Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police Service

Last updated
Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police Service
Common nameTribal Police
AbbreviationSTPS
Agency overview
Formed1992
Preceding agencies
  • Tribal Peacekeepers (1988)
  • Stl'atl'imx Security (1986)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionBritish Columbia, Canada
Population6,260 approx. (St'at'imc)
Constituting instrument
General nature
Operational structure
Overviewed byStl'atl'imx Tribal Police Board

Police Officers9 [1]
Elected officer responsible
  • The Honourable Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia
Agency executive
  • Deborah Doss-Cody, Chief Officer
OfficesLillooet, Mount Currie
Website
stlatlimxpolice.ca

The Stl'atl'imx ( /slætˈləm/ ) Tribal Police Service (STPS) is the police force for St'at'imc aboriginal peoples of British Columbia. The STPS is the only aboriginal police service in British Columbia. Their officers are appointed as designated provincial constables, and have full police powers on and off-duty throughout the province. They are based in Lillooet and Mount Currie. [2]

Statimc ethnic group

The St'at'imc, also known as the Lillooet, St̓át̓imc, Stl'atl'imx, etc., are an Interior Salish people located in the southern Coast Mountains and Fraser Canyon region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia.

British Columbia Province of Canada

British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. With an estimated population of 5.016 million as of 2018, it is Canada's third-most populous province.

Indigenous Police in Canada are police forces responsible for public order on First Nations across Canada.

Contents

Communities served consist of the N'Quatqua (Anderson Lake), Lil'wat (Mount Currie), Samahquam (Baptiste-Smith), Sekw'el'was (Cayoose Creek), Skatin (Skookumchuck), T'it'q'et (Lillooet), Tsalalh (Seton Lake), Ts'kw'aylaxw (Pavilion), Xa'xtsa (Douglas), and Xaxli'p (Fountain).

N'Quatqua, variously spelled Nequatque, N'quat'qua, is the proper historic name in the St'at'imcets language for the First Nations village of the Stl'atl'imx people of the community of D'Arcy, which is at the upper end of Anderson Lake about 35 miles southeast of Lillooet and about the same distance from Pemberton. The usage is synonymous with Nequatque Indian Reserve No. 1, which is 177 ha. in size and located adjacent to the mouth of the Gates River.

Anderson Lake (British Columbia) lake in Canada

Anderson Lake is located about 25 miles North of the town of Pemberton, British Columbia and is about 28.5 km² in area and around 21 km (13 mi) in length. Its maximum depth is 215 meters. It is drained by the Seton River, which feeds Seton Lake and so the Fraser River. It is fed by the Gates River, which drains from the Pemberton Pass divide with the Birkenhead River valley towards Pemberton-Mount Currie.

Mount Currie, known as Ts'zil in the St'at'imcets (Lillooet) language, is the northernmost summit of the Garibaldi Ranges in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Its north face dominates the "skyline" of the Pemberton Valley and is one of the peaks visible from the Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Area just southwest. Mount Currie is the namesake of Mount Currie, British Columbia and the adjoining Mount Currie Indian Reserve, home of the Lil'wat First Nation.

History

In 1986 the Lillooet first nation band council established a security program where officers patrolled reserves and worked with the RCMP to prevent and prosecute crime. In 1988 the council built on the security program by forming the peacekeepers for the communities of T'itq'et, Tsalalth, and Lil'wat.

Lillooet District municipality in British Columbia, Canada

Lillooet, formerly Cayoosh Flat, is a community on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, about 240 kilometres (150 mi) up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate with an average of 329.5 millimetres (13 in) of precipitation being recorded annually. Lillooet has a long growing season, and once had prolific market gardens and orchard produce. It often vies with Lytton and Osoyoos for the title of "Canada's Hot Spot" on a daily basis in summer.

By 1992, the Solicitor General of British Columbia and seven Stl'atl'imx communities established a tribal policing project. An agreement with the RCMP formalized a partnership and the RCMP's role as the primary policing authority in the participating communities. In 1999, the BC Police Act was amended to include designated policing agencies. The STPS were re-established under Section 4.1 of the act as a designated policing agency. [3]

Structure

STPS is the only First Nations Administered Police Service (FNAPS) in British Columbia. Modeled on the structure of an independent municipal police department, the department is governed by a police board selected from the communities served. Police officers appointed by the board are either experienced officers or graduates of the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Police Academy.

