost. Now
they're walking on the Indian path and they walk hand in
hand. The new happiness that they now live in has led to
their traditional marriage. O n October 16, 1980 Fay
and Elmer were married in the Indian way for all Indian
nations to see, and this union was blessed by the Great
Creator.
There are no words to express the happiness that
Elmer and Fay have found in living the way their
forefathers had. They know that their marriage is a
strong one because their spirits, minds, hearts and bodies
have been joined by the Great Creator. They feel that any
other form of marriage would not have allowed a bond as
they now have. They only wish they will find the words to
tell the Homalco people and all other Indian nations that
the Indian way is the best way of life.
The Animal Kingdom
After the wedding ceremony the Kwicksutaineuk people
presented the dances of the A n i m a l Kingdom.
"We have given names as we have shown these, and these
names have been passed on, rightfully, from generation
to generation. We do this to show that, indeed, our
culture is alive and also in the hope that you will follow
suit and practise yours. For it is in the practise that, we
become again a strong healthy people. "
INDIAN
WORLD
V O L U M E 3, N U M B E R 7
I N D I A N W O R L D is the official voice of the Union
of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.
It is dedicated to building a strong foundation for
Indian Government by providing an awareness of the
political and social issues affecting the Indians of
British Columbia.
Signed articles and opinions are the views of the
individuals concerned and not necessarily those of the
UBCIC.
Table of Contents
Ceremony
State o f Emergency: Trudeau's Constitution
would wipe out Aboriginal Rights
Constitution Express
B . C . Bands Take Trudeau to Court
Indian Child Caravan
President's Message
Our W o r l d
News News News
Not Guilty: Fountain Band Victory
In the News
Special Supplement: Assembly!
Resolutions
Selina Timoykin of Penticton on Parliament Hill in
Ottawa last April. B.C. Bands are now taking
Trudeau to court for pushing his new Constitution
without our participation, request or consent. Bands
across Canada are joining the court action.
Contributors
Editors: Faye Edgar and Darrell Ned
Assistant Editor: Pauline Douglas
Written contributions: George Manuel, Fay Wilson,
Gordon Antoine, Derek Wilson, Louise Mandel,
Winona Stevenson, L o r n a Bob, Violet Birdstone,
Carmen Maracle, Bess Brown, Maxine Pape & Glen
Williams
Illustrations by Carmen Maracle and Angeline Eagle
Typesetting by Mary Schendlinger at Pulp Press
Photography by U B C I C staff unless credited.
2
4
5
6
7
9
10
12
13
14
16
19
Breach of Treaty: Recording Elders' Evidence
Up-dates
First A n n u a l Indian Fall Fair
A h Indian Doctor's Booklet
T o help a sick friend
Health workers start consultations
Communications Our W a y . . . a letter
Book Review: Indians Don't Cry
Help Wanted
Our Way is to Share
Indian Languages in Training
Our Spirit is in our Languages
Editorial
Indian Government Founders Honoured
23
24
25
28
28
29
29
. . 30
31
32
32
33
34
35
O U R C O V E R : The Indian Child Caravan was started to protect the Spallumcheen Band's children and they added
meaning and energy to the caravan. Their testimony at the beginning of the General Assembly added new urgency to
the theme of Implementing Indian Government.
INDIAN WORLD 3
T h e C o n s t i t u t i o n sets d o w n the general rules b y
w h i c h a l l people i n C a n a d a live a n d w h i c h a l l C a n a d i a n Governments have to f o l l o w .
The problem is not that Trudeau is taking
jurisdiction over the Constitution back from
the British to the Canadian Government. The
problem is that, in the process, the Indian
people stand to lose all the rights we have
fought so fiercely to defend over the last century. All the Proclamations, Agreements,
Treaties and contracts which ensure that our
Aboriginal Rights are written into the most
powerful laws of the land stand to be wiped
out in the edited version of the Constitution
that he wants to bringbackto Canada.
Termination: Long Standing Liberal Goal
When Trudeau talks of repatriating the Constitution, he is only talking about the British
North America Act. He doesnotincludeas
part of the Constitution all the other documents of Agreement and Treaties made between the Indian Nations and the Imperial
Crown
Without the Royal Proclamation,
the Treaties, the Peace and Friendship Agreements that bind Great Britain to fulfill its
promises made to Indian Nations, Section 24
of the B.N.A. Act will not protect us. So even
the status quo the Munro talks about is not
guaranteed.
Once the Constitution is back in
Canada,thoserightsandfreedomscould be
legislated out of existence in three years.
O n e of the first ways we see this as possible is
T h e history o f the L i b e r a l
Government's
through
Section
15 o f the
proposed
new
dealings w i t h us leaves n o doubt that this is deliberconstitution. This is the Charter o f Rights a n d Freeate. In 1947 it was proposed to the L i b e r a l P a r t y that
doms that w o u l d give every i n d i v i d u a l i n C a n a d a
the o n l y solution to the " I n d i a n P r o b l e m " was total
equal rights. It does not recognize the collective
assimilation, T e r m i n a t i o n o f a l l A b o r i g i n a l R i g h t s .
rights of any g r o u p . S o any n o n - I n d i a n c o u l d go to
T h e infamous W h i t e P a p e r o f 1969 proposed the
C o u r t arguing that I n d i a n Reserve lands are somesame: T e r m i n a t i o n o f I n d i a n N a t i o n s .
thing special: w h y can't he have reserve lands?
O n l y the total a n d united refusal o f a l l
Indian Without the Royal Proclamation and other legal
N a t i o n s to accept such legislation was able to put off documentation to uphold Indian Reserve Lands in
the L i b e r a l P a r t y f r o m their course.
law, a C o u r t c o u l d f i n d this a discriminatory situaO n e o f the architects o f the W h i t e P a p e r is n o w
t i o n — a n d wipe out all our reserve lands.
the present D e p u t y M i n i s t e r o f I n d i a n A f f a i r s ,
L i b e r a l D o c u m e n t s , correspondence and action over
New Constitution Would Give Provinces
the last twelve years prove that the T e r m i n a t i o n
Authority and Jurisdiction over Reserves
P o l i c y was never abandoned, merely put i n t o action
by m o r e subtle programs. The P a t r i a t i o n o f
the
T h e I n d i a n A c t is merely an administrative legisC o n s t i t u t i o n provides a convenient w a y to carry that
l a t i o n . T h e new C o n s t i t u t i o n w o u l d overrule it. T h e
p o l i c y t h r o u g h to the f i n a l extinguishment o f all the
C h a r t e r o f Rights a n d Freedoms does not recognize
lands a n d rights we have as the A b o r i g i n a l people
that o u r p o l i t i c a l a n d legal ties are w i t h Great B r i t a i n
a n d not w i t h C a n a d a . U n d e r this Section the P r o New Constitution would not Guarantee our
vinces w o u l d be c o m p e l l e d to extend their authority
"Rights and
Freedoms"
a n d j u r i s d i c t i o n i n t o our reserve lands.
T h e M i n i s t e r o f I n d i a n A f f a i r s glibly tells us that
there is no p r o b l e m because Section 24 o f the
This arrangement destroys every possibility
proposed New C o n s t i t u t i o n guarantees us a l l the
for a future Indian Government The "tra"rights and freedoms that e x i s t " , the status q u o . W e
ditional Rights and Freedoms" of the new
k n o w what the status q u o is: b r o k e n Treaties, b r o Section 24 would become cultural rights only.
ken
Agreements, oppressive legislation, rights
ignored, negligence a n d mismanagement i n nearly
Amendment to end Indian Right
every Indian reserve. H e says we can negotiate once
to Participate in Constitutional Decisions
the C o n s t i t u t i o n is i n C a n a d a . B y then the L i b e r a l s
w o u l d have terminated those agreements o n w h i c h
I n d i a n N a t i o n s w o u l d be completely at the mercy o f
governments w h i c h have never i n the past tried to
our negotiations w o u l d be based.
fulfill the promises and commitments o f the
C r o w n , o r o f the general p u b l i c w h i c h has no
Legal Basis for these "Rights and Freedoms''
understanding o f I n d i a n rights o r aspirations.
Would be Left Out of Constitution
INDIAN WORLD 4
CONSTITUTION EXPRESS
There is no time to develop lengthy strategies. The
battle is right upon us. Our survival as Indain Nations,
Governments, Tribes, as Indian people, will be determined i n the next few months.
What We Are Up Against
We are fighting a Government with an unbreakable
Parliamentary majority, determined to bring i n a new
Constitution by December 9, 1980. It reckons that by
June 1981, all legal ties with Great Britain will have been
severed. A n y Agreement or Treaty signed between Great
Britain and Indian Nations would no longer have any
meaning or force. It would take just three years after that
to undo all the legislation that guaranteed any special
rights or agreements with any group or individual in
Canada. This would include special funding arrangements through the D I A or any other funding arrangement. It could include our food fishing and hunting
reaches its final destination. H e rushed the motion
through Parliament, stopping neither for the combined
forces of the opposition parties or for the Provincial
Premiers. H e has established the proper cabinet committee to review the Constitution, but it cannot stop him. It
can only make recommendations. It is also quite
stationary: i f anyone wants to make any objection or
amendment they should go to Ottawa and talk to this
committee. Y o u will have to talk very loudly to be heard.
Our Own Constitution Express
Only another locomotive can stop this ruthless
machine he has set i n motion. Indian Nations across
Canada are mobilizing our own Constitution Express:
whole trains full o f Indians, all arriving in Ottawa
November 26th, to stop Trudeau i n his tracks.
Massive Demonstrations to Protect Aboriginal
Rights
F r o m October 30th, organizers will be visiting in every
community to mobilize our Indian warriors, our Elders,
our mothers and young people. In three weeks we have to
get thousands o f our people to Ottawa to block Trudeau.
The trains leave Vancouver on November 23rd. We pick
up more forces at Kamloops, Penticton, the Dene Nation
will meet us i n Edmonton , people will be joining through
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Another
train will come from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Quebec. For three days there will be huge demonstrations, mass lobbying and strategy sessions to show the
Canadian Government and the Canadian people that we
will never accept the extinguishment of our Aboriginal
rights.
rights. In 1984, with the Charter o f Rights and Freedoms
in place, we would be legally and politically assimilated
into the white society. Extinguished. Terminated—unless
we can stop Trudeau in December.
Railroading the Constitution
The Indian Nations have never been consulted.
Trudeau has acted all along as i f our aboriginal rights are
already extinguished. He is railroading his Constitution
through, a steam locomotive that won't stop until it
Demonstrating to United Nations that Canada
Has No Regard for Rights or Laws at Home
The Constitution Express will tie i n with the A l l Chiefs
Conference November 30th-December 2nd. If we do not
win i n Ottawa, organization is well ahead to send and
accommodate our people i n New Y o r k . Trudeau pretends
to international greatness in matters of human rights: we
will demonstrate to the United Nations of the world that
he has little regard for the rights and laws o f the people i n
his own country.
TERMINATION OR
SELF-DETERMINATION
INDIAN WORLD 5
B.C. Bands Take
Trudeau to Court
would join with us in such a court battle.
National Action
Indian Nations are also fighting back through the
courts. We say that Trudeau is bound, by all the Treaties
and Agreements signed in the past, to have the consent of
the Indian people before he can patriate any part of the
Constitution that affects us. He has never even consulted
with us. O n September 25,1980, George Manuel and nine
Chiefs and their Bands launched an action in federal
court declaring that the Canadian Parliament does not
have the authority to alter the unique relationship of
Indian Nations and the Imperial Crown, unless it is with
our consent. The Neskainlith, Bella Coola, Bridge River,
Spallumcheen, Hope, Campbell River, St. M a r y ' s , Doig
and Blueberry River Bands initiated this action just
before the U B C I C General Assembly.
National Momentum as Bands Join Court Action
A resolution was passed on the first day of the assembly, that all the Bands o f B . C . be urged to join this
action. Across Canada, Indian Chiefs, on behalf o f their
Bands, are adding their names to this Court action.
Information will be going out to the Bands on how to get
involved in the action. The greater the number of Bands
that act through the Courts here, the greater the effect wil
be at the international courts.
Aboriginal People All Over the World Could Add
Strength to International Court Action
Not only Canada, but the British Parliament is bound
by the promises and is bound by its European Convention or Civil Rights. We say Britain must refuse to allow
Trudeau to repatriate the British North America A c t
unless the terms of the Agreements and Treaties
specifying our Aboriginal Rights are safeguarded.
Otherwise the Imperial Crown would be violating every
Agreement she ever signed with the Indian Nations and
all Aboriginal people. A l l other Aboriginal people with
whom Britain has signed such treaties and agreements
RAISING FUNDS FOR
CONSTITUTION EXPRESS
Northwest Coast Carving with i n layed abalone by Bruce Boles
Draw Date: December 15,1980.
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs
INDIAN WORLD 6
The massive amount of action, lobbying and organization that has to be undertaken i n this, the most important battle o f our survival, has been distributed through
the Provincial/Territorial organizations. The U B C I C is
responsible for all the legal action, both national and
international. We are also responsible for organizing the
Constitution Express.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indians is responsible
for directing and co-ordinating an Indian Bill o f Rights to
put through Parliament, the Senate and each Provincial
Legislature. The people o f the Treaty 3 territory are
responsible for lobbying to get an amendment to Trudeau's proposed constitution which would recognize our
Aboriginal Rights, Treaty rights and Indian Governments. The leaders o f the Treaty 9 Territories have the
responsibility to have our case heard at the L o r d Russell
Tribunal in Europe, an international court set up to deal
with wrongs that national courts have ignored.
The National Indian Brotherhood has started action
for Chiefs to work with the British Parliament on the
protection o f the Proclamation, Treaties and Agreements
made with the Imperial Crown. A n office is being opened
in London in preparation for a second visit of Chiefs.
WHAT CAN A BAND DO TO ADD
STRENGTH
TO
THIS
MOST
CRUCIAL BATTLE?
First o f all the Chief and Council can add the Band's
name to the national court action against the Federal
Government. Secondly, you can help organize as many
Band members to join the Constitution Express as
passible. It is a very expensive battle that we have: fundraising o f every kind has to be done. Funds must be
raised and collected to help send Chiefs and Councillors
and Band members to New Y o r k . Funds have to be raised
to send thousands o f our people to Ottawa and New
York.
All the battles we have fought, the battles others have fought
before us, and the gains made through those battles, will be of
little consequence if we cannot entrench our rights in the
Constitution now.
The issue before us is beyond consultation,
beyond administrative battles with government, beyond petty
politics. It is hitting to the very root of our existence. We must
collectively exert all our energies and all our will as a people to
ensure the continuance of our Indian Lands, our Aboriginal
and Treaty Rights, our Sovereignty, our Self-determination,
our Nationhood and our First Nations Governments.
Why the Indian Child Caravan?
INDIAN CHILD
CARAVAN
In B . C . , forty percent o f the children i n the care of the Superintendent
of Child Welfare are Indian. Indian
people account for only five percent
of the population. The number o f
Indian children in care by March this
year was about 2,800 or forty percent
of the total number o f children i n
care in B . C .
The people of the Spallumcheen
Band, where the Caravan action
began, has only 300 people. Since the
mid 1950's, over 100 children have
been taken away. They were usually
placed i n white foster homes. It was
these stark realities that brought
together the Indian people o f British
Columbia, not only i n mind and
spirit, but in body as well, to unite as
one, i n the Indian Child Caravan.
The Child Caravan, under the leadership o f Chief Wayne Christian and
the Spallumcheen Band, was organized with three goals i n mind: to stop
the needless apprehension o f Indian
children by the Ministry o f Human
Resources; to return these children to
their homes and to promote Indian
Government control o f child welfare.
Band Law to Guard Children
Thanksgiving Day rally at Oppenheimer Park, Vancouver.
The first step the Spallumcheen
Band took i n organizing their fight
against child apprehension was to
introduce Indian Government legislation based on tradition and custom
that would give the people complete
control over child welfare.
This legislation was also defence
against the new Family and Child Services A c t , Bill 45, which allows for
only token involvement in the welfare
of our own children.
The Band will also challenge the
province i n the B . C . Supreme Court
over the placing o f Indian children in
white foster homes. The date has
been set for December, i n the B . C .
Supreme Court. But since the action
of the Caravan, there is some indication that the province might change
their position in the up-coming case.
A victory for our
peoplethe implementation of
Indian Government.
Planning the Caravan
In the actual organizing o f the
Indian Child Caravan, regional
INDIAN WORLD 7
Response and Support
The support the caravan received in
its travels illustrated the strong belief
that child apprehension was robbing
our Indian nations o f life.
The Indian Child Caravan Moves
October 9th—A feast and rally were
held at the Neskainlith Indian Government H a l l for the people from the
Kootenays and Kamloops area. It was
a very powerful gathering. M a n y o f
the Neskainlith Band members said
that the tiny hall had never been so
packed for any other occasion. M a n y
of the Shuswap and Kootenay people
who had met before i n different surroundings were together
again,
rekindling old friendships under the
banner o f the Indian Child Caravan.
Although many o f the 200 who were
in attendance at the Neskainlith rally
would travel no further, their prayers
for a safe and successful journey went
with the caravan.
photo: Richard Manuel
coordinators and fieldworkers were
appointed in the North Coast, Central Interior, South Island, Fraser
Valley and Vancouver. Arrangements
had to be made for information,
transportation, rallies, traditional
feasts and accommodations.
Elders, women and the children
played a prominent role in the staging
of the caravan. A s is custom, at each
gathering the Elders spoke and each
expressed the hope that our children
be allowed to grow up and live in the
Indian way. Many o f the Elders had
experienced the sorrow o f apprehension and they knew that i f it was
allowed to continue that they could
be the last to practice the traditions of
our nations.
Neskainlith Band members show togetherness while waiting for the Prince
George Caravan in Lillooet.
in traditional song and dance while
awaiting the arrival o f the people
from the Central Interior.
The caravans from the north and
the Bella Coola area met and rested at
the Caribou Student Residence i n
Williams Lake. The North Island
people staged a rally in Port Hardy in
preparation
for their
trip to
Nanaimo.
October 11th—Caravans from the
Kootenays, Central Interior and
northern regions were greeted at the
entrance o f the M t . Currie Reserve by
Councillor Albert Nelson, on horseback and carrying the Indian Government flag. A s the caravan from each
region arrived they were escorted to
the M t . Currie campgrounds where
they were fed and sheltered until the
evening rally in the gymnasium. The
M t . Currie rally was to be the last
gathering before merging with the
Island people on the last leg o f the
trip to Vancouver. Many strong
words were spoken and emotions ran
high as the caravan, perhaps 350
strong, prepared for the next day's
journey.
October 12th—The Caravan at the
M t . Currie stop had gained in momentum and in number. The 55 cars,
trucks and buses that now made up
the Indian Child Caravan slowly
300 miles away i n Prince George,
similar activities were being held at
the Indian Friendship Centre. The
rally there was 200 strong.
October 10th—Nearly 100 people
leave Bella Coola this morning. There
are hardly any cars or trucks left in
the community! People from the
Kootenays and Central Interior met
at the Thunderbird H a l l in Lillooet.
After a feast and rally the caravan
people joined with the Lillooet drum
INDIAN WORLD 8
Young supporter expresses her con- Caravan plans final
cern.
Vancouver.
descent into
(continued page 15)
PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
The strength of our Indian nations down through
history has always been our cultural values. The cultural
Indian values are rooted in the integrity of cooperation
with each family in an Indian tribal community. The art
of sharing by pur various Indian families within our
tribes provided the strength and authority to our Indian
Governments so that it can administer the use of our
territorial lands to fully benefit all our Indian families
within our Indian tribes.
The Indian sharing values of Indian communities were
fully and actively controlled by the Indian people, until
the Indian parents were compelled by the white man's
laws in Canada to surrender their Indian children to
Indian residential schools. In these schools the Indian
children were forbidden to speak their Indian languages.
Whenever they were caught speaking their own language
they were severely punished by white disciplinarians and
teachers. The Indian students were compelled to
renounce their language, their cultural values of sharing
and were literally forced to learn and accept the
European values of individualism.
I can remember very clearly when the values of white
schools took root in our Indian villages. It happened
when a man o f our village refused to share the deer he
had killed and salmon he had caught. That same man was
the first person on our reserve to own a bicycle, a radio
and a car for himself. He was the pioneer in introducing
the European value into our Indian nation.
This was at a time when it was still possible for Indian
people to believe that the government and the church
could teach us new ways that would make us strong. Not
too many people worried about losing their culture: our
cultural values were just naturally a part of us. We could
learn the white man's ways and still retain our own ways
and values.
Our people were not wrong: we were betrayed. If the
government had allowed our people of that time to
explore the different paths o f life, Indian nations would
have found ways to retain the best of our own culture,
while at the same time adopting the best of the European
cultures had to offer. That moment o f discovery was
never allowed to happen. A s a matter o f fact, it was
outlawed by the white man's regime.
Our traditional forms of Indian Government were not
overthrown. Our Indian nations continued to govern
themselves while European and other cultures grew up
around us. So long as we could actively possess and use
our land base, we were capable of strengths and
survival. Our traditional political and religious systems
were attacked, because they regulated and celebrated a
certain kind of economic stature, which the European
powers in Canada wanted to destroy.
The land is ours by every natural right and every principle of international law, recognized in relations among
European powers. The land that is ours by every natural
right, was stolen by the European powers. Seizure of our
lands for the use of their own people could not be
justified by the law of nations, or the principles of international law that regulated relations among European
powers.
A s Indian Governments of British Columbia, we must
stop talking and begin organizing ourselves on two
fronts:
1. Legal action;
2. Political action to recover our aboriginal rights to
our lands, to our fish, to our wildlife, and to our right to
govern ourselves and our reserves.
The Spallumcheen Indian Government has propelled
the implementation o f Indian Government into a forward
motion. Let's keep the momentum rolling ahead, by
implementing Indian Government on other Indian
reserve communities throughout British Columbia.
Yours in Indian Strength,
INDIAN W O R M ) V
OUR WORLD
Barbara Bobb won the Photo Contest
with her picture of drying fish by the
Fraser River.
photo: Barb Bob
POLE RAISING AT THE NEW VANCOUVER INDIAN
CENTRE
by Derek Wilson
The pole was carried by Mr. Henry Robertson and his family
and was donated to the Indian Centre. One of our Elders, Katie
Adams, blessed the totem pole. She used Eagle Down; she blew
it on the totem pole to bless it. Just like sage or sweet grass to
other Indian people, eagle down is like that to us on the north
west coast. She also put eagle down on each head of the person
that had our traditional clothes on. It puts our mind to the one
who gave us life. When the eagle flies so high in the air, he is
close to the one who gave us life, the Creator of all good.
