Squamish Nation Unsettled Lands
Prepared by: Taylor Hollis
Prepared for: Dr. Michael Markwick
Communications 330
Capilano University
Spring 2016
One of the biggest detriments and catalyst of change for the Squamish People was in 1791, the arrival of the First European Peoples and cultures. First Nations lands have been confiscated by Canadian settlers for centuries with or without any participation, recognition or consent from the First Peoples. The First Peoples of Canada have existed and prospered within their territories since time immemorial. First Nations people have a dependent relationship to the land. Hereditary Chief Janice George (Chepximiya Siyam) states “We have the same connection to the land our ancestors had for it has always provided for us whether it be physically or spiritually (Spoez).” The First Peoples have experienced broken promises and deceitful ways of overturning their lands to the government and settlers through colonial forms of legislation such as the Indian Act, failed Treaty negotiations, Indian Residential Schools, creating an entrenched in-capacity in relationship to residential schools, and lack of recognition of Aboriginal Rights and Title from the Supreme Court of Canada. The Kantian perspectives supports the history of the Canadian Government and Settler’s history of immorality of Unsettling Aboriginal Lands from a utilitarian approach (Hill).
Senakw also known as Kitsilano is an ancient Squamish Village of the Squamish People (Matthews). Settlers wanted Kitsilano “for public exhibition and other purposes for the general good of every citizen (Bareman)”. This Squamish Village was first inhabited by Chepxim Siyam (Chief George) of the Squamish Nation, and in the late 1800s to early 1900s the Squamish people under Chepxim did not want to leave the village. August Jack Khahtsahlano became the main informant to Major Matthews who recorded August Jack’s knowledge of the Squamish Village sites and he explained, “It wasn’t the agriculture that attracted the Squamish People to the village of Senakw, but the sea, seasonally (Bareman).” The Squamish People were coerced into surrendering their land or take cheques that did not match the value the value of their bountiful lands. The government of British Columbia then took a shortcut to the legal process through bypassing the federal government, who was legally charged with the oversight of Indians. To make matters worse the Department of Indian Affairs did nothing to undo the actions that infringed upon Federal responsibilities and duties to the Squamish people. The government burned most of the houses to the ground and didn’t even allocate the people of Senakw reserve lands (Bareman). The Supreme Court of Canada was insensitive of the Squamish people’s connection to the land and stated “Native people have no idea of time.” It was important for the Squamish people to remain apart of their village, their preservation is an expression of exercising sovereignty.
The Squamish people were erased from the one time village and now suburb of Kitsilano. The city was substantially urbanized creating a form of transformation that was foreign to First Nations people. The colonial form of transformation is transforming the earth into property (Hall). Through transformation, the Senakw village became private property and thus a commodity. Karl Marx critiques capitalism and his description of primitive accumulation is relatable to the illicit land transfer from the Squamish people to the government. Over a period of a century aristocracy owned the land and didn’t allow for compensation to the Squamish Nation. The story of capitalism for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people was not designed to take care of everyone, instead take care of the government’s social and economic greedy appetite. The common lands were enclosed while the Crown put the Squamish behind fences, or “Indian Reserves”. The government sold the village of Senakw, knowing that only those with money could afford the purchase and in turn deliberately excluding the Squamish People from retaining their land. Not only was the land expropriated, but the Squamish people were separated from their means of subsistence and displaced from their culture and language; a violation of First Nations inherent autonomy and freedom (Muckle). The Squamish people were then roped into the continuous process of primitive accumulation, and their relationship to the land and waters is now one of commodity (Bareman). The Squamish People are then alienated and are considered “squatters, aliens, or immigrants” on their own land.
Today, Squamish land is worth more than ever due to its natural resources and social and economic location. The Vancouver city has a diverse and vibrant economy but this doesn’t give the municipal, provincial and federal government the right to develop on unceded lands and capitalize on business opportunities without consent. The First Nations people have historically been treated as wards of the state, tools, and resources to accomplish the goals of the government rather than being treated as important in and of themselves. Kant explains that we are all of equal intrinsic worth, whether we are Indigenous or Non-Indigenous, Status or Non-Status, Metis, Inuit or First Nations (Muckle). It is every First Nations person’s right and duty to secure their own happiness, their values are spiritual, moral and environmental (Hill). It is up to the people to construct a personal identity that reconciles their indigeneity with their place in Canada (Bareman). The Squamish Peoples values don’t change whether they are colonized or decolonized and will remain with them for generations ahead. The revitalization of language and culture is a step forward and a large part of recognizing the Truth and Reconciliation for who First Nations People really are.
Despite the Squamish Nation’s colonial past, their Chief and Council and Trust Board is there to prove that sovereignty is being asserted. The Squamish People can never return to the same way of the first ancestors but they can only draw forward on their teachings. First Nations people are not idle in the process of the oppressive Canadian regime and institutions. I am optimistic of the future of moving forward with the Truth and Reconciliation, strengthening the relationships with the Canadian State and the Crown, as well strengthening nation-to-nation relationships without blame, shame or judgement.
Bibliography
Bareman, J. (n.d.). Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity In Vancouver. BC Studies .
Elstub, S. (2008). Towards a Deliberative and Associational Democracy. Edinburgh University Press.
Hill, Thomas E. Respect, Pluralism, and Justice: Kantian Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print.
Matthews, James Skitt. Conversations with Khahtsahlano, 1932-1954: Conversations with August Jack Khahtsahlano, Born at Snauq, False Creek Indian Reserve, circa 1877, Son of Khaytulk and Grandson of Chief Khahtsahlanogh. Vancouver: City Archives, 1967. Print.
Muckle, Robert J. Indigenous Peoples of North America: A Concise Anthropological Overview . University Of Toronto Press, 2012.
Sweet, W. (2011). Bases of Ethics. Marquette Studies in Philosophy.
Where Rivers, Mountains and People Meet: Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. Whistler, BC: Spo7ez Cultural Centre & Community Society, 2010. Print.