DOCSLIB.ORG

Squamish Nation Argument-In-Chief

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Squamish Nation Argument-In-Chief Hearing Order MH-052-2018 Board File: OF-Fac-Oil-T260-2013-03 59 NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD IN THE MATTER OF the National Energy Board Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. N-7, as amended (“NEB Act”) and the Regulations made thereunder and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, S.C. 2012, c. 19, s. 52 (“CEAA 2012”); AND IN THE MATTER OF an application by Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC as General Partner of Trans Mountain Pipeline L.P. (collectively “Trans Mountain”) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (“CPCN”) and other related approvals pursuant to Part III of the NEB Act for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (“Project”); AND IN THE MATTER OF the National Energy Board’s reconsideration of aspects of its Recommendation Report (“Report”) as directed by the Governor in Council through Order in Council P.C. 2018-1177 (the “Reconsideration”). ARGUMENT-IN-CHIEF OF THE SQUAMISH NATION January 22, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1 – Overview........................................................................................................................ 1 PART 2 – STATEMENT OF FACTS AND EVIDENCE ............................................................. 4 A. Squamish Nation ................................................................................................................. 4 B. Squamish Nation Reserves and Village Sites ..................................................................... 5 C. Significance of the Project-related marine shipping to Squamish ...................................... 7 D. Squamish Seasonal Round .................................................................................................. 9 E. Squamish Nation Aboriginal rights and interests ............................................................. 10 1. Squamish self-government rights ............................................................................... 10 2. Squamish harvesting rights ......................................................................................... 12 3. Squamish’s right to fish is essential to their culture ................................................... 14 4. Squamish’s right to navigate their Territory............................................................... 15 5. Squamish cultural and spiritual practices ................................................................... 16 F. Squamish Marine Dependent Economic Interests ............................................................ 19 G. Squamish Oral Evidence on the Impacts of Project-Related Marine Shipping ............... 19 H. Squamish Expert Evidence on the Impacts of Project-related Marine Shipping 21 1. Spilled diluted bitumen will submerge in Burrard Inlet within one to two days and cause irreversible environmental effects ................................................................ 22 2. Trans Mountain’s ecological risk assessment does not provide an acceptable basis for evaluating the ecological risks of an oil spill from Project-related tankers .......................... 24 3. Environmental effects of a diluted bitumen spill in the Fraser River estuary would be catastrophic ...................................................................................................................... 26 4. Oil Spills from the Project-related marine shipping will happen ............................... 27 5. Gaps in oil spill response in the Nation’s Territory mean spills cannot be cleaned-up 30 6. The need for the Project must be re-evaluated ........................................................... 34 I. Canada’s Approach to Reinitiating Phase III Consultation .............................................. 36 1 J. Correspondence with the Crown ....................................................................................... 37 K. Legal Framework for the Reconsideration ....................................................................... 40 1. Regulatory Scheme ..................................................................................................... 40 2. Scope of the Reconsideration ..................................................................................... 41 3. Limited List of Issues and Constrained Timeline ....................................................... 43 4. Constitutional Obligations of the Board ..................................................................... 45 L. The Board Should recommend that the Project is likely to cause Significant Adverse Environmental Effects that Cannot be justified ........................................................................ 46 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 46 2. Oil Spills from the Project are likely to happen ......................................................... 