The Historical Journey

62 B.C.PART First Nations TWO Studies The Historical Journey irst Nations communities, though weakened until slowly changes began to happen. After World War severely by disease brought in by the Euro- II, First Nations began to use the courts to challenge F Canadians, nevertheless resisted and protested the status quo. Each case was a small step towards the changes that were being imposed on them. In achieving self-determination. The Delgamuukw case some cases their protests turned violent, but usually is the final step in the journey described in Part Two, only when violence was directed towards them. but as you will see later, the struggle continues today. Overwhelmingly, First Nations people have used For the First Nations people living in the Gitxsan petitions and meetings as peaceful forms of resistance. Wet’suwet’en Territories, the four-year-long Delga- Since first contact with Europeans they have continued muukw court case was about the right to live as they to try to meet the settlers on a nation-to-nation basis. and their ancestors have for millennia. From the point Two major factors hobbled the First Nations of view of the governments of British Columbia and people on their journey: the Indian Act and Indian Canada, a large tract of land full of crucial economic reserves. As you will see, their lives were controlled resources was at stake and had to be defended. The by legislation which governed nearly every aspect of Gitxsan-Wet’suwet’en people, Elders, and chiefs placed their lives, something the rest of Canadian society was their trust in a foreign court. In return, they felt that not subject to. As part of this control, Indian reserves they were repaid with insult and disdain. were set aside for them to live on. In the eyes of the Chief Justice Allen McEachern ruled that governments of the day, these measures were intended Aboriginal title to the land did not exist. However, to be temporary until all Aboriginal people became his decision did not agree with most recent court assimilated into mainstream society. rulings and it was overturned by the Supreme Court Despite the oppressive measures taken against of Canada, which said Aboriginal title existed and has them, First Nations communities retained a strength never been extinguished in this province. which enabled them to keep moving forward on the This case was a turning point on a long, difficult road to just treatment and recognition of Aboriginal journey by First Nations people. rights. Organizations were formed and powerful leaders emerged who confronted government officials, The Fur Trade Era 63 Hereditary chiefs Walter Harris (left) and Alvin Weget in 1997 when the Supreme Court of Canada decision on the Delgamuukw case was handed down. 64 CHAPTER 4 The Fur Trade Era, 1770s–1849 he lives of First Nations people were irrevoca- Spain, Portugal, England, and France had colonized bly changed from the time the first European eastern North America and most of South and Central T visitors came to their shores. The arrival of America. Early expansion began with the Spanish, Captain Cook heralded the era of the fur trade and who funded Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492. the first wave of newcomers into the future British The following year Spain had claimed all of the Pacific Columbia who came from two directions in search of as its territory. England, Spain’s rival for imperial lucrative pelts. First came the sailors by ship across the superiority, argued that a colonial power should at least Pacific Ocean in pursuit of sea otter, then soon after visit a territory before claiming it. Thus began a brief came the fort builders who crossed the continent from northern push by mariners in the 1500s, although it the east by canoe. These traders initiated an intense is not clear if the Spanish or English sailed as far north period of interaction between First Nations and as what we know today as British Columbia’s coast. Sir European newcomers, lasting from the 1780s to the Francis Drake is known to have reached the Oregon formation of the colony of Vancouver Island in 1849, coast in 1759, and some believe he may have travelled when the business of trade was the main concern of farther north, although there is no concrete evidence both parties. During this era, the newcomers depended to support this theory. A fabled Spanish expedition on First Nations communities not only for furs, but led by Juan de Fuca is said to have reached southern also for services such as guiding, carrying mail, and Vancouver Island in 1592, and even though no proof most importantly, supplying much of the food they has been given that such claims are true, later sailors required for daily survival. First Nations communities named the passage between Vancouver Island and incorporated the newcomers into the fabric of their Washington Juan de Fuca Strait. lives, utilizing the new trade goods in ways which By the 1700s Europeans had explored and colo- enhanced their societies, such as using iron to replace nized much of the rest of the world, and England and stone axes and guns to augment the bow and arrow. Spain were still rivals for supremacy in the Pacific. These enhancements, however, came at a terrible cost, The focus of exploration was on finding better access for while the fur traders brought iron and guns, they to the lucrative Asian markets, particularly the search also brought unknown diseases which resulted in for what was called the Northwest Passage. In 1745 massive depopulation of First Nations communities. the British Parliament offered a reward of £20,000 to the first ship which could find a shortcut around European Expansion or through North America. Ever since Juan de Fuca, The northwest region of North America was one of the Europeans had been certain there must be a westward last areas of the globe to feel the advance of European route that would be faster than the known sea or land colonialism. For three hundred years before first routes to Asia. contact was made on the west coast, countries like The Fur Trade Era 65 In addition to the search for the Northwest Passage, international rivalries came to a peak in The Nuu-chah-nulth the 1770s. The Spanish and English learned that Meet Cook the Russians had crossed the Bering Strait to begin Four years after the brief contact by Perez, another colonizing the Aleutian Islands in northwest Alaska, expedition would coincidentally land at Yuquot. and they were moving their influence southwards Captain James Cook, a commander in the British down the coast. The first recorded encounter between Royal Navy, had taken up the challenge to find the B.C. First Nations and Europeans was part of a Spanish Northwest Passage. More than that, he was instructed spy mission under the command of Juan Perez to see to claim any territories that looked uninhabited in what the Russians were up to. the name of King George III. Secret instructions to In 1774 Juan Perez anchored his ship the Santiago Cook clearly stated that any claims he made were not off the northwestern tip of Haida Gwaii. A number of to conflict with Aboriginal territories or with claims Haida people came out to the ship in canoes, too wary made by other European nations, “but if you find the to board the strange vessel, but willing to trade some countries so discovered are uninhabited you are to furs. Weather and illness aboard ship made Perez turn take possession of them for His Majesty by setting back soon after, and on the trip south, the Spanish up proper marks and inscriptions as first discoverers made a short stop on the west coast of Vancouver and possessors.” Island, in Nuu-chah-nulth territory, at Yuquot. Perez Cook’s ships Resolution and Discovery approached noted that the Nuu-chah-nulth had iron and copper, the west coast of Vancouver Island on March 29, 1778. proof that even though Europeans had never met First The Englishmen spent a month among the Nuu-chah- Nations of the coast face to face, their material goods nulth to repair their ships, give the crew some rest, had already reached British Columbia through trade. and, even though they had not planned it, to trade. Descriptions by Cook and other observers are the first written records of the F IRST N ATIONS V OICES material culture and social life of coastal First Nations. Mrs. Winnifred David Cook mistakenly thought the name of the local people The Indians didn’t know what on earth it was when [Captain Cook’s] ship came into the harbour. They didn’t know what on earth it was. So was Nootka, apparently the Chief, Chief Maquinna, he sent out his warriors. He had warriors, misinterpreting the Nuu- you know. He sent them out in a couple of canoes to see what it was. chah-nulth word nutka. This So they went out to the ship and they thought it was a fish come alive word means “go around,” and into people. They were taking a good look at those white people on the Nuu-chah-nulth used the deck there. One white man had a real hooked nose, you know. it to direct the mariners to And one of the men was saying to this other guy, “See, see . he must “go around” a point of land have been a dog salmon, that guy there, he’s got a hooked nose.” The other guy was looking at him and a man came out of the galley and to find safe anchorage.

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