Tsawout Marine Use Study Prepared for Tsawout First Nation’S Review of the Proposed Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion, Marine Shipping Component

Tsawout Marine Use Study Prepared for Tsawout First Nation’s Review of the Proposed Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion, Marine Shipping Component

1 Our people were the richest people on earth. That's quite a statement to make. There’s a lot of people in this world. I say: here lived the richest people on earth.

~ Dave Elliot Sr.

Report prepared by Peter Evans, Beth Keats, and Dave King Trailmark Systems and Consulting, May 1, 2015

Cover photo credit Heather Tufts, 2009. All other photos courtesy Devin Tepleski, 2014.

Acknowledgements With tremendous gratitude, we acknowledge the exceptional individuals who gave their time, positive energy, and trust to the Tsawout Marine Use Study. Special thanks to Eric Pelkey, Gwen Underwood, Belinda Claxton, Mavis Underwood, Curtis Claxton, and Shauna Johnson for your guidance and trust, as well as to Chief Harvey Underwood and Counsellors Lou Claxton, Allan Claxton, Samantha Etzel, Elizabeth Hermsen, Toby Joseph, Stan Sam, John Wilson and the late Joel Pelkey Sr. for their support and feedback.

The engaged and open-hearted input we received from Tsawout’s devoted Lands Committee was also deeply appreciated -- thank you Rena Dulay, Gus Underwood, Marvin underwood, Elder Kenny Jimmy, Russell Sam, Herb Pelkey, Stephen Horne, Buster Harry, Belinda Claxton, Helen Jack, Irvine Jimmy, Eydie Pelkey, Elder Fred Underwood, and David Underwood Jr.

We wish to thank our co-researchers Adelynne Claxton and Floyd Pelkey for their daily dedication and support throughout this study, as well as their vast knowledge, skill, and patience.

Finally, to the respondents and participants on this study -- Eric Pelkey, Dan Claxton, Nick Claxton, Mike Pelkey, Aaron Sam Sr., Aaron Sam Jr, Raymond Sam, Perry Lafortune Sr., Perry “Bam-Bam” Lafortune Jr., Corey Joseph, Stephanie Joseph, Charlie Underwood, Derek Pelkey, Willard Pelkey, Herb Pelkey and all of the individuals who volunteered their time and knowledge in the online survey -- your honesty and willingness to share has brought to light the resilience, strength, and challenges facing the Tsawout community and the Salish Sea today.

It has been our privilege to produce this report with you. Thank you.

3 Table of Contents Tsawout Marine Use Study ...... 1 Acknowledgements ...... 3 Project Understanding ...... 7 Executive Summary ...... 8 Superharvesters and “Providers” ...... 9 Role and Value of Marine Foods ...... 10 Barriers and Satisfaction With Availability of Marine Foods ...... 11 Species ...... 11 Review of Trans Mountain’s Project Effects Assessment ...... 15 Traditional Use Maps ...... 20 Section I: W̱SÁNEĆ Ethnohistory, Contemporary History, Identity, and Current Issues ...... 28 1. Introduction ...... 29 1.1 Report Structure ...... 30 2. Methodology ...... 31 2.1 Summary ...... 31 2.2 Rationale and Methodology ...... 31 2.3 Traditional Marine Use and Knowledge Interviews ...... 32 2.4 Marine Use Harvest Survey ...... 33 3. Literature Review ...... 33 3.1 The W̱SÁNEĆ Nation ...... 35 3.1 Archaeology ...... 36 3.2 W̱SÁNEĆ Linguistic and Social Affiliations ...... 38 3.3 W̱SÁNEĆ Identity and Beliefs ...... 39 3.4 The Douglas Treaty ...... 46 3.5 The Saanichton Bay Marina Case ...... 48 3.6 Traditional W̱SÁNEĆ Marine and Land Use ...... 49 Section II: Harvest Study Results ...... 62 4. Marine Use Harvest Study ...... 63 4.1 Methodology ...... 63 4.2 Defining and Identifying Participants ...... 64 4.3 Study Limitations ...... 65 4.4 Harvest Study Results ...... 65 4.5 Discussion ...... 70 Section III: W̱SÁNEĆ Relationships with and Knowledge of Marine Resources ...... 72 5. Gathering ...... 73 5.1 Crabs ...... 73 5.2 Bivalves ...... 77 5.3 Sea Urchins ...... 81

4 5.4 Seaweed - LEKES ...... 84 5.5 Seagull Eggs ...... 86 5.6 Chitons - TEṈSEWEĆ ...... 87 5.7 Sea Cucumber ...... 87 6. Fishing ...... 91 6.1 Salmon ...... 91 6.2 Cod and Rockfish ...... 96 6.3 Halibut ...... 98 6.4 Flounder & Sole ...... 100 6.5 Herring & Herring Eggs ...... 101 6.6 Octopus ...... 103 6.7 Sturgeon ...... 105 6.8 Commercial Fishery: Salish Strait Seafoods ...... 109 7. Hunting ...... 110 7.1 Marine Birds ...... 110 7.2 Deer ...... 113 7.3 Seal and Sea Lion ...... 115 7.4 Whales ...... 115 8. Marine Travel Routes ...... 119 Section V: ...... 121 Works Cited ...... 121 Appendix 1: ...... 126 Review of Trans Mountain’s Project Effects Assessment ...... 126 1. Introduction ...... 127 1.1 Overview ...... 127 2. Local vs. Regional Study Areas ...... 128 3. Likely Effects ...... 129 4. Disturbance of Sacred Sites ...... 129 5. Disruption of Subsistence Hunting Activities ...... 131 6. Disruption of Fishing Activities ...... 132 7. Disruption of Plant Gathering Activities ...... 133 8. Disturbance of Gathering Places ...... 134 9. Disruption of Use of Travelways ...... 136 10. Effects to Multiple Use Sites ...... 137 11. Review of Trans Mountain’s Characterization of Residual Effects and Determination of Significance ...... 139 12. Significance Evaluation of Potential Residual Effects ...... 140 13. Cumulative Effects ...... 143 14. Review of Trans Mountain’s Mitigation Measures ...... 145 15. Community Mitigation Recommendations ...... 146

Project Understanding

This report presents the results of a traditional marine use study, harvest study and literature review undertaken on behalf of Tsawout First Nation regarding Kinder Morgan’s application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity under Section 52 of the National Energy Board Act to build and operate the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project. Trans Mountain filed its application to the National Energy Board (NEB) in December 2013.

