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Tsuwalhkálh Ti Tmícwa (The Land is Ours): St‘át‘imc Self-Determination in the Face of Large- Scale Hydro-electric Development by Sarah Carmen Moritz MA, University of Aberdeen, 2010 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Anthropology Sarah Carmen Moritz, 2012 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Tsuwalhkálh Ti Tmícwa (The Land is Ours): St‘át‘imc Self-Determination in the Face of Large- Scale Hydro-electric Development by Sarah Carmen Moritz MA, University of Aberdeen, 2010 Supervisory Committee Dr. Peter Stephenson, Department of Anthropology Supervisor Dr. Brian Thom, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Peter Stephenson, Department of Anthropology Supervisor Dr. Brian Thom, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member In Canada, First Nations asserting authority over their lands are developing diverse strategies to overcome the state‘s dogmatic insistence on jurisdictional sovereignty. This movement corresponds to the wider context of the challenges faced by indigenous people to use their own ways of knowing to resist or reformulate legal doctrines and political tenets based on colonial power. Interior Salish St‘át‘imc people identify themselves through a strong and ongoing social relationship with Satáqwa7, the Fraser River, and the ―Valley of Plenty‖— now known as the flooded Bridge River Valley – maintained through St‘át‘imc knowledge and cultural practice and demonstrated by talk of ―the St‘át‘imc right to fish‖ and Tsuwalhkálh Ti Tmícwa (The Land is Ours). St‘át‘imc fishers are prepared to contest and resist any regulatory system that is understood to impact this right to fish while they advocate their own ways of sustainable fishing and water management. Based on ethnographic research in collaboration with St‘át‘imc people, this thesis explores some of these often successful contestations especially in the context of increasing territorial governance and by example of the rapidly transforming relationship between St‘át‘imc, BC Hydro and the Province of BC. Interior Salish St‘át‘imc people are currently navigating through a significant phase of increasing jurisdiction and authority and recognition of (unsettled) territorial property relationships. This very dynamic process is marked by strategic collaborations, compensation for ‗infringements‘ on St‘át‘imc Title and Rights, and conservation efforts to protect their home. An important example is the changing relationship between St‘át‘imc people and BC Hydro – a relationship between two groups with radically different cultures and agendas: St‘át‘imc people in a struggle for self-determination, social justice and cultural survival and BC Hydro, a corporate culture, with the agenda to provide hydro-electric power to BC, maintain operation ‗certainty‘ and to generate revenue. Exploring the different ways of relating to and acting on the land will allow for more holistic and shared cultural practices of co-governing land, working collectively, remembering history, co-existing in the present and sharing a common future according to the ethical ideals of reconciliation: accountability for wrongdoing, justice, sharing, respect, transcending of hegemonic silences and increased public knowledge. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1 – St‟át‟imc (Ancient Land), Úcwalmicw (People of the Land), (St‟át‟imc Law) and Tsuwalhkálh Ti Tmícwa (The Land is Ours): An Introduction ......................................... 1 Chapter 2 –„The Other‟/Myself, Relationality, Collaboration, Learning the St‟át‟imc Way of Life and Becoming Enskilled: Methodology .......................................................................... 17 Living on the Land and Becoming Useful, Integrated and Knowledgeable ............................... 22 Our Stories are Written on the Land: Learning St’át’imc Oral History, Conducting Interviews and Being Ethical ....................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 3 – „These are Our Fish and We‟re Still Here!‟: Transformations of the Valley of Plenty ............................................................................................................................................. 43 ‘Walking the Land, Using the Land, Looking after the Land, Picking the Berries, Hunting, Fishing and Honouring the Chiefs Who Signed the Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe 1911’: Living and Voicing Inherent St’át’imc Title and Rights ............................................................ 54 BC Hydro’s Presence on the Land: Social Impacts and ‘Infringements’ on St’át’imc Title and Rights .......................................................................................................................................... 59 Fish aren’t Chickens!: Evaluating the Social Impacts of BC Hydro’s Bridge River System and Negotiating Cultural Differences ............................................................................................... 61 Chapter 4 – St‟át‟imc Self-Determination, Increasing Authority and Improving Relationships ................................................................................................................................. 68 Consultation, Accommodation and Information Sharing: Collaboration and An ‘Improving Relationship’ .............................................................................................................................. 69 The Bridge River Water Use Plan (WUP): A Collaborative Process ........................................ 75 A New Relationship? An Improved Relationship!: A Small Measure of Justice ........................ 77 Chapter 5 – Re-Cognizing Collaboration as Co-Governance and Partial Reconciliation: Alternative (Hi)Stories, A Small Measure of Justice and Improving Relationships – A Critical Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 79 Voicing and Living St’át’imc Title and Rights – A Demand for Holism .................................... 79 v Fish vs. Chickens: Asserting St’át’imc Self-Determination and Resisting the Colonial Narrative .................................................................................................................................... 96 A Small Measure of Justice, A Small Measure of Co-Governance: St’át’imc Historiography, Increasing Authority and Improving Relationships ................................................................. 102 Chapter 6 – Holistic Perspectives on Past, Improving Relationships in the Present and Visions for a Shared Future – A Conclusion ........................................................................... 115 Inspirations, Justifications, (Self-)Entitlement and Impetus for Research ............................... 117 Re-Building the Canoe: Reflections on Ethical Research as Sharing ..................................... 118 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 121 Appendix 1: Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe ......................................................................... 134 Appendix 2: St‟át‟imc cultural activities, ancestral teachings, learning to live off the land, working together and sharing: My role as a SCC Youth Worker July 12th-18th 2011 ...... 136 Appendix 3: Interview Excerpt Chief Art Adolph Xaxli‟p (Fountain), September 2011 .... 138 vi List of Figures Figure 1: View from Tsal‘álh's Mission Mountain onto Seton Portage, Seton and Anderson Lake and BC Hydro's powerhouses .......................................................................................................... 1 Figure 2: St'át'imc Territory Map, incl. boundary markers as determined through the Nxekmenlhkálha lti tmícwa St‘át‘imc Preliminary Land Use Plan 2004. Image by Wonders (2008) ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 3: Map of St‘át‘imc Territory as captured in the Relations Agreement of the 2011 Hydro Agreement (St‘át‘imc (PC) Settlement Agreement, [2010]. Draft.) ................................................ 9 Figure 4: 2011 St‘át‘imc Gathering Images including 'descendant lists' for people to add their names if related to the signatory Chiefs of the Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe 1911; 100 gathered drums; Declaration wall hanging. Photographs taken by Sarah Moritz .......................... 19 Figure 5: 2011 St‘át‘imc Gathering Poster. Text includes: The Declaration