Environmental Assessment Application Proposed Knob Hill Wind Farm APPENDIX 27: FINAL REPORT ON HERITAGE IMPACTS BY BOUCHARD AND KENNEDY January 25, 2004 Sea Breeze Energy Inc. Appendix 27 AN OVERVIEW OF FIRST NATIONS’ ABORIGINAL INTERESTS IN THE AREA OF SEA BREEZE ENERGY’S PROPOSED DEVELOPMENTS ON NORTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND: KNOB HILL & SHUSHARTIE MOUNTAIN BLOCK 1 Prepared for: Sea Breeze Energy Inc. Vancouver, BC Prepared by: Randy Bouchard and Dorothy Kennedy Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Victoria, BC July 2nd, 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 1.1 Report Objectives .................................... 1 1.2 Report Format ...................................... 2 1.3 Data Sources ........................................ 2 2.0 THE KWÁKWEKEW’AKW OF NORTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND .... 6 2.1 Identity of the Tlatlasikwala Nation ........................ 7 2.1.1 The Tlatlasikwala................................ 8 2.1.2 The Nakomgilisala .............................. 10 2.1.3 The Yutlinuk.................................. 11 2.2 Identity of the Quatsino First Nation ...................... 11 2.2.1 The Klaskino.................................. 12 2.2.2 The Hoyalas ................................... 14 2.2.3 The Koskimo.................................. 15 2.2.4 The Giopino................................... 19 2.2.5 The Quatsino.................................. 21 2.3 Identity of the Kwakiutl Nation.......................... 25 2.3.1 The "Kwakiutl" or Kwágu7lh....................... 27 2.3.2 The Kweeha (or Komoyoi) ......................... 31 2.3.3.The Walas Kwakiutl (or Lakwilala)................... 32 2.3.4 The Komkiutis................................. 32 3.0 FIRST NATIONS LAND USE ON NORTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND . 34 3.1 Settlement Patterns .................................. 34 3.2 The Structure of Aboriginal Kwákwekew' akw Society ........... 36 3.3 Seasonal Subsistence Strategies .......................... 39 4.0 SPECIFIC ABORIGINAL LAND USE IN THE VICINITY OF SEA BREEZE ENERGY’S PROPOSED WIND FARMS ............. 43 4.1 Knob Hill......................................... 44 4.2 Shushartie Mountain Block 1 ............................ 45 5.0 CONCLUSION.......................................... 47 6.0 REFERENCES.......................................... 49 An Overview of First Nations’ Aboriginal Interests in the Area of Sea Breeze Energy’s Proposed Developments on Northern Vancouver Island Page 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION In April 2003 Sea Breeze Energy Inc. requested Randy Bouchard and Dr. Dorothy Kennedy to prepare a heritage overview of First Nations’ aboriginal interests in the area of several proposed wind farm developments, in conjunction with Sea Breeze Energy’s application for a project certificate from the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO). Sea Breeze Energy has identified Knob Hill and Shushartie Mountain Block 1 as the locations of their proposed wind farms on northern Vancouver Island. Data compiled for this overview will assist Sea Breeze Energy and the Environmental Assessment Office in determining existing aboriginal rights and title in the project area, thus enabling them to better address, along with interested First Nations, how to prevent, mitigate or accommodate any potential effects the project may have on First Nations’ interests. 1.1 Report Objectives This First Nations’ aboriginal interests study is based on information provided by Kwakwala-speaking people to past generations of anthropological investigators; hence, this overview does not contain data on contemporary First Nations’ use of the project area. Terms of Reference prepared by Sea Breeze identified four specific objectives for the heritage overview, noted here in point form: • to conduct a literature search review of relevant ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and linguistic materials relating specifically to the proposed wind farm developments; • to confirm the identity of contemporary First Nations expressing an interest in the project area; • to determine the composition and territorial extent of aboriginal groups who comprise the contemporary First Nations who have expressed an interest in the project areas; • to analyse patterns of traditional land use data within the environs of the wind farm locations, as well as within the First Nations’ traditional territories, in order to determine potential effects of the proposed development on the aboriginal rights and title of local First Nations, as can be determined by this initial step of the An Overview of First Nations’ Aboriginal Interests in the Area of Sea Breeze Energy’s Proposed Developments on Northern Vancouver Island Page 2 heritage overview. 