1. Kitselas Historic
Timeline
Where we were, where we are and where we hope to be in
regards to Treaty negotiations
July, 2012

2. Credit: National Archives of Canada, C-38019/PA022556
• Kitselas have occupied their homelands for at least 5,000
years
• Archaeological and ethnographic evidence and research with
Kitselas elders has confirmed this occupation

3. • We have tried to continue to be active, viable partners in the
development of BC since the arrival of non-aboriginal people
• Earliest written records show that this began in the 1700s with
missionaries from Russia, and fur traders from Europe.
Although this most likely began much earlier.
• At this time we traded and maintained good relationships with
visitors to our lands

4. D #23005
Credit: National Archives of Canada, C-140172
1700s
1763  the Royal Proclamation
of King George II recognizes
Aboriginal title and rights to land
While this is recognized by the
British Crown, on the North
American continent this promise
is not held
1792  Captain George
Vancouver charts the coast of BC,
more trading ships begin to
venture inland
With the arrival of more trading
ships, links with coastal and
inland fur traders are solidified
D #23005
Credit: National Archives of Canada,
C-140172

5. 1800-1850
1830  aware of the spread of new disease, the HBC begins
inoculating Native people against smallpox throughout what is
now known as Canada
The epidemic reaches BC in the 1860s, thousands die from
smallpox. 1 in 3 aboriginal people die in the epidemic
1843  HBC begins laying down boundaries in BC
This lays the foundation for how land and territories will be
parceled out to non-aboriginal peoples

6. 1850-1860
1858  British government passes an act establishing direct rule
on mainland BC. James Douglas, the first governor of BC, maps
Indian Reserves
1859  William Downie claims the Skeena pass in Gitksan
territory as a route for the Pacific Railroad, soon after more
extensive exploration begins along the Skeena River
This railroad corridor is still used today

7. 1860-1900
1864  Joseph Trutch replaces James Douglas. He reduces size
of reserves and implements discriminatory ‘Indian’ policies,
denies existence of Aboriginal rights
This perception does not change until the 1970s
1867  Constitution Act Section 91(24) says Canada is
responsible for Indians and Reserve lands for Indians
I-56070
Credit: British Columbia Archives

8. 1860-1900
1872  British military takes control of Skeena River removing
from the Kitselas their ability to toll the Canyon
1876  Indian Act imposed
1880s  Government begins to remove aboriginal children from
their homes, placing them in Residential Schools
Schools begin to phase out in the 1960s, the last one closes in the
1990s

9. 1860-1900
1884  Parliament outlaws the potlatch, the primary social,
economic and political express of most Native cultures on the
Northwest Coast
1887  Tsimshian and Nisga’a Chiefs travel to Victoria to press
for treaties and self-government. They are turned away.
“Since the arrival of the first Europeans in the Nass Valley, the Nisga'a nation has
attempted to negotiate on numerous occasions and to sign a treaty relating to their land
claims. In the mid 1880s, aboriginal leaders started making representations to the
authorities. However, their efforts met with no success for several decades, because the
leaders at the time refused to recognize the aboriginal titles to the land they were
claiming” Right Honourable Ghislain Fournier Manicouagan, QC speaking in front of
Canadian Parliament

10. 1900 – 1930
1901  Kitselas Reserve
lands are measured and
staked. The Kitselas land
base is reduced from
220,000 hectares to 1200
hectares
1904  Homestead Act
allowed any person except
Credit: National Archives of Canada,
Aboriginal and Chinese A-022556
peoples to access 160 acres
of land anywhere along the
Skeena River free of charge.

11. 1900-1930
1915  McKenna-McBride Commission re-evaluated reserve
lands and resulted in significant changes to reserve lands in BC.
Kitselas was a part of this Commission making passionate pleas
to have their lands restored. Their concerns were dismissed

12. "The Land on which we used to get our living it is gone, where we used
to go hunting it is gone, where we used to pick berries it is gone, and
why - because the government just simply took it away without saying a
word. If the white men would fight us like they are doing in Germany
today, it would be all right, but they don't - the Government stepped in
and without paying us a cent took all our land away and we now see
that we have been badly treated. The Indian people, we believe what
the Government said when the Government men says "this is your
reserve, and no one else" but when we start to make a little money,
perhaps selling timber or fish, why at once the same Government come
upon us and put us in jail and we have to sit down and cry because we
can not dispose of anything on these reserves without being put in
jail."
~ Chief Samuel Wise of the Kitselas Tribe, Saturday September 5th,
1915 (Statements to the McKenna-McBride Royal Commission on
establishment of Indian Reserve Lands)

13. 1900-1930
1927  Canada makes it illegal for Aboriginal people to organize
to discuss land claims or raise funds to hire a lawyer. Resistance
moves underground

14. 1931-1950
1931  Tsimshian and Haida form Native Brotherhood to secretly
discuss land claims and form protests on fishing, lands, taxation
and social issues.
“…we suffer as a minority race and as wards, or minors without a voice in
regard to our own welfare. We are prisoners of a controlling power in our own
country – a country which has stood up under the chaos of two world wars,
beneath the guise of democracy and freedom, yet has enslaved a native people
in their own home land.”
~ Jack Beynon, Tsimshian, Port Simpson, 1931

15. 1931-1950
1946  Flu epidemic wipes out significant number of Kitselas
political leaders. The fight for title and rights does not resume
again until the 1980s
1949  Native men allowed to vote provincially, native people
can vote federally in 1960

16. 1950-2000
1951  Canada amends the Indian Act, removing the anti-
potlatch and anti-land claims provisions
1973  through the Calder Case, the Supreme Court of Canada
rules aboriginal title did exist prior to contact, but is split on
whether it continued to exist in the present
Credit: CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/features
/first-nations/mapping-the-future/pack-
10-key-dates/index-10keydates.html

17. 1950-2000
1982  Constitution Act recognizes and affirms
Aboriginal and treaty rights
1984  Tsimshian Tribal Council (TTC) is formed,
representing the 7 Tsimshian groups in the
Northwest
1990  The 7 Tsimshian groups enter into
modern-day treaty negotiations

19. 2000 -
2004  TTC disbands. Treaty negotiations continue with
Kitselas, Kitsumkalum, Kitasoo, Hartley Bay and Metlakatla
2009  Treaty negotiations make significant advances with
Kitselas and Kitsumkalum
2012  After 20 years of negotiations, the Kitselas people
anticipate an offer from the Federal and Provincial governments
At this time both negotiators await the final details/offers from
BC and Canada to have a completed Agreement-in-Principle (AIP)

20. Approval process for the AIP
• Chief Negotiators come to an agreement that the AIP has
been completed
• A legal review of the AIP takes place
• Agreement is reached to move towards an approval process.
Internal review of the AIP – Kitsumkalum, then BC, then
Canada
• Sometimes the review by BC and Canada can take up to 6 months
• Initialing of the AIP
• At this point, all 3 negotiators will initial the AIP as a sign that
they will stop negotiating for now, and take it back to their
members for ratification
• Vote
• Kitselas will have their ratification vote. Then BC. Then Canada.
This is a chance for our members to have their say on the AIP

21. The future
2016  Kitselas could have a Final Agreement (or Treaty),
ushering in a new era of political and socioeconomic opportunity
free from the bounds of the Indian Act