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George Vancouver's party landed on the shores of the Hood Canal
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First Fur Trade Fort @ mouth of Columbia River
Created even greater need for fish to feed trappers and other colonists -
HBC built Fort Langley on the Fraser River
For the fur trade but also begin exports salmon -
The Oregon Treaty
Britain and the United States agreed on a division of Oregon Territory, the huge free trade area they had created in 1818 between Russian and Mexican claims on the Pacific coast of North America. This agreement, the Oregon Treaty, was a formal, legal understanding between distant governments "respecting the sovereignty and government of the territory on the northwest coast of America." It assigned to Britain Vancouver Island and the mainland north of the 49th parallel. (Harris, 15) -
Creation of colony on Vancouver Island
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The Douglas Years
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First Indian Reserve on Vancouver Island
Laid out in Victoria Harbor pre 1852 as soon as a colony was created on Vancouver Island.(Harris, xviii) -
1st comprehensive piece of fishing legislation passed
by the Legislative Assembly for the Province of Canada -
Creation of colony in British Columbia
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James Douglas becomes first Governor of the Colony of BC
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Fishery (renamed Fisheries) Act
Offered commercial fishers greater security of tenure to fishing grounds through Crown-issued licenses and leases. (33) Also set aside special privileges to sports fisherman while also forbidding traditional fishing techniques. -
Arrival of Gilbert Malcolm Sprout
to Vancouver Island to start a logging camp. (Harris, xv) -
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era of "scientific" racism against Indian in BC
reaction to Darwin's "On the Origin of the Species" released in 1859. The ideas of the phrenologists, craniometricians, and polygenesists were very much alive. (Harris, 50) -
Act for the Preservation of Game
The Crown claimed wildlife for the first time which was amended and expanded in 1862. Both acts limited aboriginal use of wildlife and commercial hunting (conducted to supply butcher shops) in favor of the "sportsman. (Lutz, 247) -
Bute Inlet Incident
18 non-natives killed building a road... led to subsequent hanging of 5 Tsilhqot'in -
Cox's Okanagan reserves reduced
Cutting back the large reserves set aside in the Douglas Years. -
Fisheries Act
Became law in BC in 1871. It empowered the Crown to appoint Fisheries officers, authorized the minister of Fisheries to issue fishing leases or license up to nine years in length, establish basic rules about how and when fish might be caught , set out fines for the failure to comply, designated Fisheries officers as justices of the peace with powers to convict and punish for offenses, and gave the minister authority to make regulations for the better management of the fishery (Harris, 107) -
Commercial salmon canning in BC begins
employs thousands of Aboriginal People. Different from sawmill work in that it provided work for the whole family (men typically fished while women and children prepared the fish and canned) -
Beg of Canning Industry & Canada's Department of Fisheries begins to unravel connection between land and fish
1st Cannery opens on Fraser River. 1870 and on..."It sought to ensure that any propriety interest held by Native peoples in their reserves remained on dry land the exclusive rights that characterized the occupation of land, the Fisheries maintained, did not extend to the fishes." (8). Fish as common property to all... -
Industrial commercial fishing expands
challenging the meaning of the fisheries in the Douglas Treaties -
BC's confederation with Canada
Observation and record keeping of Aboriginals intensified with new structures of state monitoring. Report on the "progress" of Indians. (Lutz, 19) Especially important for government agencies who monitor fishing streams (and regulate them) as well as for capitalism (esp the fur trade) Racially divided Authority over Fisheries ceded to the Dominion government -
British North America Act
The federal government claims the sea and the resources in it. -
Border through San Juan Islands establish
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Federal Indian Act
Pathologized Indians as legal minorities, prohibiting them from buying/ selling/ consuming alcohol... which also prevented them from working the hospitality industry. For owners of shops, this also included the prohibition of products that have alcohol in them like perfume, medicines, vanilla, etc...(Lutz, 236) -
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The Joint Indian Reserve Commission
It operated until 1878 and was comprised of three commissioners: A.C. Anderson, appointed by the federal government; Archibald McKinley, appointed by BC; and Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, appointed by both governments. In 1878, Sproat assumed responsibility as sole commissioner of the Indian Reserve Commission until 1880. Peter O'Reilly replaced Sproat and allotted the majority of reserves until his retirement in 1898. A.W. Vowell succeeded O’Reilly until the commission was dissolved in 1910. -
The Fisheries Act (extended to BC)
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Windsor (Cannery) signed a contract w/ Ts'ibasaa for access to a fishery
(Harris, 69) -
Sproat becomes Indian Reserve Commissioner
- He represented both Dominion (similar to federal) and provincial governments. He becomes the sole commissioner to represent Indian voices after the Joint Commission was shut down for lack fo interest and money.