Justice Institute of British Columbia

Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) is a public, post-secondary educational institution in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, that is focused on training professionals in the justice, public safety and social services fields. JIBC also has campuses in Victoria, Okanagan, Chilliwack, Pitt Meadows, and Maple Ridge.

In 2013, the Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police had an authorized strength of 9 police officers. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Skatin First Nations, aka the Skatin Nations, are a band government of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, a small group of the larger St'at'imc people who are also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Town of Skatin - the St'at'imcets version of the Chinook Jargon Skookumchuck- is located 4 km south of T'sek Hot Spring- alt. spelling T'sek Hot Spring - commonly & formerly named both St. Agnes' Well & Skookumchuck Hot Springs The community is 28 km south of the outlet of Lillooet Lake on the east side of the Lillooet River. It is approximately 75 km south of the town of Pemberton and the large reserve of the Lil'wat branch of the St'at'imc at Mount Currie. Other bands nearby are Samahquam at Baptiste Smith IR on the west side of the Lillooet River at 30 km. and Xa'xtsa First Nations; the latter is located at Port Douglas, near the mouth of the Lillooet River where it enters the head of Harrison Lake. The N'Quatqua First Nation on Anderson Lake, between Mount Currie and Lillooet, was at one time involved in joint treaty negotiations with the In-SHUCK-ch but its members have voted to withdraw, though a tribal council including the In-SHUCK-ch bands and N'Quatqua remains, the Lower Stl'atl'imx Tribal Council.

Lillooet Lake lake

Lillooet Lake is a lake in British Columbia, Canada about 25 km in length and about 33.5 square kilometres (22 mi²) in area. It is about 95 km downstream from the source of the Lillooet River, which resumes its course after leaving Little Lillooet Lake, aka Tenas Lake. Immediately adjacent to the mouth of the upper Lillooet River is the mouth of the Birkenhead River and just upstream along the Lillooet is the confluence of the Green River, which begins at Green Lake in the resort area of Whistler.

The Lillooet Tribal Council is the official English name of the largest tribal council of what is also known as the St'at'imc Nation, though not including all governments of St'at'imc peoples - the term St'at'imc Nation has another context of all St'at'imc peoples, not just those within this tribal council or the tribal council itself, as the term can be used for. The Lillooet Tribal Council a.k.a. the St'at'imc Nation is the largest tribal council of the St'at'imc people, though a pan-St'at'imc organization, the St'át'timc Chiefs Council includes all St'at'imc bands.

The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton-Mount Currie in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The communities of the In-SHUCK-ch are of the St'at'imcets-speaking St'at'imc people, but in recent years seceded from the Lillooet Tribal Council to form their own organization.

Mount Currie is a small, mostly First Nations, community in British Columbia, 164 kilometres north of Vancouver and 40 kilometres north-east of Whistler along Highway 99. "The Mount Currie settlement and mountain were named after Scottish settler John Currie, who located to Quebec in 1851. After failure as a gold seeker in California and the Cariboo, Currie turned to ranching and finally settled near Pemberton with his Lillooet Indian wife in 1885." The area is traditional territory of the Lil'wat, a subgroup of the St'at'imc people who with the communities of Skatin, Samahquam and Xa'xtsa to the south comprise the Lower St'at'imc or Lower Lillooet. The Mount Currie Indian Reserve hosts most of the population of Mount Currie, who are known as the Lil'wat, their name for the spot, but west of the reserve there are non-native farms, industrial sites and tourist resorts, and on the mountain shoulder immediately north of the reserve is Owl Creek, the site of the original Catholic mission school which drew the Lil'wat from their former homebase at Pemberton Meadows so as to be close to their children. Owl Creek today is the name of a modern subdivision of mostly non-natives, though Owl Creek remains on the rail crossing on the CNR just outside the reserve.

Chief Hunter Jack was a 19th-century chief of the Lakes Lillooet. His name in St'at'imcets, the Lillooet language, was In-Kick-Tee. Irene Edwards, long-time storekeeper at D'arcy and later at Seton Portage, gives another Indian name for him, Tash Poli.