47 3. Oil Spills from the Project will likely cause significant adverse environmental effects 50 (a) Diluted Bitumen will submerge in the Fraser River Estuary in one or two days ... 50 (b) Environmental effects of spills will be high magnitude and of long duration ........ 51 4. Marine Shipping will likely cause significant adverse environmental effects ....... 56 M. Failure to Assess the Alternative Means of Carrying out Project-related Marine Shipping 59 N. The Significant Adverse Environmental Effects that the Project is likely to cause Cannot be Justified ................................................................................................................................ 62 O. Implications of Adverse Effects and Public Interest ......................................................... 63 P. The Board cannot Recommend that the Project is in the Public Interest as Canada has not Fulfilled its Obligations to Consult the Nation ......................................................................... 63 1. Decision of the Federal Court of Appeal .................................................................... 63 2. Substantive Consultation with the Nation on the Project has not begun .................... 65 3. The Reconsideration hearing has not provided for Meaningful Engagement ............ 68 (a) Failure to consult on the Scope of the Reconsideration and to provide the Nation with all necessary information .......................................................................................... 68 (b) Failure to provide Strength of Claim Information .................................................. 71 2 (c) Failure to provide an Impact Assessment specific to the Nation’s Rights ............. 73 (d) Failure of Accommodation ..................................................................................... 75 (e) The Board cannot rely on Trans Mountain to Satisfy the Crown’s Duty to Consult 76 4. Consequences of Canada’s Failure to Fulfill the Duty to Consult and Accommodate 77 Q. Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 78 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ........................................................................................................ 79 3 PART 1 – OVERVIEW 1. The Squamish Nation’s “home” on the southwest coast of what is now British Columbia is the proposed marine terminus for the Project. The Nation’s people, and the lands, waters, and resources upon which they depend, will be directly and significantly adversely impacted by the Project. 2. Extensive Project infrastructure, including the new three-berth Westridge Marine Terminal, is proposed to be located in the heart of Squamish territory. The substantial increase in tanker traffic to a minimum of 34 tankers per month would result in tankers transiting Burrard Inlet, laden with diluted bitumen in close proximity to three Squamish reserves through to the Salish Sea, increasing the risks of spills or other accidents that would be catastrophic for the Squamish and the continued meaningful practice of their rights. 3. Squamish was one of the applicants that challenged the original approval of the Project before the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”). The FCA agreed with the applicants in Tsleil- Waututh Nation v. Canada (Attorney-General), 2018 FCA 153 that the Board unjustifiably excluded Project-related shipping from the Project’s definition, which undermined the central finding of the Report that the Project was not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects, and that Canada’s consultation for the Project fell well below the standard required by the Supreme Court of Canada. 4. In the Reconsideration, the Board is required to reconsider the environmental assessment of the Project in light of the inclusion of Project-related marine shipping in the Project’s definition, and provide updated recommendations to the Governor in Council on whether the significant adverse environmental effects that the Project-related marine shipping is likely to cause can be justified and whether the Project is in the public interest. In order for this new panel to provide the Governor in Council with the information necessary to make a valid decision on the Project, the panel must necessarily reweigh the benefits and burdens of the Project against the new and updated evidence tendered by all parties and intervenors in this Reconsideration. 5. In the Reconsideration, the Board must further reconsider whether the Government of Canada (“Canada”) has discharged its constitutional obligations to the Nation. The Project 1 cannot be in the public interest if Canada’s consultation obligations are outstanding.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Section 12.0: Aborigin Al Consultation
    ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT CERTIFICATE APPLICATION WesPac Tilbury Marine Jetty Project ABORIGINAL ABORIGINAL : 0 . 12 CONSULTATION SECTION SECTION WesPac Tilbury Marine Jetty Project Environmental Assessment Certificate Application Part C – Aboriginal Consultation Section 12.0: Aboriginal Consultation 12.0 ABORIGINAL CONSULTATION Aboriginal Interests are defined in the Section 11 Order (BCEAO, 2015b) as asserted or determined Aboriginal rights, including title, and treaty rights. An overview of planned consultation activities for the Project, activities completed to date, and a description of Aboriginal Interests is provided in Section 12.1 Aboriginal Interests. The assessment of Project-related effects on those Aboriginal Interests is presented in Section 12.1.4 Potential Effects of the Project on Aboriginal Interests. Issues raised by Aboriginal groups that do not directly relate to Aboriginal Interests, such as those pertaining to potential adverse social, economic, heritage, or health effects, and proposed measures to address those effects, are described in Section 12.2 Other Matters of Concern to Aboriginal groups. The assessment of effects on Other Matters of Concern to Aboriginal groups is also found in Section 12.2 Other Matters of Concern to Aboriginal groups. Section 12.3 provides the Issue Summary Table that summarizes Aboriginal Interests or other matters of concern to Aboriginal groups that may be affected by the Project, and the measures to avoid, mitigate or otherwise manage those effects. Information presented in this Application
    [Show full text]
  • Squamish Community: Our People and Places Teacher’S Package
    North Vancouver MUSEUM & ARCHIVES SCHOOL PROGRAMS 2018/19 Squamish Community: Our People and Places Teacher’s Package Grade 3 - 5 [SQUAMISH COMMUNITY: OUR PEOPLE AND PLACES KIT] Introduction SQUAMISH COMMUNITY: OUR PEOPLE AND PLACES KIT features 12 archival photographs selected from the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw: The Squamish Community: Our People and Places exhibit presented at the North Vancouver Museum & Archives in 2010. This exhibit was a collaborative project undertaken by the North Vancouver Museum & Archives and the Squamish Nation. These archival images were selected by the Squamish Elders and Language Authority to represent local landscapes, the community and the individual people within the Squamish Nation. The Squamish Elders and Language Authority also contributed to the exhibit labels which are included on the reverse of each picture. This Kit has been designed to complement BC’s Social Studies curriculum for grades 3 - 5, giving students the opportunity to explore themes related to First Nations cultures in the past and cultural First Nations activities today. Included within this Kit is a detailed teacher’s package that provides instructors with lesson plan activities that guide students in the analysis of archival photographs. The recommended activities encourage skills such as critical thinking and cooperative learning. Altogether, the lesson plan activities are estimated to take 1 hour and 45 minutes and can easily be stretched across several instructional days. Through photo analysis worksheets and activities, students will be introduced to the Squamish Nation and historical photographs. Teachers are encouraged to read through the program and adapt it to meet the learning abilities and individual needs of their students.
    [Show full text]
  • Aboriginal Knowledge and Ecosystem Reconstruction
    Back to the Future in the Strait of Georgia, page 21 PART 2: CULTURAL INPUTS TO THE STRAIT OF GEORGIA ECOSYSTEM RECONSTRUCTION BTF project was based on archival research and Aboriginal Knowledge and interviews with Elders from Aboriginal Ecosystem Reconstruction communities. The main purpose of the interviews was to frame a picture of how the ecosystem might have been in the past, based on traditional Silvia Salas, Jo-Ann Archibald* knowledge of resource use by aboriginal people. & Nigel Haggan This information was expected to validate and complement archival information was also Fisheries Centre, UBC describing the state of past natural system. *First Nations House of Learning, UBC Methods The BTF project involved the reconstruction of Abstract present and past ecosystems in the Strait of Georgia (SoG), based on a model constructed at a The ‘Back To The Future’ (BTF) project uses workshop held in November 1995 at the Fisheries ecosystem modelling and other information Centre, the University of British Columbia, sources to visualize how the Strait of Georgia Canada (Pauly and Christensen, 1996). Different ecosystem might have been in the past. This sources of information (see Wallace, this vol.) paper explores the potential of integrating were used to tune and update that model. traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) of Reconstruction of the system as it might have aboriginal people in ecosystem modeling. been 100 ago was based on archival records, Methods include archival research and interviews historic documents and written testimonies, as with First Nation Elders from different regions of well as interviews carried out in three First the Strait of Georgia.