We had all the people pick up the pole and when everybody
lifted it up, they made a great sound. That is supposed to wake
up all the animal spirits that were in the pole. And that drum
beat was to continue to awaken all the spirits until it stood up
straight. My grandfather sang a song when it was finished,
standing upright. The dance was a happy dance, where a story
was completed. From the life that has been before us, our
ancestors' story has been handed down from generation to
generation. Now it is up to our generation to carry on that story.
They had a feast that night to share our wealth with
everybody. The food and the things that were given out, were to
thank the people for assisting us and to witness the story that
was behind that pole.
The story dates to the great flood of our people. Some canoes
were tied up on the highest mountain near the Haisla territory,
and when the waters started to go down the canoes broke off.
One canoe went down to the Kitlope Valley. That's where they
landed, and that is where my people traditionally come from.
There were the first animals that they saw: there was the grizzly
bear, the black bear, the frog, the owl, and that man
in the
middle, with the hat on, he was the head of the family that
landed there: this is what you call my ancestors.
I N D I A N W O R L D 10
1st Prize—35 mm camera
2nd Prize—Cassette Tape Recorder
Winner—David A d o l p h of Lillooet Band
3rd P r i z e — A M / F M Radio
Winner—Steve Basil, Bonaparte Band
5 Honourable Mentions for $20 each:
Debbie Hoggan Dana Williams
Delia Owens Dean Louis John Sparrow.
That story is just a very short story right now. If we sat and
told you the whole story, it would take four or five hours to tell
you. It's really hard to tell a story in English because in the
translation we lose the meaning and it loses a lot of the feeling
behind it. Why my uncle agreed to do this pole was to encourage
our young people to look at our own form of art, look at our
own form of history writing. That is what our poles are.
For the best in entertainment it is hard to beat
the annual UBCIC Talent Show! As in past
years, the show was a good five hours of laughter, wonder, foot-tapping and pride in the high
quality and variety of our entertainers.
Amos, George and Thomas Tallio of Bella Coola told
the story of the L o o n and the O l d M a n . The pure note of
the loon called by Ian Billy made us all still to wonder.
Ian is half Squamish and in this tradition his gift predicts
a great warrior. They won an Indian Bone Game. Abel
Joe's strong singing in his beautiful voice won an Indian
print. George Manuel came third in the Traditional section with a dramatic reciting of a Pauline Johnson poem
and a song.
Gus Pierre o f Penticton thrilled young and old with a
disciplined display of Martial Arts exercises. He won an
Indian Drum. Second prize for the youths went to
comedian Joe Pierre of St. Mary's Band. Third prize
went to Sandy Wilson, Connie M i l t o n , Alice Pierre and
Esther Whate who sang their traditional Gitskan Carrier
songs.
Harold and Gerry Moore won a carved copper bracelet
for their singing in the contemporary section. Rosalee
Tizya's song will be continued at the next assembly but
won her second prize anyway, and country and western
singer Ray Williams won third prize.
Ronnie Solomon admirers were so happy to hear his
country and western singing again and were glad that he
took a tipi back to the Chilcotin. Fans of entertainer
Stanley Stump also had an enjoyable evening and cheered
his winning a silver bracelet and ear-rings. Twelve-yearold Peter Leech sang a song for the children in the
Caravan and took an Indian print back to Lillooet as his
prize for second runner-up in the over-all section.
Jack Kruger of Penticton kept the show rolling as the
M . C . for the evening.
I N D I A N W O R L D 11
NEWS NEWS NEWS
COWICHAN BAY PROPOSED AS OIL DEPOT
The Chevron Company wants to build an oil depot and
possibly a small refinery in the Cowichan Bay. The
company wants to buy a privately owned farm there for
the site. A t the first reading of the Town Council
proposal to rezone the farm land to industrial land for
this purpose, a number o f groups were there to protest.
The Cowichan Band is especially alarmed because o f
their heavy reliance on their fish. Cowichan Bay is very
rich in marine life and an oil spill would be devastating.
The Saanich Band would also be seriously affected by
such a project.
JAY TREATY:
KINCOLITH FISHING TRIAL
Three members of the House of Mountain Indian Band
in Kincolith were charged last July with fishing illegally
as aliens in the Portland Canal in Alaska.
Fred Lincoln, William Lincoln and George Nelson
were prepared to use as their defence the 1794 Jay Treaty
and an 1888 agreement signed by one Charles Thomas,
the captain of a steamer doing work for the United States
government and Fred Lincoln's great-great grandfather
Chief Alfred Mountain.
The agreement stated that after Chief Mountain moved
his Band to the American side of Portland Canal "the
chief will not be disturbed in his position by any United
States authorities."
Since the charges were first laid, the boat owned by
B . C . Packers has been under arrest while the original
charges were adjusted in order to lessen the legal ramifications o f such a court action.
The case could have affected land claims and fishing
rights for B . C . Indians.
Lawyer for the defendants, Clifford Smith of
Ketchikan, Alaska stated, "They were issues no one
wanted to take o n . "
The charges have been changed to: fishing without a
proper gear license and without an entry permit to U . S .
waters. Maximum penalties for these are a $10,000 fine
and one year in jail.
B . C . Packers was charged with illegal use of a vessel.
Smith said that the new charges should not bring up the
treaty issue.
Tommy Dennis, a spokesman for the Nishga Tribal
Council, stated that the Council is "very interested" in
pursuing the legal implications o f the treaty as well as the
agreement of 1888.
I N D I A N W O R L D 12
NISHGA TRIBAL COUNCIL PROTECTION OF
ALICE A R M
The Nishga Tribal Council has been visiting other
Indian organizations, environmental groups and talking
to the media, organizing support for their fight against
the reopening of the molybdenum mine in Alice A r m .
The area that would be affected is part of the Nishga
Land Claim.
Right now the Nishga Tribal Council wants a public
hearing on pollution standards allowed the Amax
Molybdenum mine at Alice A r m .
L O C A L SERVICES A G R E E M E N T S
Although Band administrative requirements introduced or imposed by the Local Services Agreement were
quashed by the decision of the Minister of the
Department of Indian Affairs in late Spring, it has been
reported to this office that certain Departmental representatives are still trying to enforce such requirements
before transfer of contribution funds in various parts of
the Province.
This is contrary to the direction from the Ministry and
results in needless delays in fund transfers. Band administrative personnel are urged to be mindful of this,
especially when dealing with the more crucial Band
programs.
A l l that is needed for a contribution agreement with
^ t h e Department is a Band Council Resolution inclusive
of the four essential requirements, namely a budget, a
cash flow projection, quarterly financial reports and
arrangements for an annual audit.
H O P E B A N D G R A V E L PIT
By D I A negligence, a piece of Hope Band land that
was leased to the C P R for gravel pit purposes was
allowed to pass into C P R title (ownership). The real
estate branch of the C P R now wants to develop this piece
of very attractive land. Hope Band has threatened to take
the matter to court unless the D I A can negotiate a return
of the land to the Band.
The D I A has now appraised the value of the land in
question at $68,000 and is deciding whether they are
prepared to buy the land at this or a negotiated price or
whether they are going to let the Band take the
department to court.
the overall management o f the
salmon fishery and, in my view,
should be encouraged in this endeavour. Clearly, the spirit of cooperation which would be attendant
upon such participation would do
much to allay the confrontations
which have been the pattern to date.
NOT
GUILTY
Federal Fisheries Don't Have
Total Control
Ron Adolph,
William Adolph,
Vic Adolph Jr. and
Jim Bob.
O n October 9, 1980 His Honour
Judge T . W . Shupe brought down his
decision in the Fountain Fishing
Cases. Councillor R o n A d o l p h , W i l liam A d o l p h , Victor A d o l p h Jr., and
Jim Bob had all been charged with
illegal fishing in August of 1979. O n
the day they were charged there had
been no special closure put in place. It
was a regular closure imposed by
Fisheries through the operation of the
fishing permit. Permits allowed
fishing from Sunday to Thursday and
these fishermen were fishing on F r i day, outside the rules of any permit.
The Judge found that the Fountain
people enjoyed an exclusive right to
fish and followed the same reasoning
and decision in the case of Bradley
Bob. This case marks the third case
where a Canadian judge has recognized our exclusive right to fish.
Largest Salmon Run Expanded
for Commercial Fishing and
Closed to Indian Fishing
We raised the issue of conservation. The L u m m i tribe loaned us the
expertise of Paul Hage, a biologist
who works for them. He is somewhat
familiar with the Fraser runs because
the Lummi fishermen fish from the
Fraser runs as the fish pass through
the American waters.
The biologist testified that the
particular run in question was one of
the largest runs since the turn of the
century. In fact the run was so large
that the commercial fishing time was
increased by 200% and 300%. More
than adequate amounts of fish
reached the spawning grounds. A n d
still the Indian food fishery was shut
in.
Traditional Fishing Aid to
Conservation
The biologist stressed the fact that
fishing by dip net was itself a conservation method. Given these facts, he
said the closure was not reasonable
and necessary, and that the Indian
food fishery could and should have
been open on that day.
This case is important because it's
the first time in Canadian history that
any court has said that Fisheries does
not have absolute control over the
resource. In this particular case, Fisheries passed the regulation which was
valid but the court said that the regulation did not apply to Indian people
because Fisheries had not regulated in
the interests of conservation. The
Judge affirmed that Fisheries' priorities were conservation first and
Indian fishing second. If, as in this
Judge Shupe found that the closure was not in the interest of
conservation and was not reasonable nor necessary under the
circumstances. He found all of the Accused Not Guilty.
case, it can be shown that the regulation is not in the interests of conservation, then Indian people can fish,
He further commented from the
regulation or not.
bench "that the evidence adduced
This case gives Indian people a
during this trial and in the case of
substantial political argument. It's
Regina vs. Bradley Bob makes it very
the third time in court in Lillooet
clear indeed that salmon fishing is of
where a Judge has directed that
vital importance to the Indian people,
Fisheries enter into a co-management
not just because salmon is a staple in
scheme with the Indians. N o w , it will
the Indian diet, but also because the
be particularly difficult for Fisheries
gatherings at the fishing stations are
to regulate without the cooperation
used for the teaching of traditional
of the Indians given that the Indian
Indian ways and for transmitting the
people can challenge their regulations
culture from one generation to the
as the Indian fishermen did in this
next. Such communication is of
case.
critical importance to a people whose
A Three-Year Battle But We Won
history is not reduced to writing, but
After the court case, the Fountain
rather is passed on verbally.
people held a huge dinner. O f course,
there was delicious fish served. The
Indian Expertise Could Help
leaders thanked the Accused, the
Accused thanked the Elders, the
Fisheries
Elders thanked the lawyers, the lawIt was made apparent by the
defence witness George Manuel, pres- yers thanked the people. Everybody
really had worked together for over
ident of the Union o f B . C . Indian
three years now creating this victory.
Chiefs, that given the resources they
We all went away knowing that when
have unsuccessfully striven to secure
Indian people keep fighting for their
(particularly funding with which to
fishing rights, sooner or later they
employ a trained biologist), the Inwin.
dian people could add significantly to
Judge Sees Indian Fishing is
Our Culture
I N D I A N W O R L D 13
IN THE NEWS...
W H A T IS P R I D E ?
from Redstone Newsletter
A person can have pride i n many things
—his home, car, j o b , clothes; but first of
all he must have pride in himself!
We work to build, furnish and improve
our home. We work to buy a car, keep it
looking nice and running well. We work
to please our employer and advance in our
job.
These things are all selfish, but what
about ourselves? C a n we be proud i f we
spend any money we can get our hands on
for liquor—to the extent that our children
are left on their own with hardly any food
in the house—to the extent that our
actions and appearance offend people we
come i n contact with—to the extent that
we hurt our friends and damage property?
Can we have pride i n ourselves i f we
steal? C a n we be proud i f we are with
people who steal and don't try to stop
them? We are just as guilty as they are i f
we don't try to stop them! L i e , steal and
cheat and there can be no pride i n us!
Can we look at people when we talk to
them and be proud o f the way we live and
of the things we do? C a n we look i n the
mirror and be proud o f the reflection we
see?
If we are proud o f ourselves we can
teach our children to be a part o f the pride
of our people, the heritage and tradition
of our nation from which we come.
The above article came in the mail with no
name of the sender on it. Therefore we
don't know if it was original with the
sender or copied from someone else. We
will use it because its message is a good
one.
—From the Staff in the Redstone
Band Office
I N D I A N W O R L D 14
from Victoria Native Friendship Centre Newsletter
illustration Butch Dick
(from page 8)
wound its way to Vancouver. A l l
caravans converged on Vancouver
and rallied briefly at Oppenheimer
Park in preparation for the main
gathering, which was to be held on
Thanksgiving Day. In the evening
caravan members rested, were fed
and entertained at the Carnegie
Centre i n downtown Vancouver.
October 13th—The main rally was
held in Oppenheimer Park. The
Caravan then travelled through Vancouver, with a police escort, to the
Shaughnessy home o f H u m a n Resources Minister Grace McCarthy.
Although the car was i n the driveway,
McCarthy, it appeared, had left home
on Thanksgiving Day.
McCarthy Agrees
Chief Wayne Christian stressed
that the rally, march and the events
leading up to the Thanksgiving Day
protest were aimed at making Grace
McCarthy listen to the concerns and
demands of the
Indian
Child
Caravan.
On
Thursday,
October
16th,
Wayne Christian and U B C I C representatives met
McCarthy.
The
demands o f the Spallumcheen Band
were presented to her and she finally
recognized the concerns o f the Spallumcheen Band. A n agreement was
worked out whereby the Band can
reclaim the children now i n nonIndian foster homes as long as the
children wanted to return to the
reserve.
McCarthy stated that this agreement now opens the door for other
Bands who want to reclaim their
children from foster homes. Wayne
Christian, in looking at the agreement
stated, " T h i s agreement will allow
us, as Indian people, to have more
control over our own lives. Our hard
work has paid o f f . "
Governments are responsible and
valid governments.
A t the U B C I C conference, with
Indian Affairs Minister John M u n r o
in attendance, Chief Wayne Christian
read the agreement between the Spallumcheen Indian Government and the
Ministry of Human Resources.
" B o t h parties agree to work out an
appropriate plan i n the best interest
of each child presently in care, assuming that the Spallumcheen
Band will develop the necessary
resources i n negotiations with the
federal government."
When the question was put directly
to the D I A Minister, i f he did recognize Indian Government and i f the
funds going to H u m a n Resources for
"Indian child care" would be transferred to the Band, he offered no
straight answer.
The goals of the Indian Child
Caravan have been achieved in principle. The agreement with the
province is there. The mechanism is
now in place for the implementation
of Indian Government i n the area o f
child welfare.
Practising Indian
Government
Grace McCarthy, by agreeing to
"respect the authority of the Spallumcheen Band Council to take
responsibility and control o f their
own
children" has strengthened
recognition o f the fact that Indian
I N D I A N W O R L D 15
ASSEMBLY !
Indian Child Caravan Starts
Assembly With Determination
The assembly started o n a high
note as the Chiefs and delegates registered, confident with the great show
of Indian strength and determination
during the Indian Child caravan.
What this had meant for the parents,
grandparents and the children was the
immediate topic o f the assembly, and
the implementation o f Band laws to
take back responsibility for our children in need was the focus.
There was no time for celebration,
however. A political victory had been
secured by our action, but delegates
were sobered by the idea o f a new
Canadian constitution that could
terminate all those rights for which
we've fought so fiercely during the
last 113 years. The survival o f our
Indian Nations is at stake and the
position and plans for entrenching
our special rights into the constitution
dominated the first day and a half of
the conference (see page 4).
Indian Education Begins in our
Homes
The education portfolio presented
I N D I A N W O R L D 16
the ideas and experiences o f their
fieldwork in a discussion paper meant
for people at the Band level. After
Band members discuss the paper and
decide how, i f needed, it should be
revised, the paper may be used as a
basis for a permanent education
policy paper which could be presented to the government i n a year or
two. A l l delegates stressed the importance o f retaining Indian values and
culture i n education. The right to do
so was no longer the issue: it was how
to make this a daily reality that
occupied our minds.
Lorna Bob, a young person from
the Nanoose Band said, " I keep
hearing people say, ' W h y can't you
speak your language?' Well, how can
we speak our language when nobody
will talk to us in the language. They
talk to us i n English. What we need is
help at home to learn our language.
We need help. A n d we need both
systems. W e can't just throw the
provincial system out, but we need
our old ways too. Education at home
is important and we all have to work
together."
Phillip Paul, U B C I C Vice-PresiAbel Joe and other south Vancouver dent, said that Bands have to decide
Island drummers lead the opening
what their goals are when educating
procession into the assembly
the young people. "Once there's gen-
eral agreement within a community to
establish solid goals founded on cultural retention, half of the job is
done. But, there's really no solid cultural goals i n communities, even
though we've been talking about retention o f culture. Because o f this,
there are sometimes different people
working at cross purposes."
Political Protection for Trapping
Rights Called For
There were a number of Indian
people at the assembly who came
from areas which depend heavily o n
trappers is the government's attempt
to put forward legislation which
would impose a "use it, or lose i t "
policy. The government seems to
think that Indian trappers don't use
the traplines enough. However, the
government doesn't really understand
that Indian people trap only for what
we need and keep conservation i n
mind. O n the other hand, non-Indian
trappers trap to get as many furs as
possible and don't think about,
whether or not there will be animals
left for the future.
As the evening events began each
night, the conference hall remained
full. The people enjoyed singing and
dancing from all over B. C.
The Mount Currie Band dancers got a
lot of laughs while performing their
Wedding Dance, in which the men try
to coax the women into marrying
The children played an important
part in the assembly.
trapping for their livelihood. A few
months ago these trappers met at
Williams Lake to discuss their problems and how to solve them. There
was no Indian association of trappers
formed, which was one idea they
came up with in Williams Lake.
However, there was some discussion
by concerned trappers. In the north,
where most traplines are located,
economic development is once again
taking its toll.
The
major
concern
o f Indian
The dancers' energy and enthusiasm
kept the people happy late into the
nights.
Taking our Place in Salmon
Management
Fishing caught the interest of many
people, because o f the amount o f
people directly affected by it. There
were several people who spoke
strongly o n implementing Indian
government as far as fishing goes.
I N D I A N W O R L D 17
Chief Bill Roberts introduces the Kwakewelth dancers. Some of their
people sit in the background.
There seemed to be general agreement that the best way to gain control
of fishing is for Indian people to just
go fishing and ignore the fisheries
regulations. The Chiefs expressed
dissatisfaction with the poor conservation and management o f the fish
stocks by the Federal Fisheries. Chief
Saul Terry of the Bridge River Band
stressed that the next step that should
be taken by Indian people is to set up
a sound conservation management
scheme. T o accomplish this, he said
we should develop and use our own
Indian biologists and other technicians needed for this conservation
management scheme. Saul strengthened this idea when he told the Chiefs
of the help given by Indian fishing
specialists from Washington State.
They gave evidence which may have
been the greatest argument for the
victory o f the recent major fishing
case in Lillooet (see page 12).
appointed, not elected. Archie then
proposed a resolution, which was
unanimously passed by the assembly,
calling for Walchli's immediate firing
by M u n r o . The assembly roared with
approval.
Phillip Paul backed this up by
saying, " W e have seen Fred Walchli
doing counter things to what the
Union has been doing. We see what
our people are put through as far as
the governments are concerned, and
the kinds o f bureaucratic plays that
are going on i n B . C . , all moving
toward extinguishing our aboriginal
rights. We know this is a plan o f the
government and this is what Walchli
is moving. I think we should get rid of
him, not only from the department,
but from any dealings with Indian
people through government sources."
Walchli Working Deliberately
Against Indian Government
Aims
One highlight o f the assembly was
when D I A Minister John M u n r o and
his provincial counterpart,
Fred
Walchli came to the assembly. The
united feelings of the people came out
very strongly during that time that
Fred Walchli should resign.
Chief Wayne Christian of the Spal¬
lumcheen Band said o f Walchli, " H e
has not even taken the courtesy to
back us i n terms of the legal action in
the Child Care issue. He is a servant
of the people, but he doesn't work for
the people, he works against us. That
man is chairing a Regional Forum
which is dividing our people, it's
killing our people. Get that man out
of B . C . "
To close the assembly, a food auction Chief Archie Pootlass o f Bella
allowed people to buy food from Coola said that Walchli isn't even
representing our people, since he is
other people's areas.
I N D I A N W O R L D 18
Bella Coola's Supernatural Clown
brought roars of laughter as he teased
the crowd.
Overall, the 12th annual General
Assembly was an exciting one. The
great amount of community input
should give the Union o f B . C . Indian
Chiefs an excellent indication of the
direction that should be taken
throughout the next year. A great
deal of information was shared, and
much strength was shown.
RESOLUTIONS
Whereas the purpose of the Union of
British Columbia Indian Chiefs is to
provide a central organization for
uniting together the Indian peoples of
British Columbia and,
Whereas Indian people recognize that
there is a strength in unity,
Therefore be it resolved that all member Bands of the Union of B . C .
Indian Chiefs unite and join in the
legal action taken by George Manuel
and the nine Indian Bands to prevent
patriation of the B . N . A . A c t unless
Indian Nations are fully involved and
consulted.
Moved by: Chief Wilson Bob
Seconded by: Chief T o m Sampson
I so move that this convention of the
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs give a
full mandate to take the necessary
steps to ensure that Indian Governments, Indian Lands, Aboriginal and
Treaty Rights are entrenched in the
Canadian Constitution.
Moved by: Chief Howard Wale
Seconded by: Chief Wilson Bob
This assembly of the Union o f B . C . Indian Chiefs moves that the
Honourable John M u n r o remove the senior bureaucrat Fred Walchli
immediately from all dealings with Indian people.
Whereas the Indian way of life demands that the future generation will
continue to exist through the protection of the Indian Nations and,
Whereas there have been reports of
Indian women having been sterilized
by the medical profession without
their consent and/or knowledge,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Health and Social Development
Portfolio of the Union of B . C . Indian
Chiefs fully investigate these allegations and report their findings to the
Chief and Council within the next
year.