1.2 Report Format This report has been divided into five sections. Section 1.0 includes a description of the report objectives (1.1), an outline of the report organization (1.2), and a review of the data sources used in its compilation (1.3). Section 2.0 sets out the identity of those First Nations who claim aboriginal interests in the proposed project areas on northern Vancouver Island. Addressed specifically is the identity of the aboriginal groups represented by the contemporary Tlatlasikwala Nation, the Quatsino First Nation, and the Kwakiutl Nation, and the extent of their territories, as described in the available literature. Section 3.0 describes the nature of aboriginal land use on northern Vancouver Island, including settlement patterns and systems of ownership. Section 4.0 summarizes specific aboriginal land use in the vicinity of the proposed Sea Breeze developments. A brief conclusion is given in Section 5.0, and Section 6.0 is a listing of the references cited in this report. 1.3 Data Sources This report is based on the results of a search of the available ethnographic, linguistic and ethnohistoric literature. The literature review focussed on locating and analysing information that would assist in determining the nature of aboriginal interests in the project area. The primary source of data relating to aboriginal place names for all the Kwakwala- speaking tribes (with the exception of the Lekwiltok in the Johnstone Strait area) is the classic study of Franz Boas (1934) based on data elicited by his aboriginal colleague, George Hunt. Unfortunately, Hunt obtained little data relating to the use of specific sites in association with these place names. Translations of most of the Kwakwala terms, however, provide information on how indigenous people perceived the site, including their recognition of certain available resources. Hunt and Boas’ work presents the name and location of approximately 2,400 places, including some in the environs of the proposed Sea Breeze Energy projects (Boas 1934). An Overview of First Nations’ Aboriginal Interests in the Area of Sea Breeze Energy’s Proposed Developments on Northern Vancouver Island Page 3 Many place names presented in Boas (1934) are not known today, and thus the contribution of that study is considerable. Still, there are problems with these Boas/Hunt place names data, as manifested in a comparison undertaken by the authors of 158 Matilpi place names as identified and mapped by Boas/Hunt in 1934 and as they were known in 1988 to Chief Charlie Matilpi, a knowledgeable Matilpi consulthant (Bouchard and Kennedy 1988:88- 91; 131-137). An exchange between Boas and Hunt found in the Boas correspondence files provides insight into Hunt’s recording of the place names. On 17 September 1918, during a time when Hunt was providing Boas with a great amount of place names data, Boas wrote to Hunt and asked him the following: I have also wanted to ask you about the meaning of the Indian names which you give. Do you get these meanings from the old people, or do you translate them from your own knowledge of the language? As you know there are quite often names which may be interpreted in different ways, and I should like to know whether what you give me is the opinion of the Indians or your own opinion (Boas 1918). George Hunt replied on 28 September 1918: Now about the Indian [place] names I do ask some of my old Friends the meaning of these names, and most of the time there answer, comes right to my translating it and some time I ask another old man, then some times he comes little Different from the other, that is why some times you will find some of the name is translated Different from the other . and if I am not pleased the way they translated the names then I translate them the way I see it Right way to Put it, for it is not so Hard for me (Hunt 1918). An additional problem with the 1934 Boas publication is that it provides only sketch maps indicating each site’s location, and no scale is provided. Instead, site locations are usually identified by numbers written directly on each named place; thus, for many of the named places, the exact location cannot be determined accurately. Another source of data for this region is provided by anthropologist Wilson Duff ([1965]) who collated place names and land use data for all of the Kwakwala-speaking tribes An Overview of First Nations’ Aboriginal Interests in the Area of Sea Breeze Energy’s Proposed Developments on Northern Vancouver Island Page 4 with additional information from Indian Affairs records and other historical documents. Duff's study and his fieldnotes (Duff n.d.; 1952; 1953-1954; 1954; [1957]; 1960; 1966) have been most useful in preparing the present report. The voluminous records associated with the Indian Reserve Commission (1886a-1886i; 1889a-1889c; 1890a-1890b— identified herein as “IRC”)