    [Show full text]
  • Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity in Vancouver
    Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity in Vancouver J EAN BARMAN1 anada has become increasingly urban. More and more people choose to live in cities and towns. Under a fifth did so in 1871, according to the first census to be held after Canada C 1867 1901 was formed in . The proportion surpassed a third by , was over half by 1951, and reached 80 percent by 2001.2 Urbanization has not benefited Canadians in equal measure. The most adversely affected have been indigenous peoples. Two reasons intersect: first, the reserves confining those deemed to be status Indians are scattered across the country, meaning lives are increasingly isolated from a fairly concentrated urban mainstream; and second, the handful of reserves in more densely populated areas early on became coveted by newcomers, who sought to wrest them away by licit or illicit means. The pressure became so great that in 1911 the federal government passed legislation making it possible to do so. This article focuses on the second of these two reasons. The city we know as Vancouver is a relatively late creation, originating in 1886 as the western terminus of the transcontinental rail line. Until then, Burrard Inlet, on whose south shore Vancouver sits, was home to a handful of newcomers alongside Squamish and Musqueam peoples who used the area’s resources for sustenance. A hundred and twenty years later, apart from the hidden-away Musqueam Reserve, that indigenous presence has disappeared. 1 This article originated as a paper presented to the Canadian Historical Association, May 2007. I am grateful to all those who commented on it and to Robert A.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Council/School Board Liaison Committee
    City of Richmond Minutes Council/School Board Liaison Committee Date: Wednesday, October 15,2014 Place: Anderson Room Richmond City Hall Present: Councillor Linda Barnes, Chair Councillor Linda McPhail Trustee Donna Sargent Trustee Norm Goldstein Also Present: Trustee Grace Tsang Call to Order: The Chair called the meeting to order at 9: 00 a.m. AGENDA It was moved and seconded That the Council/School Board Liaison Committee agenda for the meeting of Wednesday, October 15,2014, be adopted as circulated, with Item No.5 to be considered after Item No.2. CARRIED MINUTES It was moved and seconded That the minutes of the meeting of the Council/School Board Liaison Committee held on Tuesday, June 10,2014, be adopted as circulated. CARRIED CNCL - 68 1. Council/School Board Liaison Committee Wednesday, October 15, 2014 BUSINESS ARISING 1. GENERAL LOCAL ELECTION SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN (COR - David Weber, Ted Townsend, Justinne Ramirez) (Verbal Update) David Weber, Chief Elections Officer, provided an overview of the 2014 Election social media plan, which included the Richmond Election App, Twitter, Facebook, "Be a Voter Campaign" and the Candidate Voters Guide. Mr. Weber advised that the Richmond Election App is available to iPhone and Android users, and it displays key information such as who can vote, candidate profiles, and election results. Also, he stated that the "Be a Voter Campaign" is a series of advertisements targeted at encouraging citizens to vote on Election Day - November 15, 2014. Mr. Weber distributed copies of the advertisements (copy on file in the City Clerk's Office). Ted Townsend, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, spoke on the Richmond Election App's significant media coverage, highlighting that it is one of a few in the province.
    [Show full text]
  • Squamish Nation Direct Evidence
    Hearing Order MH-052-2018 Board File: OF-Fac-Oil-T260-2013-03 59 NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD IN THE MATTER OF the National Energy Board Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. N-7, as amended (“NEB Act”) and the Regulations made thereunder; AND IN THE MATTER OF an application by Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC as General Partner of Trans Mountain Pipeline L.P. (collectively “Trans Mountain”) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and other related approvals pursuant to Part III of the NEB Act for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (“Project”); AND IN THE MATTER OF the National Energy Board’s reconsideration of aspects of its Recommendation Report (“Report”) as directed by the Governor in Council through Order in Council P.C. 2018-1177 (the “Reconsideration”). SQUAMISH NATION DIRECT EVIDENCE December 5, 2018 Introduction 1. The Squamish Nation (“Squamish” or the “Nation”) relies on and adopts the evidence that it provided to the National Energy Board (the “Board” or the “NEB”) in the OH-001- 2014 proceeding. The Nation references some of the information on the record in the OH-001-2014 proceeding below to highlight relevant aspects and to provide context for the evidence to be considered in the Reconsideration hearing. Squamish Nation 2. The Squamish Nation (“Squamish” or the “Nation”) is a Coast Salish Nation. Squamish is a self-identifying Aboriginal Nation and an Aboriginal people. We currently have over 4,053 registered members. 3. Since a time before contact with Europeans, Squamish have used and occupied lands and waters on the southwest coast of what is now British Columbia extending from the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, and including Burrard Inlet, English Bay, Howe Sound, the Squamish Valley and north to Whistler (the “Territory”).
