Nation challenges province’s authority

The Okanagan Nation is proceeding to court on this question: How did the province get the title and authority it claims to the forested land in the province in the absence of treaty? The answer to this question is urgently needed throughout the province, a press release from the nation states.

Under the province’s forestry legislation, the province requires that a person must obtain provincial authorization to harvest “Crown timber.” In 1999, communities from the Okanagan and Secwepemc Nations were granted permits from their respective tribal councils to harvest trees in accordance with their laws, and the Okanagan Indian Band, under permit issued by the Okanagan Nation Alliance, commenced logging in the Browns Creek Watersheds, an area close to their village. The province commenced a court case to enforce its Stop Work order. In response, the nations filed a constitutional challenge to the province’s legislation.

“The land question, and our efforts as Okanagan to have our Aboriginal title and obligation to make decisions to protect our territories and resources is what this case is about from an Okanagan perspective. It is a conflict between the Okanagan Nation’s ability to exercise our laws to make decisions about our Aboriginal title lands and the province’s authority to deny our right to exercise Aboriginal title,” said Dan Wilson, who was chief of the Okanagan Nation in 1999.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said “The province of B.C. is in the awkward position of having to show how they came into title of Okanagan land and, of course, they’ve got nothing, no deed, no bill of sale and no treaty.”

“The occupation of land for well over a century under the guise of an unfounded claim of title is neither noble nor heroic. It is simply the act of State-sanctioned theft on a grand scale and nothing more,” said Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band. “The province does not own our territory—they use it—and sooner or later the courts, in the absence of any meaningful negotiations, will have no choice but to recognize that fundamental fact.”

The court encouraged the parties to negotiate. Chief Louis pointed out that the province will need to change its negotiation mandates to recognize and respect the title, rights and laws of the Okanagan people. Only through recognition can reconciliation be achieved. “If the government does not recognize our pre-existing rights in our land and our laws, what is there to reconcile?”