Trans Mountain is proposing an expansion of its current 1, 150-km pipeline between Strathcona County, Alberta and Burnaby, BC. If approved, the proposed expansion will create a twinned pipeline which would increase the capacity of the system from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000 barrels a day. The pipeline expansion project (“the Project”) includes: approximately 981 km of new pipeline, new and modified facilities such as pump stations and tanks, and the reactivation of 193 km of existing pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby. There would also be an expansion of the Westridge Marine Terminal and new pipeline capacity added between Burnaby Terminal and Westridge Marine Terminal. The marine component of the proposed expansion would increase the number of vessels, including tankers and barges, being loaded at the Westridge Marine Terminal to approximately 37 a month. The proposed expansion at Westridge Terminal is geared toward loading 245 m Aframax tankers. The expanded terminal increases shipment of dilbit, increasing tanker traffic by 143% in Haro Strait and 141% in the Strait of Georgia (M.R. Gordon 2014). Tsawout’s traditional territory is bisected by the proposed tanker route, by Trans Mountain’s Marine Local Study Area (LSA), and is encompassed by the entire (RSA) Regional Study Area. Research for this report centered on activities, current and past within the marine environment of Tsawout Territory, as well as additional areas within Tsawout terrestrial traditional territory that could be affected by the Project’s regular operations or malfunction and accidents.

7 Executive Summary

This Marine Use Study (MUS) report presents the results of traditional marine use interviews, community harvest surveys, and secondary research undertaken on behalf of Tsawout First Nation regarding Kinder Morgan’s application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity under Section 52 of the National Energy Board Act to build and operate the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (the Project). It focuses on members’ traditional land and marine use in the Local Study Area (LSA) and Regional Study Area (RSA) of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Marine Shipping Component. Both study areas are spatial components of the impact assessment submitted by Kinder Morgan to the National Energy Board. Trans Mountain’s Marine LSA cuts through the middle of Tsawout’s traditional territory, and the RSA for the proposed shipping component’s tanker route is within Tsawout’s traditional territory in its entirety.

Research for this report centered on past and current activities within the marine environment of Tsawout’s traditional territory in the Salish Sea, as well as additional areas within its terrestrial territory that may be affected by the Project’s regular operations, or by vessel and/or other malfunctions and accidents when/if the Project proceeds. This study provides a snapshot, however incomplete, of Tsawout members’ use of the Salish Sea for the purposes of fishing, gathering, hunting, and other harvesting, travelling, and exercise of their Douglas Treaty rights – especially in areas that may be affected by the Project. It identifies specific areas that are intensively used, and preferred locations for harvesting and exercising Treaty rights. For the purposes of the study the term “subsistence” is understood to capture the networks, relationships, and values involved in the harvest, process, distribution, and consumption of resources as well as their meaning or evaluation within Tsawout’s cultural order.

Tsawout First Nation has a total of 863 registered members (Aboriginal Affairs 2014:”Registered Population”) and has reserve lands on Saturna, Pender and Bare Islands, at the entrance to Fulford Harbour on Saltspring Island, and at the mouth of the Goldstream River on Vancouver Island (Aboriginal Affairs 2014: ”Reserves/Settlements/Villages”). The main Tsawout reserve and the First Nation’s largest village is East Saanich IR No. 2, located about fifteen minutes north of the City of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. East Saanich has a population of 1600 people, including 505 registered Tsawout members, with an additional 358 registered band members living on other reserves, or off reserve altogether (Aboriginal Affairs 2014:”Registered Population”; Tsawout First Nation 2014).

Twelve Tsawout members participated in long-form traditional marine use interviews between June and August, 2014. These focused on past and current traditional use practices and locations. The interviews followed a map biography approach, prompting individuals to recall, locate, and describe harvesting that they had undertaken in their lives, as well knowledge that may have been handed down to them about waters, animals, and resources. Interviews were roughly structured around an interview guide, and respondents were also asked to discuss the state of the Salish Sea. Minimal information about the Project was transacted.

The Harvest Study component of the MUS was undertaken to better understand Tsawout’s relationship to the Salish Sea and its resources. Two Harvest Study survey instruments were deployed: i) an online survey marketed to the entire community, and ii) a series of monthly surveys administered to a targeted group of highly active harvesters, or “superharvesters.” Both survey instruments dealt with the 11-month period between February and December, 2014.

Highlights from the Harvest Study findings include:

Superharvesters and “Providers”

• Marine foods make up a substantial and preferred part of the diet for Tsawout members. In Tsawout households, marine foods are consumed frequently (between once a week, at the low end, to daily).

• There are differences in the production, reception, and distribution of seafoods among Tsawout households.

• Tsawout community members are producers, receivers, and transmitters of marine resources. Twenty per cent (20%) of community respondents who answered a one-off online survey reported receiving marine foods but not harvesting them; 86% reported both harvesting and sharing resources with others, and 79% reported harvesting, sharing and receiving marine resources from other members or at Tsawout’s regular community events (where marine foods are typically served).