    [Show full text]
  • COAST SALISH SENSES of PLACE: Dwelling, Meaning, Power, Property and Territory in the Coast Salish World
    COAST SALISH SENSES OF PLACE: Dwelling, Meaning, Power, Property and Territory in the Coast Salish World by BRIAN DAVID THOM Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montréal March, 2005 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Brian Thom, 2005 Abstract This study addresses the question of the nature of indigenous people's connection to the land, and the implications of this for articulating these connections in legal arenas where questions of Aboriginal title and land claims are at issue. The idea of 'place' is developed, based in a phenomenology of dwelling which takes profound attachments to home places as shaping and being shaped by ontological orientation and social organization. In this theory of the 'senses of place', the author emphasizes the relationships between meaning and power experienced and embodied in place, and the social systems of property and territory that forms indigenous land tenure systems. To explore this theoretical notion of senses of place, the study develops a detailed ethnography of a Coast Salish Aboriginal community on southeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Through this ethnography of dwelling, the ways in which places become richly imbued with meanings and how they shape social organization and generate social action are examined. Narratives with Coast Salish community members, set in a broad context of discussing land claims, provide context for understanding senses of place imbued with ancestors, myth, spirit, power, language, history, property, territory and boundaries. The author concludes in arguing that by attending to a theorized understanding of highly local senses of place, nuanced conceptions of indigenous relationships to land which appreciate indigenous relations to land in their own terms can be articulated.
    [Show full text]
  • The Capilano Review Do Not Cause Damage to the Walls, Doors, Or Windows
    The Capilano Review Do not cause damage to the walls, doors, or windows. — Chelene Knight Editor Fenn Stewart Managing Editor Matea Kulić Editorial Assistant Dylan Godwin Designer Anahita Jamali Rad Contributing Editors Clint Burnham, Roger Farr, Aisha Sasha John, Andrew Klobucar, Natalie Knight, Erín Moure, Lisa Robertson, Christine Stewart, Liz Howard Founding Editor Pierre Coupey Interns Tanis Gibbons and Crystal Henderson The Capilano Review is published by the Capilano Review Contemporary Arts Society. Canadian subscription rates for one year are $25, $20 for students, $60 for institutions. Rates plus S&H. Address correspondence to The Capilano Review, 102-281 Industrial Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6A 2P2. Subscribe online at www.thecapilanoreview.com/subscribe. For submission guidelines, visit www.thecapilanoreview.com/submit. The Capilano Review does not accept hard-copy submissions or submissions sent by email. Copyright remains the property of the author or artist. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the author or artist. The Capilano Review gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The Capilano Review is a member of Magazines Canada, the Magazine Association of BC, and the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture (Vancouver). Publications mail agreement
    [Show full text]
  • St. Paul's Indian Residential School and the Connection to Squamish Nation
    BACKGROUNDER Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations Announce Investigation at Former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School Site On August 10, 2021, the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) announced it had embarked on an Indigenous-led initiative, on behalf of its people and in partnership with its relatives the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) and səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, to find answers about the children who attended the former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School but never made it home. Catholic church officials with Indigenous children outside St. Paul's Indian Residential School in North Vancouver. Source: INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL HISTORY AND DIALOGUE CENTRE THE HISTORY OF ST. PAUL’S INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL Also known as the Squamish Indian Residential School, St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in present-day North Vancouver was the only residential school in Metro Vancouver. It was located next to the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw community of Eslhá7an. In 1899, the federal government’s Department of Indian Affairs established it as a residential school and was responsible for its funding. The school was managed and operated by the Roman Catholic Religious Teaching Order, the Sisters of Child Jesus. Children in the school were segregated by age group and gender, and were often not permitted to visit other family members in the school. They were stripped of their culture and punished for speaking their native languages or taking part in their cultural traditions. Approximately 75 Indigenous children lived at the three-storey wood-frame residential school at any given time, and there was documentation of overcrowding. In 1931, the local Indian Agent reported after an inspection that he suspected the children were not being fed properly.