Be it resolved that the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs be mandated to find as many ways as
possible to ensure that hunters and
trappers can use their land and traplines as extensively as possible, and
look for legal means to protect and
also extend the hunters' and trappers'
right to use these lands.
I N D I A N W O R L D 19
FISHING
CHILDREN
OUR F U T U R E
Whereas the Minister of Human Resources has agreed to respect the
authority of the Spallumcheen Indian
Government (Band Council)
to
assume responsibility and control
over their own children and,
Whereas the Minister o f Human Resources further agrees to the desirability of returning the children o f the
Spallumcheen Band presently in care
of the Ministry of Human Resources
to the authority of the Spallumcheen
Indian Government and,
Whereas both parties agree to work
out an appropriate plan in the best
interests o f each child presently in
care and,
Whereas the Minister of Indian A f fairs has agreed to transfer the financial resources over to the Spallumcheen Indian Government and not to
the Provincial Government,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs support
the Indian Governments of B . C . to
develop their own legislation for the
care of their children and that the
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs support
the transfer of the financial resources
from the Department of Indian
Affairs
directly to the
Indian
Governments of B . C . that desire
control over child care.
I N D I A N W O R L D 20
Be it further resolved that the Union
of B . C . Indian Chiefs assist the
Indian Governments that take control
of child care to design preventative
programs to suit the needs o f that
Indian community.
Be it resolved that Indian children
presently apprehended by the Provincial government not be placed for
adoption, and
That the provincial government i m mediately stop the apprehension o f
Indian children unless requested to do
so by Indian Governments (Chiefs
and Councils), and
That at the initiative of the Indian
Governments of British Columbia,
negotiations commence immediatey
with the Provincial government for
the return of Indian children presently apprehended to their respective
communities, and
That the Provincial government recognize and respect current and future
Indian Government legislation deal-
Whereas the Indian people of British
Columbia prior to European invasion
had under their authority and jurisdiction the control and management
of the Fisheries Resources and,
Whereas during that time there was
an abundance of fish due to the good
and proper management of all Fish
Resources and,
Whereas the Federal Government,
since European invasion, through
their Department of Fisheries have
assumed control over the Fisheries
Resources o f British Columbia and,
Whereas under their management
Fisheries stocks have been depleted to
such a degree that many species of
fish are being threatened with extinction,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs Fisheries Portfolio be directed
to assist Indian Governments to reestablish jurisdiction and authority
over the Indian Fisheries Resources in
British Columbia by:
1. Putting together a comprehensive
background paper that illustrates
clearly all those things that affect
the reduction of our fisheries
stocks, such as pipelines, roadways, industrial pollution and
sewage pollution, etc.
2. Developing from the background
paper, a comprehensive Indian
Fishing Rights Conservation and
Management Policy that considers
non-Indian technical
methods,
traditional methods, economic and
cultural/spiritual realities.
ing with the care and well being of
Indian children, and
That the Provincial
government
shelve Bill 45 (Family and Children
Services Act) until such time as
appropriate negotiations and relationships can be worked out between
the Indian Governments of British
Columbia
and
the
Provincial
Government.
ENERGY
RESOURCES
Whereas M u l t i National O i l Companies keep pushing their products for
the almighty dollar and,
Whereas one of their transportation
methods is by water and,
Whereas oil spills have been devastating to sea life such as salmon, shellfish, ducks, etc. and,
Whereas there are all important traditional foods for our people and,
Whereas the Cowichan and Koksilah
Rivers are the best salmon rivers on
Vancouver Island and,
Whereas an oil spill would literally
wipe out these stocks,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs put political pressure on the federal government to stop the development o f a
depot at Hatch Point and at C o w i chan Bay by the Chevron Company.
Whereas the A t l i n Indian Band
wishes the Union of British Columbia
Indian Chiefs' support and representation in negotiations with the United
States;
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs Fishing Portfolio, participate
wherever possible in any negotiations
between the American and Canadian
Fishery Departments; in regards to
the following terms:
(a) A n y limitation o f catch poundage
(b) Boundaries and restricted areas
(c) The opening and closing dates
(d) In any matter which may have a
detrimental effect on the Band's
bid for more control of the fishing
on Taku River area and;
Further that the Union of British
Columbia Indian Chiefs assist the
A t l i n Band in their fight regarding the
raising of the A t l i n Lake by Northern
Canada Power Commission, any
compensation plan proposed, any
major changes in any field that may
affect the livelihood, environmental
or land that we are living on.
Whereas Alcan is proposing to proceed with the completion of the
Kemano Project and,
Whereas there has been no redress of
the harm caused to the Cheslatta
Band by the initial Kemano Development and,
Whereas there will be further destruction of the lands and waters of British
Columbia by the completion of the
Kemano Project and,
Whereas the hunting, fishing and
trapping of the Indian people of the
Lakes District and the North Coast
will be directly affected by the completion o f the Kemano Project;
Therefore be it resolved that the
Energy and Resources Portfolio of
the Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs be directed to continue developing research and strategies to stop
the project and further that they
assist the bands in their efforts to stop
the project.
Whereas B . C . Hydro is proposing a
large number of energy projects in
British Columbia including dams on
the Stikine and Liard Rivers and a
thermal power plant at Hat Creek
and,
Whereas all of the proposed projects
will directly affect the lives and land
and waters of the Indian people of
British Columbia and,
Whereas there is a complete disregard
of the people of British Columbia in
planning of these projects,
Therefore be it resolved that there be
a complete moratorium on energy
development in British Columbia
until such time as a Royal Commission of Inquiry is held to examine
energy
development
in
British
Columbia and,
Be it further resolved that the Energy
and Resources Portfolio of the Union
of British Columbia Indian Chiefs be
directed to develop research and strategies that will promote a moratorium
on energy development and will encourage the holding of a Royal Commission of Inquiry. O n terms and
conditions agreeable to the Indian
people of British Columbia.
I N D I A N W O R L D 21
EDUCATION
Whereas Cultural Education Centres
have not been the priority for Indian
Affairs and political leaders and,
Whereas cultural survival is important to our people and,
Whereas increased funding has not
been made available and,
Whereas evaluation has been done by
Department of Indian Affairs—the
outcome being that more funding is
needed
for
Cultural Education
Centres and,
Whereas British Columbia has not
received sufficient funding compared
to the other Provinces and,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs request and support as an organization more Cultural Education
Centres funding for British Columbia
under Indian Governments.
Whereas the Union of B . C . Indian
Chiefs adopted the Indian Control of
Indian Education Policy and,
Whereas many Indian communities in
B . C . wish to continue the development and use o f B . C . Indian languages for the education o f Band members.
Therefore be it resolved that the Indian Education Portfolio co-ordinate
a B . C . Indian Language Conference
for all member Bands to participate
and share their concerns and developmental experience.
Whereas Indian control of Indian
education is the policy of the Indian
Governments o f the Union o f B . C .
Indian Chiefs and,
Whereas many children i n the area
bounded by the Fraser Valley up to
Bella Coola and Inland to Lillooet
and Lytton and south following the
Fraser River need a home to live in
while attending school and are living
at St. Mary's Student Residence in
Mission, B . C . and,
I N D I A N W O R L D 22
Whereas the education o f these children, and their healthy training is
subject to the parents' responsibility
and local control under Indian Government and,
Whereas St. Mary's Residence is now
under the operation of the Vancouver
District o f the Department o f Indian
Affairs whose policy is to close St.
Mary's and at this time to send all
children to public schools in the
Mission School District and,
Whereas St. Mary's land was donated
by Indian people before Confederation for the education of Indian C h i l dren, this land being cleared and
developed by the labour of Indian
children, and,
Whereas the Fraser East District
Council o f Indian Chiefs requested
the Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs to
do a feasibility study of the future use
that St. Mary's could be use"d for,
Therefore be it resolved that this 12th
Annual General Assembly of the
Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs endorse
the policy that St. Mary's Residence
at Mission, B . C . remain under the
continual use o f the Indian children
under the direction o f those Indian
Governments that have a direct
interest in the land, location and educational use of St. Mary's.
And further that Indian Governments
begin developing the educational
program for these children right in
the residence to meet their Indian
educational needs and academic
training needs.
And further that the funding for the
Indian education schooling o f these
children be reclaimed from tuition
funds currently claimed by the Public
Schools according to the Master T u i tion Agreement and any other development funding necessary for the
successful
education
of
these
children.
Blueberry
and Doig
Bands
prepare
evidence
for
surrender
suit
The Blueberry and Doig Bands used
to live on the Montney reserve which
was also known as Fort St. John
I.R.# 172. The reserve consisted of
18,168 acres of prime agricultural
land which the Bands used as their
summer home. In winter they lived on
their hunting and winter trapping
grounds.
Breach of Treaty
In 1948 the Department o f Indian
Affairs sold I.R.# 172 to the
Department o f Veterans Affairs. In
replacement the D I A bought three
small parcels o f land totalling 6,194
acres. In 1978 the two Bands took
legal action against the Department
of Indian Affairs for Breach of Treaty,
Breach of Trust, mismanagement and
Fraud. The case is now i n the stage
where both parties of the suit are
collecting and documenting evidence.
We were up there to document the
evidence of those elders present at the
"surrender" of IR 172.
Taping the Evidence
O n September 21, members o f the
U B C I C Legal Department flew to Ft.
St. John to video tape the evidence o f
the Elders. Usually in this kind o f
action the Discoveries are held i n the
Federal Court House i n Vancouver,
Mr. and Mrs. Alex Cheekyass, from Blueberry reserve, at evidence taping.
but we were successful in getting the
permission of the court to vidoe tape
the examinations on the Blueberry
and Doig Indian Reserves and enter
the tapes as evidence, i f and when the
case goes to trial. This is the first time
ever that the court has allowed that
examinations could be video taped on
Indian Reserves.
Health Clinics Become
Courtrooms
The examinations were, held i n the
health clinics at each reserve which
were set up to look like a court room
A large table was at the far end of the
room for witnesses and the examining
lawyers.
The language barrier
between
Cree or Beaver witnesses and the
lawyers created a lot of frustration
and laughs during and after the
examinations. Every new witness had
to be sworn i n by the official court
reporter through the translator. " D o
you swear to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth so help you
G o d ? " " I don't swear" and " I don't
tell lies, since I was a boy I don't tell
lies,"
replied
another
Elder
indignantly.
The Elders who were examined
from the Blueberry Reserve were:
Edward Apsassin, Alex and Theresa
Cheekyass, Nora Apsassin and John
Yahey, the translators were:Joyce
Apsassin
(who
also
provided
everyone with a welcomed lunch),
Clarence Apsassin and Chief Sandi
Yahey. The Elders examined at the
Doig reserve were: John Davis,
Charlie Dominique and Thomas
Wilde, a non Indian Rancher who
was present at the surrender meeting,
the translators at Doig were: Barbara
Davis and Chief Kelvin Davis.
Evidence on the Surrender
of Indian Reserve 172.
Some of the witnesses were present
at the surrender meeting in 1945 and
all gave their evidence of what they
personally knew about the actual
surrender. The evidence will be used
to support the Band's claim that it's
people did not agree to sell IR 172
and did not agree to it's 3 new
reserves set up for the Band. The old
reserve was sold in 1948 to the
Department o f Veterans Affairs and
then granted to soldiers returning
from World War II.
The evidence collected on tape and
pictures o f the procedure remain
confidential until the trial.
I N D I A N W O R L D 23
UP-DATE
BLUEBERRY R E L O C A T I O N
In the early 1960's, the people of Blueberry Band were
pressured into moving into a small village, a different
way of living for them. They were promised a school,
new houses, a sewage system and running water. Twenty
years later the population has expanded a lot, but they
are living in the same few houses. The sewage system
broke down years ago, water pipes froze, burst and were
never fixed, people have to haul drinking water from
other creeks. The village site is a bowl that can trap the
poisonous gases emitted by the Kildonan wells at the top
of the hill which are tapping into the gas the people
consider their own.
Forced to look at the intolerable living conditions after
a poisonous gas cloud was trapped over the village last
year, the D I A agreed to pay relocation costs. The wells
were shut down temporarily, and a Band community
planner was hired. It was in June of 1980 that the
Minister telexed the Band saying he would try to put
through the appropriate budget as soon as possible. A
couple of months later, his assistant wrote to say that the
D I A was not going to support the relocation, either
temporary or permanent. A t the General Assembly, Clarence Apsassin, Band Manager, told John M u n r o that he
had broken his commitment. M u n r o restated he would
support the Band and would find the money. But that
might not be until next summer at the earliest.
Court injunctions and negotiations have delayed the
reopening of the gas wells until December. There are no
guarantees for the people's safety after that, but the Band
has negotiated with the company to buy vehicles so that
the people can escape in an emergency. The company will
also make sure that a secondary road leading off the
reserve will be kept clear during this winter.
SPOTTED L A K E
Negotiations for the return of Spotted Lake, a sacred
medicine lake, to the Indian people have come to a halt.
The previous owner recently died and his family is very
bitter about this and are blaming it on the Indian people.
The government officials sent in to appraise the value of
the property to be transferred back to our people, have
not been allowed on the property and have been
repeatedly kicked off. The Minister has now been asked
to consider expropriation with fair compensation because
it seems that the negotiations are frustrated. A legal brief
is being prepared for the expropriation.
I N D I A N W O R L D 24
1036: MOSES VERSUS T H E Q U E E N
The case has been lost in B . C . Courts, but the Chiefs
Council of the U B C I C has decided to continue to
challenge the right of the Province to take Indian reserve
lands for road building, etc. The Legal Task Force has
now filed an application for leave to appeal at the highest
court in the land. The application will be heard on
November 17th and we will learn at that time whether the
case can go to the Supreme Court o f Canada. If so, we
will know within 30 days when the case will be heard.
NEW A P P R O A C H T O SOCIO-ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Some encouraging developments i n the field of social
and economic development o f Indian Bands and/or
reserves have occurred recently. The Department of
Indian Affairs has submitted a discussion paper to the
N I B which shows some evidence that the Department is
becoming more receptive to Indian ideas. There is, it
seems, a recognition that there must be considerable
Indian input.
This optimistic development was exposed to the N I B
members o f the Economic Development sub-committee
in a draft discussion paper entitled "Indian Economic
and Employment Development" at a recent meeting in
Ottawa. The main object of the discussion paper is to
outline and assess:
The current economic and employment conditions of
Indian reserve communities; major factors determining
economic and employment development for Indians; a
strategic approach to Indian economic and employment
development; and, some implications of this strategic
approach. Since Indian leaders in B . C . insist that only
maximum Indian participation can determine the best
strategy, it is urged that all Indian governments make
immediate submissions to Ottawa.
A thorough review o f the contents o f the paper is
scheduled for November 4th, 5th & 6th at a meeting at
the N I B boardroom in Ottawa.
B A N D ADVISORY SERVICES
Because there was such a good response by Bands,
especially smaller ones, there seems to be a need to
expand the Band advisory services •
The Union executive sees this need and is in favour of
further developments, but any expansion or even continued extensive service depends on our receiving enough
funding for the program.
However, despite the lack of funds, the Union will
continue to offer these services. We will do so with the
existing field workers already established in various areas
of the Province.
First Annual Indian Fall Fair
Kamloops Residential School
by Gordon Antoine
October 10-11,1980
They came from long distances and they came from local areas: Minneapolis, Minneso
Vancouver Island, Vanderhoof Lytton, Mt. Currie, the Okanagan, Kamloops, Grasmere,
Nicola. They were Ojibway, Shuswap, Okanagan, Carrier, Coast Salish, Interior Salis
Lillooet, Kootenay and Thompson. They came to show each other their treasures and the
hard work.
There were 100-year-old baskets and buckskin clothing. There were carvings, bask
makings of baskets, buckskin gloves, moccasins, jackets and shirts. There were raw woo
homemade clothing, and<i fashion show, special educational displays and photographs.
the handiwork of children (Stoney 4H Club) in birch bark baskets, leather and traditiona
foods. People came with produce and livestock. Fall fairs & expositions: the people th
showed their prowess as Indian people.
Stoney Creek 4-H Club
This showing was an additional exposure to promote the development
of the young in that the first A l l
Indian 4 H Clubs in B . C . came to
share the results of their efforts with
each other and to learn from each
other.
The 4 H Clubs are from Stoney
Creek Band and A l k a l i Lake Band.
Alkali Beef Club is sponsored by
A l k a l i Lake Agricultural Co-op.
M i k e Paul—Club Leader
Robert Chelsea—President
Eddy Johnson—Vice-President
Alkali Lake 4H Club, display winning ribbons.
Stoney Creek Beef Club is sponsored
by Hugh M i l l a r d .
Hazel Alexis—Club Leader
Dixon Alexis—President
Dee Dee Alexis—Vice-President
Stoney Creek Trapper Club is
sponsored by Alex Johnny.
Alex Johnny—Club Leader
Victor Alexis—President
Clarence Johnny—Vice-President
Stoney Creek Indian 4H Craft Club:
Madeline Johnny—Club Leader &
Sponsor .
Sally Patrick—President
Charlene Patrick—Vice-President
I N D I A N W O R L D 25
Eileen Harry of Alkali showing Eddy
Johnson's Reserve Grand Champion
Steer (925 lbs.) and Sally Patrick of
Stoney with her 885 lb. Grand Champion.
Bob Pasco, Chief of the Oregon Jack
Creek Band and President of the
Western Indian Agricultural Corporation shows his determined stride in
leading WIAC Field worker Dan
Gravelle to work harder at the Fall
Fair.
Mildred Gottfriedson at the display
table of the B.C. Native Women's
Society showing Indian fashion and
traditional buckskin work.
BELOW
Adelina Williams of Mt. Currie
listens to two people discuss her
display of basketry.
The Mission Native Knitters' display
with a treadle yarn spinner in the
lower right of the picture.
Lena Charlie and ChiefNathan Spinks
of Lytton displaying examples of
Thompson Basketry
Dennis Sam, Lower Nicola CouncilIon rancher, and Director for WIAC
shows George Saddleman, Chief of
the Upper Nicola Band, and Chester
Douglas, WIAC Fieldworker the
finer points of Joseph Jules' winning
entry to the Fall Fair.
I N D I A N W O R L D 26
An Indianowned general
development
consulting
group
I.C.G. (Indian Consulting Group) Ltd.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Economic feasibility studies
Preparation of funding proposals
Project planning/implementation
Socio-economic impact analysis
Negotiations with government/industry
Band organization and training
225-744 West Hastings Street
Vancouver
V6C1A5
(604) 682-7615
Watty Henry of the Coqualeetza Cultural Centre showing cedar clothing
as part of an educational display.
'
Simon Charlie of Duncan brought his
work along with a number of other
South Island carvers' work.
WIAC WORKSHOPS
Date
Place
Type of Workshop
Fieldman
N o v . 5-6
Keremeos
Cecil Louis
N o v . 5-6
Burns Lake
Calving Problems &
Management—Pregnant
Animals
Training Management,
L a n d Clearing, 4 H C l u b
Preg Testing
Nutrition
Nutrition
Mechanics
Preg Testing
Cow Management
L a n d Clearing
Nutrition
Nutrition
General Ranch Management Practices
Production & Management (beef cattle, swine,
poultry)
Financial Management,
4H Club
Nov. 12-13
N o v . 12
N o v . 13
Nov?13-14
N o v . 17
Nov. 18
Nov. 29
N o v . 19
Nov. 20
N o v . 25
Oliver
Kamloops
Chase
Alkali
Anaham
Dog Creek
Dog Creek
Lytton
Merritt
Oliver Band
Hall
Nov. 26-27 C o l u m b i a
Lake
Three teepees made the long journey
from inner city Minneapolis to Kam¬
loops. Nine people travelled from the
Minneapolis Cultural Project to see
what Indians were up to in B. C.
The fashion show with ribbon shirts
being modeled. Molly Bonneau organized and announced the Fashion
Show.
Nov. 26-27 Stoney
Creek
Dec. 5
Nanaimo
Kamloops
Dec. 9
Dec. 10-11 StuartTrembleur
Dec. 18
Shuswap
Irrigation
Financial Management,
Hay Ranching,
4 H Club
Beef Cattle Health
Jimmy Quaw
Cecil Louis
George Saddleman
George Saddleman
Clarence Walkem
Clarence Walkem
Clarence Walkem
Clarence Walkem
George Saddleman
George Saddleman
Cecil Louis
Dan Gravelle
Jimmy Quaw
Gabe Bartleman
George Saddleman
Jimmy Quaw
Dan Gravelle
A lot of people have asked about another All-Indian Fall Fair next year. The Western
Agricultural Corporation was so pleased with the results that they will surely be considering
I N D I A N W O R L D 27
TO HELP A SICK FRIEND
" W e are going out to get medicine today," she told
me as she wrapped a red faded hankie around her head
and tied it at the back. She always did this when it was
time to work. I think it was because of the sweat and she
didn't want it to run down her face.
She then picked up the basket where the medicine
would be placed. We proceeded out to the woods where
it was a peaceful silence. The only sound that could be
heard was the cry of an eagle and sounds of small
animals.
Nowadays, a lot o f our young people aren't used to
just sitting down and listening to a person talk; they don't
have the patience to wait, listen and understand an elder
who will talk about different forms of medicine which we
can use for our bodies and to help other people. So the
Health Portfolio is starting work on a booklet which will
be geared to the ways o f thinking o f our young people
who are used to reading and researching through books,
and also through T V and radio. Many o f our young
people are geared to learning and listening to these things
instead o f our old people who have this knowledge. But
we want to encourage our young people, to begin to learn
more about our sacred ways and medicines. The different
ceremonies that we have, the different dances we have,
different songs we have from different parts o f the
Province, different forms o f healing ceremonies; many
different roots, barks, and leaves.
There were very few words exchanged between the
two of us. The only thing she said was, "This is a very
important job that we are doing. These plants and roots
we are gathering is to help our sick friend. Keep your
mind clear of all ill thoughts and just ask and thank the
medicine for its strength. If you are like that then maybe
the medicine will help our friend."
Hopefully in the future, after some o f our young
people have read this, they will take the time off from
what they're doing and go and learn from an old
person, or somebody who has knowledge about the
different medicines or different ceremonies that we have.