• Tsawout community members who answered a one-off online survey reported sharing their harvests roughly half the time, and also indicate frequent weekly consumption of marine foods. Therefore, it appears that a considerable amount of the marine resources available within community food sharing networks come from a relatively small group of individuals.

• Community knowledge and survey results confirmed that there is a group of active harvesters at Tsawout who gather the majority of the resources that circulate within social and food-sharing networks, and are available at community events, religious and spiritual gatherings, funerals, and longhouse events.

• These “superharvesters” harvest resources frequently, in large quantities, and share more of what they gather with others. These superharvesters specialize in large harvests and specialty foods.

• Superharvesters indicated consuming their harvests within their households—without sharing, trading or providing for ceremonial gatherings—22% of the time. They reported sharing their harvests with another household or providing for ceremonial gatherings 78% of the time. In a few instances, resources were traded or bartered for other goods. Interestingly, this more often involved resources such as salmon or flounder, which tend to be caught in smaller quantities than say crabs or clams, for instance.

• For most Tsawout superharvesters, harvesting makes up a full or part-time commitment requiring high fuel and equipment costs, but they appear to be individuals of modest household resources, who sometimes receive gifts of used equipment in exchange for resources. By contrast, in the author’s experience, in other parts of Canada superharvesters are individuals with financial abilities that allow them to hunt, fish, and trap more and farther afield than other community members.

• The Tsawout superharvesters report a deeply felt desire to provide for households who may be less active, or who have specific requests often related to solemn or spiritual occasions, such as funerals, naming ceremonies, or potlatches.

9 • The Tsawout superharvesters’ productivity molds the foundation of almost every aspect of Tsawout’s socio-cultural order, and allows innumerable instances of cherished cultural norms to be reproduced.

• Tsawout’s superharvesters appear to be fulfilling traditional roles within Straits Salish society. Indeed, some are called “Providers,” and adhere to a set of beliefs and practices when gathering for longhouse events, including gathering resources from particular islands for certain families.

• One of Tsawout’s Providers also supplies resourcess for some households and special events at the other Salish communities on the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island.

• Although the Provider system is relatively efficient, it is also vulnerable to disruption:

o The ability of the system to generate enough marine foods for household, community, and longhouse needs, would be impaired by the loss of individuals; o By the same token, connections with other Salish communities would also be disrupted; o The traditional ecological knowledge required to maintain Tsawout’s subsistence economy is concentrated in a few minds; o The geographical base from which the superharvesters draw is relatively small, and restricted by equipment access and time.

Role and Value of Marine Foods

• The least active harvesting months appear to be December and January. This aligns with the traditional W̱SÁNEĆ calendar wherein the winter moon indicated a season of dwelling at winter villages and participating in winter dances and other events. Many respondents noted that while certain months are busier than others, as different species become available, some species are still harvested year-round.

• Harvesting and sharing the products of the Salish Sea with family members, friends, and other community members is a constituent component of Tsawout’s subsistence economy and culture. It is elemental and foundational to how this urban First Nation asserts and maintains its cultural identity.

• Marine foods are considered by Tsawout members to be the antidote to prevalent health issues in the community such as anemia and diabetes; in other words, they are as much medicine as they are food.

• Grocery store foods are not circulated within the system of reciprocity and gift-giving the way that marine foods are, these belong to a different category of meaning and significance. Marine traditional foods are accorded special treatment within W̱ S Á N E Ć c u l t u r e .

• Tsawout First Nation members acknowledge negative health and socio-economic impacts from the replacement of traditional marine foods with foods from the grocery store.

10 Barriers and Satisfaction With Availability of Marine Foods

• Tsawout members (including the superharvesters) indicated low levels of satisfaction with the amount of marine resources they are currently able to access.

• Salmon, halibut, oyster, clams and crabs, cod, shrimp, prawns, ducks, urchin, and herring eggs were identified by a majority of the community respondents as species they wish to access more. The superharvesters identified oyster as a species they desired to access more, followed by halibut, crab, cod, and salmon, and in descending order, clams, herring and herring eggs, seaweed, octopus, cockle, ducks, chitons, rockfish and shrimp.

• Although fish and crabs make up the majority of the superharvesters’ yields, their harvests do not meet their expectations or desires.

• Both survey groups identified a number of barriers to harvesting, including declining runs, climate change, pollution, and other environmental degradation, increasing competition from sports and non-Native commercial fisheries, restrictions on gear types, fishing spots and openings, and legal and administrative barriers. Many of these factors can be traced to a lack of formal visibility of aboriginal fisheries interests and management practices. Other factors included competing time commitments, availability of boats and other equipment such as gas or bullets, differences in accessibility of resources, and harvesting knowledge.

Species

CRAB (Map i: Gathering)

• Crab is an important source of protein for contemporary Tsawout families. Tsawout members feel that their subsistence crab fishery is under threat from mismanagement, commercial crabbers and casual non-aboriginal harvesters, climate change, vessel wake, invasive species, and loss of eel grass.

• All Tsawout’s crab harvesting is done within the RSA—in Saanichton Bay, in the waters surrounding Sidney Island, around James Island, Saturna Island and around Mandarte Island.

• Crabbing areas on the East side of Sidney Island and around Mandarte are adjacent to the LSA and are exposed to vessel traffic and wake.

• Crab harvesting areas near Stuart Island lie on the far side of the shipping lane and LSA.

• Within the LSA, at Saturna Island, the waters beginning at East Point and running the length of Taylor’s Beach are productive and preferred crab harvesting areas. This area also supports multiple fishing and gathering activities.

• Impacts of existing shipping on the Saturna fishery include reduced visibility for harvesting due to vessel wake; increased personal risk; perceived contamination of crabs by vessels.

BIVALVES (Map i: Gathering)

• Despite their year-round availability on “nearly every bay and beach,” bivalves were traditionally harvested once a year from the same sites that were considered to be the most productive (Suttles 1974:123). Suttles (1974) indicates that “as with camas beds, most shellfish beds were open to anyone, but a few beds, at least among the mainland groups, were private property” (124,125). Claxton and Sam (2010) describe building “clam gardens in bays to increase clam production,” by strategically placing boulders to trap shellfish during low tides (73).

• All Tsawout’s bivalve harvesting is within the RSA.

• A number of recent past bivalve harvesting areas are no longer visited due to pollution or loss of habitat.

• Finding clean beaches for bivalve harvesting means that individuals must travel outward toward areas closer to the shipping lanes.

• East Point on Saturna Island is a preferred and productive harvesting area, and is within the LSA. Additional locations exposed to the LSA or adjacent to it include Tumbo Island, East Sidney Island, Little D’Arcy Island, North Henry Island, and Bruce Bight Saturna Island.

• Some harvesting locations lie on the far side of the shipping lanes, including San Juan Island, Friday Harbour, and the East side of Stuart Island.

SEA URCHINS (Map i: Gathering)

• Sea urchins are a favourite food, particularly amongst W̱SÁNEĆ Elders, who consider these “sea eggs” to be both a delicacy and an important medicine (Tsawout Participant: MUS 2014; Claxton & Sam 2010:80; Suttles 1974:121).

• All Tsawout urchin harvesting areas are within the RSA. Tsawout Elders interviewed by Webster in 2000 recorded traditional harvesting sites along the shorelines of Saturna, Saltspring and Pender Islands, as well as the smaller islands such as Moresby, Portland, Piers, Coal, Gooch, and the Sidney Islands (16). Today superharvesters report a similar distribution of urchin harvesting sites within the RSA.

• The most reliable urchin harvesting site lies across the shipping lane within the LSA, along the north- western shores of Stuart Island. The shores of Stuart Island are cited by current harvesters to be the single place to harvest the giant red urchin (Tsawout Participant: MUS 2014).

• Two additional urchin harvesting sites within the LSA and the shipping lane, between Sidney and Henry Islands, and the reef along the eastern shore of Gooch Island.

12 • At these locations, harvesters recount that wake from existing shipping traffic is having a negative effect on harvesting. Wake from shipping activity has also disrupted harvesting practices on the East Side of Sidney Island.

SEAWEED (Map i: Gathering)

• Seaweed is gathered at several sites within the RSA including the smaller islands surrounding both Portland and D’Arcy Islands, the south-west shore of Moresby Island, as well as on Saturna, Moresby, and Ray Islands, across the shipping lane on Stuart Island, and at 10 Mile Point. A gathering location around Gooch Island is also partly within the LSA.

SEAGULL EGGS (Map i: Gathering)

• There are seagull egg gathering locations within or adjacent to the LSA at Saturna, Pender, Mandarte, Halibut, and Seagull Islands. Seagull egg gathering places are not plentiful; at Mandarte, harvesting areas were reserved for certain families, along with the camas that grew there under the influence of fertilization from the seagulls.

CHITONS (Map i: Gathering)

• Chitons used to be plentiful along the shore of Sidney Island but are reportedly scarce there now. There is a chiton harvesting site within the LSA and the shipping lane on the eastern-most tip of Saturna Island.

SALMON (Map ii: Fishing)

• Sockeye, Chinook, coho, chum, and pink salmon, preferred in that order, are critical cultural keystone species within Tsawout’s subsistence economy, prized for nutritional, spiritual, and social and economic reasons. Tsawout members lament the current state of salmon stocks, and what it has meant for their cultural wellbeing.

• A considerable portion of Tsawout harvesters’ current salmon fishing is conducted in areas that are within or contiguous with the LSA, or on the eastern side of the shipping lanes and LSA, including Henry Island, Stuart Island, and the Northern end of San Juan Island; Happy Island in the San Juans; Bedwell Harbour for pinks; from Saltspring across the Strait to the Fraser; trolling for sockeye, spring, and coho in Satellite Channel and Dawson Channel; at Stuart Island for sockeye; at Saturna near East Point and around Pender, for five species; and in the channel between Moresby and Pender.

• Tsawout harvesters favour the open channel off the eastern shores of the gulf islands from Saturna, past south Pender and Sidney Islands, south to Cordova Bay. In addition, Tsawout MUS interview participants indicate that they still use traditional harvesting areas on the eastern side of Georgia

13 Strait running from Bowen Island to Point Roberts. Use extends from south of Burrard Inlet at Point Grey and extends all the way to the international border.

• 17 of 19 of W̱SÁNEĆ reefnet sites – a fishery which Tsawout members have been working to revive for cultural and economic reasons, and which they regard as foundational to their society – are contiguous with, within, or on the other side of the LSA.

COD (Map ii: Fishing)

• Tsawout harvesters identified productive harvesting areas within or contiguous with the shipping lane and LSA between San Juan and Sidney islands; on a reef between Moresby and Pender; around Gootch Island and Sidney Islands; East Bay; at Saturna in Narves Bay and East Point over to Taylor’s Bay; and in the Straits, near Stuart Island. One of the most important cod harvesting areas is in the area of the shipping lanes around D’Arcy, Big, and Little Zero islands.

HALIBUT (Map ii: Fishing)

• Tsawout harvesters use several locations partly within or contiguous with the LSA including East Point, Saturna Island; south of Pender Island, south of Moresby Island, and south-west of D’Arcy Island, and in the waters near Halibut Island (a W̱SÁNEĆ reserve). A fishing area at Reid Harbour on Stuart Island is located across the shipping lane.

