Tribal council seeks to delay treaty ratification
March 14th, 2007

By: Kathryn Atkinson
Globe & Mail
March 14, 2007

SQUAMISH, B.C. -- One of British Columbia's largest tribal councils has filed a request for an injunction against a much smaller first nations community and the provincial and federal governments over the final ownership of a 10,000-square-kilometre area of disputed territory in the B.C. Interior.

Ten chiefs from the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council registered the statement of claim in the B.C. Supreme Court on Monday. The chiefs, who represent 7,000 people, hope to prevent a ratification vote by the 320-member Lheidli T'enneh of a treaty that would allow the land, near McBride, Valemount and half way down the Kinbasket Reservoir, to become part of the latter's territory. They say the claim overlaps traditional land.

"We're disappointed and we're asking for a delay," Chief Keith Matthew said. "We'd like to have a formal discussion with those parties regarding our traditional lands. We want an accommodation of our legal interests in title and rights in upholding the honour of the Crown in those discussions."

The traditional territory of the Shuswap Nation, he said, encompasses around 145,000 square kilometres, including areas around Williams Lake, Castlegar and Golden.

The statement of claim says that through the SNTC's negotiations with the Lheidli T'enneh, the provincial and federal governments "had notice of the Secwepemc [Shuswap] Nation's asserted title and rights, the boundaries" of their territory, and the knowledge that the Lheidli T'enneh claim "may adversely affect the plaintiff's asserted aboriginal title and rights."

Mark Stevenson, the Lheidli T'enneh's chief negotiator, said their claim had been filed for 13 years, and last October it became the first final agreement reached under the B.C. treaty process. The Lheidli T'enneh are due to vote on the treaty on March 30 but the Shuswap Nation's statement of claim threatens this.

"Unfortunately, they have chosen to litigate, and we're disappointed," he said. "The courts are not the place to settle this dispute, and we'd be happy to meet with them. We've tried to meet with them in the past."

Mr. Stevenson described the Lheidli T'enneh as "the little mouse that roared" and said he was looking forward to "getting out from under the Indian Act".

Chief Matthew said the claim of the Lheidli T'enneh, who are largely based near Prince George, is "unjustified." He added that as recently as the mid-1990s, they had asked for permission "to come into our territory." This territory, he said, is what the two tiers of government are planning to hand over to the Lheidli T'enneh.