It's a Lifetime Process
We could tell the young people that learning about
medicine, especially traditional Indian medicine, is not
just a subject that will last only two or three months. It's
a learning process that will take a lifetime: i f we do get
100 years old we would only learn a little more than half
of what has been given to us. L i k e , myself, I only
understand a little more than a quarter o f what my
grandfather knows about medicine because there's many
involved things that a person has to go through to
prepare himself to learn and understand about our sacred
medicines.
In a booklet, we'd be able to work on the illustrations,
drawing a picture o f what the medicine looks like when
it's still alive on the ground, and also different stages of
pictures showing you what has to be done to prepare
medicine, the instructions on how to prepare it and when
to pick it.
Continued page 29.
I N D I A N W O R L D 28
She always said these words when we went out to get
medicine. But, she never repeated the instructions she
gave me the very first time I went to gather medicine
with her. That was how to ask the sun and the earth and
the sky also for strength. This she has just expected of
me.
So naturally I held up the medicine to the sun and the
sky and I looked over and she was doing the same. It
made me feel so good to be with this elderly lady. I felt
so secure and happy. After this occasion together she
knew I was ready to do these sort of things on my own.
When she was older I was happy I was able to help her
and collect the plants and roots for her in her time of
weakness. I asked the medicine to please help my
friend.. .my loving grandmother.
by Lorna Bob
HEALTH WORKERS START
CONSULTATIONS
The Health and Social Development Portfolio has
received the first quarter of our consultations funds and
has hired four fieldworkers to do Consultations throughout the Province. Each fieldworker will visit the Bands
in the zones they have been assigned to cover. If they
haven't already visited your Band, they will be contacting the Chief and Council of your Band to make
arrangements to consult with them or whomever they
may assign. They may spend a few days in order to
cover all the issues they need to address.
The purpose of the Consultations is:
• to determine the health care needs of the Indian
Bands in B . C . ;
• to provide an information base for future health care
planning;
• to identify redundancies and critical shortages in the
current medical care systems.
The fieldworkers are Theresa Thorne from Duncan,
working in the Vancouver Island zone, Laura M c C o y
from Tobacco Plains, working in the South Mainland
Zone, Romeo Edwards from the Spallumcheen Band,
working in the North East Zone, and Herb Russell from
the Kitsegukla Band working in the North West Zone.
The fieldworkers will need all the support they can get
from the Bands in order to do complete consultations,
so please give them your full cooperation. The material
they collect is extremely important for the future o f our
total health care.
Communications
Our Way
Editor:
Writing to let you know how much our family enjoy
Indian W o r l d . Recently you had an article on alcoholism,
and various letters from people o f how change' came
about their lives. I'm certain many lives were touched
through this. It's like giving hope. I went through a
spiritual conversion, and haven't a need for alcohol.
Also you had a picture o f The Late Ellie Prince and an
article on her past life. Proud to say I knew her. She was
very great i n her Indian ways.
I also would like to do an article of late M r s . Josephine
Lowie, who was also a great figure in our community of
the Sams. If it's all right with you, I can work on it. So let
me know.
Thanks again. Keep up the good work!
Say Hello! to Tache Tlazten.
—from M r s . Lilliam Sam
Continued from page 28.
There are other people who are more interested in the
white man's form of medicine and we also can encourage
them to learn in the field they're interested in cause we
also need that part of our life, but at the same time, we
are interested in encouraging our young people to
understand more about our traditional form of medicine.
Healing in the Indian Way Would Help More of
Our People
I believe that we'll need this more in the future because
the whiteman's form o f medicine has no feeling behind it.
When you do something in the Indian way, the person
who is helping you, puts his whole heart, his whole body
and spirit into helping a certain person or a group of
people because he or she has to suffer for that person that
he/she is going to help. We need more people like this
because a lot of our own people aren't being treated well
in the non-Indian system. We should start encouraging a
lot of our young people to learn more about our
traditional form of medicine. It takes a special person
who will understand, and will have that certain gift to
learn about the traditional medicine.
0
Dear Lillian,
I would like to say thank-you on behalf o f the Bands in
B . C . for your compliments on the "Indian W o r l d . "
Indian World is your paper and with the support of
people like you it has been successful. So I feel most of
the credit should go to the Bands for sharing with one
another their stories.
Our mandate from the people is to provide a way for
Indian people to share experiences and ideas, to share
stories o f our Elders and leaders who give us guidance
and strength to make the right decisions to keep Indian
Government alive.
Hoping to hear from you again real soon.
—Editor
I N D I A N W O R L D 29
George Kenny
Indians
Don't Cry
Book Review by Bess Brown
Indians don't cry is a collection o f short stories and
poems written by George Kenny. It is about the Ojibway
people of Ontario and their struggle to adjust to their
rapidly changing culture. The problems which they were
confronted with, are in fact ones which many other
Indian people have faced throughout Canada.
I found that the short stories were more enjoyable than
the poems. A number of the poems were quite good but
the stories had much more feeling to them. I felt that the
stories were easier to relate to therefore more meaningful.
I particularly enjoyed Just Another Bureaucrat, about
two young Indian men. One of the men has obtained his
masters i n Social W o r k , while the other has not been as
successful. The less successful one has a dream o f putting
together a book of native prose, with the help of the other
Indian man. Donnie, the one with the M S W , is seen as a
savior o f the Indian people by his less educated friend.
Though they had not seen one another for a couple of
years, Donnie's friend believed that he (Donnie) would
not change his values or attitudes. H e is shocked to find
that Donnie does not even recognize him and he is not at
all helpful to him; in fact Donnie has become quite a
bureaucrat. I think most of us know a Donnie, someone
who gets a good education and then is expected to be o f
great assistance to the Indian people and their cause.
Instead he/she are o f no help to the Indian people nor do
they wish to be associated with our cause. They are often
unfairly accused of being interested in only one goal,
their quest for social and financial stability in the dominant white society.
and his wife are left alone throughout the school year.
For a number o f years he tried to find employment in the
city i n order to keep his family together. This , however,
proved to be impossible, he could not get jobs, find
decent housing, his English was poor and his wife was
fighting a losing battle against alchoholism. He finally
gave up and returned to the reserve alone. The problems
faced by him have undoubtably been experienced by
others trying to better their lives, only to return to the
reserve because they had not anticipated the problems o f
living in an urban environment.
Indians don't cry is an excellent book. It presents many
of the difficulties faced by Indian people attempting to
adjust to and live with the attitudes and values of the
larger and more dominant white society. Some of the areas
covered are education, where a student finds herself in a
"damned i f you do and damned i f you d o n ' t " situation,
She was encouraged to go to school by her people and
then when she decides she likes living i n the city she is
not uncommon to be asked by a prospective employer
criticized by her family for abandoning her culture. It is
why she is not working for her people. It also touches on
such topics as stereotyping o f Indians, death, and the
attitudes and feelings one experiences when passing the
'drunken Indian' on M a i n Street.
Indians don't cry is a very powerful and emotional
book which provokes much thought and feelings.
M y favorite poem in the book is The Bull-Frogs Got
Theirs (as now I do). Kenny compares the killing of a
bull-frog by a young Indian boy who shows no feelings or
respect to the animal, to people who cut the same young
man down years later. Instead o f using spears they cut
him down with words. The young man realizes now that
he was wrong to kill animals just to prove to himself and
others that he was a warrior; just as he realizes that the
people who put him down are wrong i n their attempt to
raise their own self-esteem by killing his spirit.
The most enjoyable story in the book is Indians Don't
Cry. It deals with the frustrations a man encounters as he
tries to keep his family together. Each September his
three children are shipped off to residential school and he
I N D I A N W O R L D 30
Kenny George, Indians Don't Cry. Chimo Publishing,
1977.
•
HELP WANTED
POSITION: ASSISTANT EDITOR
The Assistant Editor of the "Indian W o r l d " magazine is
responsible to the Band members for the production of
the magazine and other publications by the Print section
of the Communications Portfolio.
Related Duties:
• taking photographs and writing articles
• travelling to Bands, on request, to hold print workshops
• sending staff out in the field to cover stories
• editing
POSITION: PRODUCTION M A N A G E R
Production Manager of the "Indian W o r l d " is in charge
of arranging production schedule and ensuring that
schedule is followed.
Related Duties:
• ensure that all suggestions from line-up meeting are
followed through on time, including scheduling submissions of articles, photographs, art work, etc.
• assist in writing, editing and photography
• liaison with typesetters and printers
Preference will be given to a Band member who has
working experience for his or her Band. Should be willing
to travel and be willing to work longer than average
hours.
Starting Date:
A s soon as possible.
Salary: Negotiable.
Write to or phone: Communications Portfolio, Union o f
B . C . Indian Chiefs, 440 West Hastings St., Vancouver,
B . C . V 6 B 1L1. Phone (604) 684-0231.
H O M E S C H O O L CO-ORDINATOR
To work out o f Vancouver for the Bella Coola Band
students attending school in the Lower Mainland in the
boarding home program.
Related duties: Liaison work between the students, their
boarding home, the school and the Bella Coola Band
Administration. Direction will come from the Education
Administrator in Bella Coola. This is a quarter-time
position: 35-40 hours per month.
Salary: Negotiable.
Deadline: November
20th,
1980;
job
to
start
immediately.
Send applications to:
Chief Councillor Archie Pootlass,
c/o Union of B . C . Indian Chiefs,
440 West Hastings St.,
Vancouver, B . C .
For further information, call Gert M a c k , 799-5453.
R E S O U R C E C E N T R E CO-ORDINATOR
The main responsibility of the coordinator is to establish
a centre for the collection, processing and dissemination
of information of the fifteen Bands of the Cariboo,
which includes the Carrier, Chilcotin and Shuswap
nations.
The coordinator will be in charge of audio visual, photography, and have a responsibility to the monthly newspaper, the Coyoti Prints.
The person will be responsible for initiating cultural
programs, spiritual programs, language workshops,
alcohol awareness workshops and native dance groups.
Travel and business allowance provided.
To live at Fish Lake—unfurnished house is provided with
job.
Sober, industrious and self-directed
Own vehicle is desired—must be free to travel.
Salary negotiable.
Deadline for application is November 30, 1980. Send
resume to Fish Lake Centre, Box 6000, Williams Lake.
Personal interview will take place at 4:30, December 3 at
the Cariboo Tribal Council office, 150B Oliver Street,
Williams Lake. Telephone (604) 398-8933 for additional
information.
M A N A G E R : BUSINESS D E V E L O P M E N T
A N D OPERATIONS
To promote native employment by assessing, developing
and monitoring profitable business opportunities in a
small but growing community i n north central British
Columbia.
• Creative i n identifying potential enterprises.
Practical in investigating those potential enterprises.
• Adaptable in dealing with people o f diverse backgrounds.
• Experienced, at management level, in business and
government relationships.
This position holds the responsibility for the origin of
development proposal and for much of the preparation
of feasibility studies. The ultimate success or failure of
this entire program therefore rests heavily upon the
incumbent, and requires an extremely high degree of
commitment and expertise.
Salary will be commensurate with experience and will
include a broad benefits package.
Submit to:
M s . Nancy Plasway, President
Burns Lake Native Development Corporation
P . O . Box 1030
Burns Lake, B . C . V 0 J 1E0
Applications close December 31,1980.
I N D I A N W O R L D 31
INDIAN LANGUAGES IN TRAINING
Our Way is to Share
I was orphaned when I was very small. I didn't really
know what had happened. I was too small to understand.
Now what I see is something that has also happened to
many other people. M y heart really goes out to those
young people now who feel lonely and don't know where
they belong.
During the time that I was really small and I lived with
my relatives, I felt really out of place. I felt like an extra
person. I could see the warmth and the love between my
aunties and uncles for their little children. I would wish
so strongly that someone would love me like that. What I
liked was to play in a big group with all of my cousins,
cause then I would be just one of the kids, then I felt like
I didn't stand out as not belonging.
Walking Alone
There is a real sorrow and longing to belong
somewhere when you grow up without parents. I see
some of our Indian kids now, who have one non-Indian
parent, who are fair and who have very strong feelings of
not belonging. These people i f not treated warmly and
not accepted by other Indian people, can spend the rest of
their lives not knowing where they belong. They can fee)
anger because nobody understands them, nobody loves^
them, they fell like they walk alone. When this happens,
when a person doesn't know how to approach anybody,
when they hold themselves back, they are hurting, crying^
inside, and desparately calling out—silently, for your
warmth. These people, are also born with an Indian spirit
inside them. Remember they are somebody's grandchild,
they can grow up to help our people i f guided and accepted.
The Warmth of Sharing
It is so easy, such a small thing to respond to these
silent pleas. Everybody needs to belong, to feel warmth
from another person, to experience the beauty o f love.
To express this love has nothing to do with material
things, it comes from inside of you and is giving of vour¬
self, your time, your ears to listen, your thoughts when
you talk, your food as you nourish, your stories when,
you help a person understand where they come f r o m !
From the words and wisdom of an Elder, "Indian
languages should be taught to the child from the day he/
she is born, and should become all-inclusive in everything
that we do in our culture. Words and songs of love for
the newborn are just as important as all of the other
primary needs are, if not more important. Soothing and
commanding words and songs give the child a feeling of
security and belonging and these are his/her first learning
experience in the Indian languages.
The spirit is forever present in languages through the
way we express ourselves, images, songs and dance, etc.
It is present in our everyday activities of fishing and
hunting, trapping, gardening, chores like cooking, chopping wood, carrying water, cleaning house, going to the
store or doing some other kinds of business.
The spiritual aspect of Indian languages is prevalent in
the way we think and feel in the Indian way of life. Some
of us may not be able to think in our own language
because we have not yet learned by listening and by
practice o f actually speaking the language. But the spirit
of feeling things in the Indian way is so very real and is
the key to our sincere desire to learn our language for
survival and the Indian law of happiness.
This desire to learn and to teach the Indian languages
in our own tribal nations has been and is so strong in our
Indian Bands with the Elders and Cultural Education
Centres playing a strong part in the revival of our sacred
languages. With the guidance and direction of our Elders
and the hard work o f all Indian language programs in
B . C . , we can seek all the good things of the true meaning
of our languages by sharing at a workshop in Cache
Creek on November 27-28, 1980. More information will
be mailed out and meetings will be set up with individual
Bands as needs are stated by all concerned people.
Our Mother Earth Cares and Heals
This is one of the things that we all pray for, in our
own Indian way. When we are in sweat lodges, wherever
they are held, we pray for the strengthening of our Indian
people: we pray for those people who are suffering, lost
orlonely.When we pray, we remember and learn that we
are all children of the Creator. We have our mother,
Mother Earth, who cares for and heals all of us. A l l
strength and healing are provided for us. When we go
intoa sweat it is like returning to our mother's womb to
be reborn again, to come out strong and to make a new
start with the new strength that we gain.
One eider said, " I n our language there is lots of words
for our mother. When our real mother goes to the spirit
world, there is always another relative to replace her,
then in Indian we have another word that gives this
person the name of mother replacing our real mother."
"When we use this way we have everything to gain.
by Maxine Pape
I N D I A N W O R L D 32
OUR SPIRIT
"A new Indian Education system has
to teach our children their language
or they won 7 survive. "
(P. Paul, Tsartlip)
"The Indians never wrote anything
down before, they had no paper.
Everything was recorded in the
mind."
(Pat Charlie, Cowichan)
"Our
grandchildren... I am so
thankful our ancestors' ways are
back; they speak through and to
you. " (Selina Timoykin, Lim Lempt)
"Indian languages are sacred and
shall be treated as such. The Legislature's proper role would be to recognize in law the freedom of Indians to
develop the language.. .as we choose
... (and) to protect and preserve for
Indians the sovereignty of our languages. "
(Confederation of Indians of Quebec)
"The language is really important to
the whole Indian education program
if there is going to be any kind of a
program our language has to be a
part of it. The language is the vehicle
of our whole culture."
(Lorna Williams, Mt. Currie)
I N D I A N W O R L D 33
EDITORIAL
Working for the "Indian W o r l d " has been a great
learning experience, knowing that my responsibility
was to help our people. It is each individual's responsibility to work for the betterment of Indian People.
M y mother is a paraplegic, paralyzed from the chest
down. She has been in hospitals for 2 years
now and they have not and cannot
help her. Again I had let the
doctors convince me that
to send her to a nursing
home was the best alternative we had.
When I decided
to take the responsibility I really
had to think what
is more important in my life, the
love for my mother or the materialistic world (cars,
nice clothes, artificial things). So that is
why I am leaving the
"Indian W o r l d " to take
my mother back home where
she belongs and where we all care.
When I really began thinking about my
mother's situation, I thought of how, for so long now,
I have listened to the white man's ways, had more
respect for them than my own people's ways that our
Elders have kept so strong. A l l these government agents,
Department of Indian Affairs, doctors, nurses, church
people, the white society generally, have always been
telling me what was the right thing to do. Little did I
know I was becoming an "assimilated Indian." But I
thank the Elders for having strong minds to keep our
Indian values alive.
So in this way I thank all the people who helped me
to the right direction, who made me realize I am
capable of making my own decisions and that keeping
my Indian values was not wrong. When I
would go and visit my mother in that
nursing home, I would leave feeling hurt and feeling so selfish, wondering, what
am I doing? I was always feeling that we
were taking the
easy way out of
not taking the responsibility that
was ours. We as
Indian Nations
have to take on
the responsibility
of keeping our Indian values alive
and not make use of
the nursing homes they
offer for our Elders and
handicapped. The love for our
own people is stronger than letting
em become empty shells. There is no love
for our people in those homes. That's because only we
can as Indian people help our people totally, spiritually as well.
We were gifted by the Great Spirit with our Indian
spirit that dances to the beat of the drum and the songs
of our people. A n d before the white man came we had
our own ways, so let's keep our Indian spirits strong,
and keep on dancing to the beat of the drum for the
love of our people.
by Faye Edgar, Co-Editor
I N D I A N W O R L D 34
INDIAN GOVERNMENT
FOUNDERS HONOURED
Indian people in B. C. have been very fortunate in the past to have had
such great leaders to guide us in our struggle to control our own lives.
These men and women have, by their example, given us the strength and
courage to carry on and continue their life's work. Our leaders have given
up a great deal for us, and have never sought praise.
During the annual General Assembly, Indian people from all over B. C.
honored Jacob Kruger, Bill Roberts, Wilfred Sylvester and the late Jim
Morrison for unselfishly devoting much of their lives to our people. At the
same time, their families were honored, for they gave up their men for our
cause.
As a token of the people's respect and appreciation, gifts were given and
dances were performed for these leaders, who are now models for our
people to try and follow. It is our responsibility to them to follow their
guidance and to continue their work.
Wilfred Sylvester, an Elder from the Cowichan Band,
Jacob Kruger is considered to be the dependency on the non-Indian
was honoured by his people for his volunteer work in
founder of the concept of Indian
collecting and organizing collectors of money for
society and bureaucracy, which is
government. Many of our present
funerals in the south Vancouver Island area. He has also
represented by the snake.
leaders have travelled with and gone
gained respect as one of the main speakers for the Elders
to him to learn. Jacob has taught
Chief Roger Jimmie spoke about
in the Longhouse.
many of them what they use today the great respect his people have had
as the basis of their work. A
for the late Jim Morrison. He said
sculpture by Chief Saul Terry was
Jim Morrison guided their people in
Bill Roberts was presented with traditional garments of
presented to Jacob. The frog
the past and to honour him, the
the Kwawkewlth people. He has been called one of our
represents our people coming out,
Kluskus people have named their
most 'radical' leaders. Phillip Paul joked that some of
or breaking away, from the
school after him.
Bill's ideas for implementing Indian Government
"even made me shudder. " George Manuel told the
people that he could always call on Bill during times of
emergency concerning Indian Government.
FROM: UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS
440 W E S T H A S T I N G S S T .
V A N C O U V E R , B . C . V 6 B 1L1
SECOND CLASS M A I L
R E G I S T R A T I O N N U M B E R 4983
VANCOUVER, B.C.
ing after our writers and photographers along the way,
and also to the Neskainlith Band for sending in their
photographs of the Caravan events there (pp. 6-8).
For some people October is called the month of the
migrating moon and certainly there was a massive
movement of people in B . C . this month. The Indian
Child Caravan came from all over the Province: grandparents, parents and children mobilised to demonstrate
the strong feeling we have that the only way for our
children to grow up strong and happy is in our own
Indian homes. The Provincial Government was forced
to agree to Indian Governments' control over what
happens to our children. It was a great victory for the
people of the Spallumcheen Band. We join our thanks
to all those communities who hosted the caravan, look-
The movement of people continued the following
week as more people came from all parts of the
Province to the Twelfth Annual Assembly of the Union
of B . C . Indian Chiefs in Vancouver. The supplement
th^s. month reports on the decisions and discussions of
that exciting week. One of the most heartwarming
events to take place during that time was an Indian
Wedding. Fay Wilson of the Herring People writes
about why she felt it was important that they should be
married in their traditional way (p. 2). The victory we
won for the future of our children and the decisions
taken by our leaders to implement Indian Government
will mean nothing, however, i f we do not win the most
crucial and fiercest battle of all: entrenching our special
status and rights as the aboriginal people of this land in
the Constitution before it is brought back to Ottawa.
Our main issue this month deals with the Constitutional
Emergency (p. 9).
Our Aboriginal Rights are on the line. Join the most
important battle we face: demonstrate to the Canadian
Government and to the United Nations of the world
that the Indian Nations in this country refuse to let our
rights be terminated. We will survive.
INDIAN WORLD
“THE CHOICE IS OURS”
Z WANT — SUP FOr,
Ye \© GROW UP | INDipyy e
UBCIC NEWS
OCTOBER 1980
I
The Wedding
When an Indian loses his cultural identity, he faces the
forlorn existence of wandering in No-man’s land. His
chances of attaining equality alongside the white man
range from nil to very slim. Almost all Indians have had
to wrestle with this form of alienation at one time or
another.
Elmer and Fay were one of the many who have
endured the ill fortune of struggling with an identity
crisis. The great Creator of all good things had brought
them into the world to live a good life, the way their
people once had. But they carried no hope because their
people, the Homalco people, had been forced by the
white man and his religion to live as a second rate white
man. No one knew any songs or dances. Very few knew
about the Indian way but they were too ashamed to talk
about it. In desperation the Homalco people abused
their bodies, minds, spirits, and hearts.
When the corruption of the white man’s world had
driven Elmer and Fay apart and all respect was gone the
Great Creator spoke to them through other people. The
message was simple: ‘‘Your culture is there if you want
it."