OCTOPUS (Map ii: Fishing)

• Octopus harvesting appears to be a specialized practice undertaken by a relatively small group of individuals. Two octopus collection locations were mapped during the MUS study for this project – one lies a few kilometres west of Sidney Island, west of Mandarte and Halibut islands, and the other sits south off Taylor Beach on Saturna Island – and both are partly or wholly within the LSA. Areas marked in previous studies include East Point and Monarch Point on Saturna, facing the shipping lanes and lying within the LSA; Gooch Island, partly within and adjacent to the LSA; and Stuart Island and the San Juans, on the eastern side of the shipping channel and LSA.

DUCKS (Map iii: Hunting)

• Tsawout members traditionally hunt a number of specific waterfowl species, including surf scoter, goldeneye (Barrow’s and common), pintail, mallard, American black, sea pigeon, sawbill, merganser, murre, bufflehead and widgeon. Tsawout members also hunt brant and Canada geese.

• Historically, W̱SÁNEĆ waterfowl harvesting was conducted using nets suspended from poles, nets on poles held by hand, nets set under water, spears, arrows, and slings (Suttles 1974:126). A raised net location at Mosquito Pass (between San Juan and Henry Islands) was 100 feet long, strung between poles planted on Pole Island and Henry Island.

• The surf scoter, also referred to by respondents as “Black Duck” is considered a sacred bird by W̱ S Á N E Ć and a preferred species for ceremonial use during winter dance season, and for soup. Its feathers are used in longhouse dances to initiate new dancers (Tsawout Participant: MSU 2014). Before a new dancer can touch the floor, the Black Duck feathers must be laid down to protect them from the spirit world (Tsawout Participant: MUS 2014).

• Ocean scoter, or scoters caught furthest from shore, likely toward the shipping lanes, are considered tastiest.

• Duck hunting locations identified in Webster (2000) include Boat Pass and Mitchell Bay in the San Juans, the waters surrounding Sidney Island, James Island and D’Arcy Island, and in the open water.

• Tsawout members concentrate contemporary duck hunting activities on the eastern waters of Sidney Island, Sidney Spit, Sidney Channel, the water surrounding James Island, the spit at Tsawout, and Saanichton Bay. The hunting area to the east of Sidney Island is potentially contiguous with or approximately 1.5 km away from the LSA.

DEER (Map iii: Hunting)

• Deer hunting takes place on East Saturna Island, Tumbo Island, and South Pender Island on tracts of land that appear to be within or contiguous with the LSA. A hunting area on Haro Island is approximately 3 kms from the LSA, while a hunting area on Sidney Island sits roughly 2 kms from the LSA. Several hunting areas lie beyond the shipping lanes, on Stuart Island, Spieden Island, Johns Island, and San Juan Islands.

Review of Trans Mountain’s Project Effects Assessment

Appendix 1, Independent Effects Assessment, identifies and discusses effects on TMRU as they have been described by Trans Mountain in its Project application. It identifies deficiencies in the information base, methodology, and rationale Trans Mountain used to inform and undertake its assessment, and the conclusions it reached. Nevertheless, applying the information gathered by Tsawout to Trans Mountain’s own methodology indicates that the Project, should it proceed, would result in significant adverse effects on Tsawout’s traditional marine use and ability to exercise Douglas Treaty rights.

Disturbance to Archaeological and Heritage Sites: There is little information on archaeological sites in Trans Mountain’s application. The Project is likely to affect archaeological, heritage, and sacred sites through shoreline erosion due to vessel wake associated with increased marine traffic; oil contamination from accidents and malfunctions, either small or large; and impacts associated with cleanup measures following a spill.

Disturbance to Special Places and the Reefnet Fishery: The Project cuts through the heart of Tsawout’s traditional territory, as seen in Map 2, page 53 depicting SENĆOŦEN named places, reefnet sites, and some anchorages. Seventeen of the 19 known past, current, and future reefnet sites identified in the MUS are contiguous with, within, or on the other side of the LSA, and are likely to be affected by the Project. The Project will disrupt the ability of Tsawout members to access reefnet fishery locations, and may disrupt their ability to use those locations due to wave action and other effects. For many years, community leaders have been working diligently to revive the reefnet fishery, culminating in a test fishery at a traditional site at Pender in the Summer of 2014.

Disturbance to Reserves: Trans Mountain does not assess possible effects on any of Tsawout’s reserves, either on the Saanich Peninsula or on the Gulf Islands, former village sites, or seasonal sites, where various modes of habitation and use take place. The assessment should demonstrate that there will be no indirect or direct effects—changes in aesthetics, noise, emissions, etc…—on either East Saanich or Tsawout’s other reserves.

Disruption of Subsistence Hunting: Preferred duck and goose harvesting areas in the LSA and beyond the shipping lanes will become relatively inaccessible and/or dangerous with the increase in vessel traffic. Increased wake will affect both the safety and practise of harvesting. Vessel traffic and wake will affect the aesthetic, visual, and sensory experiences of harvesting.

Harvesting in areas outside the LSA may be altered by effects not accounted for in the application, including increases in competition from other harvesters and small vessel traffic displaced from the LSA. Trans Mountain has not modelled the Project-induced changes in waterfowl behaviour that may in turn alter the availability of, access to, and practices required to harvest Tsawout’s preferred species in their preferred locations, including the surf scoter—a sacred duck to Tsawout and other W’SANEC, preferred for ceremonial use during winter dance season, and for soup. Its feathers are used in longhouse dances to initiate new dancers. Other preferred species include goldeneye (Barrow’s and common), pintail, mallard, American black, sea pigeon, sawbill, merganser, murre, bufflehead and widgeon, as well as brant and Canada geese.

