History of Canada / BC towards aboriginal
Compiled by Canadians For
Reconciliation
1452 Pope Nicholas V gave legal sanction to
colonial expansion by calling upon the Portuguese King Alfonso "to invade,
search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans... and other
enemies of Christ"
1492 Columbus "discovered" the Americas
1493 Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter
Cetera decreeing that "barbarous nations be overthrown" and all
"discovered" nations be converted to the catholic faith. According to
this colonial decree, all land not occupied by Christians were considered
vacant. The indigenous people were not looked upon as human but as part of
nature like the penguins and turtles. They thus could "occupy" the
land but could not have title to it.
1537 Pope Paul III issued the papal bull Sublimus Dei overturning the previous papal bull and
establishing that indigenous people were rational human beings capable of
jurisdiction over their territories. As such, the settlers were required to
enter into treaties with the indigenous people in order to purchase or gain an
interest in their land.
1752 Beginning of the Seven Year's War between the
French and British with both seeking alliance with the indigenous people in
eastern Canada
1759 Most Indian Nations in the east sided with
the British since they promised to protect the Indian lands. With their help,
the British settler forces won a decisive battle over the French settlers on
the Plains of Abraham, resulting in the Treaty of Versailles.
1759-1763
British refused to remove the 10 forts built on Native territories during the
battles with the French. Under the leadership of Ottawa Chief Pontiac, the
native Confederacy started the Pontiac War against the British.
1763 Upon seeing 7 out of the 10 occupied forts
fell, King George III of England issued the Royal Proclamation in October 7,
1763. This Royal decree declared that aboriginal title could not be either
purchased or taken by the colonists. Only the British Crown could negotiate the
secession of Aboriginal lands in a process that required agreed consent of all
members of the indigenous nations in a solemn treaty with the Crown i.e. treaty
can only be conducted between nation to nation, not between nation and a
governor or company. Indeed any occupation or taking of aboriginal lands
outside of this process was declared to be a fraudulent act of treason. This
offer of protection became formally binding on Britain as it was accepted and
relied upon by the Indian Nations and formed the basis for the Treaty Process.
Over 80 Treaties were concluded on the East Coast with the understanding by the
Native Nations that the British could settle in their territories but no
secession of land or governance occurred.
1778 Captain James Cook was the first European to
land in BC west coast
1786 The British developed a flourishing fur trade
with the BC coastal natives
1808 Simon Fraser explored the now Fraser River
1823 Early European settlements and trading posts
in BC
1841 The Hudson Bay Company has its
"Columbia" district extended down to the Oregon territory. A dispute
arose over whether British or US had title to the
territories and an arbitrator set the border at the 49th Parallel.
1849 Hudson Bay Company was given the
responsibility by the British government to colonize Vancouver Island.
1851-3 James Douglas, an officer with
Hudson Bay, became the first governor of the colony of Vancouver Island. He
signed 14 treaties (358 sq. miles) with the Nations in south Vancouver Island.
Natives were paid with blankets & were promised their right to hunt on
unsettled land & to fish "as formerly". The British were
undecided about continuing with the treaty process, but after coal was
discovered at Nanaimo, they decided to colonize. No more attempts were made by
BC to sign treaties until nearly a century and half later.
1853 Gold was discovered in the Fraser River and
30,000 miners moved up from California for the Gold Rush.
1858 Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution:
a natural selection process based on the survival of the fittest. Sadly it
changed many minds about making treaties with the indigenous nations.
The
British established the colony of British Columbia on the mainland, with
Governor Douglas serving between 1858-64. A colonial
proclamation was made stating that all land was vested with the Crown.
1860 The gold rush to the Cariboo
region began.
1862 Smallpox epidemic killed every 1 out of 3
aboriginal people
1866 The British united the colonies of British
Columbia and Vancouver Island to form British Columbia
1867
Fearing an American invasion, the
British Parliament passed the British North America Act to unite the 5 eastern
colonies to form the new nation Canada. No Indian Nation was invited for discussion
or to obtain consent for the formation of a country upon its land. No Indian
Nation was even informed of such happening. In order to expand from sea to sea,
the new Canada sent out Indian Agents to make treaties with the various Indian
Nations in other provinces. The agents claimed they did so in the Queen's name.
As a result, the treatied Nations thought their
treaties were with the British Crown and continue to believe so today. Canada
has thus committed a massive fraud but has consistently used such
post-confederation Treaties Number 1-11 as evidence of having Title to the
Indian lands.
1871 BC, with over 99% of its land without any
treaty, joined the new Canada. Article 13 of the Terms of Union reads "The
charge of the Indians, and the trusteeship and management of the lands reserved
for their use and benefit shall be assumed by the Dominion Government....". As with the eastern colonies, no Indian Nation in BC
was part of any discussion, negotiation or agreement regarding the new Union.
From 1871 to 1923, Indians were not allowed to fish commercially.
1872 Hundreds of Coast Salish people rallied
outside the Provincial Land Registry in New Westminster seeking settlement of
the land question.
1873 56 chiefs approved a petition to federal
Indian Commissioner asking implementation of a federal proposal of reserves
1875-79
Land was available to settlers free of charge.
1876 Indian Act: a federal legislation set up to
break the right of Indian people and Nations through breaking their spirit-via
ugly assimilation tactics like residential school system, restriction of food
collection like fishery and trapping, Reserve system, Band Council system (an
indirect control technique developed in Africa by the British to further divide
the people while shielding the British from the blame), etc.
