Xeni Gwet'in

The Xeni Gwet'in are among the Canadian First Nations in the province of British Columbia . They are also known as Stone Chilcotin because they belong to the Tsilhqot'in . Their traditional territory is in the southern Chilcotin District on the eastern flank of the Coast Mountains west of the Fraser River . They live mainly on an Indian reservation in the Nemiah Valley, a valley far from Highway 20 between Chilko Lake and the Taseko Lakes .

history

They are a subgroup of the Tsilhqot'in , their pre-colonial self-name is no longer known. The best-known member of the tribe is likely to be Klatsassin , who was one of the leaders of the Chilcotin War in 1864 . He and other fighters were publicly executed for murder on October 26, 1864; they were only recognized as opponents of the war in 1993.

On August 23, 1989, the Xeni Gwet'in declared the area around their reserve a Nemiah Aboriginal Wilderness Preserve and prohibited logging, road construction, raw material exploration and dam construction on Lake Chilko, Taseko and Tatlayoko. With individual users, however, they wanted to keep this area accessible on the basis of individual permits, for example for tourism purposes. The Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee supported their claim. In 1994 the Ts'il-os Provincial Park was created , which got its name from the mountain known today as Mount Tatlow. The now endangered Fish Lake was not included in the new park, although it was part of the Aboriginal Wilderness Preserve .

In 1996, the First Nation banned Taseko from using the lake for its copper and gold exploration. In 1999 Taseko offered compensation for the planned destruction of the fish habitat by mine waste water and ore waste. Chief Roger Williams opened negotiations while the Tsilhqot'in National Government, which represented all Tsilhqot'in, opposed the project. In March 1996, Taseko had raised more than $ 5 million from private investors, invested over 28 million in permits, and over 20 million in preliminary investigations. Despite the often convincing argument that too much had already been invested to stop the project, two factors held the company up: First, the Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the rights of the Indians of Canada to their respective territories and the treaties with Canada and the colonial predecessor states never went out. This gave the indigenous peoples the right to make decisions at the highest level, and they were allowed to mine natural resources for the first time, although this was not part of their traditional way of life - but only collectively and not individually. On the other hand, the gold price had fallen sharply.

Current situation

In 2011, Chief Marilyn Baptiste received the Eugene Rogers Environmental Award for her efforts to protect Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), which remains under threat from the Prosperity Mine, a gold and copper mine still operated by Taseko Ltd. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee estimates that there are around 80,000 rainbow trout in this lake , while the company wanted to use the lake to dispose of its toxic sewage. This had meanwhile been permitted by the provincial government, but the federal government prohibited it in 2010. Now Taseko is trying to get the neighboring, smaller Little Fish Lake approved for the disposal of its toxins. The unique thing about the rainbow trout population in Fish Lake is, on the one hand, that it differs genetically from other representatives of its species and is therefore endemic is common practice in the province. For more than a century, no consideration was given to the existing ecosystem, only short-term economic interests were decisive.

literature

• Terry Glavin: Nemiah: The Unconquered Country. New Star Books 1992.

Web links

• Xeni Gwet'in website
• Classassin . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Remarks

1. ^ William Joseph Turkel: The Archive of Place. Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau. University of British Columbia Press, 2007, pp. 47f.
2. ^ William Joseph Turkel: The Archive of Place. Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau. University of British Columbia Press, 2007, pp. 61f.
3. ↑ Chief Marilyn Baptiste wins award for her spirited defense of environment ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2016 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. , WCWC, October 22, 2011.