Yale First Nation

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Yale First Nation is one of the First Nations , as the Indians of Canada are called. They live on the Lower Fraser in British Columbia , not far from and in Yale . According to the state's opinion, they include exactly 176 people nationwide in February 2018.

The Yale speak the Puchil dialect of the Nlaka'pamux .

history

Early history

Native American burial sites at Yale, 1887

Human traces can be found as early as the Milliken phase (7500-6000 BC) and Yale is one of the earliest sites in the history of the coastal Salish . The subsequent Mazama phase (6000–4500 BC) is also tangible. The region is the border between the cultural areas of the coastal inhabitants and the plateau dwellers. Above all the Stó: lō moved the Fraser upriver and caught mainly salmon there.

The indigenous people belong to two groups, the Tait and the Thompson or Nlaka'pamux . The former belong to the Halkomelem language group , the latter spoke N'Laka'pamuxcin. They are more closely related to the groups around Lytton , Boston Bar and Merritt . Nevertheless, the five groups of the Spuzzum and the Tait around Yale are closely related. The families each relate to one ancestor. These are Pelek, Liquitum, Chapmans, Charlies, and Bobbs.

Gone, gold finds, railroad boom

On behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company , a fort was founded and initially run by Ovid Allard. Allard named the fort after his superior and later Chief Factor of the Columbia District James Murray Yale .

Paddle steamer on the Fraser off Yale, 1882

The fort was formed just before the Fraser Canyon extends further north. Beyond this point, the river was impassable, because there rises a huge boulder, the Lady Franklin Rock . The city, however, was even accessible by steam boats. Its highest population - during the Fraser Canyon War of 1858 - is believed to have been around 15,000, but normally only 5 to 8,000 people lived here. The government tried to keep these prospectors under control. A gunboat on the Fraser River enforced boat and ship license fees from anyone who wanted to go on the river. More than 10,000 men searched for gold between Fort Langley and Fort Yale. The men came here to move further north, into the Cariboo area . The so-called Cariboo Road (also called Cariboo Wagon Road or Great North Road ) began in Yale . The wagon trail led through Barkerville , Lytton, Ashcroft and Quesnel , then on to Williams Creek. Governor James Douglas took out huge loans to finance these road construction in order to remain independent from the United States. In the early 1870s, an overland route to New Westminster was built , which is now called Old Yale Road . Shortly before the development by railroad construction began, the Dewdney Trunk Road to Hatzic , east of Mission City , was also built in these years .

With the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway , the place became the headquarters of the railway contractor Andrew Onderdonk (1848-1905), which gave the city a new boom. The rail link made Yale a getaway for people from Vancouver from 1885 onwards . But when the railway was completed that year, the construction boom ended. It was not until 1922 that construction of a new road connection, the Cariboo Highway, began . Again the road was the most important overland connection between the plateau and the coast. After the expansion in the fifties, the Coquihalla Highway was built in the eighties .

Reservations

The reserves , which were assigned to them in 1878, now comprise 16 reserves with a combined area of ​​224 hectares. The extremely fragmented reserves are in the Yale District and include:

  • 4 1/2 mile 2 on the right bank of the Fraser River , 3 miles northeast of Yale, 4.3 hectares
  • Albert Flat 5 ditto, 3 m south of Yale, 52.3 ha
  • Kaykipe 7 on the left bank of the Fraser at the confluence of Keikum Creek, 10 ha
  • Lukseetsissum 9 on the right bank of the Fraser, at Ruby Creek CP Station, 53.9 ha
  • Qualark 4 on the left bank of the river at the mouth of Qualark Creek, 10 hectares
  • Squeah 6 ditto, at the mouth of Suka Creek, 16.8 ha
  • Stullawheets 8 on the right bank, at Choate CP Station, 52.6 ha
  • Yale 18 an island in the river at the height of Kuthlalth, 1.5 m east of Yale, 0.7 ha
  • Yale 19 on the left bank of the river, north and near Kuthlalth, 0.7 ha
  • Yale 20 ditto, at the mouth of a stream 2 m above Yale, 5.6 ha
  • Yale 21 ditto, northern mouth of Siwah Creek, 1.3 ha
  • Yale 22 on the right bank of the river, 3 m north of Yale, including a cemetery and rock claimed by Billy Swallsea, 3.4 hectares
  • Yale 23 ditto, 3 m north of Yale, 5.6 ha
  • Yale 24 ditto, 0.2 ha
  • Yale 25 on the left bank of the river, 3 m north of Yale, 0.3 ha
  • Yale Town 1 on the right bank of the river at Yale, 6.4 hectares

In February 2018, of the 176 recognized Yale, 55 lived on their own reservation, 12 on other reservations and the others outside. Most lived in Yale Town 1 .

Contract negotiations

The Yale began negotiations with the province in April 1994 to reach a contract. In 2005 and 2006 an Agreement in Principle was reached, with which the tribe entered phase 5 of the six-stage contractual process. These stages are part of the so-called BC Treaty Process . On February 5, 2010, Yale reached the final stage of negotiations. The contract land covers the 224 hectares of the reserve and 1,749 hectares of crown land. In addition, there is a transfer payment of $ 10.7 million. Ratification is still pending.

literature

  • Douglas C. Harris: Indian Reserves Allotted for Fishing Purposes in British Columbia, 1849-1925 , in: Ders .: Landing Native Fisheries: Indian Reserves and Fishing Rights in British Columbia, 1849-1925 , Vancouver 2008.

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Yale First Nation. Government of Canada - Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada , March 28, 2017, accessed March 26, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Agreements-in-Principle. Yale First Nation. British Columbia Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation , accessed October 8, 2012 .