From this point onward life has been wonderful for
Elmer and Fay. After a bit of searching, they’ve
discovered their culture wasn’t completely lost. Now
they’re walking on the Indian path and they walk hand in
hand. The new happiness that they now live in has led to
their traditional marriage. On October 16, 1980 Fay
and Elmer were married in the Indian way for all Indian
nations to see, and this union was blessed by the Great
Creator.
There are no words to express the happiness that
Elmer and Fay have found in living the way their
forefathers had. They know that their marriage is a
strong one because their spirits, minds, hearts and bodies
have been joined by the Great Creator. They feel that any
other form of marriage would not have allowed a bond as
they now have. They only wish they will find the words to
tell the Homalco people and all other Indian nations that
the-Indian way is the best way of life.
The Animal Kingdom
After the wedding ceremony the Kwicksutaineuk people
presented the dances of the Animal Kingdom.
“‘We have given names as we have shown these, and these
names have been passed on, rightfully, from generation
to generation. We do this to show that, indeed, our
culture is alive and also in the hope that you will follow
sult and practise yours. For it is in the practise that, we
become again a strong healthy people.’’
INDIAN |
WORLD
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 7
Selina Timoykin of Penticton on Parliament Hill in
Ottawa last April. B.C. Bands are now taking
Trudeau to court for pushing his new Constitution
without our participation, request or consent. Bands
across Canada are joining the court action.
Contributors
Editors: Faye Edgar and Darrell Ned
Assistant Editor: Pauline Douglas
Written contributions: George Manuel, Fay Wilson,
Gordon Antoine, Derek Wilson, Louise Mandel,
Winona Stevenson, Lorna Bob, Violet Birdstone,
Carmen Maracle, Bess Brown, Maxine Pape & Glen
Williams
Illustrations by Carmen Maracle and Angeline Eagle
Typesetting by Mary Schendlinger at Pulp Press
Photography by UBCIC staff unless credited.
x
INDIAN WORLD is the official voice of the Union
of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.
It is dedicated to building a strong foundation for
Indian Government by providing an awareness of the
political and social issues affecting the Indians of
British Columbia.
Signed articles and opinions are the views of the
individuals concerned and not necessarily those of the
UBCIC.
Table of Contents|
CEFOMONY «ocd aicietswrelaa oie esta wiereaihe miele s epuetesteree 02
State of Emergency: Trudeau’s Constitution
would wipe out Aboriginal Rights .............. 4
COnStHOUOR GRTITESS! . Ais 6 ciislausei poe Vo. 070 oun or terers 5
B.C. Bands Take Trudeau to Court ............... 6 |
PISTON CAT AVR 6 ooo, 0:5: omc neers) elamien oust a,
President's Message 2). as:ce cies wee es sa, Chee hea 9
SPATP ANN RYELEL saat o csa'e are esbictere al wusier sie > aesie’s lecehpredve aura 10
DIC WSUINGWS-INGWS: o.oca ues ake eVovuce grees nals snes sia lgiaie 12
Not Guilty: Fountain Band Victory ..............13
PCG INO WSs aie ie oa EEN cy Seeds PS Lee eae ate etars 14
Special Supplement: Assembly! ............... 16
Resolutions.............. 19
Breach of Treaty: Recording Elders’ Evidence..... 23
EDITOR Yate cia Soar hs scar ciursia ealeinie et wai Pals Binge 24
First Annual Indian Fall Fair..................0% 25
An Indian Doctor’s Booklet ........ Sea maa 28
EES NRGAEY CE SICK TE IONIC hate core <. ce us 35 WIA ais gale 28
Health workers start consultations............... 29
Communications Our Way...aletter ............ 29
Book Review: Indians Don’t Cry 2.0.0... 0c ecueee 30
Prelty Wi aiited 5 os jc-supedie cel doze Spin ately wigs o-evgi ations nouereBte 31
OUP WAY 16 TO SDANG fons Bats otras ara irae asd 32
Indian Languages in Training................0005 32
Our Spirit is in our Languages...........-....005 33
TSCA EI ESE creel eee si tacit 4 PN Ck a nhs ee Bot arees 34
Indian Government Founders Honoured.......... 35
the theme of Implementing Indian Government.
-OUR COVER: The Indian Child Caravan was started to protect the Spallumcheen Band’s children and they added
meaning and energy to the caravan. Their testimony at the beginning of the General Assembly added new urgency to
SAS
INDIAN WORLD 3
#
) The Constitution sets down the general rules by
- which all people in Canada live and which all Cana-
dian Governments have to follow.
The problem is not that Trudeau is taking
jurisdiction over the Constitution back from
the British to the Canadian Government. The
problem is that, in the process, the Indian
people stand to lose all the rights we have
fought so fiercely to defend over the last cen-
tury. All the Proclamations, Agreements,
Treaties and contracts which ensure that our
Aboriginal Rights are written into the most
powerful laws of the land stand to be wiped
out in the edited version of the Constitution
that he wants to bring back to Canada.
Termination: Long Standing Liberal Goal
The history of the Liberal Government’s
dealings with us leaves no doubt that this is deliber-
ate. In 1947 it was proposed to the Liberal Party that
the only solution to the “‘Indian Problem’’ was total
assimilation, Termination of all Aboriginal Rights.
The infamous White Paper of 1969 proposed t
| same: Termination of Indian Nations.
Only the total and united refusal of all Ig
ffairs
the present Deputy Minister of Indfz :
ver
Liberal Documents, correspondence and
| the last twelve years prove that fhe
Policy was never abandoned, megely puti
by more subtle programs. Tle Pz
Constitution provides a convghient
policy through to the final xtinguis
lands and rights we haves t
New Constitution woul
**Rights and Freedo
The Minister offindi
there is no préble
glibly'tells us that
e SectiOn 24 of the
‘rights and free ist’’ gthe status quo, We
know what the st }is: broken Treaties, bro-
| ken resswe legislation, rights
d nfismanagement in nearly
. Hefays we can negotiate once
inas€d those agreements on which
s w@uld be based.
Legal Basis for these ‘‘Rights and Freedoms”’
Would be Left Out of Constitution
INDIAN WORLD 4
di
Nations to accept such legislation was able to gut
the Liberal Party from their course.
One of the architects of the White Pafer is no on
When Trudeau talks of repatriating the Con-
stitution, he is only talking about the British
North America Act. He does Mot in
part of the Constitution allAhe c
ments of Agreement and J
tween the Indian Natio:
Crown Without thef/Ro
the Treaties, the Peagé and|Frien
ments that bind Gfeat
promises made to/India
of the B.N.A. Att wi y. So even
bout is not
the status qug@ th u
guaranteed |
On istit
Canada Jtho d frgedoms could be
ion is back in
legislatéd o nce if three years.
One/gof t s wegsee this as possible is
throwgh 15 the proposed new
copstitut is 1s the @harter of Rights and Free-
doms givefevery individual in Canada
eq t dog§ not recognize the collective
ri group. So any non-Indian could go to
ing tlfat Indian Reserve lands are some-
ial:/why can’t he have reserve lands?
t the? Royal Proclamation and other legal
entation to uphold Indian Reserve Lands in
, a GOurt could find this a discriminatory situa-
ind wipe out all our reserve lands.
reclamation,
ip Agfee-
fulfill its
Segtion 24
Constitution Would Give Provinces
Authority and Jurisdiction over Reserves
The Indian Act is merely an administrative legis-
lation. The new Constitution would overrule it. The
Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not recognize
that our political and legal ties are with Great Britain
and not with Canada. Under this Section the Pro-
vinces would be compelled to extend their authority
and jurisdiction into our reserve lands.
This arrangement destroys every possibility
for a future Indian Government The “‘tra-
ditional Rights and Freedoms’’ of the new
Section 24 would become cultural rights only.
Amendment to end Indian Right
to Participate in Constitutional Decisions
Indian Nations would be completely at the mercy of
governments which have never in the past tried to
fulfill the promises and commitments of the
Crown, or of the general public which has no
understanding of Indian rights or aspirations.
There is no time to develop lengthy strategies. The
battle is right upon us. Our survival as Indain Nations,
Governments, Tribes, as Indian people, will be deter-
mined in the next few months.
What We Are Up Against
We are fighting a Government. with an unbreakable
Parliamentary majority, determined to bring in a new
- Constitution by December 9, 1980. It reckons that by
June 1981, all legal ties with Great Britain will have been
severed. Any Agreement or Treaty signed between Great
Britain and Indian Nations would no longer have any
meaning or force. It would take just three years after that
to undo all the legislation that guaranteed any special
rights or agreements with any group or individual in
Canada. This would include special funding arrange-
ments through the DIA or any other funding arrange-
ment. It could include our food fishing and hunting
PATRIATION(/ (© =
os
rights. In 1984, with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
in place, we would be legally and politically assimilated
into the white society. Extinguished. Terminated—unless
we can stop Trudeau in December.
Railroading the Constitution
The Indian Nations have never been consulted.
Trudeau has acted all along as if our aboriginal rights are
already extinguished. He is railroading his Constitution
through, a steam locomotive that won’t stop until it
CONSTITUTION EXPRESS —
reaches its final destination. He rushed the motion
through Parliament, stopping neither for the combined
forces of the opposition parties or for the Provincial
Premiers. He has established the proper cabinet commit-
tee to review the Constitution, but it cannot stop him. It
can only make recommendations. It is also quite
stationary: if anyone wants to make any objection or
amendment they should go to Ottawa and talk to this
committee. You will have to talk very loudly to be heard.
Our Own Constitution Express
Only another locomotive can stop this ruthless
machine he has set in motion. Indian Nations across
Canada are mobilizing our own Constitution Express:
whole trains full of Indians, all arriving in Ottawa
November 26th, to stop Trudeau in his tracks.
Massive Demonstrations to Protect Aboriginal
Rights
From October 30th, organizers will be visiting in every
community to mobilize our Indian warriors, our Elders,
our mothers and young people. In three weeks we have to
get thousands of our people to Ottawa to block Trudeau.
The trains leave Vancouver on November 23rd. We pick
up more forces at Kamloops, Penticton, the Dene Nation
will meet us in Edmonton , people will be joining through
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Another
train will come from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and
Quebec. For three days there will be huge demonstra-
tions, mass lobbying and strategy sessions to show the
Canadian Government and the Canadian people that we
will never accept the extinguishment of our Aboriginal
rights.
Demonstrating to United Nations that Canada
Has No Regard for Rights or Laws at Home
The Constitution Express will tie in with the All Chiefs
Conference November 30th-December 2nd. If we do not
win in Ottawa, organization is well ahead to send and
accommodate our people in New York. Trudeau pretends
to international greatness in matters of human rights: we
will demonstrate to the United Nations of the world that
he has little regard for the rights and laws of the people in
his own country.
TERMINATION OR
SELF-DETERMINATION
INDIAN WORLD 5
B.C. Bands Take
Trudeau to Court
Indian Nations are also fighting back through the
courts. We say that Trudeau is bound, by all the Treaties
and Agreements signed in the past, to have the consent of
the Indian people before he can patriate any part of the
Constitution that affects us. He has never even consulted
with us. On September 25, 1980, George Manuel and nine
Chiefs and their Bands launched an action in federal
court declaring that the Canadian Parliament does not
have the authority to alter the unique relationship of
Indian Nations and the Imperial Crown, unless it is with
our consent. The Neskainlith, Bella Coola, Bridge River,
Spallumcheen, Hope, Campbell River, St. Mary’s, Doig
and Blueberry River Bands initiated this action just
before the UBCIC General Assembly.
National Momentum as Bands Join Court Action
A resolution was passed on the first day of the assem-
bly, that all the Bands of B.C. be urged to join this
action. Across Canada, Indian Chiefs, on behalf of their
Bands, are adding their names to this Court action.
Information will be going out to the: Bands on how to get
involved in the action. The greater the number of Bands
that act through the Courts here, the greater the effect wil
be at the international courts.
Aboriginal People All Over the World Could Add
Strength to International Court Action
Not only Canada, but the British Parliament is bound
by the promises and is bound by its European Conven-
tion or Civil Rights. We say Britain must refuse to allow
Trudeau to repatriate the British North America Act
unless the terms of the Agreements and Treaties.
specifying our Aboriginal Rights are safeguarded.
Otherwise the Imperial Crown would be violating every
Agreement she ever signed with the Indian Nations and
all Aboriginal people. All other Aboriginal people with
whom Britain has signed such treaties and agreements
RAISING FUNDS FOR
CONSTITUTION EXPRESS
.
a
a
Northwest Coast Carving with in-
layed abalone by Bruce Boles
Draw Date: December 15, 1980.
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs
INDIAN WORLD 6
would join with us in such a court battle.
National Action |
The massive amount of action, lobbying and organi-
zation that has to be undertaken in this, the most impor-
tant battle of our survival, has been distributed through
the Provincial/Territorial organizations. The UBCIC is
responsible for all the legal action, both national and
international. We are also responsible for organizing the
Constitution Express.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indians is responsible
for directing and co-ordinating an Indian Bill of Rights to
put through Parliament, the Senate and each Provincial
Legislature. The people of the Treaty 3 territory are
responsible for lobbying to get an amendment to Tru-
deau’s proposed constitution which would recognize our
Aboriginal Rights, Treaty rights and Indian Govern-
ments. The leaders of the Treaty 9 Territories have the
responsibility to have our case heard at the Lord Russell
Tribunal in Europe, an international court set up to deal
with wrongs that national courts have ignored.
The National Indian Brotherhood has started action
for Chiefs to work with the British Parliament on the
protection of the Proclamation, Treaties and Agreements
made with the Imperial Crown. An office is being opened
in London in preparation for a second visit of Chiefs.
WHAT CAN A BAND DO TO ADD
STRENGTH TO THIS MOST
CRUCIAL BATTLE?
First of all the Chief and Council can add the Band’s
name to the national court action against the Federal
Government. Secondly, you can help organize as many
Band members to join the Constitution Express as
possible. It is a very expensive battle that we have: fund-
raising of every kind has to be done. Funds must be
raised and collected to help send Chiefs and Councillors
and Band members to New York. Funds have to be raised
to send thousands of our people to Ottawa and New
York. ba
All the battles we have fought, the battles others have fought
before us, and the gains made through those battles, will be of |
little consequence if we cannot entrench our rights in the
Constitution now.
The issue before us is beyond consultation,
beyond administrative battles with government, beyond petty —
politics. It is hitting to the very root of our existence. We must
collectively exert all our energies and all our will as a people to
ensure the continuance of our Indian Lands, our Aboriginal
and Treaty Rights, our Sovereignty, our Self-determination,
our Nationhood and our First Nations Governments,
INDIAN CHILD
CARAVAN
a i '
: i
ch
: \\e 0) Nama
Bete. ant TD OUR | AND aecaiieed
6 dn a Alen i:
: aN
at
Thanksgiving Day rally at Oppenheimer Park, Vancouver.
A victory for our
people-
the implementation of
Indian Government.
Why the Indian Child Caravan?
In B.C., forty percent of the chil-
dren in the care of the Superintendent
of Child Welfare are Indian. Indian
people account for only five percent
of the population. The number of
Indian children in care by March this
year was about 2,800 or forty percent
of the total number of children in
care in B.C.
The people of the Spallumcheen
Band, where the Caravan action
began, has only 300 people. Since the
mid 1950’s, over 100 children have
been taken away. They were usually
placed in white foster homes. It was
these stark realities that brought
together the Indian people of British
Columbia, not only in mind and
spirit, but in body as well, to unite as
one, in the Indian Child Caravan.
The Child Caravan, under the leader-
ship of Chief Wayne Christian and
the Spallumcheen Band, was organ-
ized with three goals in mind: to stop
the needless apprehension of Indian
children by the Ministry of Human
Resources; to return these children to
their homes and to promote Indian
Government control of child welfare.
Band Law to Guard Children
The first step the Spallumcheen
Band took in orgar .ing their fight
against child apprehension was to
introduce Indian Government legisla-
tion based on tradition and custom
that would give the people complete
control over child welfare.
This legislation was also defence
against the new Family and Child Ser-
vices Act, Bill 45, which allows for
only token involvement in the welfare
of our own children.
The Band will also challenge the
province in the B.C. Supreme Court
over the placing of Indian children in
white foster homes. The date has
been set for December, in the B.C.
Supreme Court. But since the action
of the Caravan, there is some indica-
tion that the province might change
their position in the up-coming case.
Planning the Caravan
In the actual organizing of the
Indian Child Caravan, regional
INDIAN WORLD 7
coordinators and fiéldworkers were
appointed in the North Coast, Cen-
tral Interior, South Island, Fraser
Valley and Vancouver. Arrangements
had to be made for information,
transportation, rallies, traditional
feasts and accommodations.
Elders, women and the children
played a prominent role in the staging
of the caravan. As is custom, at each
gathering the Elders spoke and each
expressed the hope that our children
be allowed to grow up and live in the
Indian way. Many of the Elders had
experienced the sorrow of apprehen-
sion and they knew that if it was
allowed to continue that they could
be the last to practice the traditions of
our nations.
Response and Support
The support the caravan received in
its travels illustrated the strong belief
that child apprehension was robbing
our Indian nations of life.
The Indian Child Caravan Moves
October 9th—A feast and rally were
held at the Neskainlith Indian Gov-
ernment Hall for the people from the
Kootenays and Kamloops area. It was
a very powerful gathering. Many of
the Neskainlith Band members said
that the tiny hall had never been so
packed for any other occasion. Many
of the Shuswap and Kootenay people
who had met before in different sur-
roundings were together again,
rekindling old friendships under the
banner of the Indian Child Caravan.
Although many of the 200 who were
in attendance at the Neskainlith rally
would travel no further, their prayers
for a safe and successful journey went
with the caravan.
300 miles away in Prince George,
similar activities were being held at
‘the Indian Friendship Centre. The
rally there was 200 strong.
October 10th—Nearly 100 people
leave Bella Coola this morning. There
are hardly any cars or trucks left in
the community! People from the
Kootenays and Central Interior met
at the Thunderbird Hall in Lillooet.
After a feast and rally the caravan
people joined with the Lillooet drum
INDIAN WORLD #
photo: Richard Manuel
ord
Neskainlith Band members show togetherness while waiting for the Prince -
George Caravan in Lillooet.
in traditional song and dance while
awaiting the arrival of the people
from the Central Interior.
The caravans from the north and
the Bella Coola area met and rested at
the Caribou Student Residence in
Williams Lake. The North Island
people staged a rally in Port Hardy in
preparation for their trip to
Nanaimo.
October 11th—Caravans from the
Kootenays, Central Interior and
northern regions were greeted at the
entrance of the Mt. Currie Reserve by
Councillor Albert Nelson, on horse-
back and carrying the Indian Govern-
ment flag. As the caravan from each
Young supporter expresses her con-
cern.
region arrived they were escorted to
the Mt. Currie campgrounds where
they were fed and sheltered until the
evening rally in the gymnasium. The
Mt. Currie rally was to be the last
gathering before merging with the
Island people on the last leg of the
trip to Vancouver. Many strong
words were spoken and emotions ran
high as the caravan, perhaps 350
strong, prepared for the next day’s
journey.
October 12th—The Caravan at the
Mt. Currie stop had gained in mo-
mentum and in number. The 55 cars,
trucks and buses that now made up
the Indian Child Caravan slowly
Caravan plans final descent into
Vancouver.
(continued page 15)
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
The strength of our Indian nations down through
history has always been our cultural values. The cultural
Indian values are rooted in the integrity of cooperation
with each family in an Indian tribal community. The art
of sharing by our various Indian families within our
tribes provided the strength and authority to our Indian
Governments so that it can administer the use of our
territorial lands to fully benefit all our Indian families
within our Indian tribes,
The Indian sharing values of Indian conimunities were
fully and actively controlled by the Indian people, until
the Indian parents were compelled by the white man’s
laws in Canada to surrender their Indian children to
Indian residential schools. In these schools the Indian
children were forbidden to speak their Indian languages.
Whenever they were caught speaking their own language
they were severely punished by white disciplinarians and
teachers. The Indian students were compelled to
renounce their language, their cultural values of sharing
and were literally forced to learn and accept the
European values of individualism.
I can remember very clearly when the values of white
schools took root in our Indian villages. It happened
when a man of our village refused to share the deer he
had killed and salmon he had caught. That same man was
the first person on our reserve to own a bicycle, a radio
and a car for himself. He was the pioneer in introducing
the European value into our Indian nation.
This was at a time when it was still possible for Indian
people to believe that the government and the church
could teach us new ways that would make us strong. Not
too many people worried about losing their culture: our
cultural values were just naturally a part of us. We could
learn the white man’s ways and still retain our own ways
and values.
Our people were not wrong: we were betrayed. If the
government had allowed our people of that time to
explore the different paths of life, Indian nations would
have found ways to retain the best of our own culture,
while at the same time adopting the best of the European
cultures had to offer. That moment of discovery was
never allowed to happen. As a matter of fact, it was
outlawed by the white man’s regime.
Our traditional forms of Indian Government were not
overthrown. Our Indian nations continued to govern
themselves while European and other cultures grew up
around us. So long as we could actively possess and use
our land base, we were capable of strengths and
survival. Our traditional political and religious systems —
were attacked, because they regulated and celebrated a
certain kind of economic stature, which the European
powers in Canada wanted to destroy.
The land is ours by every natural right and every prin-
ciple of international law, recognized in relations among
European powers. The land that is ours by every natural
right, was stolen by the European powers. Seizure of our
lands for the use of their own people could not be
justified by the law of nations, or the principles of inter-
national law that regulated relations among European
powers.
As Indian Governments of British Columbia, we must
stop talking and begin organizing ourselves on two
fronts:
1, Legal action;
2. Political action to recover our aboriginal rights to
our lands, to our fish, to our wildlife, and to our right to
govern ourselves and our reserves.
The Spallumcheen Indian Government has propelled
the implementation of Indian Government into a forward
motion. Let’s keep the momentum rolling ahead, by
implementing Indian Government on other Indian
reserve communities throughout British Columbia.
Yours in Indian Strength,
Matte
INDIAN WORLD Y
pe
1 tds Nad mt oon ae ,
DT ae
* ey, y i es al "
a
."
