Carrier Sekani Tribal Council

Last updated

The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council (familiarly known as CSTC) is a tribal council representing six First Nations in the Central Interior of British Columbia. It was originally known as the Lakes District Tribal Council. The CSTC was incorporated in 1981 and is a registered non-profit society. [1]

Contents

Member governments

Its current members are:

Not all Carrier or Sekani bands belong to CSTC. Three Blackwater Carrier bands, Ulkatcho Indian Band, Lhoosk'us Dene, and Red Bluff Indian Band, belong to Carrier-Chilcotin Tribal Council. Other bands, such as the Cheslatta Carrier Nation and the Lheidli T'enneh in the Prince George area, are independent.

Chief and councillors

CSTC is governed by a General Manager, appointed by the Board of Directors (Chiefs of member Nations). Social services are provided by Carrier Sekani Family Services, a now separate organization spun off by CSTC. The Yinka Dene Language Institute, charged with linguistic and cultural matters, is indirectly controlled by CSTC, which appoints the majority of its board of directors. Government to government negoations/relations are provided by the Carrier Sekani First Nations Society which consists of seven member Nations (Nadleh Whut'en, Nak'azdli, Saik'uz First Nation, Stellat'en First Nation, Takla Nation, Tl'azt'en Nation and Ts'il Kaz Koh.

Treaty process

In January 1994, the CSTC entered the treaty process. By April 1997, they had reached Stage 4 of the six-stage process - negotiation of an agreement in principle. [2] The CSTC borrowed $14 million (CAN) from the government to resolve grievances regarding unceded territories. By 2007, negotiations reached a deadlock. [3] In her report to Parliament in December 2006, Auditor General Sheila Fraser, noted that the financial burden placed on First Nations when negotiations are drawn out, are among the factors that have led some First Nations to use litigation or other options for settling land claims. DINA's process was complex, inflexible and slow. [4] In March 2007 during a Treaty Forum hosted by the CSTC that provided an opportunity for the Membership to listen to the Governments and the British Columbia Treaty Commission officials, the CSTC made the historic decision to vote to abandon treaty negotiations because the British Columbia Treaty Process had failed to produce expected results in Carrier territory. [5]

Mandate

The CSTC focuses on issues related to Carrier & Sekani heritage and identity, self-government, land claims, standard of living, social and economic independence and public relations on behalf of member nations.

History

CSTC has at times included other bands. Lake Babine Nation band left CSTC in 1991. Lheidli T'enneh left in 1992. Burns Lake Band withdrew in 1993 [6] but subsequently returned.

In 2006 the CSTC commissioned and oversaw the Aboriginal Interest and Use Study (AIUS) to investigate impacts of the Enbridge oil pipeline proposal. [1]

In October 2010 the Supreme Court ruled against the tribal council in CSTC vs. Rio Tinto Alcan. The court ruled that nobody was obligated to come to First Nations to consult on the issue of the Electricity Purchase Agreement (EPA) structured between BC Hydro and Alcan. However, the high court noted that, "The Kenny Dam was built without consultation and at the time, CSTC or its member nations were not permitted to hire a lawyer under the Indian Act. That said, the project itself was built without consultation and the Supreme Court now says First Nations can receive compensation on the lack of consultation." [7]

The CSTC had claimed that, "[i]n the 1950s, the government of British Columbia authorized the building of a dam and reservoir which altered the amount and timing of water flows in the Nechako River. The First Nations claim the Nechako Valley as their ancestral homeland, and the right to fish in the Nechako River, but, pursuant to the practice at the time, they were not consulted about the dam project." [8]

Demographics

The estimated total number of CSTC members was 25,682 in 2004 according to DINA. [9]

Social, educational and cultural programs and facilities

In addition to representing its members in treaty negotiations with British Columbia and Canada and in various other dealings, CSTC provides technical and professional services to its members in such areas as fisheries, education, economic development, community and infrastructure planning, forestry, and financial management. Carrier Sekani Family Services provides health, child welfare and other services to member nations.

See also

Citations

  1. 1 2 CSTC 2006.
  2. ↑ ARR nd.
  3. ↑ CSTC 2007.
  4. ↑ Office of the Auditor General 2006.
  5. ↑ CSTC 2012, p. 2.
  6. ↑ "Band Separates from Tribal Council," Yinka Dene, June–July 1993, p. 7
  7. ↑ CSTC 2012.
  8. ↑ CEAA 2010, p. 651.
  9. ↑ CSTC 2006, p. 66.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakelh</span> Ethnic group

The Dakelh or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.

A tribal council is an association of First Nations bands in Canada, generally along regional, ethnic or linguistic lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrier language</span> Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia

The Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derived from French explorers naming of the people. Dakelh people speak two related languages. One, Babine-Witsuwit'en is sometimes referred to as Northern Carrier. The other includes what are sometimes referred to as Central Carrier and Southern Carrier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wetʼsuwetʼen</span> First Nations people of British Columbia, Canada

The Wetʼsuwetʼen are a First Nation who live on the Bulkley River and around Burns Lake, Broman Lake, and François Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia. The endonym Wetʼsuwetʼen means "People of the Wa Dzun Kwuh River ".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Lake</span>

Stuart Lake, or Nak'albun in the Carrier (Dakelh) language is a lake situated in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The town of Fort St. James is situated by the lake near the outlet. Stuart Lake is 66 kilometres (41 mi) long, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) wide and relatively shallow, with an average depth of 26 metres (85 ft). There are several privately owned islands on Stuart lake.

Edward John is a prominent First Nations political leader in Canada.

