No. 90 0913 Victoria Registry IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BETWEEN: ROGER WILLIAM, on his own behalf and on behalf of all other members of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nations Government and on behalf of all other members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation PLAINTIFF AND: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, THE REGIONAL MANAGER OF THE CARIBOO FOREST REGION and THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA DEFENDANTS ARGUMENT OF THE PLAINTIFF APPENDIX 2: SELECT TSILHQOT'IN VILLAGES, DWELLINGS AND BURIAL GROUNDS IN THE CLAIM AREA WOODWARD & ATTORNEY GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF COMPANY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA JUSTICE, CANADA Barristers and Solicitors Civil Litigation Section Aboriginal Law Section 844 Courtney Street, 2nd Floor 3RD Floor, 1405 Douglas Street 900 – 840 Howe Street Victoria, BC V8W 1C4 Victoria, BC V8W 9J5 Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2S9 Solicitors for the Plaintiff Solicitor for the Defendants, Her Solicitor for the Defendant, Majesty the Queen in the Right of The Attorney General of Canada the Province of British Columbia and the Manager of the Cariboo Forest Region ROSENBERG & BORDEN LADNER ROSENBERG GERVAIS LLP Barristers & Solicitors Barristers & Solicitors 671D Market Hill Road 1200 Waterfront Centre, 200 Vancouver, BC V5Z 4B5 Burrard Street Solicitors for the Plaintiff Vancouver, BC V7X 1T2 Solicitor for the Defendants, Her Majesty the Queen in the Right of the Province of British Columbia and the Manager of the Cariboo Forest Region Exhibit 43 Photograph 27 Appendix 2 - Select Tsilhqot'in Villages, Dwellings and Burial Grounds in the Claim Area Table of Contents The Purpose ofthis Appendix 3 The Big Picture 3 Starting with what the early explorers saw: 5 Chilko River 6 Gwetsilh 6 ?Elhixidlin 8 Tl'egwated 8 Bidwell Creek or "Tachi" 11 Tsilangh 11 Tsi Lhizbed 12 Nusay Bighilin 12 Tsi Tis Gunlin 14 Henry's Crossing 16 Gwedeld'en T'ay 18 Biny Gwechugh (or Canoe Crossing) 18 Sui Gunlin 19 Around Chilko Lake 20 Gwedats'ish, Chilko Lake Lodge and the D.F.O. site 20 Tsilhqox Biny (Chilko Lake) 21 Ch'a Biny 22 Xeni - the Nemiah Valley 22 Ses Ghen Tach'i 24 Lhiz Bay 26 Xexti 28 Tl'ebayi 30 Et'an ghintil (and around Konni Lake) 32 Naghtaneqed 32 Ts'il?os 34 Tachelach'ed (The Brittany Triangle) 35 Tachelached: A late Fall hunting camp is a home 36 Nu Natasa?ax or Mountain House 39 Natasawed Biny (Brittany Lake) 40 Captain George Town and vicinity 41 Tsuni?ad 44 ?Elhghatish 46 Tsanlgen Biny (Chaunigan Lake) 47 The Western Trapline (except the portion in the Brittany) 48 Little Eagle Lake 48 Gwedzin 48 Chezqud, ?Edibiny, Naghatalhchoz, Tsi Tis Gunlin and Tsi gheh ne?eten 50 Chezqud 51 ?Edibiny 51 Naghatalhchoz 52 Historical note: Canada's attempt to purchase portions of Naghatalhchoz and Tsi T'is Gunlin for the Nemiah Valley Indian Band in 1950 57 Talhiqox Biny (Tatlayoko Lake) 58 Potato Mountain or Tsimo1 Ch'ed 59 Yohetta Valley, Yuhitah Biny, to Fishem Lake 61 The Eastern Trapline 62 Teztan (Teztaun) Fish Lake 62 Nabas 63 Rock blinds at Gwetex Natel?as (Red Mountain) 65 A further observation about physical evidence of human occupation 65 2 Appendix 2 Select Tsilhqot'in Villages, Dwellings and Burial Grounds in the Claim Area The Tsilhqot'in occupied the Claim Area through the establishment ofpermanent or semi­ permanent sites, including villages and other settlements, burial sites, camp sites, fishing weirs, etc., as demonstrated by the archaeological record, the historical record, and the oral history evidence. I. The Tsilhqot'in resided in the Claim Area. It was their home. They had houses there, including houses in villages, isolated houses, and campsites. They built fishing weirs. Their ancestors are buried and cremated there, near the places where they lived. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ApPENDIX 2. Looking down from an airplane at night, the pattern of lights show where people live, and whether densely or sparsely on the land, but the lights tell you nothing about what they are doing to make a living on the land. Similarly, the discussion that follows tells you where the Tsilhqot'in lived in the Claim Area at all the relevant times, but it is not intended to tell you what they were doing on the land. In other words, the survey that follows is not an economic analysis ofTsilhqot'in use ofthe land. It is, again, more like flying over Saskatchewan at night. The widely spaced homesteads belie the fact that Saskatchewan is one ofthe most intensely occupied places in Canada, where every square foot of land is dedicated to growing wheat. Similarly, the point ofthe discussion that follows is to establish, based on the record, that the whole ofthe Claim Area is a place where Tsilhqot'in built houses and buried or cremated their dead. What they did in their back