    [Show full text]
  • National Energy Board Office National De L’Énergie
    NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD OFFICE NATIONAL DE L’ÉNERGIE Hearing Order OH-001-2014 Ordonnance d’audience OH-001-2014 Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC Trans Mountain Expansion Project Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC Projet d’agrandissement du réseau de Trans Mountain VOLUME 12 Hearing held at L’audience tenue à Coast Chilliwack Hotel 45920 First Avenue Chilliwack, British Columbia October 24, 2014 Le 24 octobre 2014 International Reporting Inc. Ottawa, Ontario (613) 748-6043 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2014 © Sa Majesté du Chef du Canada 2014 as represented by the National Energy Board représentée par l’Office national de l’énergie This publication is the recorded verbatim transcript Cette publication est un compte rendu textuel des and, as such, is taped and transcribed in either of the délibérations et, en tant que tel, est enregistrée et official languages, depending on the languages transcrite dans l’une ou l’autre des deux langues spoken by the participant at the public hearing. officielles, compte tenu de la langue utilisée par le participant à l’audience publique. Printed in Canada Imprimé au Canada HEARING ORDER/ORDONNANCE D’AUDIENCE OH-001-2014 IN THE MATTER OF Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC Application for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project HEARING LOCATION/LIEU DE L'AUDIENCE Hearing held in Chilliwack (British Columbia), Friday, October 24, 2014 Audience tenue à Chilliwack (Colombie-Britannique), vendredi, le 24 octobre 2014 BOARD PANEL/COMITÉ D'AUDIENCE DE L'OFFICE D. Hamilton Chairman/Président P. Davies Member/Membre A. Scott Member/Membre Transcript Hearing Order OH-001-2014 ORAL PRESENTATIONS/REPRÉSENTATIONS ORALES Hwlitsum First Nation Councillor Janice Wilson Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Beginning of a Sacred and Culturally Safe Healing Journey
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **TRIGGER WARNING** This news release contains information about Indian Residential Schools. Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations Announce Investigation at Former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School Site Beginning of a sacred and culturally safe healing journey Coast Salish Territories | August 10, 2021 — Today, the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) announced it has embarked on an Indigenous-led initiative, on behalf of its people and in partnership with its relatives, the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) and səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, to find answers about the children who attended the former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School but never made it home. Over 2,000 Indigenous children, representing six generations of Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh, xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm, and səl̓ilw̓ ətaʔɬ Nations, and other Indigenous communities, were institutionalized at St. Paul’s from grades one through eight. Many of these same children were then forcibly relocated to Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the remains of at least 215 children were confirmed this May. Oral histories told by St. Paul’s survivors include stories about children who disappeared. According to public records, 12 unidentified students died while attending St. Paul’s between 1904 and 1913. The Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw’s goal with the investigation of the former residential school site, located within Squamish unceded territory, is to find the location of each of these children and bring them home to rest. “It’s important to note that our People’s experiences with St. Paul’s Indian Residential School are well known and healing is needed to move forward. This work is being done to respect and address both known and unknown knowledge, and is a critical part of reconciliation,” says Khelsilem, spokesperson for the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh Úxwumixw.
    [Show full text]
  • Smaylilh Or Wild People Archaeology
    Smaylilh or Wild People Archaeology Smaylilh or Wild People Archaeology Smaylilh or Wild People Archaeology By Rudy Reimer/Yumks Department of Anthropology /Squamish Nation McMaster University Chester New Hall Rm. 524 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L9 [email protected] Paper Submitted April 2, 2007 11 pages text 3 pages references 5 figures Rudy Reimer/Yumks PhD Candidate Department of Anthropology McMaster University/Squamish Nation 2 Smaylilh or Wild People Archaeology Abstract: The native peoples who inhabit the Pacific Northwest Coast and Interior Plateau possess oral traditions concerning cryptozoology, including the ‘wild people’ also known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. For the Squamish Nation, these are Wild People, or “Smaylilh”. Squamish historical accounts indicate that these Wild People and humans are, or once were, related. This common ancestry indicates long-standing co-habitation within Squamish territory. This paper deals with a number of examples of this, including stories or tales of brief encounters with Wild People. Encounter stories have been mapped and relate to the regional archaeological record. It is suggested that archaeological sites in remote or difficult to reach locations represent Smaylilh activities. In taking this approach, it is hoped that anthropological/archaeological theoretical concepts can be meshed with Indigenous, First Nation, perspectives. Rudy Reimer/Yumks PhD Candidate Department of Anthropology McMaster University/Squamish Nation 3 Smaylilh or Wild People Archaeology Introduction The genesis of this paper began because of conversations with several relatives of mine in the Squamish Nation. Our discussions, part of my ongoing dissertation research, usually revolved around territory, places, as well as oral history from the level of village communities to individuals (Squamish Nation 1992).
    [Show full text]