Part C – Secwepemc Revelstoke Unit 6 Environmental Assessment Certificate Application Prepared by: Adams Lake Indian Band, Neskonlith Indian Band, Splatsin, Simpcw First Nation, Shuswap Indian Band, and Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band PART C: SECWEPEMC i February 28, 2017 Enclosed is the first draft of our submissions respecting the potential adverse impacts upon our Aboriginal title and rights, which may arise from the Revelstoke 6 upgrade project. This draft is provided to you on the understanding that these submissions will be treated as preliminary, and that we will have the opportunity to make further submissions in due course. Unfortunately, given the limited time frames and budget, we have been unable to complete our community consultation process and analysis. As a result, we submit this draft in a state of significant concern for the validity of the EA process as a means to discharge the legal obligations of the Crown to the Secwepemc Nation regarding the impacts to our Aboriginal title and Rights from the installation of a sixth turbine at the Revelstoke Generating Station. We further insist that the BC EAO and BC Hydro recognize that their consultation and engagement requirements with the Secwepemc are ongoing and incomplete. We also wish to clarify that as the 6 participating Secwepemc Bands, we cannot fully represent or address the interests of the Secwepemc Nation, who as a whole, are the proper title holders for Secwepemcúlecw. It is the Nation, alone, that can provide its free, prior and informed consent to discharge the Crown of its legal obligations. In particular, we note the following: 1. BC Hydro’s lead consultant provided socio-economic information on the proposed project a significant period of time after we were told that it would be received. This has left us with insufficient time to complete the critical review and response to the socio- economic information that was eventually provided. In addition, the information that was provided was deficient resulting in a large amount of discussions between BC Hydro’s consultant and representatives of the Secwepemc. 2. Funding was not provided until very recently. Given that the Secwepemc could not incur significant costs in the absence of such funding, as BC Hydro was aware, there was a lengthy delay in the commencement of the work required. 3. The impacts of 1 and 2 have resulted in insufficient time to conduct a traditional socio- economic and cultural heritage impact assessment and a cumulative impacts assessment. 4. The lack of rigorous archaeological impact modeling and ground truthing is a concern to the Secwepemc people and needs to be conducted forthwith. In the absence of this, our submissions cannot be considered to be complete. 5. We have not been able to examine the historic impacts of the construction of the Revelstoke dam and its operation, which are important in assessing the additional impacts that will result from constructing a 6th generating unit at the Revelstoke Generating Station. Once we have had more time to conduct a more thorough community consultation process, and been provided with more information on the project, we anticipate that there will be considerably more submissions being made by us. This is a matter of utmost importance to the Secwepemc peoples and thus we must take great care in ensuring that all concerns are heard and, if possible, addressed. PART C: SECWEPEMC ii February 28, 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents ................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... v 12.0 Aboriginal Consultation .................................................................................................. 1 12.1 Aboriginal Interests ................................................................................................................. 1 12.1.1 Secwepemc Bands - General ................................................................................................................ 1 a. Past and planned consultation activities .........................................................................................1 b. Proposed changes to the Aboriginal Consultation Plan ....................................................................1 c. Key issues and concerns raised, the Proponent’s responses to those issues and concerns, and the status of resolution ............................................................................................................................1 d. Location Map of Secwepemc Parties communities in relation to the project location .......................1 e. Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Traditional Land Use information ..........................................1 Ethnobotany ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Ecology ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Secwepemc (General) .......................................................................................................................... 5 Seasonal Round .................................................................................................................................... 5 Key Species ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Deer, Elk, Moose, Caribou .................................................................................................................. 10 Berries ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Medicines ........................................................................................................................................... 12 Fish ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 Secwepemc Traditional Use and Knowledge of the Upper Columbia River Valley............................ 15 Community-Specific Identified Uses of the Local Study Area (LSA) ................................................... 16 Preliminary Overview of Desktop Review Results ............................................................................. 18 Summary of Site-Specific Traditional Use Values ............................................................................... 19 Site-Specific Cultural/Spiritual Sites and Place Names ...................................................................... 19 Site-Specific Future, Prospective, and Other Use .............................................................................. 20 Site-Specific Gathering and Processing Values .................................................................................. 21 Site-Specific Habitation Values .......................................................................................................... 21 Site-Specific Hunting and Fishing ....................................................................................................... 22 Site-Specific Transportation Values ................................................................................................... 23 Site-Specific Trapping/Commercial .................................................................................................... 23 Site-Specific Wildlife/Ecological Values.............................................................................................. 24 Summary of Site-Specific Traditional Use Values ............................................................................... 24 Simpcw First Nation: overview of Simpcwemc use of the LSA and Surrounds .................................. 25 Secwepemc Knowledge of the Mica Creek Area ................................................................................ 27 Secwepemc Knowledge of the Revelstoke Area ................................................................................ 28 Secwepemc Knowledge of the Arrow Lakes Area .............................................................................. 31 f. Description of Secwepemc Title & Rights ....................................................................................... 32 Secwepemc – General ........................................................................................................................ 32 The Eastern Secwepemc .................................................................................................................... 33 PART C: SECWEPEMC iii February 28, 2017 Historical Secwepemc Economy......................................................................................................... 40 Sexqeltqín (Adams Lake Indian Band) ................................................................................................ 42 f.1. Data Quality .................................................................................................................................... 42 f.2. Overview ........................................................................................................................................