yards (the seasonal, repetitive harvest ofthe fruits ofthe landscape) is the subject ofother parts ofthis argument. This appendix is like a view ofthe homestead lights from the air, not a walk through the wheatfields themselves. THE BIG PICTURE 3. The big picture that emerges is this: Chilko River runs like a spine through the Claim 3 Area, with the remains ofthe ancient Tsilhqot'in pit house villages thick on either side. To the east, west and south ofthe Chilko are other Tsilhqot'in winter villages, invisible to the early explorers and largely unknown to Canada until the 20th century. These outlying ancient village centres include, among others, Naghatalhchoz, Tatlayoko Lake, Yohetta, Teztan (Fish Lake), Natasawed, Tsuniah,?Elhaghtish, Captain Georgetown, and ofcourse, Xeni itself. Following is a sketch illustrating the geography ofthe points just made. Shown is the outline ofthe combined Claim Area, and the locations of about 30 key sites within the Claim Areal where physical remains ofpre-sovereignty Tsilhqot'in winter housing can be found: 2 Gwetsilh. ?Elhixidlin TI'egwalede Litt~leEagle Lake Bidwell Creek. TSi,ang;e/ lsi Lhizbede Nusay BiQhilin.' Henry'S ',. Gwedzin } Crossing__TSITIS Gunlin Nagh~lalhChOZ~""''-eounta,n House Chez~Ud~y .Natasawed iny I Gwechugfi wedeld'en ( Sui Gunline T'ay e:aftain Georgetown TaItuqox • Gwedats'istiJ. '1 Tsuni?ad (North) • ~Elhghatish Tsanlgen Biny { TSUni?ade. Naghteneqed (West) TI'abay.... -".~Et' Ch'a. LhizBaYa'f!"!" an Biny • 'W Xextl ghin!il Sf~c~7en \ Yohettae Lake 1 Surrounding the Claim Area are similar sites, and the population ofTsilhqot'in people living in those surrounding sites would have used the Claim Area. For example, the Dzelh Yi Gwet'ins lived in the West Branch watershed southwest ofTatla Lake ~ these people were involved in the Tsilhqot'in War. ChiefKeogh's people lived in underground houses near Tatla Lake, and were often found up near the head of Chilko Lake. Kanim's community (the father ofSil Canim) lived between the eastern trapline and the western trapline at Gunn Valley, in a major village site, perhaps only exceeded in size by Tl'egwet'ed and Biny Gwechugh, All ofthese Tsilhqot'in communities, though they had winter housing outside the formal, rather arbitrary, limits ofthe Claim Area, would have used resources in the Claim Area as part oftheir seasonal round. But it is beyond the scope ofthis survey to review sites outside the Claim Area in detail. 2 Xexti is included on the map, even though it is not a winter housing site, because it is a significant site of Tsilhqot'in burials. 4 Fig. I: Sketch showing Tsilhqot'in winter housing sites (plus Xexti - Tsilhqot'in burial site) 4. The underground houses (or lodges) found at these sites were large, each holding several families and dozens ofpeople, and each site would often have several occupied lodges in the winter] In addition, in all directions from each ofthese sites, one finds (or would expect to find)" the remains ofrepetitive, seasonal use ofthe land by Tsilhqot'in people discussed elsewhere in this argument. In the discussion that follows, some ofthe actual place names, campsites, house sites, gravesites and gathering places are mentioned and described. But this appendix is not, and does not purport to be, a complete listing ofall such places ofphysical occupation. The idea is to provide some reinforcement for the central idea ofthis argument, namely, a stable pattern ofrepetitive use and occupation ofthe whole Claim Area over generations, centred on the places where people lived. STARTING WITH WHAT THE EARLY EXPLORERS SAW: 5. In January of 1822 McDougall reports "going to the Chilkotins". He travelled to Chilko Lake, going up the Chilko River from its confluence with the Chilcotin River, and concluded that there were 29 Lodges containing 131 families "along the River", and 6 "Large Ground Lodges, about the lake" containing 53 families 5 We see that the river, the lake and the people all share a name, just as one might travel up the Rhine to the Rhinelands to meet Rhenish people, or up the Congo to the Congo to meet the Congolese. The Chilko River (which was incorrectly labelled the Chilcotin River, as explained by Dewhirst - see next paragraph) is the backbone of Chilcotin country, just as so many other great rivers give identity to the lands and peoples on their banks. This river is not a boundary, but a centre - running roughly north/south - from ] Exhibit 0443, Expert Report ofJohn Dewhirst, August 8, 2005, especially Table 4 on page 30. On December 17, 1825 Connolly noted one village with 8 lodges with 50 men and a large number ofwomen and children. Dewhirst estimates that this would be a village ofabout 212 people. In 1845 Nobili noted a village with three lodges containing about 130 people (all summarized in Dewhirst, above). Thus, the roughly 30 winter village sites noted above would provide winter housing for a large number or people.