Tl'azt'en Nation is a First Nations band located along the north shore of Stuart Lake near the outlet of the Tache River, in the northern interior of British Columbia. The main village belonging to Tl'azt'en Nation is Tache, 60 km north-west of Fort St. James.The small settlements of Middle River (Dzit'lain'li).on Trembleur Lake and Grand Rapids, along the Tache River between Stuart Lake and Trembleur Lake also belong to Tl'azt'en Nation. The main administrative offices are in Tache, as a school - Eugene Joseph Elementary School, Daycare, Head Start, Health Unit, Education Centre/ Learning Centre for Adults, RCMP/ Justice Office, Public Works building that supplies diesel and gasoline, water treatment plant, a newly built youth recreation center (2012), a Catholic and Christian church, one in Old Tache and one in "sunny side", a volunteer fire department with a fire hall; rec sites include a paintball park, a basketball court and a hockey rink. The village of Portage once belonged to Tla'zt'en Nation but separated in 1994 as Yekooche First Nation. The village of Pinchie once belonged to Tl'azt'en Nation separated on March 12, 2019 and is now the Binche Whut'en First Nation. Prior to 1988 Tl'azt'en Nation was known as the Stuart-Trembleur band. Tl'azt'en Nation belongs to the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

The Yinka Dene Language Institute (YDLI) is an organization based in Stoney Creek, British Columbia, whose purpose is the study and maintenance of the language and culture of Dakelh and other First Nations people in northern British Columbia.

François Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located at the east end of Francois Lake. Total park area is 7,214 hectares. It is about 12 km off BC Highway 16, southwest of the town of Fraser Lake. There is no potable water at the site so campers should bring their own.

In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all status Indians are members of a band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lejac Residential School</span>

Lejac Residential School was a Canadian residential school in British Columbia that operated from 1922 to 1976 by the Roman Catholic Church under contract with the Government of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadleh Whut'en First Nation</span> First Nations government of the Dakelh people in British Columbia, Canada

The Nadleh Whut'en First Nation is a First Nations government of the Dakelh people, whose territory is located in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, around the east end of Fraser Lake. The nation has seven reserves which Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada refer to as IR#1-9.. Until 1990, it was referred to as the Fraser Lake Indian Band.

The Lheidli T'enneh Band also known as the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation and historically known as the Fort George Indian Band is the First Nations band government for the Lheidli T'enneh, a subgroup of the Dakelh people whose traditional territory includes the City of Prince George, British Columbia. The name means "The People from the confluence of the two rivers" in the Carrier language referring to how the Nechako River enters the Fraser River at Prince George.

Keyoh is a Dakelh word meaning. It is the principal traditional area of which a certain indigenous corporate family group has customary use, occupancy, governance, stewardship and ownership rights. It is applied to designate areas such as countries and settlements such as towns and a trapline in the non-native sense, that is the area within which a certain person has the right to trap, but the common translation "trapline" is misleading both in that it is not restricted to the right to trap and it is independent of the provincial system of trapline registration. Indeed, one source of disparity between provincially registered traplines and keyoh, is that provincially registered traplines are held by a single individual who for many years had to be male, while keyoh are held corporately, with its hereditary chief also being strongly patrilineal. The hereditary chief of a Keyoh is known as the keyoh-whudachun, Keyoh Holder or noble. The term keyoh is used in reference to Indigenous rights as on the web site of the Maiyoo Keyoh

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ts'il Kaz Koh First Nation</span>

Tsʼil Kaz Koh First Nation or the Burns Lake Indian Band is a Wetsuweten band government whose main community is located on Burns Lake, near the divide between the Bulkley and Nechako River basins, approximately 220 km west of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Tsʼil Kaz Koh as a name is derived from the Carrier name for the creek that runs through the area. The band has four reserves, totalling about 184.6 hectares, and as of August 2007, they had 114 band members. As of 2013, the Burns Lake Band has about 129 members on and off reserve.

The Cheslatta Carrier Nation or Cheslatta T'En, of the Dakelh or Carrier people (Ta-cullies, meaning "people who go upon water" is a First Nation of the Nechako River at the headwaters of the Fraser River.

The lack of treaties between the First Nations of British Columbia (BC) and the Canadian Crown, is a long-standing problem that has become a major issue in recent years. In 1763, the British Crown declared that only it could acquire land from First Nations through treaties. Historically only two treaties were signed with the First Nations of British Columbia. The first of which was the Douglas Treaties, negotiated by Sir James Douglas with the native people of southern Vancouver Island from 1850-1854. The second treaty, Treaty 8, signed in 1899 was part of the Numbered Treaties that were signed with First Nations across the Prairie regions. British Columbian Treaty 8 signatories are located in the Peace River Country or the far North East of BC. For over nine decades no more treaties were signed with First Nations of BC; many Native people wished to negotiate treaties, but successive BC provincial governments refused until the 1990s. A major development was the 1997 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Delgamuukw v. British Columbia case that Aboriginal title still exists in British Columbia and that when dealing with Crown land, the government must consult with and may have to compensate First Nations whose rights are affected.

The Stellat'en First Nation is the band government of the Stellat'en subgroup of the Dakelh people in the Omineca Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.

William J. Poser is a Canadian-American linguist who is known for his extensive work with the historical linguistics of Native American languages, especially those of the Athabascan family.

The Yinka Dene Alliance was a coalition of six First Nations from northern British Columbia, organized to prevent the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines being built through their traditional territories. The coalition first comprised the Nadleh Whut'en, Nak'azdli, Takla Lake, Saik'uz and Wet'suwet'en First Nations. The Tl'azt'en First Nation later joined. These bands represented the interests of around 5,000 aboriginals. The alliance was active from 2010 until 2016 when the pipeline project was cancelled. They utilized indigenous, Canadian and international law, and organized various public protests across Canada.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.