Preferred deer hunting locations on the western and eastern sides of the Strait will become relatively inaccessible and/or dangerous with the increase in vessel traffic. Increased wake will affect both the safety and practise of harvesting while vessel traffic and wake will affect the aesthetic, visual, and sensory experiences of harvesting. The travel routes used to reach deer hunting locations may be affected by Project- induced vessel traffic and its effects.

Disruption of Subsistence Fishing: Traditional and preferred fishing areas will become relatively inaccessible and/or dangerous with the increase in vessel traffic. Increased wake will affect both the safety and practise of harvesting. Vessel traffic and wake will affect the aesthetic, visual, and sensory experiences of fishing.

A considerable portion of Tsawout harvesters’ current salmon fishing is conducted in areas that are within or contiguous with the LSA, or on the eastern side of the shipping lanes and LSA. Tsawout harvesters, following the salmon, favour the open channel off the eastern shores of the Gulf Islands from Saturna Island, past South Pender and Sidney Islands, south to Cordova Bay. They fish around Henry Island, Stuart Island, and the northern end of San Juan Island; Happy Island in the San Juans; Bedwell Harbour for pinks; from Saltspring across the Strait to the Fraser; trolling for sockeye, spring, and coho in Satellite Channel and Dawson Channel;

16 at Stuart Island for sockeye; at Saturna Island near East Point and around Pender Island, for five species; and in the channel between Moresby and Pender Islands.

Trans Mountain has not modelled the Project-induced changes in behaviour that may in turn alter the availability of, access to, and practices required to harvest Tsawout’s preferred species of salmon, cod, halibut, other groundfish, and octopus in their preferred locations.

Seventeen of 19 reefnet sites – a fishery which Tsawout members have been working to revive for cultural and economic reasons, and which they regard as foundational to their society – are contiguous with, within, or on the other side of the LSA, and will become relatively inaccessible as a result of the Project.

Disruption of Gathering Places: Traditional and preferred gathering areas for cherished resources including urchins, gull eggs, chiton, crab, and bivalves will become relatively inaccessible and/or dangerous with the increase in vessel traffic. Increased wake will affect both the safety and practise of gathering. Vessel traffic and wake will affect the aesthetic, visual, and sensory experiences of gathering, and may increase the perception among Tsawout members that marine resources are polluted.

Gathering species, locations, and practices that will be affected include some of the following:

• Urchin are harvested along the shorelines of Saturna, Saltspring and Pender Islands, as well as the smaller islands such as Moresby, Portland, Piers, Coal, Gooch, and the Sidney Islands, and within the LSA and the shipping lane between Sidney and Henry Islands, and the reef along the eastern shore of Gooch Island;

• The most reliable urchin harvesting site along the north-western shores of Stuart Island, across the shipping lane, where the giant red urchin is harvested;;

• At urchin harvesting locations within the LSA, urchin harvesters recount that wake from existing shipping traffic is having an adverse effect on harvesting. Wake from shipping activity has also disrupted harvesting practices on the east side of Sidney Island.

• Within the LSA, at Saturna Island, the waters beginning at East Point and running the length of Taylor’s Beach are productive and preferred crab harvesting areas, and areas near Stuart Island lie on the far side of the shipping lane and LSA. Crabbing areas on the east side of Sidney Island and around Mandarte Island are adjacent to the LSA and are exposed to vessel traffic and wake.

• Impacts of existing shipping on the Saturna Island crab fishery include reduced visibility for harvesting due to vessel wake; increased personal risk; perceived contamination of crabs by vessels.

• East Point on Saturna Island is a preferred and productive bivalve harvesting area, and is within the LSA. Additional bivalve locations exposed to the LSA or adjacent to it include Tumbo Island, East Sidney Island, Little D’Arcy Island, North Henry Island, and Bruce Bight on Saturna Island.

17 • Some bivalve harvesting locations lie on the far side of the shipping lanes, including San Juan Island, Friday Harbour, and the east side of Stuart Island.

Gathering in areas outside the LSA may be altered by effects not accounted for in the application, including increases in competition from other harvesters and small vessel traffic displaced from the LSA.

Trans Mountain has not modelled the Project-induced changes in resources (urchin, seagulls, crabs, bivalves, chitons) that may in turn alter the availability of, access to, and practices required to harvest Tsawout’s preferred species in their preferred locations. Aboriginal interests and rights assessments should examine effects on preferred species and locations.

Tsawout’s Preferred marine plant gathering sites within the RSA including the smaller islands surrounding both Portland and D’Arcy Islands, the south-west shore of Moresby Island, as well as on Saturna, Moresby, Ray Islands, and Gooch Island may be altered by increased traffic and vessel wake that will affect both the safety, practise, aesthetic, visual, and sensory experiences of harvesting, and may affect the perception of health of the resource. Gathering areas identified across the LSA will become inaccessible.

Disruption to Use of Travelways: Trans Mountain claims that transits of tankers will increase from “once a week to approximately once a day,” but this does not include the cumulative effects of existing or other proposed projects that will use the shipping lanes, projects that may be induced by the Trans Mountain project, or disruption of Tsawout’s use of travelways by recreational boaters displaced from the LSA.

Tsawout harvesters will encounter tanker vessels while they are harvesting in or near the shipping lanes, or traversing them to access harvesting sites. Transits and vessel wake will cause missed harvesting opportunities and increased travel time.

The fishing, gathering, and hunting locales identified in Tsawout’s MUS are all accessed as part of the seasonal round of Tsawout hunters and fishers. All of the contemporary marine travel routes—heading both north- and south-east from Tsawout around James and Sidney Islands toward favoured harvesting locales near Pender and Saturna Islands in the north, D’arcy and Little D’arcy Islands and nearby locales in the south-east, and in the San Juan Islands—intersect with the LSA at some point and will be disrupted. The major travel routes take harvesters into and beyond the shipping lanes, and 10 anchorage sites identified in 2002 beyond the shipping lanes will become relatively inaccessible.