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Ts'ibasaa makes contract w/ North West Commercial Company
Had opened the first cannery on the north coast, the Inverness Cannery at Port Edward in 1876. Securing its supply of fish with this contract -
Fishing Ban Begins
The Department of Fisheries enacted the first set of fishing regulations for BC. Bans certain types of salmon fishing, Native styles (During Sprout's survey, trying to allocate MORE land to natives... but he is never listened to) -
Reserve policy in British Columbia is set
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Sprout resigns as Indian Reserve Commissioner
The whole process, Sprout said, was "a fraud upon the Indians," and contravened the powers he had been given in 1878. (Harris, 165) -
Leasing fishing grounds from natives ends
1880's the practice of leasing fishing grounds directly from Natives end -
John Powell Proposes watershed map of Western US
He loses out to big business interests who want to build straight railroad lines, but his thinking of space and borders was more in line with Native thinking in relation to the natural geography and watersheds. -
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Majority of reserve allocation
Pre 1880 was Sproat era. Post 1938 is the formal transfer of the province's reserves to the Dominion. -
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Fishing and Cannery Labor
at some point, employed almost 50% of Aboriginal BC populations. Majority of employees were women. -
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Peter O'Reilly is Reserves Commissioner
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O'Reilly stop allotting Indian-only fishing rights
Dept. of Marine & Fisheries made a stink about the public's right to fish...O'Reilly didn't want controversy. -
Annual licenses now required for salmon fishing on the Fraser River
from the Dept. of Fisheries. Nearly all of the 600-00 annual license holders on the Fraser from 1882-1887 were Native (indication of canneries reliance on Native fishers) -
License fees for fishing
Natives resented having to buy a license in waters they had long considered their -
Canadian Pacific Railway finished
links BC province to the Canadian economy and labor markets. Jobs associated with construction end as do the packing positions (human transportation) -
First welfare payment to Lekwungen
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Fisheries rewrites regulations in BC
Fisheries were required to register their equipment and intended fishing location; fisheries could limit the number of boats in a region and, under certain circumstances, Indians were not required to hold a license. (Harris, 109) -
Game and Fish Department regulations began to prescribe when Aboriginal Peoples cold participate in subsistence activities
Connection between these laws and a new dependence on wage labor (Lutz, 222) -
Fishery regulation extended
After 1892 commission recommendation (little Native input, 2 interviews) -
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The Vowell Years
In 1898, he was also assigned the duties of Indian Reserve Commissioner after the retirement of Peter O'Reilly. During Vowell's tenure, in 1907, British Columbia rejected the allocation of any additional land to native reserves. Had confirmed 49 more reserves (21 were fisheries). Vowell resigned his federal positions in March 1910 -
Barkley Sound lost control of fisheries
Thanks to O'Reilly. Given small plots of reserves around the Alberni Canal (fishing huts). Fishing rights taken away. -
Prohibiting the sale of Crown land to "aboriginals of this continent"
amendment to the Land Act. In a similar action, the Dominion government only issued seine-net and salmon trap licenses to white fishers (whites-only eligible) -
Nisga'a Land Committee
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Period: to
Victoria experiences a boom economy due to fisheries and canneries (similar to the gold rush)
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Interior Tribes and the Indian Right Association
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Registration required for traplines
especially affects plateau (inland) nations -
Period: to
McKenna- McBride Commission
A royal commission of on Indian Affairs with both the Dominion and provincial governments. (216) Charged with finding a final solution to the Indian land question. First report in 1916 was unacceptable to the province (too much land for the Natives). Led to the Ditchburn-Clark Investigation. Province and Dominion still not satisfied. Indian Land titles are ignored again until 1960s. -
Hell's Gate rock slide into Fraser River
Canadian Northern Railway Company dumps boulders into river during railway construction. Rock slide narrows the water passage, making pressure of the water too strong for salmon to swim up. Led to a temp. shutdown of Fraser fishery in 1914 -
WA State Fisheries Code
This new code guaranteed Indians the right to fish within a half mile of their reservation in marine waters or within five miles of their reservation in any stream. Stipulated the size of both Indian riverine and set nets but did not require Indians to obtain licenses to fish on their reserves (Wadewitz, 84; ch3) -
Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States
Rights to exclusive fisheries stemmed from their reserve grant -
McKenna- McBride report
First published in secret (1916) so as not to anger the Natives and alert them of the shitty deal they got. Unsurprisingly, it was rejected by Tribes (251) -
Naives can acquire drift net licenses
Seine-net, salmon-trap licenses, and cannery operating licenses still only went to whites until 1924. -
British Columbia Indian Lands Settlement Act
The act overrode the provisions in the Indian Act and gave the government authority to do what it had promised it would not: agree to reserve reductions and cutoffs without the consent of native people. -
Trapline regulation become law for fur hunts
...."dividing a resources, and a long-established Native occupation, between Natives and whites."
Changed the culture of these hunts as well. Now women and children were not joining as part of family outings. Now they had to go to school and farm, and it became solitary work for the men. pg 282 1/2 page -
R v. Charlie
A Squamish hereditary chief charged for fishing with a gaff hook on the Capilano River. Acquitted at trial but convicted on appeal and fined one dollar. All fishing had been closed except for sports fisherman with a hook and line. (a measure of how confided the food fishery had become) -
Province transferred full legal title to the Dominion (Reserves)
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Anti-potatch law removed
The winter dances increased , as did the number of participants. In this way the subsistence economy was still connected to the prestige economy: in order to gain respect and to be a siem, or a "leader," it was necessary to be generous with food as with goods and cash. (Lutz 268) -
The Boldt Decision
Federal Judge George Boldt (1903-1984) issues an historic ruling reaffirming the rights of Washington's Indian tribes to fish in accustomed places. The "Boldt Decision" allocates 50 percent of the annual catch to treaty tribes, which enrages other fishermen. -
Canadian Constitution was codified
aboriginal right were specifically protected in Section 35 -
R v. Sparrow Case
Landmark decision involving the fishing rights of the Musqueam that established the framework for the interpretation of Aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution -
Period: to
Pacific Salmon Wars
The Pacific Salmon War was a period of heightened tensions between Canada and the United States over the Pacific Salmon catch. It began in 1992 after the first Pacific Salmon Treaty, which had been ratified in 1985, expired, and lasted until a new agreement was signed in 1999. Disagreements were high in 1994, when a transit fee was set on American fishing vessels using the Inside Passage and a ferry was blockaded by fishing boats in Friday Harbor, Washington. -
R v. Nikal & R v. Lewis
Canadian Supreme Court cases that show connections between Indian Reserves and Native fisheries -
Sockeye fail to appear in Lower Fraser River
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1st Annual Coast Salish Gathering
at Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Center in Sequim, Washington. This gathering brought together First Nation Chiefs, Tribal Chairs, and Council members from around the Salish Sea of the coastal Pacific region of North America. Invited delegates from Canadian and US governments and environmental organizations also participated in the dialogue with the tribal leaders in an attempt to address environmental issues of shared concern, particularly issues related to the protection of salmon habitat.