POLE RAISING AT THE NEW VANCOUVER INDIAN
CENTRE by Derek Wilson
The pole was carried by Mr. Henry Robertson and his family
and was donated to the Indian Centre. One of our Elders, Katie
_ Adams, blessed the totem pole. She used Eagle Down; she blew
it on the totem pole to bless it. Just like sage or sweet grass to
other Indian people, eagle down is like that to us on the north
west coast. She also put eagle down on each head of the person
that had our traditional clothes on. It puts our mind to the one
who gave us life. When the eagle flies so high in the air, he is
close to the one who gave us life, the Creator of all good.
We had all the people pick up the pole and when everybody
lifted it up, they made a great sound. That is supposed to wake
up all the animal spirits that were in the pole. And that drum ©
beat was to continue to awaken all the spirits until it stood up
straight. My grandfather sang a song when it was finished, ‘J
standing upright. The dance was a happy dance, where a story |
was completed. From the life that has been before us, our |
ancestors’ story has been handed down from generation to
generation. Now it is up to our generation to carry on that story. |
They had a feast that night to share our wealth with |
everybody. The food and the things that were given out, were to
thank the people for assisting us and to witness the story that
was behind that pole.
The story dates to the great flood of our people. Some canoes
were tied up on the highest mountain near the Haisla territory,
and when the waters started to go down the canoes broke off.
One canoe went down to the Kitlope Valley. That’s where they
landed, and that is where my people traditionally come from.
There were the first animals that they saw: there was the grizzly
bear, the black bear, the frog, the owl, and that man _in the
middle, with the hat on, he was the head of the family that
landed there: this is what you call my ancestors.
INDIAN WORLD 10
: PR, | ian 1 <a Ahad: 2 we
photo: Barb Bo
OUR WORLD
Barbara Bobb won the Photo Contest
with her picture of drying fish by the
Fraser River.
Ist Prize—35 mm camera
2nd Prize—Cassette Tape Recorder
Winner—David Adolph of Lillooet Band
3rd Prize—AM/FM Radio
Winner—Steve Basil, Bonaparte Band
5 Honourable Mentions for $20 each:
Debbie Hoggan Dana Williams
Della Owens Dean Louis John Sparrow.
That story is just a very short story right now. If we sat and
told you the whole story, it would take four or five hours to tell
you. It’s really hard to tell a story in English because in the
‘translation we lose the meaning and it loses a lot of the feeling
behind it. Why my uncle agreed to do this pole was to encourage
our young people to look at our own form of art, look at our
own form of history writing. That is what our poles are.
rey
For the best in entertainment it is hardly to beat
the annual UBCIC Talent Show! As in past
years, the show was a good five hours of laugh-
ter, wonder, foot-tapping and pride in the high
quality and variety of our entertainers.
Gus Pierre of Penticton thrilled young and old with a
disciplined display of Martial Arts exercises. He won an
Indian Drum. Second prize for the youths went to
comedian Joe Pierre of St. Mary’s Band. Third prize
‘went to Sandy Wilson, Connie Milton, Alice Pierre and
Esther Whate who sang their traditional Gitskan Carrier
songs.
Harold and Gerry Moore won a carved copper bracelet
for their singing in the contemporary section. Rosalee
Tizya’s song will be continued at the next assembly but
won her second prize anyway, and country and western
singer Ray Williams won third prize.
Amos, George and Thomas Tallio of Bella Coola told
the story of the Loon and the Old Man. The pure note of
the loon called by Ian Billy made us all still to wonder.
Ian is half Squamish and in this tradition his gift predicts
a great warrior. They won an Indian Bone Game. Abel
Joe’s strong singing in his beautiful voice won an Indian
‘print. George Manuel came third in the Traditional sec-
tion with a dramatic reciting of a Pauline Johnson poem
and a song.
Ronnie Solomon admirers were so happy to hear his
country and western singing again and were glad that he
took a tipi back to the Chilcotin. Fans of entertainer
Stanley Stump also had an enjoyable evening and cheered
his winning a silver bracelet and ear-rings. Twelve-year-
old Peter Leech sang a song for the children in the
Caravan and took an Indian print back to Lillooet as his
prize for second runner-up in the over-all section.
Jack Kruger of Penticton kept the show rolling as the
M.C. for the evening.
INDIAN WORLD 11
NEWS NEWS NEWS
COWICHAN BAY PROPOSED AS OIL DEPOT
The Chevron Company wants to build an oil depot and
possibly a small refinery in the Cowichan Bay. The
company wants to buy a privately owned farm there for
the site. At the first reading of the Town Council
proposal to rezone the farm land to industrial land for
this purpose, a number of groups were there to protest.
The Cowichan Band is especially alarmed because of
their heavy reliance on their fish. Cowichan Bay is very
rich in marine life and an oil spill would be devastating.
The Saanich Band would also be seriously affected by
such a project.
NISHGA TRIBAL COUNCIL PROTECTION OF
ALICE ARM
The Nishga Tribal Council has been visiting other
Indian organizations, environmental groups and talking
to the media, organizing support for their fight against
the reopening of the molybdenum mine in Alice Arm.
The area that would be affected is part of the Nishga
Land Claim.
Right now the Nishga Tribal Council wants a public
hearing on pollution standards allowed the Amax
Molybdenum mine at Alice Arm.
JAY TREATY:
KINCOLITH FISHING TRIAL
Three members of the House of Mountain Indian Band
in Kincolith were charged last July with fishing illegally
as aliens in the Portland Canal in Alaska.
Fred Lincoln, William Lincoln and George Nelson
were prepared to use as their defence the 1794 Jay Treaty
and an 1888 agreement signed by one Charles Thomas,
the captain of a steamer doing work for the United States
government and Fred Lincoln’s great-great grandfather
Chief Alfred Mountain.
The agreement stated that after Chief Mountain moved
his Band to the American side of Portland Canal ‘‘the
chief will not be disturbed in his position by any United
States authorities.’’
Since the charges were first laid, the boat owned by
B.C. Packers has been under arrest while the original
charges were adjusted in order to lessen the legal ramifi-
cations of such a court action.
The case could have affected land claims and fishing
rights for B.C. Indians.
Lawyer for the defendants, Clifford Smith of
Ketchikan, Alaska stated, ‘‘They were issues no one
wanted to take on.”’
The charges have been changed to: fishing without a
proper gear license and without an entry permit to U.S.
waters. Maximum penalties for these are a $10,000 fine
and one year in jail.
B.C. Packers was charged with illegal use of a vessel.
Smith said that the new charges should not bring up the
treaty issue.
Tommy Dennis, a spokesman for the Nishga Tribal
Council, stated that the Council is ‘‘very interested’’ in
pursuing the legal implications of the treaty as well as the
agreement of 1888.
INDIAN WORLD 12
LOCAL SERVICES AGREEMENTS
Although Band administrative requirements intro-
duced or imposed by the Local Services Agreement were
quashed by the decision of the Minister of the
Department of Indian Affairs in late Spring, it has been
reported to this office that certain Departmental repre-
sentatives are still trying to enforce such requirements
before transfer of contribution funds in various parts of
the Province.
This is contrary to the direction from the Ministry and
results in needless delays in fund transfers. Band admin-
istrative personnel are urged to be mindful of this,
especially when dealing with the more crucial Band
programs.
All that is needed for a contribution agreement with
.- the Department is a Band Council Resolution inclusive
of the four essential requirements, namely a budget, a
cash flow projection, quarterly financial reports and
arrangements for an annual audit.
HOPE BAND GRAVEL PIT
By DIA negligence, a piece of Hope Band land that
was leased to the CPR for gravel pit purposes was
allowed to pass into CPR title (ownership). The real
estate branch of the CPR now wants to develop this piece
of very attractive land. Hope Band has threatened to take
the matter to court unless the DIA can negotiate a return
of the land to the Band.
The DIA has now appraised the value of the land in
question at $68,000 and is deciding whether they are
prepared to buy the land at this or a negotiated price or
whether they are going to let the Band take the
department to court.
NOT
GUILTY
Ron Adolph,
William Adolph,
Vie Adolph Jr. and
Jim Bob.
On October 9, 1980 His Honour
Judge T.W, Shupe brought down his
decision in the Fountain Fishing
Cases. Councillor Ron Adolph, Wil-
liam Adolph, Victor Adolph Jr., and
Jim Bob had all been charged with
illegal fishing in August of 1979. On
the day they were charged there had
been no special closure put in place. It
was a regular closure imposed by
Fisheries through the operation of the
fishing permit. Permits allowed
fishing from Sunday to Thursday and
these fishermen were fishing on Fri-
day, outside the rules of any permit.
The Judge found that the Fountain
people enjoyed an exclusive right to
fish and followed the same reasoning
and decision in the case of Bradley
Bob. This case marks the third case
where a Canadian judge has recog-
nized our exclusive right to fish.
Largest Salmon Run Expanded
for Commercial Fishing and
Closed to Indian Fishing
_ We raised the issue of conserva-
tion. The Lummi tribe loaned us the
expertise of Paul Hage, a biologist
who works for them. He is somewhat
familiar with the Fraser runs because
the Lummi fishermen fish from the
Fraser runs as the fish pass through
the American waters.
The biologist testified that the
particular run in question was one of
the largest runs since the turn of the
century. In fact the run was so large
that the commercial fishing time was
increased by 200% and 300%. More
than adequate amounts of fish
reached the spawning grounds. And
still the Indian food fishery was shut
in.
Traditional Fishing Aid to
Conservation
The biologist stressed the fact that
fishing by dip net was itself a conser-
vation method. Given these facts, he
said the closure was not reasonable
and necessary, and that the Indian
food fishery could and should have
been open on that day.
the overall management of the
salmon fishery and, in my view,
should be encouraged in this endea-
vour. Clearly, the spirit of co-
operation which would be attendant
upon such participation would do
much to allay the confrontations
which have been the pattern to date.
Federal Fisheries Don’t Have
Total Control
This case is important because it’s
the first time in Canadian history that
any court has said that Fisheries does
not have absolute control over the
resource. In this particular case, Fish-
eries passed the regulation which was
valid but the court said that the regu-
lation did not apply to Indian people
because Fisheries had not regulated in
the interests of conservation. The
Judge affirmed that Fisheries’ priori-
ties were conservation first and
Indian fishing second. If, as in this
Judge Shupe found that the closure was not in the interest of
conservation and was not reasonable nor necessary under the
circumstances, He found all of the Accused Not Guilty.
Judge Sees Indian Fishing is
Our Culture
He further commented from the
bench ‘‘that the evidence adduced
during this trial and in the case of
Regina vs. Bradley Bob makes it very
clear indeed that salmon fishing is of
vital importance to the Indian people,
not just because salmon is a staple in
the Indian diet, but alse because the
gatherings at the fishing stations are
used for the teaching of traditional
Indian ways and for transmitting the
culture from one generation to the
next. Such communication is of
critical importance to a people whose
history is not reduced to writing, but
rather is passed on verbally.
indian Expertise Could Help
Fisheries
It was made apparent by the
defence witness George Manuel, pres-
ident of the Union of B.C. Indian
Chiefs, that given the resources they
have unsuccessfully striven to secure
(particularly funding with which to
employ a trained biologist), the In-
dian people could add significantly to
case, it can be shown that the regula-
tion is not in the interests of conserva-
tion, then Indian people can fish,
regulation or not.
This case gives Indian people a
substantial political argument. It’s
the third time in court in Lillooet
where a Judge has directed that
Fisheries enter into a co-management
scheme with the Indians. Now, it will
be particularly difficult for Fisheries
to regulate without the cooperation
of the Indians given that the Indian
people can challenge their regulations
as the Indian fishermen did in this
case.
A Three-Year Battle But We Won
After the court case, the Fountain
people held a huge dinner. Of course,
there was delicious fish served. The
leaders thanked the Accused, the
Accused thanked the Elders, the
Elders thanked the lawyers, the law-
yers thanked the people. Everybody
really had worked together for over
three years now creating this victory.
We all went away knowing that when
Indian people keep fighting for their
fishing rights, sooner or later they
win.
INDIAN WORLD 13
WHAT IS PRIDE?
from Redstone Newsletter
A person can have pride in many things
—his home, car, job, clothes; but first of
- all he must have pride in himself!
We work to build, furnish and improve
our home. We work to buy a car, keep it
looking nice and running well. We work
to please our employer and advance in our
job.
These things are all selfish, but what
about ourselves? Can we be proud if we
spend any money we can get our hands on
for liquor—to the extent that our children
are left on their own with hardly any food
in the house—to the extent that our
actions and appearance offend people we
come in contact with—to the extent that
we hurt our friends and damage property?
Can we have pride in ourselves if we
steal? Can we be proud if we are with
people who steal and don’t try to stop
them? We are just as guilty as they are if
‘we don’t try to stop them! Lie, steal and
cheat and there can be no pride in us!
Can we look at people when we talk to
them and be proud of the way we live and
of the things we do? Can we look in the.
mirror and be proud of the reflection we
see?
If we are proud of ourselves we can
teach our children to be a part of the pride
of our people, the heritage and tradition
of our nation from which we come.
The above article came in the mail with no
name of the sender on it. Therefore we
don’t know if it was original with the
sender or copied from someone else. We
will use it because its message is a good
one.
—From the Staff in the Redstone
Band Office
INDIAN WORLD 14
from Victoria Native Friendship Centre Newsletter
illustration Butch Dick
wr 1
From Lillooet (top) to Grace McCarthy’s house, the caravan rolled on.
(from page 8)
wound its way to Vancouver. All
caravans converged on Vancouver
‘and rallied briefly at Oppenheimer
Park in preparation for the main
gathering, which was to be held on
Thanksgiving Day. In the evening
caravan members rested, were fed
and entertained at the Carnegie
Centre in downtown Vancouver.
October 13th—The main rally was
held in Oppenheimer Park. The
Caravan then travelled through Van-
couver, with a police escort, to the
Shaughnessy home of Human Re-
sources Minister Grace McCarthy.
Although the car was in the driveway,
McCarthy, it appeared, had left home
on Thanksgiving Day.
McCarthy Agrees
Chief Wayne Christian stressed
that the rally, march and the events
leading up to the Thanksgiving Day
protest were aimed at making Grace
McCarthy listen to the concerns and
demands of the Indian Child
Caravan.
On Thursday,
October 16th,
Wayne Christian and UBCIC repre-
sentatives met McCarthy. The
demands of the Spallumcheen Band
were presented to her and she finally
recognized the concerns of the Spal-
lumcheen Band. An agreement was
worked out whereby the Band can
reclaim the children now in non-
Indian foster homes as long as the
children wanted to réturn to the
reserve.
McCarthy stated that this agree-
ment now opens the door for other
Bands who want to reclaim their
children from foster homes. Wayne
Christian, in looking at the agreement
stated, ‘‘This agreement will allow
us, as Indian people, to have more
control over our own lives. Our hard
-
. work has paid off.”’
Practising Indian
Government
Grace McCarthy, by agreeing to
‘respect the authority of the Spal-
lumcheen Band Council to take
responsibility and control of their
own children’ has _ strengthened
recognition of the fact that Indian
Governments are responsible and
valid governments.
At the UBCIC conference, with
Indian Affairs Minister John Munro
in attendance, Chief Wayne Christian
read the agreement between the Spal-
lumcheen Indian Government and the
Ministry of Human Resources.
**Both parties agree to work out an
appropriate plan in the best interest
of each child presently in care, as-
suming that the Spallumcheen
Band will develop the necessary
resources in negotiations with the
federal government.’”’
When the question was put directly
to the DIA Minister, if he did recog-
nize Indian Government and if the
funds going to Human Resources for
“Indian child care’’ would be trans-
ferred to the Band, he offered no
straight answer.
The goals of the Indian Child
Caravan have been achieved in prin-
ciple. The agreement with the
province is there. The mechanism is
now in place for the implementation
of Indian Government in the area of
child welfare.
—_ =
INDIAN WORLD 15
F ul aah
o# /
Indian Child Caravan Starts
Assembly With Determination
The assembly started on a high
note as the Chiefs and delegates regis-
tered, confident with the great show
of Indian strength and determination
during the Indian Child caravan.
What this had meant for the parents,
grandparents and the children was the
immediate topic of the assembly, and
the implementation of Band laws to
take back responsibility for our child-
ren in need was the focus.
There was no time for celebration,
however. A political victory had been
secured by our action, but delegates
were sobered by the idea of a new
Canadian constitution that could
terminate all those rights for which
we’ve fought so fiercely during the
last 113 years. The survival of our
Indian Nations is at stake and the
position and plans for entrenching
our special rights into the constitution
dominated the first day and a half of
the conference (see page 4).
Indian Education Begins in our
Homes
The education portfolio presented
INDIAN WORLD 16
the ideas and experiences of their
fieldwork in a discussion paper meant
for people at the Band level. After
Band members discuss the paper and
decide how, if needed, it should be
Abel Joe and other south Vancouver
Island drummers lead the opening
procession into the assembly
revised, the paper may be used as a
basis for a permanent education
policy paper which could be pre-
sented to the government in a year or
two. All delegates stressed the impor-
tance of retaining Indian values and
culture in education. The right to do
so was no longer the issue: it was how
to make this a daily reality that
occupied our minds.
Lorna Bob, a young person from
the’ Nanoose Band said, ‘“‘I keep
hearing people say, ‘Why can’t you
speak your language?’ Well, how can
we speak our language when nobody
will talk to us in the language. They
talk to us in English. What we need is
help at home to learn our language.
We need help. And we need both
systems. We can’t just throw the
provincial system out, but we need
our old ways too. Education at home
is important and we all have to work
together.”’
Phillip Paul, UBCIC Vice-Presi-
dent, said that Bands have to decide
what their goals are when educating
the young people. ‘‘Once there’s gen-
———
=
As the evening events began each
night, the conference hall remained
Sull. The people enjoyed singing and
dancing from all over B.C.
7
0
The children played an important
part in the assembly.
eral agreement within a community to
| _ establish solid goals founded on cul-
tural retention, half of the job is
done. But, there’s really no solid cul-
tural goals in communities, even
though we’ve been talking about re-
tention of culture. Because of this,
there are sometimes different people
working at cross purposes.”’
Political Protection for Trapping
Rights Called For
There were a number of Indian
people at the assembly who came
from areas which depend heavily on
———
hi —_
The Mount Currie Band dancers got a
lot of laughs while performing their
Wedding Dance, in which the men try
to coax the women into marrying
trapping for their livelihood. A few
months ago these trappers met at
Williams Lake to discuss their prob-
lems and how to solve them. There
was no Indian association of trappers
formed, which was one idea they
came up with in Williams Lake.
However, there was some discussion
by concerned trappers. In the north,
where most traplines are located,
economic development is once again
takingits toll,
The major concern of Indian
trappers is the government’s attempt
to put forward legislation which
would impose a ‘“‘use it, or lose it’’
policy. The government seems to
think that Indian trappers don’t use
the traplines enough. However, the
government doesn’t really understand
that Indian people trap only for what
we need and keep conservation in
mind, On the other hand, non-Indian
trappers trap to get as many furs as
possible and don’t think about,
whether or not there will be animals
left for the future.
te ; 7.
The dancers’ energy and enthusiasm
kept the people happy late into the
nights.
Taking our Place in Salmon
Management
Fishing caught the interest of many
people, because of the amount of
people directly affected by it. There
were several people who -_spoke
strongly on implementing Indian
government as far as fishing goes.
INDIAN WORLD 17
people sit in the background.
: me i ps / |
Chief Bill Roberts introduces the Kwakewelth dancers. Some of their
me
| as
os? . i *
There seemed to be general agree-
ment that the best way to gain control
of fishing is for Indian people to just
go fishing and ignore the fisheries
regulations. The Chiefs expressed
dissatisfaction with the poor conser-
vation and management of the fish
stocks by the Federal Fisheries. Chief
Saul Terry of the Bridge River Band
stressed that the next step that should
be taken by Indian people is to set up
a sound conservation management
aE : =
To close the assembly, a food auction
allowed people to buy food from
other people’s areas.
INDIAN WORLD 18
scheme. To accomplish this, he said
we should develop and use our own
Indian biologists and other techni-
cians needed for this conservation
management scheme. Saul strength-
ened this idea when he told the Chiefs
of the help given by Indian fishing
specialists from Washington State.
They gave evidence which may have
been the greatest argument for the
victory of the recent major fishing
case in Lillooet (see page 12).
Walchli Working Deliberately
Against Indian Government
Aims
One highlight of the assembly was
when DIA Minister John Munro and
his provincial counterpart, Fred
Walchli came to the assembly. The
united feelings of the people came out
very strongly during that time that
Fred Walchli should resign.
Chief Wayne Christian of the Spal-
lumcheen Band said of Walchli, ‘‘He
has not even taken the courtesy to
back us in terms of the legal action in
the Child Care issue. He is a servant
of the people, but he doesn’t work for
the people, he works against us. That
man is chairing a Regional Forum
which is dividing our people, it’s
killing our people. Get that man out
of B.C.”
Chief Archie Pootlass of Bella
Coola said that Walchli isn’t even
representing our people, since he is
appointed, not elected. Archie then
proposed a resolution, which was
unanimously passed by the assembly,
calling for Walchli’s immediate firing
by Munro. The assembly roared with
approval.
Phillip Paul backed this up by
saying, ‘‘We have seen Fred Walchli
doing counter things to what the
Union has been doing. We see what
our people are put through as far as
the governments are concerned, and
the kinds of bureaucratic plays that
are going on in B.C., all moving
toward extinguishing our aboriginal
rights. We know this is a plan of the
government and this is what Walchli
is moving. I think we should get rid of
him, not only from the department,
but from any dealings with Indian
people through government sources.”’
Bella Coola’s Supernatural Clown
brought roars of laughter as he teased
the crowd.
Overall, the 12th annual General
Assembly was an exciting one. The
great amount of community input
should give the Union of B.C. Indian
Chiefs an excellent indication of the
direction that should be taken
throughout the next year. A great
deal of information was shared, and
much strength was shown. g
FP Rha ie
ie
O
= /?
4 Whereas the purpose of the Union of
British Columbia Indian Chiefs is to
provide a central organization for
| uniting together the Indian peoples of
~) British Columbia and,
_ Whereas Indian people recognize that
| there is a strength in unity,
— Therefore be it resolved that all mem-
and the nine Indian Bands to prevent
Indian Nations are fully involved and _
Moved by: Chief Wilson Bob
Seconded by: Chief Tom Sampson,
I so move that this convention of the
Union of B.C. Indian“Chiefs give a
= full mandate to take the necessary
steps to ensure that Indian Govern-
ments, Indian Lands, Aboriginal and
Treaty Rights are entrenched in the
Canadian Constitution.