Effects to Multiple Use Locations: There are a number of locations that are associated with multiple fishing, hunting, gathering, habitation, and other cultural uses. These areas are highly valued as preferred locations by Tsawout members for harvesting and the exercise of Aboriginal and Douglas Treaty rights. At these locations, uses are heavily layered, and often coincide with placenames and reefnet sites that further testify as to their importance in culture. More than just mere spaces on a map, these are places, to which attach particularly deep meaning and importance. The effects of the Project will be multiplied.

Characterization of Effects and Determinations of Significance: Across most of its TMRU-related valued components and indicators, Trans Mountain proposes that the residual effects of the Project will be “not significant” to traditional marine resource use. Trans Mountain’s effects assessment is not, at the moment, community-specific. A specific assessment on Tsawout’s TMRU should lead Transmountain to very different conclusions as to the significance of the Project on Tsawout’s TMRU and exercise of rights.

The Project cuts through the middle of Tsawout’s traditional territory, rendering access to cultural sites, heritage sites, and harvesting locations throughout the territory—including important past and future reefnet fishery sites—inaccessible. It reduces access to at least half of Tsawout’s territory. In addition, as documented in the MUS, there are numerous high-value places within or exposed to the LSA. Tsawout members’ ability to safely access those locations, feel connected to them, or enjoy them free of the perception of contamination will be affected.

The Project will cause, indeed already has caused, an indelible perception among Tsawout harvesters and members of a change to the environment caused by increased vessel traffic, increased operational pollution, increased competition from other harvesters, and increased risk of a catastrophic event. The magnitude of this class of effects should be “high,” given that the Project will alienate a large portion of the traditional marine territory from Tsawout members, cause large swaths of Tsawout’ traditional marine territory to become relatively inaccessible due to changes in access, changes in perceptions, and increased competition. These effects will undermine Tsawout members’ ability undertake TMRU and exercise their rights for a long time, at least for the life of the Project and beyond, and their socio-economic effects would be even more enduring.

The cumulative effects analysis in 8A of the application is inadequate. It regurgitates the findings of the individual assessments with modest derivation, despite significant predicted increases in vessel traffic described.

The MUS was not an attempt to describe the history of environmental change and adaptation of aboriginal marine use practices in the Salish Sea. Such a study could draw on spatial and other data as well as qualitative inputs from Tsawout to build a picture of regional cumulative effects. It is unclear how Transmountain can undertake cumulative effects analysis without such data. Tsawout expects that this report will result in Transmountain revisiting its cumulative effects analysis.

Trans Mountain has proposed little mitigation to manage these high magnitude, long-term effects for either Project-specific or cumulative effects. This TMU demonstrates that these effects will have a significant adverse effect on Tsawout.

Tsawout suggests that a forum be struck to discuss and develop mitigation suggestions to address the possible effects of the Project on Tsawout’s marine use and exercise of Aboriginal and Treaty rights. Broadly speaking, mitigation discussion might focus on a number of themes linked to the MUS, the application, the existing state of the environment in so far as it is connected to the Project, and cumulative effects. Additional findings and recommendations related to effects and mitigations are found in Appendix 1.

19 Traditional Use Maps

Map 2: SENĆOŦEN Place Names and Reef Net Sites in LSA

ḴIȾEY !

LEPLIPEṈ !

ŚEḴŚEḴEM ! ȾEMȽTENEM TÁLEḴT SWÍNEM ! ! ! ḴEḴEW̱EKIȽĆ ! SENȻE,EȽEȽ ĆIWOK ! ! TEḴSENĆÁLE ! ḰEṈNI,ḴEN ȻESEWEL W̱ISTÁNEM ! SĆUOŦEN ! SETW̱EM! ! ḰIḰELEḴEN ! ! ! ! ! ! W̱PEYATW̱ MEK'MEK'IḴEN ! ! YALYALEM ! Ȼ!EȻELEX̱ SEN ŚȺW̱OM W̱EPITE!Ṉ ! ! STȺ,TO,LEU ! ḴELEX̱ LN ĆEL, ! ȽTENEM W̱SITES NEWENEWELA'Ć SȻEṈLI,N! ! F ! ! QELȺW̱EM SȻEȻE!CEṈELETĆ ! SȻEṈELIN W̱LEX̱ ṈȺ,LOY ! ! LEḴTELEĆ ! CW̱ILMEN ONEWEI M!ELÁX̱ EN ! ! ! MEMELÁX̱ EN ! ŚĆÁWOX W̱ELW̱ELEQ NȺ!WEḴSEN! ! SḰEM

