The Stikine: Tahltans, Environmentalists, and B.C

THE STIKINE: TAHLTANS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, AND B.C. HYDRO by ANDREA MADELAINE KATHERINE DEMCHUK B.A., The University of British Columbia, 1981 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Political Science We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 9, 1985 © Andrea Madelaine Katherine Demchuk, 1985 ®0 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the The University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Political Science The University of British Columbia 2075 -Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date: October 9, 1985 Abstract The Stikine and Iskut Rivers in northwest British Columbia form one of the last pristine wilderness river systems in North America. B.C. Hydro and Power Authority has, as part of its longterm development strategy, plans to dam the rivers some time early in the next century. These plans are opposed by the Tahltan Indians for whom the Stikine-Iskut Basin is an ancestral home and by numerous environmental organizations. This thesis analyzes the interaction of these opposition groups in light of the general literature on the Indian land claims and environmental movements. This is accomplished in four chapters. The first chapter analyses Indian response to internal colonialism through both the maintenance of the native economy and the land claims movement and examines the history of the North American environmental movement in terms of reformist and deep environmentalism. The two movements are found to differ substantially over issues such as land use control and resource development. The second chapter traces Tahltan and environmentalist attachments to the Stikine, outlines B.C. Hydro's plans and describes how B.C. Hydro's planning activities would themselves generate controversy. The third chapter discusses and compares Tahltan and environmentalist opposition to B.C. Hydro's plans. The Tahltan opposition is expressed in two forms, both through ii the persistence of the Tahltan economy, the adherents to which are not represented in a fully funded formal organization and the more predominant Association of United Tahltans. The environmentalist opposition is falls mainly in the reformist stream of environmentalism. The predominant form of Tahltan opposition and the environmentalists are shown to have markedly different objectives. The thesis concludes that the case of the Stikine indicates that there are many obstacles to alliances between the formally defined land claims movement and environmentalists. The most prominent of these obstacles is federal comprehensive claims policy which encourages resource-extractive development by providing for resource royalties in claim settlements. However, the findings from the Stikine also indicate there are numerous points of common interest between Indians committed to the native economy and environmentalists. Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements vi I. LAND CLAIMS AND ENVIRONMENTALISM ..1 A. Introduction 1 B. The Indian Land Claims and Environmental Movements 2 1. Internal Colonialism ....3 2. Response to Internal Colonialism 7 3. The Sierra Club: Reformist Environmentalism .16 4. Environmental Groups as Interest Groups 26 C. Incompatability Between Two Movements 28 II. THE STIKINE: WILDERNESS AND HYDROELECTRIC PLANS ...34 A. A Pristine River Basin 35 1. Tahltan Ties to the Basin 36 2. Environmentalist Attachments 38 B. B.C. Hydro Development Policy and the Stikine ..39 1. Early Interest and Covert Activity 41 2. The Stikine-Iskut Proposal ..41 3. Provincial Impetus 43 4. Proposed Effects .45 5. Planning Activities 48 C. Summary 52 III. DIVIDED OPPOSITION 54 A. Two Oppositions 55 1. Tahltan Opposition Through the A.U.T 55 2. Environmentalist Opposition ....60 3. Opposition Interaction 65 iv B. The Energy Project Approval Process: Two Critiques 69 1. The Mechanics of the Process 69 2. The A.U.T. Critique 74 3. The Environmentalist Critique 75 4. Incongruent Critiques ....80 IV. CONCLUSIONS • 83 BIBLIOGRAPHY 88 1. Secondary Sources 88 2. Government Publications and Public Documents 91 3. Interviews 93 4. Theses and Unpublished Papers 94 5. Environmentalist Newsletters 95 6. Newspapers • 96 7. Miscellaneous .97 v Acknowledgements There are numerous people to whom I would like to express my heartfelt thanks: my committee, Don Blake, Phil Resnick and Michael M'Gonigle for being excrutiatingly patient; the U.B.C. Department of Political Science, for providing two teaching assistantships; the Hamber Foundation, for a bursary; Anne Yandle of Special Collections, for providing the sanctuary of a carrell; all the people (acknowledged in the bibliography) who consented to interviews; Jim McConnell for reading and re-reading previous drafts ad nauseam; Simon Dalby for critical bibliographic hints; my parents, Harry and Christine Demchuk, for funding the production of this thesis; my husband Mike Wallace, for applying his skill with Textform to the production of this thesis and for bearing with me when I was unbearable; my friend Kaye Brearley, for insisting that I could, should and would complete this thesis; and my paternal grandfather, John Demchuk, for teaching me that politics is something to be excited about. vi Chapter I LAND CLAIMS AND ENVIRONMENTALISM A. INTRODUCTION As wilderness becomes an ever-scarcer resource throughout the world, undeveloped lands become a coveted commodity. Canada is a nation whose economy exhibits a marked reliance on hinterland resource development. While much political science has been concerned with the impetus behind federal and provincial development policies, there has been little written about the two movements which most frequently oppose hinterland resource development, the native land claims and environmental movements. As a consequence of the scarcity of work on these two movements, there has been virtually no examination of their interrelationship. This thesis will study the interaction between member organizations of the Indian land claims and environmental movements in their opposition to a major resource development. B.C. Hydro and Power Authority (henceforth, B.C. Hydro) has, as part of its long-term development strategy, made plans to construct dams on the Stikine and Iskut Rivers in the remote northwestern region of B.C. If implemented, these plans would destroy the Stikine-Iskut Basin's wilderness. B. C. Hydro's plans have been and continue to be strongly opposed by both native peoples and environmentalists. But despite the unanimous opposition of both groups to the Hydro 1 2 proposals, they have not formed a cohesive alliance to strengthen their opposition. The purpose of this thesis is to show that the inability of the native groups and environmentalists to form an alliance reflects the partial disjunction of perceived interests between the Canadian land claims and environmental movements. The thesis will consist of four chapters. The remainder of this first chapter will describe the origins of the two movements. The second chapter will demonstrate that the St i'kine-I skut Basin is valued by both native peoples and environmentalists, and detail the ways in which the B.C. Hydro proposals would transform the ecology, economy, and traditional society of the region. The third chapter will compare and contrast the philosophies behind and the tactics used by the two opposition groups. Finally, the fourth chapter will argue that while there are many obstacles to an overarching alliance between member organizations, these do not totally preclude the formation of alliances between native peoples and environmentalists. B. THE INDIAN LAND CLAIMS AND ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS No single existing theory could explain the opposition to B.C. Hydro's Stikine-Iskut proposal. This is true, not because all theories have their inherent limitations, but because the opposition to B.C. Hydro's proposal is not monolithic; it consists of two types of groups, native and 3 environmentalist. The two types of opposition have separate histories, philosophies and objectives. They are the products of disparate traditions. This division of opposition parallels divisions in other contemporary movements to oppose massive resource developments in Canada's hinterland. This thesis will argue that native opposition may be seen as a response to internal colonialism, while environmental opposition may be seen as a part of the North American conservationist movement. 1. INTERNAL COLONIALISM Internal colonialism is the legacy of a process begun in Canada by the English and French some hundreds of years ago. The objective of colonization is to bring the undeveloped lands of a territory under the political and economic control of a specified state. In this view, colonization is both an historical and contemporary phenomenon. Thus, Canada, with its enormous undeveloped hinterland, has yet to be fully colonized. Many of the political and economic manifestations -of contemporary Canadian colonialism result directly from Canadian resource development policy. In order to demonstrate the

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