1880's European population surpassed native
population in BC. Christian missions were widely established.
1881 Chief Mountain led a Nisga'a protest
delegation to Victoria
1884 The government banned the native Potlatch (the
major social, economic and political institution of the coastal people) to
prevent them from organizing and exercising their self-governance (not repealed
till 1951).
1886 The Dominion completed the transcontinental
railway to BC. Nisga'a in the Upper Nass resisted
surveyors & began organizing land claim.
1887 Nisga'a & Tsimshian
chiefs paddled to Victoria to discuss the land question with Premier W. Smithe, who responded with the myth that Indians could no
more be owners of land than birds or bees.
1888 Federal fishing permit system introduced.
1898 After gold seekers to Yukon were blocked by
natives at Fort St. John, Treaty 8 was extended westward from Alberta to
include 5500 sq. miles of land in BC Northeast. Treatied
land now reached 1.6% of BC.
1909 A delegation representing 20 BC Nations
traveled to England to make a presentation to the Crown regarding the land
question.
1913 Nisga'a Land Committee petitioned to British
Privy Council but was referred back to Canada.
1916 McKenna-McBride Royal Commission report
recommended changing and redistributing reserve lands, enlarging some but also
advising that much valuable land be removed. The Allied Tribes of BC, the first
Province wide native organization, was formed to pursue land claims &
secure treaties.
1920 BC Indian Land Settlement Act implemented the
reduction of reserve land without consent of the indigenous people,
contradicting the Indian Act.
Enfranchisement
(giving up legal Indian status to become Canadians) was made compulsory
whenever natives went to university, joined a profession, stayed over 5 years off-reserve, married a non-aboriginal, etc. Such were
not repealed until 1952.
1926 Chief W. Pierrish
of Neskonith went to London to petition the British
government. He and others were intercepted by the High Commissioner of Canada
who undertook to deliver the petition & persuaded Chief Pierrish
to return to Canada.
1927 The government banned the Sundance,
hereditary governments, fund raising for land claim efforts and any off-reserve
meeting of more than 3 Indians. The above were not repealed until 1952.
1928 BC aboriginal population dropped to less than
30,000, lowest since European contact.
1949 BC aboriginal was granted provincial voting
right.
1960 On reserve Indians were granted federal voting
right.
1965 A Nanaimo native was arrested for hunting in
unsettled portion of Nanaimo Treaty area. The Province argued that the Douglas
agreements were not treaties. Supreme Court of Canada disagreed.
1968 Nisga'a took the land claim to court
1969 The federal government White Paper Policy was
such a one-sided attempt to change Indians into Canadians and to obtain title
to all Indian lands that it was withdrawn in early 1970. However this
galvanized the aboriginal people to form a powerful political movement. UBCIC
was given birth.
1973 Supreme Court of Canada overturned the lower
court's decision on Calder v Attorney General of BC and recognized land rights
based on aboriginal title.
1982 Repatriation of the Constitution: When the
BNA (1867) was brought back to Canada from London, the totality of treaties,
proclamations and other British laws governing the British relationship with
the many sovereign aboriginal nations in British North America were
incorporated into the Canadian Constitution. The incorporation was vital, as
failure to do so will leave Britain exposed to disputes with native nations it
had signed former treaties with. The Royal Proclamation, together with the many
treaties now is part of our Constitution, the fundamental law of the land. Furthermore,
under pressure from the indigenous nations, Section 35 (1) was added to the
Constitution to recognize and affirm the "existing" aboriginal and
treaty rights of the aboriginal people in Canada.
1985 The Indian Act was amended to remove the discriminatory
sections inside due to intense pressure regarding human rights violations
pointed out by United Nations to Canada in 1982.
1990 Native road block at Duffy Lake Road to
oppose the encroachment of logging into Ure Creek,
the area of sacred burial grounds as well as the imposition of illegal PCB
storage.
BC
government abandoned its 119 year long policy of refusing to acknowledge
aboriginal rights and title. In December it approved the establishment of a
treaty negotiation task force.
1993 Formation of BC Treaty Commission: for the
first time in Canadian history, a Province has joined with Canada to negotiate
treaties with the First Nations. (However due to a variety of reasons, there
were no treaties made over the last 8 years. With the coming of the new
adversarial Provincial government, most of the initial 42 participating Nations
have left the negotiating table.)
1995 Gustafsen Lake
standoff: the largest peacetime mobilization of Canadian Armed Forces against a
dozen or so natives celebrating Sundance on unceded
territory.
1997 Supreme Court of Canada handed down the
historic Delgamuukw decision overturning all the
former BC court decisions on the same case and affirming the native's oral
history and their claim to land.
2000 Ts'kw'aylaxw First
Nation withdrew from the treaty process since the government refused interim
measures protecting its interest in the Pavilion Creek watershed
Natives
set up a protest camp at Melvin Creek to protest the approval of a Nancy Greene
ski resort on unceded territory. With occupants
asleep, their camp was torched one early winter morning.
2001 Arrest of natives for "trespassing"
in their homeland and destruction of native house and cabin by RCMP at Sunpeak Ski Resort. Issue: opposition to ski resort
expansion into their territory.
2002 BC Government referendum