TOMMEL SW̱I,LEMEṈ ! SḴELAMEḴS ! XIXNEŚETEṈ ! W̱CIW̱EM ! YÁYEMNEĆ F SYOW̱T ! F ! S,KŦAK WA̱ SW̱EN TEL,LAY ! ! ! TELLISI ȻAḴ,SEN ŦÁWEN ! ! ! X̱ EMYÁĆ ṮEPNATS ! ḴE,ḴEṈ,ES ! X̱ IX̱ YES W̱ḴIME,QEM ! ! W̱ṮEK,KIEM ! ! ÁKEUWEWEĆ XEO₭₭!EM ! X̱ EX̱ ÍÁĆŚEN S,DÁYES W̱ṮIṮKIEM ! ! ! ! ṮEKTEḴSEN PENÁW̱EṈ kEMI,ḴEN ȾUXILEM MENMONTOḰ TIELES ! TIȽES ! ! ! ! ȾESNDEṈ ILEĆEN ! ! W̱EN,NÁ,NEC ! ! SNEUES XINEPSEM ! SMONEĆ ! ! KELAKE ÁM,MEĆEN ! WȽAUḴENEṈ ! ȻAḴSEN ! ! ! W̱TEMEIEM ! SXE,ÁNEW̱ F E,HO ŚAḴETES ! XIX̱ ĆÁ!NEM ! WSEṈEN ! SX̱ TIS ! ṮELPOLES KOȾEḰ S,ĆUÁN ! ! ! ṮALEN SX̱ IX̱ ŦE YEUWE ÁLELEṈ CXEN.A DAMW̱IḴSEN ! ! F ! ! ! SXEĆOŦEN F ! ĆUÁN XEXOĆOŦEN ! QENENIW̱ ! ! PITEN ȽO,LE,CEN ! ! SJOS,S W̱MESMESILEṈ S₭EMIN ! ! ! ȾXENNI Ŧ!ELEḴS ! ! W̱LEMNI W̱TÁWIEM W̱EW̱NEĆ ! ! ṮXITEN ! ! ! WLEḰOI ĆELḰINES ! SQEQOTE ŚÁNNES ! ! ! ! HIHUḴS SWALEX̱ ! W̱S!I,I,KEM ȽEKTINES ! SEPELIḰ SMEW̱EMEN! ! ! ! ! ! ! SASIÁTEN SAI'TEN WELEḴIEM ! ! PEL!EP!W̱AṈ W̱LILEĆ TEL!Á!W̱EN SET'TINES ! ! W̱EMQIOŦEN ŚW̱ENḴEM ! W̱,SIKEM ! ! PW̱ÁṈ XELEXÁTEM ḰENNES ! TḴAYEĆ SḰELŦÁMEN F ĆITṈEW̱ MA'LEX̱ EȽ ! F W̱SÁNEĆ ! !! ḰELSET XOCEȽ W̱KIMIOQEṈ BOḰOĆEN S₭ŦAMEN ! YOS ! ! ! ! X̱ OX̱ DEȽ ! ! ȾELȽĆ ! XI,LEM S,LEḰTÁN ! SISȻENEM EWOEḰ ḰELES ḴELJIEU!EȽ ! MÁ!LEQE ! ȽAUW ELṈEW!̱ ! ḴELTAMAEḴS ! ! ! ! TḴAYEĆ ! ȽTÁĆSEṈ X̱ ENEḴSEN ! ! ȾELXOLU W̱ELALḴE TE,TÁET ṮTÁĆSEṈ ! ĆḰÁLETEN ĆOĆȻNEĆ!W̱Ȼ!AṈESEN ! ! ! XEMELOSEṈ ȽEȽINȻEI ! ȾKOLEḴS ! ! ! BOK!EC ! ! SEN,NI,NES ! ! ȽEL,TOS ! FṈEṈÁNET ! ! XELEĆEN F W̱EÁȻEĆEN ȾIEṈEȽNEȽ ! S,ŦAUTW̱ SX!̱ OX̱ ITEM ĆTESU ! ! ! ! XEMXEMIȽĆ XÍXÍṮEM Ḵ!ÁTEȽP ! ṮEMELÁĆEṈ ṮEKṮINES ! ! ! ! ! ĆTÍSU WICOSEṈ ! SȻEHENE WḰOŦEȽP W̱EĆE,ĆE FW̱,ÁYETEṈ ! ! ! S,TIKȻEL F ₭ĆEMES X̱ EOLX̱ ELEK F ! ! TḰOŦEȽP ! ĆITEMES FSW̱ELEĆ CELITĆ FX̱ ṮEC ! ! WȾISEĆEN !! SI,ĆENEṈ SNE,COVE ELE₭TEL XEUEṈ!EX̱ SEN ! ! I,OLEṈEW̱ ! ḴOḴOCINO,ŦEN! PKOLS FFSḰE,ÁNEW̱ SḰO,ANEX̱ PKOLS F KEXṈINEṈ PELȻECAṈ HELEṈIḴEN ! ! ! ṮIQENEṈ ȽEṈOLAĆEN ḴO!,LE ! ḴOṈEKSEN ! F ! KEMOSEṈ ! ! ! ₭OḰALEĆEC SXIMAȽEȽ !ŚĆO,Ƚ S,IĆONOȽ!! ! ! ! !BEḴKANEN !SW̱IṈW̱EṈ !! ŚȻOḴAḴOȽ! ! ! ! ṮĆÁS !W! ̱SA,ḴEM ! ! ! ĆIKAWE!Ć ! ! ! SK'AXA'NA ! ĆEK!OṈIN W̱ELAȽĆ !ĆIKAWEĆ ŦIȻA,NEṈ

X̱ EL,LEṈ ! Esri, DeLorme, GEBCO, NOAA NGDC, and other contributors

F Reef Net Sites ¯ ! Place Names Kilometers 0 3 6 12 18 24 Produced By: CloverPoint Cartographics Shipping Routes For: Evernorth Authors: Dr. Earl Claxton, Ray Sam, LSA 1:500,000 Gabe Pelkey, Philip Pelkey, Lou Claxton, Projection: NAD 83 UTM Zone 10N and numerous Tsawout Elders and members of the WSANEC Nation Printing Date: Nov 25 2014 Document Path: P:\Projects\Traditional Use Studies (TUS)\13029_TUS_Other_Support\06_EverNorth\03_MXDs\PlacenamesMap2.mxd

Map i: SENĆOŦEN place names and reef net sites.

Map ii Archaeological Sites as of 2002, scale 1:500,000.

21 Subsistence Gathering Locations in Relation to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project's Marine Shipping Component Local Study Area