Lilwat First Nation

The Lil'wat First Nation, a.k.a. the Lil'wat Nation or the Mount Currie Indian Band, is a First Nation band government located in the southern Coast Mountains region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet Tribal Council, which is the largest grouping of band governments of the St'at'imc or Stl'atl'imx people. Other St'at'imc governments include the smaller In-SHUCK-ch Nation on the lower Lillooet River to the southwest, and the independent N'quatqua First Nation at the near end of Anderson Lake from Mount Currie, which is the main reserve of the Lil'wat First Nation, and also one of the largest Indian reserves by population in Canada.

The N'Quatqua First Nation, also known as the N'quatqua Nation, the N'Quatqua Nation, the Nequatque First Nation, the Anderson Lake Indian Band, the Anderson Lake First Nation and the Anderson Lake Band, is a First Nations government of the St'at'imc people, located in the southern Coast Mountains region of the Canadian province of British Columbia at the community of D'Arcy, where the British Columbia Railway meets the head of Anderson Lake, about midway between the towns of Pemberton and Lillooet.

Law enforcement in British Columbia, 2005

This is a list of statistics in law enforcement in British Columbia in 2005, including crime rates, police strength, and police costs. In total there were 508,271 reported (non-traffic) incidents of Criminal Code offences, giving the province a crime rate of 120 offences per 1,000 people, the second highest in Canada. This was down 5% from 2004's rate of 125, and was the first decrease since 1999-2000. Of these crimes, only 22% were solved in the same year, including 52% of all violent crimes and 13% of all property crimes. This resulted in 57,817 persons being recommended for charges to the Crown counsel, of which 81% were male and 10% were young offenders.

Skookumchuck Hot Springs Skatin Nations in British Columbia, Canada

Official New Name is reverting to the traditional Pre-Colonial / Pre-Columbian Name: T'sek Hot Spring or T'sik Hot Spring. The former names are Saint Agnes Well & "Skookumchuck Hot Springs" near the First Nation community of Skookumchuck and more recently renamed /reverted to traditional name of Skatin ("ska-TEEN") is on the historic Harrison Lillooet Gold Rush trail in the Lillooet River valley, south of Lillooet Lake, in British Columbia, Canada. The hot springs themselves, named T'sek in the St'at'imcets language were on private property purchased from "Goodwin Purcell" family by the Trethewey family after his death in the 1909 and acquired by the Government of Canada in 2008 to be held in trust for the local aboriginal people until a potential treaty settlement.

Skatin Village in British Columbia, Canada

Skatin is a village of under 100 persons in Skatin First Nations, aka the Skatin Nations, a Band government of the larger Band of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, part of the St'at'imc people who are also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. Skatin, the official new name, reverts to the traditional pre-colonial/pre-Columbian name. The alternate past name still commonly used by outsiders, Skookumchuck, is the St'at'imcets version of the Chinook Jargon Skookumchuck, meaning Strong Waters, i.e. rapids. The town site is 4 km south of T'sek Hot Spring, formerly named both Saint Agnes Well and Skookumchuck Hot Springs. The community is 28 km south of the outlet of Lillooet Lake on the east side of the Lillooet River. It is approximately 75 km south of the town of Pemberton and the large reserve of the Lil'wat branch of the St'at'imc at Mount Currie, British Columbia. See Skatin First Nations for details about the complicated Band(s) structure.

The Lower Stl'atl'imx Tribal Council is a First Nations tribal council in British Columbia, Canada, comprising four band governments of the St'at'imc people:

The Bridge River Rapids, also known as the Six Mile Rapids, the Lower Fountain, the Bridge River Fishing Grounds, and in the St'at'imcets language as Sat' or Setl, is a set of rapids on the Fraser River, located in the central Fraser Canyon at the mouth of the Bridge River six miles north of the confluence of Cayoosh Creek with the Fraser and on the northern outskirts of the District of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada.

The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) is the civilian oversight agency in British Columbia, Canada responsible for examining and investigating incidents involving on or off duty municipal police officers, Stl’atl’imx Tribal Police Service, Metro Vancouver Transit Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers based in BC, Special Provincial Constables, Special Municipal Constables and Auxiliary Constables that result in death or serious harm.

References

  1. 1 2 "Police Resources BC 2013" (PDF). Government of B.C. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  2. "Administrative Policy" (PDF). Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  3. "History". Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police Service. Retrieved 2015-05-21.