Moved by: Chief Howard Wale
Seconded by: Chief Wilson Bob
LUTIONS
ber Bands of the Union of B.C. |
| Indian Chiefs unite and join in the a
legal action taken by George Manuel ¢
noS5
patriation of the B.N.A. Act unless ag
consulted. LP”?
This assembly of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs moves that the
Honourable John Munro remove the senior bureaucrat Fred Walchli
_ immediately from all dealings with Indian people.
=
— =
-_ =
— "
Whereas the Indian way of life de-
mands that the future generation will
continue to exist through the protec-
tion of the Indian Nations and,
Whereas there have been reports of
Indian women having been sterilized
by the medical profession without
their consent and/or knowledge,
Therefore be it résolved that the
Health and Social Development
Portfolio of the Union of B.C. Indian
Chiefs fully investigate these allega-
tions and report their findings to the
Chief and Council within the next
year.
Be it resolved that the Union of Brit-
ish Columbia Indian Chiefs be man-
dated to find as many ways as
possible to ensure that hunters and |
trappers can use their land and trap-
lines as extensively as possible, and
look for legal means to protect and
also extend the hunters’ and trappers’
right to use these lands.
INDIAN WORLD 19
a , ai
OUR FUTURE
Whereas the Minister of Human Re-
sources has agreed to respect the
authority of the Spallumcheen Indian
| Government (Band Council) to
| assume responsibility and control
| over their own children and,
Whereas the Minister of Human Re-
| sources further agrees to the desira-
bility of returning the children of the
Spallumcheen Band presently in care
of the Ministry of Human Resources
to the authority of the Spallumcheen
_ | Indian Government and,
| Whereas both parties agree to work
out an appropriate plan in the best
interests of each child presently in
care and,
Whereas the Minister of Indian Af-
fairs has agreed to transfer the finan-
cial resources over to the Spallum-
cheen Indian Government and not to
the Provincial Government,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs support
the Indian Governments of B.C. to
develop their own legislation for the
care of their children and that the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs support
the transfer of the financial resources
from the Department of Indian -
the Indian
that desire
Affairs directly to
| Governments of B.C.
| control over child care.
of B.C. Indian Chiefs ‘assist the
Indian Governments that take control
of child care to design preventative
programs to suit the needs of that
Indian community.
ae = = oe
Be it resolved that Indian children
presently apprehended by the Provin-
cial government mor be placed for
adoption, and
That the provincial government im-
mediately stop the apprehension of
Indian children unless requested to do
so by Indian Governments (Chiefs
and Councils), and
That at the initiative of the Indian
Governments of British Columbia,
negotiations commence immediatey
with the Provincial government for
the return of Indian children present-
ly apprehended to their respective
communities, and
That the Provincial government rec-
ognize and respect current and future
Indian Government legislation deal-
Be it further resolved that the Union
FISHING
Whereas the Indian people of British
Columbia prior to European invasion
had under their authority and juris-
diction the control and management
of the Fisheries Resources and,
Whereas during that time there was
an abundance of fish due to the good
| and proper management of all Fish
Resources and,
Whereas the Federal Government,
since European invasion, through
their Department of Fisheries have
assumed control over the Fisheries |
Resources of British Columbia and,
Whereas under their management
Fisheries stocks have been depleted to.
such a degree that many species of
fish are being threatened with extinc-
tion,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs Fisheries Portfolio be directed
to assist Indian Governments to rees-
tablish jurisdiction and authority
over the Indian Fisheries Resources in
British Columbia by:
1. Putting together a comprehensive
background paper that illustrates
clearly all those things that affect
the reduction of our fisheries
stocks, such as pipelines, road- |
ways, industrial pollution and
sewage pollution, etc.
2. Developing from the background
paper, a comprehensive Jndian
Fishing Rights Conservation and |
Management Policy that considers |
non-Indian technical methods,
traditional methods, economic and
cultural/spiritual realities.
ing with the care and well being of
Indian children, and
That the Provincial government
shelve Bill 45 (Family and Children
Services Act) until such time as
appropriate negotiations and rela-
tionships can be worked out between
the Indian Governments of British
Columbia and the _ Provincial
Government.
INDIANS WORLD 20
ENERGY
RESOURC ES: harm caused to the Cheslattaf>
Whereas Multi National Oil Compan-
ies keep pushing their products for
the almighty dollar and,
Whereas one of their transportation
methods is by water and,
Whereas oil spills have been devasta-
ting to sea life such as salmon, shell-
fish, ducks, etc. and,
Whereas there are all important tradi-
tional foods for our people and,
Whereas the Cowichan and Koksilah
Rivers are the best salmon rivers on
Vancouver Island and,
' Whereas an oil spill would literally
wipe out these stocks,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs put poli-
tical pressure on the federal govern-
ment to stop the development of a
depot at Hatch Point and at Cowi-
chan Bay by the Chevron Company.
Whereas the Atlin Indian Band
wishes the Union of British Columbia
Indian Chiefs’ support and represen-
tation in negotiations with the United
States;
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs Fishing Portfolio, participate
wherever possible in any negotiations
between the American and Canadian
- Fishery Departments; in regards to
the following terms:
(a) Any limitation of catch poundage
(b) Boundaries and restricted areas
(c) The opening and closing dates
(d) In any matter which may have a
detrimental effect on the Band’s
bid for more control of the fishing
on Taku River area and;
Further that the Union of British
Columbia Indian Chiefs assist the
Atlin Band in their fight regarding the
raising of the Atlin Lake by Northern
Canada Power Commission, any
compensation plan proposed, any
major changes in any field that may
affect the livelihood, environmental
or land that we are living on.
Whereas Alcan is proposing to pro-
ceed with the completion of the
Kemano Project and,
Whereas there has been no redress of
Band by the initial Kemano Develop-
ment and,
Whereas there will be further destruc-
tion of the lands and waters of British
Columbia by the completion of the
Kemano Project and, -
Whereas the hunting, fishing anda
trapping of the Indian people of the
Lakes District and the North Coas
will be directly affected by the com-f
pletion of the Kemano Project;
1
a
Therefore be it resolved that thea
Energy and Resources Portfolio off™
the Union of British Columbia Indiankil
Chiefs be directed to continue devel
oping research and strategies to stop
the project and further that the
assist the bands in their efforts to stop
the project.
Whereas B.C. Hydro is proposing a
large number of energy projects i
British Columbia including dams o
the Stikine and Liard Rivers and ¢
thermal power plant at Hat Creek
and,
Whereas all of the proposed projects
will directly affect the lives and land
and waters of the Indian people of
British Columbia and,
Whereas there is a complete disregard] _
of the people of British Columbia inp
planning of these projects,
Therefore be it resolved that there be
a complete moratorium on energy}:
development in British Columbia
until such time as a Royal Commis
sion of Inquiry is held to examine
energy development in British
Columbia and,
Be it further resolved that the Energ
and Resources Portfolio of the Unior
of British Columbia Indian Chiefs be
directed to develop research and stra
tegies that will promote a moratoriu
on energy development and will en
courage the holding of a Royal Com
mission of Inquiry. On terms and
conditions agreeable to the Indian
people of British Columbia.
INDIAN WORLD 21
A a
i. fil ea a
a hs , Re
a ae
- eee
EDUCATION=
Whereas Cultural Education Centres
have not been the priority for Indian
Affairs and political leaders and,
Whereas cultural survival is import-
ant to our people and,
Whereas increased funding has not
been made available and,
Whereas evaluation has been done by
Department of Indian Affairs—the
outcome being that more funding is
needed for Cultural Education
Centres and,
Whereas British Columbia has not
received sufficient funding compared
to the other Provinces and,
Therefore be it resolved that the
Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs request and support as an or-
ganization more Cultural Education
Centres funding for British Columbia
under Indian Governments.
Whereas the Union of B.C. Indian
Chiefs adopted the Indian Control of
Indian Education Policy and,
Whereas many Indian communities in
B.C. wish to continue the develop-
ment and use of B.C. Indian langu-
ages for the education of Band mem-
bers,
Therefore be it resolved that the In-
dian Education Portfolio co-ordinate
a B.C. Indian Language Conference
for all member Bands to participate
and share their concerns and develop-
mental experience.
Whereas Indian control of Indian
education is the policy of the Indian
Governments of the Union of B.C.
Indian Chiefs and,
Whereas many children in the area
bounded by the Fraser Valley up to
Bella Coola and Inland to Lillooet
and Lytton and south following the
Fraser River need a home to live in
while attending school and are living
at St. Mary’s Student Residence in
Mission, B.C. and,
INDIAN WORLD 22
er
a | aL
_ nee —
Whereas the education of these chil- |
dren, and their healthy training is
subject to the parents’ responsibility
and local control under Indian Gov-
ernment and, :
Whereas St. Mary’s Residence is now
under the operation of the Vancouver
District of the Department of Indian
Affairs whose policy is to close St.
Mary’s and at this time to send all
children to public schools in the
Mission School District and,
Whereas St. Mary’s land was donated
by Indian people before Confedera-
tion for the education of Indian Chil-
dren, this land being cleared and
developed by the labour of Indian
children, and,
Whereas the Fraser East District
Council of Indian Chiefs requested
the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs to
do a feasibility study of the future use
that St. Mary’s could be used for,
Therefore be it resolved that this 12th
Annual General Assembly of the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs endorse
the policy that St. Mary’s Residence
at Mission, B.C. remain ander the
continual use of the Indian children
under the direction of those Indian
Governments that have a direct
interest in the land, location and edu-
cational use of St. Mary’s.
And further that Indian Governments
begin developing the educational
program for these children right in
the residence to meet their Indian
educational needs and academic
training needs.
And further that the funding for the
Indian education schooling of these
children be reclaimed from tuition
funds currently claimed by the Public
Schodls according to the Master Tui-
tion Agreement and any other devel-
opment funding necessary for the
successful education of these
children.
ae c
oa ALE s ‘ 4
ee a
Blueberry
and Doig
Bands
prepare
evidence
for
Surrender
suit
Mr. and Mrs, Alex Cheekyass, from Blueberry reserve, at evidence taping.
Ce
The Blueberry and Doig Bands used
to live on the Montney reserve which
was also known as Fort St. John
I.R.# 172. The reserve consisted of
18,168 acres of prime agricultural
land which the Bands used as their
summer home. In winter they lived on
their hunting and winter trapping
grounds.
Breach of Treaty
In 1948 the Department of Indian
Affairs sold I.R.# 172 to the
Department of Veterans Affairs. In
replacement the DIA bought three
small parcels of land totalling 6,194
acres. In 1978 the two Bands took
legal action against the Department
of Indian Affairs for Breach of Treaty,
Breach of Trust, mismanagement and
Fraud. The case is now in the stage
where both parties of the suit are
collecting and documenting evidence.
We were up there to document the
evidence of those elders present at the
‘*surrender’’ of IR 172.
Taping the Evidence
On September 21, members of the
UBCIC Legal Department flew to Ft.
St. John to video tape the evidence of
the Elders. Usually in this kind of
action the Discoveries are held in the
Federal Court House in Vancouver,
but we were successful in getting the
permission of the court to vidoe tape
the examinations on the Blueberry
and Doig Indian Reserves and enter
the tapes as evidence, if and when the
case goes to trial. This is the first time
ever that the court has allowed that
examinations could be video taped on
Indian Reserves.
Health Clinics Become
Courtrooms
The examinations were held in the
health clinics at each reserve which
were set up to look like a court room
A large table was at the far end of the
room for witnesses and the examining
lawyers .
The language barrier between
Cree or Beaver witnesses and the
lawyers created a lot of frustration
and laughs during and after the
examinations. Every new witness had
to be sworn in by the official court
reporter through the translator. ‘‘Do
you swear to tell the whole truth and
nothing but the truth so help you
God?’’ “‘I don’t swear”’ and ‘‘I don’t
tell lies, since I was a boy I don’t tell
lies,’ replied another Elder
indignantly.
The Elders who were examined
from the Blueberry Reserve were:
Edward Apsassin, Alex and Theresa
Cheekyass, Nora Apsassin and John
Yahey, the translators were:Joyce
Apsassin (who also provided
everyone with a welcomed lunch),
Clarence Apsassin and Chief Sandi
Yahey. The Elders examined at the
Doig reserve were: John Davis,
Charlie Dominique and Thomas
Wilde, a non Indian Rancher who
was present at the surrender meeting,
the translators at Doig were: Barbara
Davis and Chief Kelvin Davis.
Evidence on the Surrender
of Indian Reserve 172.
Some of the witnesses were present
at the surrender meeting in 1945 and
all gave their evidence of what they
personally knew about the actual
surrender. The evidence will be used
to support the Band’s claim that it’s
~people did not agree to sell IR 172
and did not agree to it’s 3 new
reserves set up for the Band. The old
reserve was sold in 1948 to the
Department of Veterans Affairs and
then granted to soldiers returning
from World War II.
The evidence collected on tape and
pictures of the procedure remain
confidential until the trial. ®
INDIAN WORLD 23
(___ UP-DATE
BLUEBERRY RELOCATION
In the early 1960’s, the people of Blueberry Band were
pressured into moving into a small village, a different
way of living for them. They were promised a school,
new houses, a sewage system and running water. Twenty
years later the population has expanded a lot, but they
are living in the same few houses. The sewage system
broke down years ago, water pipes froze, burst and were
never fixed, people have to haul drinking water from
other creeks. The village site is a bowl that can trap the
poisonous gases emitted by the Kildonan wells at the top
of the hill which are tapping into the gas the people
consider their own.
Forced to look at the intolerable living conditions after
a poisonous gas cloud was trapped over the village last
year, the DIA agreed to pay relocation costs. The wells
were shut down temporarily, and a Band community
planner was hired. It was in June of 1980 that the
Minister telexed the Band saying he would try to put
through the appropriate budget as soon as possible. A
couple of months later, his assistant wrote to say that the
DIA was not going to support the relocation, either
temporary or permanent. At the General Assembly, Clar-
ence Apsassin, Band Manager, told John Munro that he
had broken his commitment. Munro restated he would
support the Band and would find the money. But that
might not be until next summer at the earliest.
Court injunctions and negotiations have delayed the
reopening of the gas wells until December. There are no
guarantees for the people’s safety after that, but the Band
has negotiated with the company to buy vehicles so that
the people can escape in an emergency. The company will
also make sure that a secondary road leading off the
reserve will be kept clear during this winter.
1036: MOSES VERSUS THE QUEEN
The case has been lost in B.C. Courts, but the Chiefs
Council of the UBCIC has decided to continue to
challenge the right of the Province to take Indian reserve
lands for road building, etc. The Legal Task Force has
now filed an application for leave to appeal at the highest
court in the land. The application will be heard on
November 17th and we will learn at that time whether the
case can go to the Supreme Court of Canada. If so, we
will know within 30 days when the case will be heard.
SPOTTED LAKE
Negotiations for the return of Spotted Lake, a sacred
medicine lake, to the Indian people have come to a halt.
The previous owner recently died and his family is very
bitter about this and are blaming it on the Indian people.
The government officials sent in to apptaise the value of
the property to be transferred back to our people, have
not been allowed on the property and have been
repeatedly kicked off. The Minister has now been asked
to consider expropriation with fair compensation because
it seems that the negotiations are frustrated. A legal brief
is being prepared for the expropriation.
INDIAN WORLD 24
NEW APPROACH TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Some encouraging developments in the field of social
and economic development of Indian Bands and/or
reserves have occurred recently. The Department of
Indian Affairs has submitted a discussion paper to the
NIB which shows some evidence that the Department is
becoming more receptive to Indian ideas. There is, it
seems, a recognition that there must be considerable
Indian input.
This optimistic development was exposed to the NIB
members of the Economic Development sub-committee
in a draft discussion paper entitled ‘‘Indian Economic
and Employment Development”’ at a recent meeting in
Ottawa. The main object of the discussion paper is to
outline and assess:
The current economic and employment conditions of
Indian reserve communities; major factors determining
economic and employment development for Indians; a
strategic approach to Indian economic and employment
development; and, some implications of this strategic
approach. Since Indian leaders in B.C. insist that only
maximum Indian participation can determine the best
strategy, it is urged that all Indian governments make
immediate submissions to Ottawa.
A thorough review of the contents of the paper is
scheduled for November 4th, 5th & 6th at a meeting at
the NIB boardroom in Ottawa.
BAND ADVISORY SERVICES
Because there was such a good response by Bands,
especially smaller ones, there seems to be a need to
expand the Band advisory services -
The Union executive sees this need and is in favour of
further developments, but any expansion or even contin-
ued extensive service depends on our receiving enough
funding for the program.
However, despite the lack of funds, the Union will
continue to offer these services. We will do so with the
existing field workers already established in various areas
of the Province.
First Annual Indian Fall Fair
Kamloops Residential School
by Gordon Antoine October 10-11, 1980
w
They came from long distances and they came from local areas: Minneapolis, Minnesota, South
Vancouver Island, Vanderhoof, Lytton, Mt. Currie, the Okanagan, Kamloops, Grasmere, and the
Nicola. They were Ojibway, Shuswap, Okanagan, Carrier, Coast Salish, Interior Salish, Stalo,
Lillooet, Kootenay and Thompson. They came to show each other their treasures and the results of
hard work.
There were 100-year-old baskets and buckskin clothing. There were carvings, baskets and the
makings of baskets, buckskin gloves, moccasins, jackets and shirts. There were raw wool sweaters,
homemade clothing, and-a fashion show, special educational displays and photographs. There was
the handiwork of children (Stoney 4H Club) in birch bark baskets, leather and traditional Indian
foods. People came with produce and livestock. Fall fairs & expositions: the people that came
showed their prowess as Indian people.
Stoney Creek 4-H Club
This showing was an additional ex-
posure to promote the development
of the young in that the first All
Indian 4H Clubs in B.C. came to
share the results of their efforts with
each other and to learn from each
other.
The 4H Clubs are from Stoney
Creek Band and Alkali Lake Band.
Alkali Beef Club is sponsored by
| ree Alkali Lake Agricultural Co-op.
:. . i Mike Paul—Club Leader
ere a Robert Chelsea—President
if PS > if Eddy Johnson—Vice-President
ae Pe i : Stoney Creek Beef Club is sponsored
Alkali Lake 4H Club, display winning ribbons. by Hugh Millard.
; i Hazel Alexis—Club Leader
Dixon Alexis—President
Dee Dee Alexis— Vice-President
Stoney Creek Trapper Club is
sponsored by Alex Johnny.
Alex Johnny—Club Leader.
Victor Alexis—President
Clarence Johnny— Vice-President
Stoney Creek Indian 4H Craft Club:
Madeline Johnny—Club Leader &
Sponsor .
Sally Patrick—President
Charlene Patrick— Vice-President
INDIAN WORLD 25 '
® ; di«
Eileen Harry of Alkali showing Eddy
Johnson’s Reserve Grand Champion
Steer (925 Ibs.) and Sally Patrick of
Stoney with her 885 lb. Grand Cham-
pion.
Bob Pasco, Chief of the Oregon Jack
Creek Band and President of the
Western Indian Agricultural Corpor-
ation shows his determined stride in
leading WIAC Fieldworker Dan
Gravelle to work harder at the Fall
Fair.
wt!
Mildred Gottfriedson at the display
table of the B.C. Native Women’s |)
Society showing Indian fashion and }
traditional buckskin work. ,
The Mission Native Knitters’ display Lena Charlie and Chief Nathan Spinks
BELOW ’ with a treadle yarn spifiner in the of Lytton displaying examples of
Adelina Williams of Mt. Currte lower right of the picture. Thompson Basketry
listens to two people discuss her a J
display of basketry. egmeerca>”
)) Dennis Sam, Lower Nicola Council-
| lor; rancher, and Director for WIAC®
shows George Saddleman, Chief of
4 the Upper Nicola Band, and Chester \
mf Douglas, WIAC Fieldworker the 4
finer points of Joseph Jules’ winning
entry to the Fall Fair.
INDIAN WORLD 26
Wally Henry of the Coqualeetza Cul-
tural Centre showing cedar clothing *
as part of an educational display. ——
Simon Charlie of Duncan brought his
work along with a number of other
South Island carvers’ work.
Three teepees made the long journey
from inner city Minneapolis to Kam-
loops. Nine people travelled from the ¥
Minneapolis Cultural Project to see |
what Indians were up to in B.C. ” aca .
The fashion show with ribbon shirts
being modeled. Molly Bonneau or-
ganized and announced the Fashion
Show.
— o-~
pe
1G.
(Indian Consulting Group) Ltd.
An Indian-
owned general
development
consulling
group
Economic feasibility studies
Preparation of funding proposals
Project planning/implementation
Socio-economic impact analysis
Negotiations with government/industry
Band organization and training
225-744 West Hastings Street |
Vancouver V6C 1A5
(604) 682-7615
WIAC WORKSHOPS
Date Place Type of Workshop Fieldman
Nov.5-6 Keremeos Calving Problems & Cecil Louis
Management—Pregnant
Animals
Nov, 5-6 BurnsLake TrainingManagement, Jimmy Quaw
Land Clearing, 4H Club
Nov. 12-13 Oliver Preg Testing Cecil Louis
Nov. 12 Kamloops Nutrition George Saddleman
Nov. 13 Chase Nutrition George Saddleman |
Nov. 13-14 Alkali Mechanics Clarence Walkem
Nov. 17 Anaham Preg Testing Clarence Walkem
Nov.18 DogCreek Cow Management Clarence Walkem
Nov.29 DogCreek Land Clearing Clarence Walkem
Nov.19 Lytton Nutrition George Saddleman
Nov. 20 Merritt Nutrition George Saddleman
Nov.25 Oliver Band General Ranch Manage- Cecil Louis
Hall ment Practices
Nov. 26-27 Columbia Production& Manage- Dan Gravelle
Lake ment (beef cattle, swine,
poultry)
Nov. 26-27 Stoney Financial Management, Jimmy Quaw
Creek 4H Club
Dec. 5 Nanaimo Gabe Bartleman
Dec. 9 Kamloops Irrigation George Saddleman
Dec. 10-11 Stuart- Financial Management, Jimmy Quaw
Trembleur Hay Ranching,
4H Club
Dec. 18 Shuswap Beef Cattle Health Dan Gravelle
A lot of people have asked about another All-Indian Fall Fair next year. The Western Indian
Agricultural Corporation was so pleased with the results that they will surely be considering it.
INDIAN WORLD 27
Nowadays, a lot of our young people aren’t used to
just sitting down and listening to a person talk; they don’t
have the patience to wait, listen and understand an elder
who will talk about different forms of medicine which we
can use for our bodies and to help other people. So the
Health Portfolio is starting work on a booklet which will
be geared to the ways of thinking of our young people
who are used to reading and researching through books,
and also through TV and radio. Many of our young
people are geared to learning and listening to these things
instead of our old people who have this knowledge. But
we want to encourage our young people, to begifito learn ©
more about our sacred ways and medicines. The different
ceremonies that we have, the different dances we have,
different songs we have from different parts of the
Province, different forms of healing ceremonies; many
different roots, barks, and leaves.
Hopefully in the future, after some of our young
people have read this, they will take the time off from
what they’re doing and go and learn from an old
person, or somebody who has knowledge about the
different medicines or different ceremonies that we have.
It’s a Lifetime Process
We could tell the young people that learning about
medicine, especially traditional Indian medicine, is not
just a subject that will last only two or three months. It’s
a learning process that will take a lifetime: if we do get
100 years.old we would only learn a little more than half
of what has been given to us. Like, myself, I only
understand a little more than a quarter of what my
grandfather knows about medicine because there’s many
involved things that a person has to go through to
prepare himself to learn and understand about our sacred
medicines.
In a booklet, we’d be able to work on the illustrations,
drawing a picture of what the medicine looks like when
it’s still alive on the ground, and also different stages of
pictures showing you what has to be done to prepare
medicine, the instructions on how to prepare it and when
to pick it. Continued page 29,
INDIAN WORLD 28
#{ «+O HELP A‘SICK FRIEND
=
‘‘We are going out to get medicine today,”’ she told
me as she wrapped a red faded hankie around her head
and tied it at the back. She always did this when it was
time to work. I think it was because of the sweat and she
didn’t want it to run down her face.
She then picked up the basket where the medicine
would be placed. We proceeded out to the woods where
it was a peaceful silence. The only sound that could be
heard was the cry of an eagle and sounds of small
animals,
There were very few words exchanged between the
two of us. The only thing she said was, ‘‘This is a very
important job that we are doing. These plants and roots
we are gathering is to help our sick friend. Keep your
mind clear of all ill thoughts and just ask and thank the
medicine for its strength. If you are like that then maybe
the medicine will help our friend.’’ |
She always said these words when we went out to get
medicine. But, she never repeated the instructions she
gave me the very first time I went to gather medicine
with her. That was how to ask the sun and the earth and
the sky also for strength. This she has just expected of
me.
So naturally I held up the medicine to the sun and the
sky and I looked over and she was doing the same. It
made me feel so good to be with this elderly lady. I felt
so secure and happy. After this occasion together she
knew I was ready to do these sort of things on my own.
When she was older I was happy I was able to help her
and collect the plants and roots for her in her time of
weakness. I asked the medicirie to please help my
friend. ..my loving grandmother.
by Lorna Bul, ")
HEALTH WORKERS START
CONSULTATIONS
The Health and Social Development Portfolio has
received the first quarter of our consultations funds and
has hired four fieldworkers to do Consultations through-
out the Province. Each fieldworker will visit the Bands
in the zones they have been assigned to cover. If they
haven’t already visited your Band, they will be contact-
ing the Chief and Council of your Band to make
arrangements to consult with them or whomever they
may assign. They may spend a few days in order to
cover all the issues they need to address.
The purpose of the Consultations is:
® to determine the health care needs of the Indian
Bands in B.C.;
® to provide an information base for future health care
planning;
© to identify redundancies and critical shortages in the
current medical care systems.
The fieldworkers are Theresa Thorne from Duncan,
working in the Vancouver Island zone, Laura McCoy
from Tobacco Plains, working in the South Mainland
Zone, Romeo Edwards from the Spallumcheen Band,
working in the North East Zone, and Herb Russell from
the Kitsegukla Band working in the North West Zone.
The fieldworkers will need all the support they can get
from the Bands in order to do complete consultations,
so please give them your full cooperation. The material
they collect is extremely important for the future of our
total health care.
Je
Continued from page 28.
There are other people who are more interested in the
white man’s form of medicine and we also can encourage
them to learn in the field they’re interested in cause we
also need that part of our life, but at the same time, we
are interested in encouraging our young people to
understand more about our traditional form of medicine.
Healing in the Indian Way Would Help More of
Our People
I believe that we’ll need this more in the future because
the whiteman’s form of medicine has no feeling behind it.
When you do something in the Indian way, the person
who is helping you, puts his whole heart, his whole body
and spirit into helping a certain person or a group of
people because he or she has to suffer for that person that
he/she is going to help. We need more people like this
because a lot of our own people aren’t being treated well
in the non-Indian system. We should start encouraging a
lot of our young people to learn more about our
traditional form of medicine. It takes a special person
who will understand, and will have that certain gift to
learn about the traditional medicine. 8
Communications
Our Way
Editor:
Writing to let you know how much our family enjoy
Indian World. Recently you had an article on alcoholism,
and various letters from people of how change came
about their lives. I’m certain many lives were touched
through this. It’s like giving hope. I went through a
spiritual conversion, and haven’t a need for alcohol.
Also you had a picture of The Late Ellie Prince and an
article on her past life. Proud to say I knew her. She was
very great in her Indian ways.
I also would like to do an article of late Mrs. Josephine
Lowie, who was also a great figure in our community of
the Sams. If it’s all right with you, I can work on it. So let
me know.
Thanks again. Keep up the good work!
Say Hello! to Tache Tlazten.
—from Mrs. Lilliam Sam
= 2
THEY GANT
Dear Lillian,
I would like to say thank-you on behalf of the Bands in
B.C. for your compliments on the “‘Indian World.”’
Indian World is your paper and with the support of
people like you it has been successful. So I feel most of
the credit should go to the Bands for sharing with one
another their stories.
Our mandate from the people is to provide a way for
Indian people to share experiences and ideas, to share
stories of our Elders and leaders who give us guidance
and strength to make the right decisions to keep Indian
Government alive.
Hoping to hear from you again real soon.
—Editor
INDIAN WORLD 29
Indians
Don’t Cry —
Book Review by Bess Brown
Indians don’t cry is a collection of short stories and
poems written by George Kenny. It is about the Ojibway
people of Ontario and their struggle to adjust to their
rapidly changing culture. The problems which they were
confronted with, are in fact ones which many other
Indian people have faced throughout Canada.
I found that the short stories were more enjoyable than
the poems. A number of the poems were quite good but
the stories had much more feeling to them. I felt that the
stories were easier to relate to therefore more meaningful.
I particularly enjoyed Just Another Bureaucrat, about
two young Indian men. One of the men has obtained his
masters in Social Work, while the other has not been as
successful. The less successful one has a dream of putting
together a book of native prose, with the help of the other
Indian man. Donnie, the one with the MSW, is seen as a
savior of the Indian people by his less educated friend.
Though they had not seen one another for a couple of
years, Donnie’s friend believed that he (Donnie) would
not change his values or attitudes. He is shocked to find
that Donnie does not even recognize him and he is not at
all helpful to him; in fact Donnie has become quite a
bureaucrat. I think most of us know a Donnie, someone
who gets a good education and then is expected to be of
great assistance to the Indian people and their cause.
Instead he/she are of no help to the Indian people nor do
they wish to be associated with our cause. They are often
unfairly accused of being interested in only one goal,
their quest for social and financial stability in the domi-
nant white society.
My favorite poem in the book is The Bull-Frogs Got
Theirs (as now I do). Kenny compares the killing of a
bull-frog by a young Indian boy who shows no feelings or
respect to the animal, to people who cut the same young
man down years later. Instead of using spears they cut
him down with words. The young man realizes now that
he was wrong to kill animals just to prove to himself and
others that he was a warrior; just as he realizes that the
people who put him down are wrong in their attempt to
raise their own self-esteem by killing his spirit.
The most enjoyable story in the book is Indians Don’t
Cry. It deals with the frustrations a man encounters as he
tries to keep his family together. Each September his
three children are shipped off to residential school and he
INDIAN WORLD 30
and his wife are left alone throughout the school year.
For a number of years he tried to find employment in the
city in order to keep his family together. This , however,
proved to be impossible, he could not get jobs, find
decent housing, his English was poor and his wife was
fighting a losing battle against alchoholism. He finally
gave up and returned to the reserve alone. The problems
faced by him have undoubtably been experienced by
others trying to better their lives, only to return to the
reserve because they had not anticipated the problems of
living in an urban environment.
Indians don’t cry is an excellent book. It presents many
of the difficulties faced by Indian people attempting to
adjust to and live with the attitudes and values of the
larger and more dominant white society. Some of the areas
covered are education, where a student finds herself in a
‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t”’ situation,
She was encouraged to go to school by her people and
then when she decides she likes living in the city she is
not uncommon to be asked by a prospective employer
criticized by her family for abandoning her culture. It is
why she is not working for her people. It also touches on
such topics as stereotyping of Indians, death, and the
attitudes and feelings one experiences when passing the
‘drunken Indian’ on Main Street.
Indians don’t cry is a very powerful and emotional
book which provokes much thought and feelings.
Kenny George, Indians Don’t Cry, Chimo Publishing,
1977.
7>—— HELP WANTED-
POSITION: ASSISTANT EDITOR
The Assistant Editor of the ‘‘Indian World’’ magazine is
responsible to the Band members for the production of
the magazine and other publications by the Print section
of the Communications Portfolio.
Related Duties:
® taking photographs and writing articles
® travelling to Bands, on request, to hold print work-
shops
® sending staff out in the field to cover stories
® editing
Production Manager of the ‘‘Indian World”’ is in charge
of arranging production schedule and ensuring that
schedule is followed.
Related Duties:
® ensure that all suggestions from line-up meeting are
followed through on time, including scheduling sub-
missions of articles, photographs, art work, etc.
® assist in writing, editing and photography
© liaison with typesetters and printers
Preference will be given to a Band member who has
working experience for his or her Band. Should be willing
to travel and be willing to work longer than average
hours.
Starting Date: As soon as possible.
Salary: Negotiable.
Write to or phone: Communications Portfolio, Union of
B.C. Indian Chiefs, 440 West Hastings St., Vancouver,
B.C. V6B 1L1. Phone (604) 684-0231.
To work out of Vancouver for the Bella Coola Band
students attending school in the Lower Mainland in the
boarding home program.
Related duties; Liaison work between the students, their
boarding home, the school and the Bella Coola Band
Administration. Direction will come from the Education
Administrator in Bella Coola. This is a quarter-time
position: 35-40 hours per month.
Salary: Negotiable.
Deadline: November 20th, 1980; job to © start
immediately.
Send applications to:
Chief Councillor Archie Pootlass,
c/o Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs,
440 West Hastings St.,
Vancouver, B.C.
For further information, call Gert Mack, 799-5453.
Noe
POSITION: PRODUCTION MANAGER———
RESOURCE CENTRE CO-ORDINATOR
The main responsibility of the coordinator is to establish
a centre for the collection, processing and dissemination
of information of the fifteen Bands of the Cariboo,
which includes the Carrier, Chilcotin and Shuswap
nations.
The coordinator will be in charge of audio visual, photo-
graphy, and have a responsibility to the monthly news-
paper, the Coyoti Prints.
The person will be responsible for initiating cultural
programs, spiritual programs, language workshops,
alcohol awareness workshops and native dance groups.
Travel and business allowance provided.
To live at Fish Lake—unfurnished house is provided with
job.
Sober, industrious and self-directed
Own vehicle is desired—must be free to travel.
Salary negotiable.
Deadline for application is November 30, 1980. Send
resume to Fish Lake Centre, Box 6000, Williams Lake.
Personal interview will take place at 4:30, December 3 at |
the Cariboo Tribal Council office, 150B Oliver Street,
Williams Lake. Telephone (604) 398-8933 for additional
information.
HOME SCHOOL CO-ORDINATOR———
MANAGER: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
AND OPERATIONS
To promote native employment by assessing, developing
and monitoring profitable business opportunities in a
small but growing community in north central British
Columbia.
® Creative in identifying potential enterprises.
* Practical in investigating those potential enterprises.
® Adaptable in dealing with people of diverse back-
grounds.
© Experienced, at management level, in business and
government relationships.
This position holds the responsibility for the origin of
development proposal and for much of the preparation
of feasibility studies. The ultimate success or failure of
this entire program therefore rests heavily upon the
incumbent, and requires an extremely high degree of
commitment and expertise.
Salary will be commensurate with experience and will
include a broad benefits package.
| Submit to:
Ms. Nancy Plasway, President
Burns Lake Native Development Corporation
P.O. Box 1030
Burr.s Lake, B.C. VOJ 1E0
Applications close December 31, 1980. J
INDIAN WORLD 31
Our Way is to Share
I was orphaned when | was very small. I didn’t really
know what had happened. I was too small to understand.
_ Now what I see is something that has also happened to
| many other people. My heart really goes out to those
young people now who feel lonely and don’t know where ~
they belong.
During the time that | was really small and I lived with
_ my relatives, I felt really out of place. I felt like an extra
person. I could see the warmth and the love between my
aunties and uncles for their little children. I would wish
so strongly that someone would love me like that. What I
liked was to play in a big group with all of my cousins,
cause then I would be just one of the kids, then I felt like
iE didn’t stand out as not belonging.
Walking Alone
There is a real sorrow and longing to belong
somewhere when you grow up without parents. I see
some of our Indian kids now, who have one non-Indian
parent, who are fair and who have very strong feelings of
not belonging. These people if not treated warmly and
| not accepted by other Indian people, can spend the rest of
their lives not knowing where they belong. They can feel
anger because nobody understands them, nobody loves
them, they fell like they walk alone. When this happens,
when a person doesn’t knw how to approach anybody,
when they hold themselves back, they are hurting, crying
inside, and desparately calling out—silently, for your
warmth. These people, are also born with an Indian spirit
inside them. Remember they are somebody’s grandchild,
they can grow up to help our people if guided and accept f
ed. ft
The Warmth of Sharing 7, Our Mother Earth Cares and Heals
i=><This is one of the things that we all pray for, in our
own Indian way. When we are in sweat lodges, wherever
b
' It is so easy, such a small thing to respond to these
‘silent pleas. Everybody needs to belong, to feel warmth [i re ; , by
from another person, to experience the beauty of love | they are held, we pray for the strengthening of our Indian
To express this love has nothing to do with material Wij] people: we pray for those people who are suffering, lost
things, it comes from inside of you and is giving o our- He f> or loriely. When we pray, we remember and learn that we
self, your time, your ears to listen, your thought shen hi are all children of the Creator. We have our mother,
you talk, your food as you nourish, your stories whe ay Mother Earth, who cares for and heals all of us. All
you help a person understand where they come from$s="4 [fi] Strength and healing are provided for us. When we go
into a sweat it is like returning to our mother’s womb to
rs be reborn again, to come out strong and to make a new
{with the new strength that we gain.
yo “Ow Sider said, ‘‘In our language there is lots of words:
for our mother. When our real mother goes to the spirit
| world, there is always another relative to replace her,
} then in Indian we have another word that gives this
person the name of mother replacing our real mother.’’
) When we use this way we have everything to gain.
by Maxine Pape
| | I
yf | HR
hea St glk ag za eet ae
ERE ee
INDIAN WORLD 32
‘The Indians never wrote anything
dewn before, they had no paper.
Everything was recorded in the
mind
(Pat Charlie, Cowichan)
““A new Indian Education system has
to teach our children their language
or they won't survive,”’
(P. Paul, Tsartlip)
“Our grandchildren...| am so
thankful our ancestors’ ways are
back; they speak through and to
you.”’ (Selina Timoykin, Lim Lempt)
‘The language is really important—to
the whole Indian education program
if there is going to be any kind of a
program our language has to be a
part of it. The language is the vehicle
of our whole culture. ”’
(Lorna Williams, Mt. Currie)
“Indian languages are sacred ang
Shall be treated as such. The Legisié-
ture's proper role would be to recég-
nize in law the freedom of Indiané to
develop the language... .as we cHoose
.., (and) to protect and presey've for
Indians the sovereignty of pur lan-
guages, ”’
(Confederation of Indians of Quebec)
INDIAN WORLD 33
EDITORIAL
N
INDIAN WORLD 34
Working for the ‘‘Indian World’’ has been a great
learning experience, knowing that my responsibility
was to help our people. It is each individual’s respon-
sibility to work for the betterment of Indian People.
My mother is a paraplegic, paralyzed from the chest
down. She has been in hospitals for 2 years
now and they have not and cannot WAL,
help her. Again I had let the
doctors convince me that
to send her to a nursing
home was the best al-
ternative we had.
When I decided
to take the respon-
sibility 1 really
had to think what
is more import-
ant in my life, the
love for my moth-
er or the material-
istic world (cars,
nice clothes, artifi-
cial things). So that is
why I am leaving the
‘Indian World”’ to take I
my mother back home where MAW
she belongs and where we all care. ) | ll
When I really began thinking about my
(3
mother’s situation, I thought of how, for so long now,
I have listened to the white man’s ways, had more
respect for them than my own people’s ways that our
Elders have kept so strong. All these government agents,
Department of Indian Affairs, doctors, nurses, church
people, the white society generally, have always been
telling me what was the right thing to do. Little did I
know I was becoming an ‘‘assimilated Indian.’’ But |
thank the Elders for having strong minds to keep our
Indian values alive.
So in this way I thank all the people who helped me
to the right direction, who made me realize | am
capable of making my own decisions and that keeping
my Indian values was not wrong. When |
would go and visit my mother in that
nursing home, I would leave feel-
ing hurt and feeling so sel-
hth fish, wondering, what
ATT ATA am I doing? I was al-
ways feeling that we
were taking the
easy way out of
not taking the re-
sponsibility that
was ours. We as
Indian Nations
have to take on
the responsibility
of keeping our In-
dian values alive
and not make use of
the nursing homes they
offer for our Elders and
handicapped. The love for our
own people is stronger than letting
em become empty shells. There is no love
for our people in those homes. That’s because only we
can as Indian people help our people totally, spiritu-
ally as well.
We were gifted by the Great Spirit with our Indian
spirit that dances to the beat of the drum and the songs
of our people. And before the white man came we had
our own ways, so let’s keep our Indian spirits strong,
and keep on dancing to the beat of the drum for the
love of our people.
by Faye Edgar, Co-Editor oa
ee
INDIAN GOVERNMENT
ROUNDERS HONOUR
Indian people in B.C. have been very fortunate in the past to have had ;
such great leaders to guide us in our struggle to control our own lives.
These men and women have, by their example, given us the strength and
courage to carry on and continue their life’s work. Our leaders have given
up a great deal for us, and have never sought praise.
During the annual General Assembly, Indian people from all over B.C.
honored Jacob Kruger, Bill Roberts, Wilfred Sylvester and the late Jim
Morrison for unselfishly devoting much of their lives to our people. At the &
same time, their families were honored, for they gave up their men for our |
cause.
As a token of the people’s respect and appreciation, gifts were given and
dances were performed for these leaders, who are now models for our
people to try and follow. It is our responsibility to them to follow their
guidance and to continue their work.
Wilfred Sylvester, an Elder from the Cowichan Band,
Jacob Kruger is considered to be the dependency on the non-Indian was honoured by his people for his volunteer work in
founder of the concept of Indian society and bureaucracy, whichis | collecting and organizing collectors of money for
government. Many of our present represented by the snake. funerals in the south Vancouver Island area. He has also
leaders have travelled with and gone gained respect as one of the main speakers for the Elders
to him to learn, Jacob has taught Chief Roger Jimmie spoke about in the Longhouse.
many of them what they use today the great respect his people have had
as the basis of their work. A for the late Jim Morrison. He said
sculpture by Chief Saul Terry was Jim Morrison guided their people In Bill Roberts was presented with traditional garments of
presented to Jacob. The frog the past and to honour him, the the Kwawkewlith people. He has been called one of our
represents our people coming out, Kluskus people have named their most ‘radical’ leaders. Phillip Paul joked that some of
Bill’s ideas for implementing Indian Government
™ | ‘even made me shudder.’ George Manuel told the
* | people that he could always call on Bill during times of
=, [emergency concerning Indian Government.
or breaking away, from the school after him.
_ —_
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FISSEMELY
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“INDIAN
GOV eQNMENT
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FROM: UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS
440 WEST HASTINGS ST.
VANCOUVER, B.C. V6B 1L1
For some people October is called the month of the
migrating moon and certainly there was a massive
movement of people in B.C. this month. The Indian
Child Caravan came from all over the Province: grand-
parents, parents and children mobilised to demonstrate
the strong feeling we have that the only way for our
children to grow up strong and happy is in our own
Indian homes. The Provincial Government was forced
to agree to Indian Governments’ control over what
happens to our children. It was a great victory for the
people of the Spallumcheen Band. We join our thanks
to all those communities who hosted the caravan, look-
SECOND CLASS MAIL
REGISTRATION NUMBER 4983
VANCOUVER, B.C.
S
ing after our writers and photographers along the way,
and also to the Neskainlith Band for sending in their
photographs of the Caravan events there (pp. 6-8).
The movement of people continued the following
week as more people came from all parts of the
Province to the Twelfth Annual Assembly of the Union
of B.C. Indian Chiefs in Vancouver. The supplement
this month reports on the decisions and discussions of
that exciting week. One of the most heartwarming
events to take place during that time was an Indian
Wedding. Fay Wilson of the Herring People writes
about why.she felt it was important that they should be
married in their traditional way (p. 2). The victory we
won for the future of our children and the decisions
taken by our leaders to implement Indian Government
will mean nothing, however, if we do not win the most
crucial and fiercest battle of all: entrenching our special
status and rights as the aboriginal people of this land in
the Constitution before it is brought back to Ottawa.
Our main issue this month deals with the Constitutional
Emergency (p. 9).
Our Aboriginal Rights are on the line. Join the most
important battle we face: demonstrate to the Canadian
Government and to the United Nations of the world
that the Indian Nations in this country refuse to let our
rights be terminated. We will survive.
Part of Indian World - volume 3, number 7 (October 1980)