T'sou-ke
The T'sou-ke or T'sou-ke First Nation is one of the Canadian First Nations and was formerly known under the name Sooke (spr. Souk). They belong to the Salish-speaking family and live on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada . Because they live on Juan de Fuca Strait , which separates mainland Washington and Vancouver Island to the south, this subgroup is also known as the Northern Straits Salish , a group that is culturally part of the Coast Salish .
The name "Sook" or "Soke" is derived from the stickleback fish (probably three- spined stickleback ) that lives in the Sooke Basin. The town of Sooke is around 35 km west of Victoria .
The tribe of 221 registered members (August 2009) is a member of the Te'Mexw Treaty Association , which also includes the Songhees , Malahat , Beecher Bay and Nanoose First Nations. They belong to the tribes that signed treaties with the government around 1850 (Douglas Treaties) that were adopted by Canada.
history
The Spanish commander of the sloop Princesa Real , Manuel Quimper , took possession of the land at Sooke Harbor for Spain in June 1790 and named it "Puerta de Revilla Gigedo" after the Spanish viceroy. However, Great Britain prevailed against Spain in 1794, but renounced the settlement.
Missionaries were already active here in the 1830s, first Methodists , then Catholics . In 1838 a Jean Baptiste Brulé married a Sooke woman named Marguerite in Fort Victoria . In 1977, 100-year-old T'sou-ke woman Agnes George was interviewed, who could remember that her mother-in-law had known Marguerite. The family had moved to Sooke with their children. Marguerite Brulé still appears in the 1881 census at the age of 90. The Brulés were not the only family of French descent to join the Sooke through the Hudsons's Bay Company (HBC).
By 1848 the Cowichan , Klallam and Ditidaht almost destroyed the T'sou-ke.
Treaties and Reservations
Due to the proximity to Victoria , which was founded in 1843, and the leading HBC there, there was an intensification of trade. In 1850, the T'sou-ke received one of the 14 Douglas treaties, which took their land from them for 48 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence. In 1877 today's reservations were assigned to the tribe. In 1881 the "Sooke" numbered only 32 people in 8 families.
When the McKenna-McBride Commission visited the reservations of British Columbia in 1913, it suggested that the reservations of the Sooke Tribe, “No. 1-sooke, 65.00 acres; No. 2-sooke, * 101.00 acres; No. 3-Graveyard, ** 0.03 acres, and No. 4-Graveyard, 0.95 acres. ”, But No.3, a small cemetery, was lost due to erosion.
The Commission's proposals did not become legally binding until 1923.
Since 1998 the tribe has been a member of the Inter Tribal Health Authority , a health organization under its own management. On July 9, 2007, she started an Aboriginal Health Data Center, in which disease data are recorded and evaluated.
In June 2006, Chief Rose Dumont sued the Canadian government in the British Columbia Supreme Court for compliance with the Treaty of 1850 over fishing rights. There it was said that they could continue to fish as they were used to, giving their land. The administration has been deriving quantitative limits from this for decades, although the Indians are again allowed to fish commercially. When the Mi'kmaq in eastern Canada attempted to enforce their contractually guaranteed fishing rights by ostentatious fishing in 2000, the T'sou-ke publicly went to catch salmon to support them.
In 1995 efforts began to protect the Sooke Hills, which had been completely cut down except for a few trees. The trees, which are now old, are intended to help reduce the flooding of the past few decades. In the years 2002 to 2004 the tribe implemented a corresponding management plan.
Current situation
The tribe consisted of 221 members in August 2009, of whom 129 lived on the reservation, 91 outside the reservation, and one woman lives on another reservation.
In November 2007, Western Forest Products attempted to remove 28,000 hectares of land from the Tree License System previously in use in the province . This also includes the country of the T'sou-ke, which was not even asked. Investors are looking for land that can be privatized in the fast growing Victoria area. Since the sawmills in the south have been closed in recent years, the wood was exported directly to the USA.
Reservations
The two reserves T'sou-ke 1 and T'sou-ke 2 are located in the Sooke District . The former covers 26.3 hectares and is located on the left bank of the Sooke River near the mouth at Sooke Harbor, the latter covers 40.9 hectares and lies on Sooke Bay.
Remarks
- ^ The results of the census of 1881: [2] .
- ↑ The published text: Minutes of Decision - Cowichan Agency-Sook Tribe (p. 303) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Here is a map with the member nations: Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ See [3] .
- ↑ According to the information from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development , First Nation Profiles: T'Sou-ke First Nation ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Report in the Times Colonist of November 2, 2007: Judith Lavoie: Groups unite to fight sales of forest land. Ministry has a battle on its hands over tree-farm license transfers , in: Times-Colonist, November 2, 2007 ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
literature
- The Sooke Story - The History and The Heartbeat , Ed. Sooke Region Museum 1999, ISBN 0-9694942-2-X .
- Wayne Suttles (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 7: Northwest Coast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1990. ISBN 0-87474-187-4 .
Web links
- Side of the T'sou-ke nation
- rough map of the residential area
- Site of the Sooke Region Museum
- Texts of the Douglas Treaties ( Memento from June 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
