Grand Chief Stewart Phillip | |
---|---|
ʔaʔsiwɬ | |
Nationality | Syilx/Okanagan |
Spouse | Joan Phillip |
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is an Okanagan Aboriginal leader who has served as president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs since 1998. As chief of the Penticton Indian Band in British Columbia from 1994 until 2008, as well as chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, he has advocated for Aboriginal rights for the First Nations in that province and particularly in the Okanagan region. [1] [2] He was awarded the title Grand Chief by the Okanagan Nation in 2006 in honour of his lifetime of commitment to and work for Indigenous rights and title. [2]
In 2002, Phillip drew media attention when he successfully forced a film project about the Aboriginal legend of the Ogopogo to be renamed Mee-Shee: The Water Giant . He did this by claiming that "It's an international concern among indigenous people about the exploitation of spiritual entities... for commercial purposes." [3]
On November 26, 2014, Phillip told delegates at the B.C. Federation of Labour convention that he would get arrested as a matter of principle to protest Kinder Morgan’s plans to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline. [4] The following day Phillip joined protesters at a Kinder Morgan borehole site on Burnaby Mountain, "We are making a very clear public statement that we do not support the Harper and Clark governments when it comes to resources," he said before his arrest. [5] He has been arrested 4 other times while fighting for Indigenous rights. [6]
In 2017, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and his wife, Joan Phillip, were awarded the Eugene Rogers Environmental Award by the Wilderness Committee "for their decades of commitment to preserving and protecting lands, waters and the environment for future generations." [7] In November 2018, Phillip will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. [8]
Phillip is married to BC NDP MLA Joan Phillip, who he describes as having "it all. Courage, principles, integrity, hard-working and dedicated." [9] He also has 6 children, [2] 15 grandchildren, and loves fishing, camping, and hunting. [9]
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word kiʔláwnaʔ, referring to a grizzly bear.
In Canadian folklore, the Ogopogo is a lake monster said to inhabit Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Some scholars have charted the entity's development from First Nations folklore and widespread water monster folklore motifs. The Ogopogo now plays a role in the commercial symbolism and media representation of the region.
Okanagan Lake is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is 135 km (84 mi) long, between 4 and 5 km wide, and has a surface area of 348 km2.
Larry Phillip Fontaine, is an Indigenous Canadian leader and former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He best known for his central role in raising public awareness of the Canadian Indian residential school system and pushing to secure Federal and Papal apologies in 2008 and 2022 respectively. He also helped secure a repudiation of Discovery doctrine from Pope Francis on March 30, 2023.
Peachland is a district municipality in the Okanagan Valley on the west side of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1899 by John Moore Robinson, although the region had long been home to the Okanagan people. Peachland is approximately half-an-hour's drive south of the city of Kelowna and about a 20-minute drive north of Summerland. The Okanagan Valley is very narrow in the area and there are few terraces that mark former lake levels and the former lake bottom. As a result, the city is largely located on a steep sidehill. Like many other areas in the Okanagan, Peachland is rapidly growing, with new residents coming from all across Canada. Across the lake from Peachland is Rattlesnake Island, home of the legendary Ogopogo. Peachland is approximately 370 km from Vancouver, British Columbia, on the British Columbia south coast.
Jeannette Christine Armstrong is a Canadian author, educator, artist, and activist. She was born and grew up on the Penticton Indian reserve in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, and fluently speaks both the Syilx and English languages. Armstrong has lived on the Penticton Native Reserve for most of her life and has raised her two children there. In 2013, she was appointed Canada Research Chair in Okanagan Indigenous Knowledge and Philosophy.
Mee-Shee: The Water Giant is a British-German family film shot in New Zealand in 2002 and released in 2005. It stars Bruce Greenwood, Rena Owen, Tom Jackson and Daniel Magder.
Benjamin Richard Stewart is a Canadian politician, who has represented the riding of Kelowna West in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2018 as a member of BC United. He previously represented the riding of Westside-Kelowna from 2009 to 2013.
The lack of treaties between the First Nations of British Columbia (BC) and the Canadian Crown is a long-standing problem that became a major issue in the 1990s. 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 these was the Douglas Treaties, negotiated by Sir James Douglas with the native people of southern Vancouver Island from 1850 to 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.
Susan Louisa Moir Allison was a Canadian author and pioneer. In 2010 Allison was designated a National Historic Person by the Canadian Government.
Edward Charles Kennedy Stewart is a Canadian academic administrator and politician who served as the 40th mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022. He previously was the member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby—Douglas (2011–2015) and Burnaby South (2015–2018), serving in the House of Commons as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus.
Idle No More is an ongoing protest movement, founded in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations women and one non-Native ally. It is a grassroots movement among the Indigenous peoples in Canada comprising the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples and their non-Indigenous supporters in Canada, and to a lesser extent, internationally. It has consisted of a number of political actions worldwide, inspired in part by the liquid diet hunger strike of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and further coordinated via social media. A reaction to alleged legislative abuses of Indigenous treaty rights by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative federal government, the movement takes particular issue with the omnibus bill Bill C-45. The popular movement has included round dances in public places and blockades of rail lines.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline System, or simply the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMPL), is a multiple product pipeline system that carries crude and refined products from Edmonton, Alberta, to the coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Tania Willard is an Indigenous Canadian multidisciplinary artist, graphic designer, and curator, known for mixing traditional Indigenous arts practices with contemporary ideas. Willard is from the Secwepemc nation, of the British Columbia interior, Canada.
Jordan Bennett is Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and member of the Qalipu First Nation from Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland, also known as Ktaqamkuk. He is married to Métis visual artist Amy Malbeuf.
Ian Campbell is an Indigenous Canadian politician. He is one of many hereditary chiefs, also known as head of family, and an elected councillor of the Squamish Nation. He serves as the chair of the Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase, a business conference focused on economic reconciliation and partnerships between industry and Indigenous community. The event takes place annually in Vancouver, British Columbia. Campbell also serves on the board of MST Development Corporation (MST), a corporate entity which manages real estate properties owned by a partnership between the Musqueam Indian Band, the Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. In 2018, he became the Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate for the 2018 Vancouver municipal election, but withdrew before the election.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the gas will be exported to Asian customers. Its route passes through several First Nations peoples' traditional lands, including some that are unceded. Controversy around the project has highlighted divisions within the leadership structure of impacted First Nations: elected band councils support the project, but traditional hereditary chiefs of the Wetʼsuwetʼen people oppose the project on ecological grounds and organized blockades to obstruct construction on their traditional land. Wetʼsuwetʼen people opposed to the pipeline argue that they have a relationship with the land that the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction threatens.
Amy Soranno is a Canadian animal rights activist in British Columbia.
Robert Louie is a Canadian First Nations leader, lawyer, and business person. He is known especially for his role in negotiating the Westbank Self-Government Agreement, which granted his band control over land management, language, and culture.
Joan Phillip is a Canadian politician who has served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant since 2023, as part of the British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus.