KAMLOOPS AGENCY AND THE INDIAN RESERVE COMMISSION OF 1912-1916 S by RONALD ERIC IGNACE .A., The Univ e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1974 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF • THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Sociology We accept t h i s thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA November 1979 ^ ) Ronald E r i c Ignace, 1979 In presenting t h i s thesis i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l l m e n t of the requirements for a degree at the U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, I agree that the Library s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of t h i s thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by h i s representatives. It i s understood that copying or p u b l i c a t i o n of t h i s thesis for f i n a n c i a l gain s h a l l not be allowed without my written permission. Department The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 2075 Wesbrook Place, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. V6T 1W5 - i i -ABSTRACT In this thesis I review and attempt to provide a critical analysis of the work of the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs in the Province of British Columbia, otherwise known as the McKenna-McBride Commission of 1912 to 1916. This Commission was established to review and assess the acreage of land set aside for the use and benefit of the Indians and was empowered to cut-off land from reserves, create new reserves or to add land to existing reserves. The Commission came into existence due to contention of the increasing number of settlers in British Columbia and their governments that there was an excessive amount of valuable land locked up and lying in idle waste within reserves. I have outlined the social events and forces which led up to the formation of the Commission. Ultimately, the Commission represented a small aspect of the struggle between the colonizers and the colonized for the land and its resources. - i i i -TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT 1 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 1 1 LIST OF TABLES v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v i i I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. PRELUDE TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION 4 III. POWERS AND STRUCTURE OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 36 1. The Memorandum of Agreement 36 2. The Personnel of the Commission 42 3. Itinerary of the Commission 43 IV. KAMLOOPS AGENCY - A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT AND REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 46 1. The Native People Identified and the Agency Demographically Located 46 2. Neskainlith Band 49 3. Adams Lake Band 59 4. Little Shuswap Lake Band 67 5. Salmon Arm's Board of Trade - Businessmen's Interest in the Commission 78 6. Decisions of the Royal Commission for the Shuswap District 82 7. North Thompson Band 86 8. Kamloops Band 98 9. Kamloops Board of Trade - Businessmen's Interests in the Commission 106 10. Deadman's Creek Band 114 - iv -11. Cache Creek Band 119 12. Ashcroft Band 128 13. Cook's Ferry Band 137 14. Reserve Nos. 8 to 15 (Chief Titlantea's Reserves) . . 143 15. Summary and Assessment of the Commission's Decisions for a l l the Agencies in British Columbia 151 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY 166 APPENDICES 170 A. MEMORIAL — To the Hon. Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior, Ottawa 170 B. Carrying Capacity of Pasture Lands 175 - V -LIST OF TABLES T a b l e Page 1 Animals Owned by N e s k a i n l i t h Band and Land R e q u i r e d f o r P a s t u r a g e 55 2 P a s t u r e Land P o s s e s s e d by N e s k a i n l i t h Band and A c t u a l Number o f Animals S u p p o r t a b l e by That Land. . . 56 3 Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f the N e s k a i n l i t h Band 58 4 Animals Owned by Adams Lake Band and Land R e g u i r e d f o r P a s t u r a g e 62 5 P a s t u r e Land P o s s e s s e d by Adams Lake Band and A c t u a l Number o f Animals S u p p o r t a b l e by T h a t Land 63 6 Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f the Adams Lake Band 64 7 Animals Owned by Shuswap Lake Band and Land R e q u i r e d f o r P a s t u r a g e 72 8 P a s t u r e Land P o s s e s s e d by Shuswap Lake Band and A c t u a l Number o f Animals S u p p o r t a b l e by T h a t Land . . .73 9 Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f the Shuswap Lake Band 75 10 Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f the North Thompson Band . . . . 92 11 Animals Owned by North Thompson Band and Land R e q u i r e d f o r P a s t u r a g e 94 12 P a s t u r e Land P o s s e s s e d by North Thompson Band and A c t u a l Number o f Animals S u p p o r t a b l e by T h a t Land 95 13 Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f the Kamloops Band 107 14 Animals Owned by Kamloops Band and Land R e q u i r e d f o r P a s t u r a g e 108 15 P a s t u r e Land Possessed by Kamloops Band and A c t u a l Number o f Animals S u p p o r t a b l e by That Land 109 - vi -16 Land Classification of the Deadman's Creek Band 117 17 Animals Owned by Deadman's Creek Band and Land Required for Pasturage 120 18 Pasture Land Possessed by Deadman's Creek Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land 121 19 Land Classification of the Bonaparte Band 123 20 Animals Owned by Bonaparte Band and Land Required for Pasturage 125 21 Pasture Land Possessed by Bonaparte Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land 126 22 Animals Owned by Ashcroft Band and Land Required for Pasturage 134 23 Pasture Land Possessed by Ashcroft Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land 135 24 Land Classification of the Ashcroft Band 136 25 Land Classification of the Cook's Ferry Band-A 140 26 Animals Owned by Cook's Ferry Band-A and Land Required for Pasturage 144 27 Pasture Land Possessed by Cook's Ferry Band-A and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land 145 28 Land Classification of the Cook's Ferry Band-B 147 29 Animals Owned by Cook's Ferry Band-B 148 30 Pasture Land Possessed by Cook's Ferry Band-B and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land 149 - v i i -ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would l i k e to dedicate t h i s thesis to the memory of my ancestors, p a r t i c u l a r l y to those elders with whom I spent my youth. I t was through the consistent struggle of native women and men of past years for the r i g h t s of native people which made i t possible f o r native youth of today to obtain t r a i n i n g and technical s k i l l s . S k i l l s which I have come to recognize, our ancestors would l i k e to have seen brought back to the native communities, not to b u i l d personal careers, but to carry on the struggle for our democratic r i g h t to self-determination on the basis of s e l f - r e l i a n c e . However, t h i s cannot be done i n i s o l a t i o n . Our ancestors r e a l i z e d t h i s and sought unity with the Chinese and Japanese during the 1930 and 1940. Native people of today must learn from t h i s and forge a l l i a n c e s with Third World nations and peoples as well as obtain the p r i n c i p l e support of the s e t t l e r workers. I would also l i k e to express heart warming thanks to my daughter L e i l a who inspir e d me. I would also l i k e to acknowledge and express thanks to my contemporaries with whom I spent much time and gave me many p o l i t i c a l i n s i g h t s and who I know would be much more capable of carrying out a more i n c i s i v e a nalysis than I. F i n a l l y , I would l i k e to express thanks to professors Ricardo Muratorio, Robin Rlddington and Mike Kew. Each of these professors gave me freedom of l a t i t u d e , consistent encouragement, timely suggestions and c r i t i c i s m s . I would l i k e to s i n g l e out Mike Kew for suggesting the topic of my thesis and for c o n s i s t e n t l y c r i t i c i s i n g my thesis at each c r i t i c a l stage. However, I am s o l e l y responsible for the ideas expressed i n t h i s thesis with a l l i t s short comings. - 1 -CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of a l l instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws a l l , ... nations into civilization. The cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy artillery with which i t batters down a l l Chinese walls, ... It compels a l l nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what i t calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In a word i t creates a world after its own imag e. Karl Marx, 1848 At the turn of this Century, the governments of Canada and British Columbia established a Royal Commission to investigate and adjust Indian Affairs in British Columbia. The purpose of the Commission was to establish reserves in British Columbia on the same footing as those in the rest of the country in which the federal government had sole jurisdiction. Until 1912, the provincial government of British Columbia claimed ownership of reserve lands and that the Federal government was merely holding those lands in trust for the use and benefit of the Indians. However, the Commission was also empowered to establish new reserves, which was mainly done in the North-central zone of the province, and to investigate and determine whether or not - 2 -existing reserves, predominantly in the Southern portion of B.C., had excessive or inadequate land. The reserves were to be adjusted according to the Commission's assessment based on the testimony of native people, whites, Indian Agents and the data collected and compiled from various sources. Between 1900 and 1912 the provincial government, businessmen, and farmers, maintained that native people held excessive acreages of land lying in idle waste within reserves that should be taken away and sold to settlers who would make better use of i t . It was claimed that in withholding unused land Indians were impeding economic progress and settlement of the country. The British Columbia government's claim to ownership of reserve lands and, also, its contention that reserves lands contained excessive acreages which must be cut-off so as not to impede settlement, was widely supported by settlers. It was largely in response to this con-tention that the provincial and federal governments established a commission to investigate claims of the provincial government. The impetus behind this demand for reassessment of the amount of land contained within reserves was rooted in the rapid expansion in the economy and the sudden influx of settlers. The purposes of this thesis are to determine whether or not there was any foundation to the contention that reserve lands contained an excessive acreage lying in idle waste, and to determine whether or not the testimony of Indian leaders and spokesmen had any impact on the decisions of the Commission. - 3 -Furthermore, i n analysing the Commission of 1912-16 i t i s my hope that some l i g h t may be shed on the i n t e r n a l dynamics which led to the formation of the Commission, and on how i t proceeded with i t s business. I have placed i t i n a h i s t o r i c a l perspective by o u t l i n i n g the relevant s o c i a l events leading to i t s formation. As we w i l l see, a l l t h i s i s an aspect of the struggle between the colonizers and the colonized over land and resources. The a c t i v i t i e s of the Commission covered the whole pro-r vince but I.have chosen to review and analyse i n d e t a i l only the in v e s t i g a t i o n of the Kamloops Agency, located i n the South-Central region of the province. Through a case study of the Kamloops Agency, we can witness the s o c i a l and economic conditions of the Indians, the manner i n which the Commission ca r r i e d out i t s i n v e s t i g a t i o n , and the s o c i a l r e l a t i o n s between the Indian people and the growing s e t t l e r society. This w i l l reveal and i l l u s t r a t e the basis upon which the Commission car r i e d out and made it's decisions. - 4 -CHAPTER II PRELUDE TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION From the point of view of the Native people, the whole his t o r y of the Province of B r i t i s h Columbia i s one of struggle over land and i t s resources between colonizers and the colonized. The process of c o l o n i z a t i o n , or the separation of the colonized from t h e i r land and the a c q u i s i t i o n of the land by s e t t l e r s , has been h i s t o r i c a l l y j u s t i f i e d i n Canada as elsewhere, by a r a c i s t ideology. This i s v i v i d l y revealed i n the words of a Canadian scholar, Stephen Leacock: The continent remained, as i t had been for uncounted centuries, empty. We think of p r e h i s t o r i c North America as inhabited by the Indians, and have based on t h i s a sort of recognition of ownership on t h e i r part. But t h i s a t t i t u d e i s hardly warranted. The Indians were too few to count. Their use of the continent was scarcely more than that by crows and wolves, t h e i r development of i t nothing (Leacock, 1941:19) Canadians have often commended themselves for treating ' t h e i r ' Natives much more benevolently than t h e i r American counter-parts (Stanley, 1940:111). However, the process of c o l o n i z a t i o n i s b r u t a l regardless of what form i t takes (Cesaire, 1972; Fisher, 1977; Fanon, 1963). In the process of c o l o n i z a t i o n , racism became embedded i n the p o l i t i c a l economy of Canada as a means of maintaining the p r i v i l e g e d - 5 -position of the European settler population over the Native people (Wellman, 1977: 19, 35-37). The loss of control by Native people of their land, was a key ingredient to the growth and expansion of capitalism in Canada, particularly in British Columbia. A general European parallel is found in the Enclosure Movement in which the common lands of the peasants were expropriated and turned into the private property of the Landlords. This transformation was a key element in the birth and growth of capitalism in England. whereas the peasants were forced off their lands into the cities to work the machines of the new industrial society or immigrated to the colonies , native people in Canada were compelled to move onto reserves so that the lands around the reserves could be opened up to developers and settlers. Furthermore, the creation.;- of reserves to which Natives retreated, was seen as a means of avoiding conflicts between incoming settlers and the Native population. In the words of one historian The only principle (in B.C.) was that of placating the Indians and keeping them out of the way of incoming settlers by ensuring to each tribe a definite reser-vation of land (Cail, 1956:316). In the expansion of Canadian capitalism westward, represented by the Federal government's desire to establish a settler nation from sea to sea, native people in British Columbia found themselves caught in a dispute between the Dominion and provincial governments over the - 6 -size and ownership of reserves. The conflict, which was legalistic, arose because the jurisdiction over reserve lands had not been clearly spelled out in the Thirteenth Article of the Terms of Union which formulated the basis for British Columbia's entry into Confederation. The two aspects of the Terms of Union which concern us are, firstly, British Columbia obtained legal control over most crown lands in the Province which later proved to be a stumbling block in establishing reserves, and secondly the federal government, consistent with the British North America Act, assumed jurisdiction over Indians and Indian lands in the new province. However, the federal government did not insist upon a clear statement on the rights of Indians or the nature of its jurisdiction over Indian reserves. This was due to the hostile position which British Columbia maintained on the question of Native rights. As far as the new province was concerned, the issue of Native rights was 'something of a joke'. In the debates over the Terms of Union, there was l i t t l e discussion regarding Indians. A motion which advocated the protection of Indian people during the transitional stage of B.C. joining with the rest of the Canadian settler nation, was defeated twenty to one (Fisher, 1977:176). Subsequently a motion to extend Canadian Indian policy to the new Province was withdrawn. The draft proposal drawn up by the Governor-in-Council of British Columbia made no reference to Indians. It is presumed that the final draft of Article Thirteen was added in Ottawa (Fisher, 1977:176). Article Thirteen states: - 7 -The charge of the Indians, and the trusteeship and management of the lands reserved for t h e i r use and benefit, s h a l l be assumed by the Dominion Government and a p o l i c y as l i b e r a l as that hitherto pursued by the B r i t i s h Columbia government s h a l l be continued by the Dominion Government a f t e r union. To carry out such a p o l i c y , t r a c t s of land of such an extent as i t has hitherto been the pr a c t i c e of the B r i t i s h Columbia Government to appropriate for that purpose, s h a l l from time to time be conveyed by the Local Government to the Dominion Government i n trust f o r the use and benefit of the Indians, on a p p l i c a t i o n of the Dominion Government; and i n case of disagreement between the two Governments respecting the quantity of such t r a c t s of land to'be so granted the matter s h a l l be referred f o r the decision of the Secretary of State f o r the Colonies (Fisher, 1977:177). Since A r t i c l e Thirteen did not c l e a r l y state the Federal government's j u r i s d i c t i o n over reserve lands, and i t did not state the per capita acreage which was to be a l l o t t e d to members of Indian Bands, room was l e f t f o r d i f f e r i n g i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s and for the claim by the new province to reversionary r i g h t s to Band lands. The nebulousness of A r t i c l e Thirteen was rooted i n the new province's intransigent p o s i t i o n towards Native r i g h t s and the f e d e r a l government's desire not to jeopardize the formation of a s e t t l e r nation from sea to sea by pressuring the province into adopting federal Indian p o l i c y . The f e d e r a l p o l i c y which had been pursued i n the p r a i r i e s involved the nominal recognition of Native r i g h t s by signing Treaties along with a minimum allotment of 160 acres of land per family. - 8 -The federal government In attempting to pursue its newly acquired duties as outlined in Article Thirteen became embroiled between 1871 and 1875 over the per capita acreage to be allotted to the Indians. Since the new province controlled the crown lands, it dictated the amount of land which could be set aside for reserves and the amount i t was allocating was miserly to say the least. In 1873, the federal government in attempting to reach a compromise proposed that each family be allocated 80 acres which the new province rejected and contended that 10 acres per family was sufficient. Subsequent negotiations led to a short-lived compromise of 20 acres per family. In a l l the negotiations between the two governments, Native people were never consulted. Indians lived under the dictatorial rule of the colonials. The nature and extent of allotments was such that by 1875 there arose a ground swell of protests from Indians who were supported by some philanthropists. In petitions to government officials, Native people said they felt like men trampled on, and are commencing to believe that the aim of the white man is to exterminate us as soon as they can (Quoted in Fisher, 1977:184). Fisher also pointed out that a chief from Cheam wrote to Lenihan, the first superintendent of the Mainland, protesting that - 9 -the reserves had been laid out without consultation with the Indians and that even twenty acres per family "was a mockery,- was destruction to the Indian race". (Fisher, 1977:184). The protests were so widespread that the provincial government reluctantly agreed, to review the issue of reserve allotments. Subsequently, a commission was established in 1876 commonly known as the Joint Reserve Allotment Commission. However, the two levels, of goverment could not come to an agreement on an acreage which the Commission would allot to each native family. The deadlock was broken, not through the consultation with Native people but, by William Duncan the Anglican Missionary. He proposed that each case where a reserve was to be established be judged individually without adherence to a standard acreage, and also land which had been set aside for the use and benefit of the Indians, and subsequently judged as no longer serving that purpose, should revert to the province. The agreement finally arrived at was stated as follows: "to fix and determine for each nation seperately, the number, extent and locality of the Reserve or Reserves to be allotted to i t " ; that "no basis of acreage be fixed - but that each nation of Indians of the same language be dealt with separately"; that "each Reserve shall be allotted"; that "in the event of any material increase or decrease hereafter of the of the numbers of a nation occupying a Reserve, such Reserve shall be enlarged or the members of the Band occupying i t " ; (sic) and that "the extra land required for any Reserve shall be allotted from Crown lands, and any land taken off a Reserve shall revert to the Province". (Italics added; R.C.R., 1916:17. v.l). -10-This was the b i r t h of the p r o v i n c i a l government's claims to Reversionary Rights to reserve land. The s o l u t i o n proved i n the long run, to be problemetic to the fede r a l government's administration of Indian A f f a i r s . In other parts of the country, the fe d e r a l government financed the Administration of Indian A f f a i r s through the sale or leasing of reserve lands. In B.C., the fe d e r a l government could not pursue such a p o l i c y without a l i e n a t i n g reserve land at which point the province of B.C. could and did claim that such lands must revert to the province. Primarly, the p r o v i n c i a l government r e l u c t a n t l y set land aside for reserves because of the prevalent notion i n the province of, what can only be termed, 'Manifest Destiny'. This notion was aptly summed up by the B r i t i s h Colonist i n 1861: As an i n f e r i o r race..we beleive...(the Indians) must give way i n order to make room f or a race more enlightened, and by nature and habits better f i t t e d to perform the task of converting what i s now a wilderness into productive f i e l d s and happy homes (quoted i n Fisher, 1977:95). Another factor compounding the province's reluctance to release and set aside land was the prospect of p r o f i t s to be made, with the constuction and completion of the Canadian P a c i f i c Railway. B r i t i s h Columbia was induced into Confederation by the Federal government which promised that B.C. would be linked to the rest of Canada by a railway (Lower, 1939; Ormsby, 1971). Such access-:to :the 'rest-of the country would make the new province more aiC_c£s_sj,Jil,e to s e t t l e r s ; more s e t t l e r s - 11 -meant greater land sales;and., thereby, a greater tax revenue for the provincial treasury. Trade and commerce between the new province and Eastern markets would be greatly enhanced. The socio-economic benefits of a railway linking B.C. with the East were numerous, and have been summarized as follows: To the nascent trading class of the white settler community, no more than 10,000 people, the Canadian Pacific Railway was a godsend. The construction of the line, which promised to stimulate a depressed economy, would create a huge demand for goods and services, raise the value of property to holders in the vicinity of the track and provide the missing trading link with the Dominion east of the Rockies (Robin, 1972:52). The provincial government in its anticipation of a booming economy was reluctant to relinquish to the Joint Allotment Commission land to be set aside for reserves. Consequently, the provincial administrators actively hindered the activities of the Commission. William Smith, who became Premier of B.C. in 1883, fought against the amount of land which the Commission was setting aside for reserves. He critically remarked that ...an almost criminal wrong had been done in withdrawing from settlement so large a tract of fertile land; a wrong particularly apparent at this time, when there is such a demand for settlers, who are entering the country in search of homes. Consequently applications are being made to me for just such lands as are locked up in these reserves by men who would invest large means in their development and make them productive of wealth to the state (quoted in Cail, 1956:376, v.2). - 12 -The meager amounts of land a l l o t t e d as reserves, which ranged from f i v e to t h i r t y acres per family, stood i n blatent contrast to the amount permitted an i n d i v i d u a l s e t t l e r . White s e t t l e r s east of the Cascades were permitted to pre-empt 320 acres of land. If the period between 1871 and 1903 can be characterized as a period i n which the p r o v i n c i a l government balked at the amount of land being set aside for reserves, the period between 1903 and 1912 may be characterized as a time i n which the p r o v i n c i a l government agitated f o r recognition of i t s claims to reversionary r i g h t s and for the reduction i n the s i z e of reserves. The man who was instrumental i n pursuing the province's claim to reversionary r i g h t s and for reduction i n s i z e of reserves was Richard McBride. Richard McBride became premier of B.C. i n 1903 at a c r u c i a l turning point i n the province's h i s t o r y . There were plans for the construction of transcontinental railways at a time when the province was beginning to experience a phenomenal population increase. As we w i l l l a t e r see, these changes created a powerful demand for land and for the reduction i n the s i z e of reserves. These changes were to lead to Richard McBride becoming the premier of B.C. and to influence him to a g i t a t e for the reduction i n the s i z e of reserves which, i n turn led to the formation of the McKenna-McBride Commission i n 1912. . . The population increase of 213,823 i n the decade 1901 to 1911 far exceeded the population increase over the previous three decades - 13 -1871 to 1901, which was only 142,410 (Census Canada, 1931:354, v.l). The population increase between 1891 and 1901 was 87 per cent, while from 1901 to 1911 it amounted to 119 per cent (Canada Year Book, 1960:175). Such increases were due, on the one hand, to the Canadian government's :n;eje-d for settlers and, on the other hand, the European powers willingness to export their surplus population which was in turn brought about by the industrial revolution and the mechanization of production. Mass migrations to North America benefited both labour and capital. A historian in his detailed study of immigration wrote: At the time of the great famine in Ireland, and during the various agricultural depressions in England, it cannot be gainsaid that by sending the sufferers to North America many were spared from disease and death. It is not, however, during such troublous times alone that emigration rendered assistance. Every year i t redeems thousands of men who for want of sufficient work in the Mother Country are gradually sinking deeper into poverty. By remaining at home they become demoralised and their chances slowly slip away from them, their ultimate fate being the work-house (Johnson, 1966:324-25). Cecil Rhodes, a king of finance in 1895 observed and advocated the export of Europe's surplus population for the following reasons: - 14 -I was i n the East End of London yesterday and attended a meeting of the unemployed. I l i s t e n e d to the wild speeches, which were j u s t a cry for 'bread', 'bread', 'bread', and on my way home I pondered over the scene and I became more than convinced of the importance of imperialism ...My cherished idea i s a s o l u t i o n for the s o c i a l problem, i . e . , i n order to save the 40,000,000 inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody c i v i l war, we c o l o n i a l statesmen must.acquire new lands to s e t t l e the surplus population, to provide markets for the goods produced by them i n the f a c t o r i e s and mines. The Empire, as I have always said, i s a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid c i v i l war, you must become i m p e r i a l i s t s (quoted i n Lenin, 1916-17:151, v.19). What was true for the United Kingdom was true for other European countries. Such were the immigrants that came to B r i t i s h Columbia. The a t t r a c t i o n of B.C. was the p o t e n t i a l of f i n d i n g new homes and jobs. The jobs would come from the construction of the Grand Trunk and Canadian P a c i f i c Northern Railways; these two railways l a t e r amalgamated to form the Canadian National Railway. Both railways were simultaneously constructed between 1908 and 1916. The former, from Jasper to Prince George and on to what has become known as Prince Rupert; the l a t t e r from Jasper to Kamloops and on to Vancouver through the Fraser Canyon. The construction of these l i n e s lead to the opening up of new and vast areas to farming, ranching, mining and logging. In the negotiations for the terms on which the Grand Trunk P a c i f i c Railway was to be constructed, McBride became d i s a f f e c t e d with Premier Dunsmuir for whom he was serving as the Minister of Mines. As a - 15 -consequence of his disaffection, he quit the Dunsmuir Ministry and joined the opposition. He was displeased with a B i l l which, had i t been passed, would have given to MacKenzie and Mann the railway contractors $4,000 cash subsidy and 20,000 acres of crown (Indian) land per mile, to build the Grand Trunk Pacific. McBride actively opposed Dunsmuir's proposed railway scheme in the f a l l election of 1903 (Stevens, 1961:87-88, v.2) on the grounds that: If the proposed scheme had come into effect, , it would have involved the whole northern portion of British Columbia being "handed over to MacKenzie and Mann-timber, water and coal" (Robin, 1972:89). The rest of his campaign platform consisted of the Exclusion of Orientals to protect the white workers and to win their support. He al revived the demand for Better Terms of B.C. from the federal government which appealed to the provincialist sentiment of the general voting population (C.A.R., 1903:218-19). The point which McBride was putting across to the voters, in respect to the issue of Better Terms, was that the provincial Treasury was paying more into federal Treasury than it was receiving in provincial subsidies. The agitations for Better Terms was later to include the demand for the recognition of the province's claims to reversionary rights. McBride's platform won him the votes necessary to become Premier - a position which he held for 12 succeeding years. - 16 -Although McBride had opposed Dunsmuir's railway scheme, he was not against the idea of constructing railways. If the Northern and Central regions of the province were to be opened up, the 'Cariboo T r a i l ' which was the only l i n k between Vancouver and the Cariboo had to be augmented. McBride was simply opposed to the timing of the scheme. Nor could he have been able to stop the Prime Minister of Canada, S i r Wilfred Laurier, from achieving his plans of constructing an ' a l l Canadian Railway'. Laurier was bu i l d i n g a powerful case for i t i n Parliament (C.A.R., 1903:31-54). The timing of Dunsmuir's scheme had appeared to be conceived more i n haste than with any consideration of the p r o v i n c i a l debt. The new Premier was immediately warned by the province's agent general i n London that B r i t i s h Columbia's c r e d i t 'on the London market was very low' (Smith, 1959:36). When Richard McBride became Premier, i n the words of one h i s t o r i a n a tremendous challenge faced the f i r s t Conservative ministry: the province was close to bankruptcy. The public debt stood at over $12,000,00.0; f i n a n c i a l guarantees to railways amounted to more that $1,000,000; and the c r e d i t of the government exhausted. Before Tatlow could obtain a bank loan he was required to promise that a l l work on highways and other projects would be suspended at once (Ormsby, 1971:337). McBride, i n an attempt to remedy the problem, developed an economic program which involved the minimization of public expenditure, on the one hand, and a maximization of revenues, on the other. He - 17 -accomplished t h i s by opening up 'crown' timber lands and by l i b e r a l i z i n g the timber l i c e n s e system. Consequently, 80 per cent of Crown timber lands were alienated from 1903 to 1908. The r e s u l t of the new f o r e s t r y p o l i c y was an increase from 7 per cent of the p r o v i n c i a l revenue i n 1901 to 41 per cent i n 1908 (Robin, 1972:92-93). The mining and f i s h i n g i n d u s t r i e s were also experiencing a boom. The general upswing i n the economy was due to the recovery of Europe and North America from a recession, a condition which lead c a p i t a l i s t s to seek new areas of investment for t h e i r c a p i t a l . McBride's economic program was an i n v i t a t i o n f o r c a p i t a l investment (Ormsby, 1971:356-61), which one h i s t o r i a n summarizes as follows: The mining industry recovered from a recession, with production i n 1906 approximately $26,000,000 or 18% over 1904, B r i t i s h Columbia led a l l provinces i n 1905 i n the value of i t s f i s h e r i e s f o r the f i r s t time i n h i s t o r y . The timber industry, aided by the government's a l i e n a t i o n p o l i c y , mushroomed overnight as a r i v a l to mining, while the Okanagan was peopled with a prospering c l a s s of Conservative orchardists. In 1901 a mere 7,000 acres were devoted to orchards; seven years later- over 100,000 acres were set aside for f r u i t growing revenue from lands and-forests quintupled between 1901 to 1906, ( i t a l i c s added; Robin, 1972:99). The success i n the f i s h i n g industry was due to a prodigeous run of salmon, the introduction of new f i s h i n g regulation which, permitted the use of massive f i s h traps - not to be confused with the t r a d i t i o n a l f i s h traps used by Indian people, and purse seines. The government also opened up new areas to commercial fishermen. - 18 -In .contrastIndian food fishermen were being limited to -the use of dip-nets, small .gill nets and spears; therefore, it is important to contrast these techniques with commercial fish traps. The commercial traps caught indiscriminate amounts of salmon. Salmon which could not be used was left to rot. One witness, reporting on the use of massive fish traps, commented that once a l l the barges had been filled and the day was coming to an end fish traps had to be emptied of the excess salmon. The observer recorded: ...they wanted to...empty the pot of...fish ..., and they were anxious to do this without cutting out the pot and necessitating a l l the labour and delay of replacing i t . The steam-winch hauled, and the men hauled, and they tied the web together to hold every l i t t l e advantage they made. At last the men seemed discouraged and wanted to give it up, but the young captain urged them to try again, pointing out that the tug at the next trap was s t i l l working on her pot. There were thousands of dead fish in the trap and their weight was immense. But they worked and worked, t i l l at last they succeeded in getting the centre raised above the edge, and the fish began to slide out, t i l l 2,500 dead fish had been cast adrift with thirteen more traps to be emptied. The canneries could not begin to use them. What a fearful waste of good food.' No one seemed to think anything of i t . They were 'only' salmon (Herring, 1903:278). While on one side of the coin, McBride's economic program was giving European settlers and capitalists greater access to the resources of the province, Native people were being restricted from use of resources - 19 -which they knew were rightfully theirs. Fishing regulations in force in 1903 stipulated under section six (6) that Native people could only use dip-nets and spears, in non-salt water lakes and rivers, with the permission of the inspector of Fisheries. However, bona fide (European) settlers and farmers could purchase a "domestic license", under section twenty-two (22), for a fee of $1.00 to fish for home consumption. The regulations stipulated that they were permitted to use a net with commercial size mesh not in excess of "three hundred yards in length" in any waters in B.C. (Yearbook of B.C., 1903:253-5). As McBride pursued his economic program of economic growth and expansion increasing restrictions were placed on Native people. As a result of McBride's economic program, the Minister of Finance was able to announce a surplus revenue of $7,000,000 just prior to the 1907 election. While the Premier was building up the provincial treasury, he had been carrying out quiet discussions and negotiations on the terms for railway construction, and a noisy campaign for 'better terms' for the province which included federal recognition for provincial claims to reversionary rights (S.P. of B.C., 1903:K1; 1903-04:G15-23; 1905:Dl; 1907:D1-41; C.A.R., 1903:218-19; 1906:483). His campaign for better terms netted B.C. an additional $100,000 per year for ten years in provincial subsidies from the federal government (Ormsby, 1958:349). However, he was not successful in obtaining recognition for provincial claims to reversionary rights until, as we will later see, he made i t into a public issue by making i t an aspect of terms on which the Grand Trunk Pacific was to be constructed in B.C. - 20 -McBride was pressing the Laurier government "to have the Western section of the Dominion guaranteed Grand Trunk Railway built eastward from the coast, besides westward from Winnipeg. If this idea were adopted the province would enjoy construction and labour benefits immediately" (Smith, 1959:57). From the provincial government's point of view, this was not the only benefit which the province was to 'enjoy' with railway construction being carried out in B.C. When railway construction began and as i t expanded, the population dramatically increased and the alienation of land intensified. Pre-emptions increased from 213,062 acres between 1900 and 1905 to 545,458 acres between 1906 and 1913; while 172,332 acres of land were purchased between 1900 and 1905, this increased to 3,342,290 acres between 1906 and 1917. Between 1900 and 1913, eight million acres of land were crown granted (Cail, 1956:456, 458). Also, railway companies had obtained 18,694,334 acres by 1913 (Cail, 1956:428). These benefits, which the province was to enjoy, did not come easy. Stevens (1962) in his historical study of railway developments in Canada wrote that negotiations in British Columbia were long and difficult. Indecisive negotiations between the province (of B.C.) and the railway continued for three years, punctuated by threats, bluffs, bribes and backstairs deals. By 1908 the Grand Trunk Pacific, in the words of a local editor, had been "whittled down to size" (Stevens, 1962:186). - 21 -The tables of negotiations turned in the Province's favor with the Company's desire to purchase a portion of the Tsimpsean reserve for its Western terminus. Ormsby pointed out that McBride in. . . seeing a chance to drive a bargain which would assure the commencement of construction on the Pacific seaboard, he had decided to make use of the Company's desire to obtain Kaien Island, about twenty miles south of Port Simpson, as its terminus (Ormsby, 1958: 354) . Since Kaien Island formed a portion of a reserve, McBride saw the opportunity to press his claim to reversionary interests in reserve land. The opportunity arose when the federal government requested the provincial government to waive its reversionary rights to portions of the Tsimpsean reserve. The intentions of the federal government were simply to transfer the title of the reserve lands over to Grand Trunk Pacific. The province refused to accept the request of the federal government. Cail summed up the Province's case: On April 2, 1906, a Dominion Order in Council asked the province to waive its reversionary interest. The request was promptly refused. The province based its refusal on the Dominion Order in Council of November 10, 1875, which had stated that "any land taken off a Reserve shall revert to the Province". British Columbia had acceded to the Order by Minute in Council of January 8, 1876. The two to-gether had become known as the 1875-76 Agreement. The province took strong objection to the assumption by the Dominion of the right to surrender portions of the Tsimpsean reserve. This the Dominion had done on September 21, 1906, by Order in Council, to facilitate construction of the terminus and wharf accommodation for the - 22 -Grand Trunk Pacific, a railway project to which the Laurier government had lent its support, both moral and financial. A provincial Minute in Council of March 11, 1907, pointed out that the moment the Dominion assumed to surrender part of the Indian reserve, the property then became the Crown's in the right of British Columbia (Call, 1956:400-401). The above position was not a new one, i t had been originally developed by Premier Dunsmuir (Cail, 1956:403). The provincial government's refusal to waive its claim to reversionary rights to the Tsimpsean reserve, involving thirteen thousand acres, created an impasse from which British Columbia sought a judiciary decision. This step by the provincial government was page one news in The Province: The question of reversionary rights in Indian Reserves in British Columbia a matter involving the ownership as between the province and the Federal government of hundreds of thousands of acres of some of the most valuable land west of the Rocky Mountains - is to be brought before the f u l l court of British Columbia at its next setting in Vancouver this f a l l . The papers in the case were filed in the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court in Vancouver today...(Province, August 12, 1908:1; also see Victoria Colonist, February 28, 1907:8). The outcome did not settle the issue of reversionary rights. It merely accommodated both sides on the issue of reversionary rights surrounding the construction of the railway. It was reported that the provincial government netted over $2,000,000 from the sale of a fraction - 23 -of the lands upon which Prince Rupert now sits - lands which were formerly Tsimpsean (C.A.R., 1909:597). The Province, continuing in its reportage, pointed out that the dispute over the Tsimpsean reserve focused attention on the issue of reversionary rights: For many years questions respecting the reversionary (rights) in Indian lands in British Columbia, as claimed by the province, have been continually arising but not until the Dominion Government undertook to sell to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway some thirteen thousand acres of Indian lands...in the neighbour-hood of where Prince Rupert now stands, did the subject become of such paramount importance as to require settlement finally and for a l l times (Province, August 12, 1908:1). The dispute spawned many newspaper articles condemning the federal government while supporting the provincial position. The articles demanded that the rights which the province claimed, be recognized by the federal government; they also demanded that the size of the reserves should be reduced. This was, undoubtedly, fueled by McBride's admonition to the public 'to get in' on the speculation of the rising real estate prices adjoining the projected railway lines (Robin, 1972:113). One example of the newspaper reaction is found in the Colonist on February 23, 1907 demanding re-examination of lands contained within reserves: - 24 -By the census of 1881, the Indian population of the Province was 25,661, the Indian reserves covering a l i t t l e more than 400,000 acres. In 1901 the Indian population had decreased to 24,523, while the reserves covered 525,846 acres. Thus while i t i s c e r t a i n that the Indian population has grown smaller..., the area of Indian reserves has shown a large accession. Today there i s a reserve placed over 107 acres of the best land i n the province for each family of f i v e Indians. According to what was agreed upon as a f a i r proportion, each family has f i v e times too much (Colonist, February .23, 1907:12). The Province c a r r i e d an a r t i c l e on page one by Chas F., Law t i t l e d , 'Indian Lands Are Almost Deserted, Great Farce Had Grown i n Manner which Dominion Reserves Large Tracts'. The a r t i c l e vehemently argued that Indians held far too much land and the fe d e r a l government i n proposing to contest p r o v i n c i a l reversionary r i g h t s was doing a grave i n j u s t i c e . The exact wording of the a r t i c l e went as follows: If the Dominion proposes to contest the reversionary r i g h t s of the province to those lands a f t e r they cease to be used f o r the purpose for which they were set aside, then one of the greatest i n j u s t i c e s w i l l be worked.... It i s well known that these lands are the choisest i n B r i t i s h Columbia...(The Province, January 30, 1907:1). Twelve months l a t e r the Province c a r r i e d another a r t i c l e t i t l e d 'Throw Open Indian Lands'. The thrust of t h i s was that Indian lands were l y i n g i d l e i n the Okanagan V a l l e y and should be put to good use by opening them up for sale to s e t t l e r s who would gladly develop them (The Province, February 12, 1908:8; see also, the Colonist, May 9, 1909:7). - 25 -While newspapers c a r r i e d on t h e i r defense and c a l l f o r recognition of p r o v i n c i a l reversionary r i g h t s , McBride received anew impetus to h i s increasing denunciation of Native Rights, i n general, and for h i s campaign for reversionary r i g h t s i n p a r t i c u l a r , by a Federal announcement. Just p r i o r to the completion of negotiations for railway construction, the fe d e r a l government announced that i t was going to open up 'excess reserve lands f o r s a l e 1 . C a i l summed up t h i s point:-The incident involving Grand Trunk P a c i f i c terminus created an impossible s i t u a t i o n . This was p a r t i c u l a r l y so a f t e r the announcement by the Indian Department i n 1908 that the p o l i c y i n connection with the sale of a g r i c u l t u r a l and timber lands, where such lands were beyond the possible requirements of the Indians, would be relaxed. The Department had always opposed such sale so long as no p a r t i c u l a r harm or inconvenience arose from the Indians holding vacant lands beyond t h e i r requirements, and so long as no p r o f i t a b l e d i s p o s i t i o n of the lands was poss i b l e . But now, because of the large i n f l u x of s e t t l e r s into the western provinces, the Department f e l t some relaxing of i t s p o l i c y i n order l e s s settlement be seriously impeded. In addition, sale of excess Indian lands would fetch a p r i c e s u f f i c i e n t l y high to reduce m a t e r i a l l y the costs of administration of Indian A f f a i r s ( C a i l , 1956:402-03). The construction of railways, making new areas accessible to mining, lumbering, ranching, farming and the: rapid, i n f l u x of European immigrants, which was giving r i s e to the p r o v i n c i a l government's demands that reserves be reduced, caused Native people i n B.C. much concern. - 26 -The basis of this concern was the total disregard of their rights involving use of the land and its resources, by racist legislation and the outright alienation of their land base. Furthermore, Native people were being driven out of the mainstream of the labour market, just as Asians were restricted in the labour market by an effective racist movement to exclude Asian immigrants (Patterson:199; Smith, 1959:92-113). In response, Native people began to organize,at first on a regional basis. The Thompson Indians in 1908 and again in 1909 petitioned the federal government for a hearing on their claims to 'unsurrendered lands of the province' which was inseparable from their demands for recognition of their hunting, fishing, trapping and water rights. In July of 1910, the Shuswap, Okanagan and Thompsons sent the federal government a declaration outlining their rights to 'unsurrendered lands'. In August of 1910, those same tribes petitioned Prime Minister Laurier in Kamloops, requesting that the federal government recognize their land title claim. Unsatisfied with the responses they were continually receiving, chiefs of the Shuswap, Thompson, Stalo, Carrier, Chilcotin, Lillooet and Thaltans met in Spences Bridge and drew up a long l i s t of grievances and demands for recognition and settlement of their claims to sovereignty to their traditional land base. They were incensed at the fact that the provincial government and corporations were alienating land without any consideration of, and in direct violation of their rights (see Appendix A). - 27 -On the westcoast similar grievances of the Indians had compelled them to spear-head a drive to have the Indian claims adjudicated by the Judicial Committee. In March of 1909 the Indians on the westcoast had laid their claim before the Imperial government; in January of the next year a 'Statement of Facts and Claims' was placed in the hands of the Justice Department. In the same year a memorial was presented to Laurier, and delegations waited on a l l three governments. In each case the Indians' plea was for a ruling by the Privy Council on their aboriginal title claim (Cail, 1956:418). In 1909, the 'Indian Tribes of British Columbia' was formed to try and find a solution to the apparent disregard of their rights (Patterson, 1962:70). The only response Indians received from the provincial government was that Indians had no rights (Patterson, 1962:70). The political activities of the Indians against this colonial intransigence lead to the Formation of the Allied Tribes of British Columbia in 1916 (Cail, 1956:420). This organization remained active until 1927 when the federal government turned down this appeal and made i t an offense for Native people to solicit funds to campaign for Native land rights (Patterson, 1962:163). Due to a combination of pressures from Native movements, McBride's campaign for reversionary rights, and the Department of Indian Affairs desire to sell off 'excess lands', the federal government sought a solution to the vexing issues of Native and reversionary claims. In 1910, the year railway construction was to begin in B.C. the federal government altered - 28 -Clause 37A of the Indian Act to enable the government to have judicial hearing on the issues of Native rights and reversionary interests (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:11). Subsequent to the amendment of the Indian Act, the Chief Civil Law Officers of the federal and British Columbia governments were brought together to draw up a case for 'submission to the Supreme Court of Canada' (Cail, 1956:406). They drew up a case which involved ten points of concern. The first three points centered around the rights of Native people to land and its resources; the other seven points dealt with reversionary rights and the size of reserves. However, the consent of the B.C. government was necessary before the case could be brought before the Supreme Court of Canada. McBride refused to give his consent, on behalf of the provincial government, due to the inclusion of the first three points. He maintained "Indians had no title to public lands of British Columbia" (Cail, 1956: 406) and, also, " i t would be madness to think of conceding to the Indians " (Patterson, 1962:70). The following year the Laurier government, in its determination to break the deadlock, amended and strengthened the Act again so that i t would over-ride the veto power of the provincial government of B.C. The Act was amended ...with the express purpose of having a judicial decision on the case despite the refusal of British Columbia to consent to the stated case (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:11). - 29 -Meanwhile, on the provincial level, McBride was carrying out an active campaign against federal liberal representatives in support of the federal conservative party under the leadership of Borden. The orientation of his campaign against the federal liberals can be illustrated by the criticism of the federal liberal candidates -Mr. Smith and Mr. Templeman: Fifteen years ago, gentlemen, the fisheries of the Fraser River were in the hands of white men...now, these same fisheries are under the absolute control of the Japanese. And now they have not only invaded the sawmills but have taken up the timber industry as well, and if nothing is done to prevent i t they will seize these great Provincial industries. Mr. Smith and Mr. Templeman must soon answer to the people of this Province...for their neglect to keep this great heritage for people of our colour and for people of our own race ( C.A.R. 1908:216). Such racist accusations were not founded on truth. In fact, the timber, lumber and fishing industries were falling under the control of American, British, French, Belgian, German and Canadian monopoly capitalists. The total American investment in mills and timber lands in B.C., by 1910, amounted to $65,000,000; MacKenzie and Mann, the Canadian railway barons, in conjunction with Swift Meat Packers of Chicago formed a company with investment capital of $20,000,000 with which they purchased 75,000 acres of timber; subsequently, they formed the Canadian Western Lumber Company which was the largest company of its kind in the world. A.D. McRae of Winnipeg, a financial associate of the Western Lumber Company, - 30 -By 1911,...was ready to enter the salmon canning industry; organizing a syndicate with a capitalization of $1,500,000, he purchased canneries on Princess Royal Island and at Rivers Inlet and Smith's Inlet (Ormsby, 1958:357). German capital investments in coal and real estate amounted to $5,000,000; the French invested one and a half million dollars in real estate; the Belgians purchased nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars of fruit land in the Okanagan in 1911 (Ormsby, 1958:357). Although the charges, as illustrated above, against the Japanese were not founded on facts, such charges helped in the federal conservative victory in B.C. In 1911, the Laurier government was defeated at the polls by the federal conservative party led by Borden. Consequently Laurier was never able to act on the newly amended legislation which had the power to over-ride the veto of the provincial government of B.C. Due to the defeat of Laurier, the Department of Justice was not informed of the amendment to the Indian Act until April 18, 1912 (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:11). Attention to the amended Act was brought by the Native delegates who visited Borden in his first days in Office and, then by a Memorandum to Borden from the government of B.C. on February 12, 1912. The Native delegates were particularly concerned about reports that the provincial government had claimed a l l the reserves and assumed the authority to alienate the land leaving the Indians landless. Borden's response to the Indians' queries were: - 31 -"Oh, is that your trouble? Now listen, I am going to te l l you something. I only came in here yesterday. You see the snow how it is falling heavily. That is just the way a l l the troubles are pouring in to me at the present time. You must a l l go back. I will look into this later on, then I shall t e l l you a l l about i t " (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, Cook's Ferry Tribe, p.119). This additional link in a long chain of unsatisfactory answers undoubtedly weighed heavily on the Indian delegates especially as they had to return to their people without any answers. McBride submitted the Memorandum of the Provincial government by hand to the Lieutenant-Governor, Thompson W. Patterson. An aspect of the Memorandum focused on the issue of reversionary rights; furthermore, the memo linked the issue of reversionary rights with the necessity from the provincial point of view to readjust the size of reserves. The section of the Memorandum dealing with reserves read: The title of the Crown in right of the Province to Indian reserve lands in British Columbia was never questioned until within the past few years, when certain objections were raised thereto by the Department of Justice at Ottawa. We s t i l l maintain that the reversionary interests in a l l Indian reserves is the property of the Province, and that i t is essential in the public interest that the attitude of the Province be maintained. It may be well, in this connection, to refer to the large excess acreage held on account of Indian reserves in British Columbia, and to the necessity in view of the rapid increase in white population, of having an immediate readjustment of a l l reserves, so that the excess acreage may be released to the Province (S.P.of B.C., 1912:N2). - 32 -McBride was hoping to obtain a sympathetic hearing from Borden. He hoped that Borden would see and act from the province's point of view as opposed to taking a f e d e r a l i s t p o s i t i o n as had Laurier. Laurier had intended to seek a j u d i c i a l decision even i f i t meant over-riding the objections of B.C. If Laurier had been able to proceed i n obtaining a hearing i n the Supreme Court of Canada, B.C. stood a chance of l o s i n g , not to Native claims, but to f e d e r a l interests.. The underlying fears of the Province were pointed out by Hon. Mr. Stevens and Dr. Scott at the hearing of the Special J o i n t Committee i n regards to the Claims of the A l l i e d Tribes; the former stated "We come back to the p o s i t i o n as pointed out... by Senator Belcourt that any claims which we might now recognize would be against the province, and not against the Dominion." The l a t t e r - Dr. Scott i n t e r j e c t e d : "That i s c l e a r , because the province has the lands." (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:21,56). The p r o v i n c i a l government of B.C. j e a l o u s l y guarded the -control i t asserted over land in- B.C. because i t considered the land as i t s security (C.A.R., 1 9 0 9 : 5 9 6 ) . The Federal government, e s p e c i a l l y under Laurier, supported Native people because i t stood to gain control over c e r t a i n portions of ' p r o v i n c i a l crown lands' coveted by B r i t i s h Columbia and to consolidate f e d e r a l i s t authority i n the Dominion. However, with the v i c t o r y of Borden over Laurier, McBride received a more c o n c i a l i a t o r y a t t i t u d e from Ottawa; subsequently - 33 -...direct negotiation with British Columbia was resumed in an effort to settle a l l three of the troublesome questions concerning Indian lands (Cail, 1956:407, v.2). The federal government, for a l l intents and purposes, side stepped the issue of Native rights and took a conciliatory- position in its negotiations with the province of B.C., while taking a hard line on Native rights in its negotiations with Native people (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927: v i i i ) . On May 24, 1972, the federal government, by Order in Council, appointed Dr. James A. J. McKenna as a Commissioner ...to investigate claims put forth by and on the behalf of the Indians of British Columbia, as to lands and rights, and al l questions at issue between the Dominion and Provincial governments and the Indians in respect thereto, and to represent the government of Canada in negotiating with the government of British Columbia a settlement of such questions (S.J.C. , Report and Evidence, 1927:8). The first intention of the federal government was to deal with a l l the controversial questions revolving around Native rights and Native lands. However, after McKenna presented a memorandum to Premier McBride on the issues to be taken into consideration, McBride refused to have anything to do with the Commission. Dr. McKenna summed up his negotiations with the Premier of B.C. on July 29, 1912, as follows: - 34 -Adverting to our conversations l e t me say that the claims made on behalf of the Indians are:- (1) that the various nations or t r i b e s have a b o r i g i n a l t i t l e to c e r t a i n t e r r i t o r i e s within the province, which, to perfect the Crown t i t l e i n the r i g h t of the province, should be extinguished by treaty providing for compensation for such extinguishment. As to the f i r s t claim, I understand that you w i l l not deviate from the p o s i t i o n which you have so c l e a r l y taken and frequently defined, i . e . , that the province's t i t l e i s unburdened by any Indian t i t l e , and that your government w i l l not be a party, d i r e c t l y or i n d i r e c t l y , to a reference to the Courts of the claim set up. You take i t that the public i n t e r e s t , which must be regarded as paramount, would be i n j u r i o u s l y affected by such reference i n that i t would throw doubt upon the v a l i d i t y of t i t l e s to land i n the province. As stated at our conversations, I agree with you as to the seriousness of now r a i s i n g the question, and, as the present negotiations go, i t i s dropped (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:8-9). Rather than over-ride the p o s i t i o n of the province by invoking the authority vested i n the Indian Act by Laurier, the Borden government sought a c o n c i a l i a t o r y s o l u t i o n . Therefore, the f e d e r a l negotiator -McKenna ...concentrated h i s e f f o r t s to securing for the Indians of B r i t i s h Columbia lands by the same t i t l e as that under which lands are held by the Dominion for Indians i n other parts of Canada (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:9). - 35 -The outcome of the negotiations between McKenna and McBride was an agreement for establishment of a five-men commission, the official title being The Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for British Columbia, which I will hereafter simply refer to as the Commission. The professed purpose of the Commission was... to adjust the acreage of Indian Reserves in British Columbia, and to set apart new lands for reserves. The reserves finally fixed by the Commissioners were to be conveyed to the Dominion free of any provincial reversionary interests therein (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1929:9). The newly appointed commission began its investigations on March 31, and disbanded on June 30, 1916. - 36 -CHAPTER III POWERS AND STRUCTURE OF THE COMMISSION 1. The Memorandum of Agreement The basic principles which the two levels of government agreed should be the parameters of the activities of the Commission, were spelled out in the Memorandum of Agreement. Signed on September 24, 1912, this was composed of eight sections or articles preceeded by an introductory paragraph outlining the Commission's objectives. This is the Memorandum of Agreement in f u l l . Whereas i t is desirable to settle a l l differences between the Governments of the Dominion and the Province respecting Indian lands and Indian Affairs generally in the Province..., therefore the parties above named, have, subject to the approval of the Governments of the Dominion and of the Province, agreed upon the following proposals as a final adjustment of a l l matters relating to Indian Affairs in the Province of British Columbia:-1. A Commission shall be appointed as follows: Two Commissioners shall be named by the Dominion and two by the Province. The four Commissioners ...shall select a fifth..., who shall be the Chairman of the Board. 2. The Commission so appointed shall have power to adjust the acreage of Indian Reserves in British Columbia in the following manner: (a) at such places as the Commissioners are satisfied that more land is included in any particular Reserve as now defined than is reasonably required for the use of the Indians the Reserve shall, with the consent of the Indians t as required by the Indian Act, be reduced to such acreage as the commissioners think reasonably sufficient for the purpose of such Indians. - 37 -(b) At any p l a c e at which the Commissioners s h a l l determine that an i n s u f f i c i e n t q u a n t i t y of land has been set aside f o r the use of the Indians the Commissioners s h a l l f i x the q u a n t i t y that ought to be added f o r the use of such Indians. And they may set aside land f o r any Band of Indians f o r whom land has not a l r e a d y been r e s e r v e d . 3. The Province s h a l l take a l l such steps as are necessary to l e g a l l y reserve the a d d i t i o n a l lands which the Commissioners s h a l l a p p o r t i o n to any body of Indians i n pursuance of the powers set out. 4. The lands which the Commissioners s h a l l determine are not necessary for the use of the Indians s h a l l be subdivided and s o l d by the Province at p u b l i c a u c t i o n . 5. The net proceeds of a l l such s a l e s s h a l l be d i v i d e d e q u a l l y between the Province and the Dominion, and a l l moneys r e c e i v e d by the Dominion under t h i s c l a u s e s h a l l be h e l d or used by the -Dominion for the b e n e f i t of the Indians of B r i t i s h Columbia. 6. A l l expenses i n connection w i t h the Commission s h a l l be shared by the Province and Dominion i n equal p r o p o r t i o n s . 7. The lands comprised i n the Reserves as f i n a l l y f i x e d . . . s h a l l be conveyed by the Province to the Dominion with f u l l p o w e r . . . t o d e a l w i t h the s a i d lands i n such manner as they may deem best s u i t e d f o r the purposes of the I n d i a n s , i n c l u d i n g the r i g h t to s e l l such lands and fund or use the proceeds for the b e n e f i t of the I n d i a n s , subject only to a condition that in the event of' any Indian tribe or band becoming:extinct, then, any lands, within-the territorial'..boundaries of the •province which have been conveyed to the dominion as aforesaid for such tribe or band, and not sold or: disposed of as- hereinbefore '. mentioned, or any proceeds of any Indian reserve in the province..., shall be conveyed or repaid to the province. 8. U n t i l the f i n a l report of the Commission i s made, the Province s h a l l withhold from pre-emption or s a l e any lands over which they have a d i s p o s i n g power.and which have been h e r e t o f o r e a p p l i e d f o r - 38 -by the Dominion as additional Indian Reserves or which may during the sitting of the Commission, be specified by the Commissioners as lands which should be reserved for Indians. If during the period prior to the Commissioners making their final report i t shall be ascertained by either Government that any lands being a part of an Indian Reserve are required for right-of-way or other railway purposes 3 or for any Dominion or Provincial or Municipal Public Work or purpose, the matter shall be referred to the Commissioners who shall thereupon dispose of the question by an Interim Report, and 'each government .shall thereupon do everything necessary to carry out the recommendations of the commissioners into effect (R.C.R., 1916:10-11, v. l ; italics added). The Memorandum in its introductory paragraph claims its intent is to settle 'all differences between the two levels of Government respecting Indian lands and Indian affairs'. This is misleading. There were no provisions in the Memorandum to deal with such matters as Native land titl e , water, hunting, foreshore, salt and fresh water fishing rights. The federal government, seeing the seriousness of raising the issue of Native rights, dropped i t and in so doing sided with the provincial government which maintained "that the public interest, which must be regarded as paramount would be injuriously affected by such reference in that i t would throw doubt upon the validity of titles to land in the province". (S.J.C., Report and Evidence, 1927:8-9). The Commission had but shortly begun its investigation and was inundated by Native leaders agitating against the Commission's position on the rights of Native people. Consequently, the Commission requested authority to deal with 'matters extraneous to the Agreement'. - 3 9 -The Commissioners thought that i f they did not deal with 'matters extraneous to the Agreement', 'serious d i s a f f e c t i o n ' might a r i s e amongst the Indians and hamper the work of the Commission. The Commission received the following response from a Committee of the Privy Council: The M i n i s t e r observes that i t i s c l e a r that the Agreement between the representatives of the Province of B r i t i s h Columbia and the Dominion does not contemplate an i n v e s t i g a t i o n and settlement of matters appertaining to general Indian p o l i c y i n B r i t i s h Columbia. It i s confined to matters a f f e c t i n g Indian lands which require adjustment between the p a r t i e s . The M i n i s t e r i s of the opinion that i t would be inadvisable to burden the Commission with the i n v e s t i g a t i o n of a l l matters that might be brought to t h e i r attention by Indians, many of which would be of s l i g h t importance not a f f e c t i n g the r e l a t i o n s of the two governments ("Confidential, Report of the Royal Commission on Indian A f f a i r s . . . o f B r i t i s h Columbia"; published i n The Lands We Lost by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, 1974:180-81). Fishing r i g h t s of Indians on the westcoast, as an example, were a problem of Indian A f f a i r s which should have been the concern of the federal government. The northern Indian fishermen were being forced into the background of the f i s h i n g industry because of the r a c i s t manner i n which f i s h i n g regulations were being enforced. This even moved the Commission to form an opinion against the p r a c t i c e of dealing with Indians on the basis of t h e i r race. The Commission stated i n i t s C o n f i d e n t i a l Report - 40 -...the Commission is of the opinion that in the matter of 'independent' fishing licences, applications of Northern British Columbia Indians should...be considered and dealt with upon their individual merits and not refused because of the applicant being an Indian (Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, 1974:190). The federal government did not view such practices as being i% against the better interests of its 'wards'^a clear indication that the federal government did not recognize or extend, in practice, : the aboriginal rights of Indians. The federal government did not choose to extend Native rights because this would have gone against the interests of the colonizers, whose interests were its interest. This is indicated by the reasoning behind the creation of the fishing regulations established in 1912. In the summer of 1912, W.A. Found, Superintendent of Fisheries for the Dominion, was dispatched to the coast, and with the present writer, Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries for the province, toured the entire northern district. A report was adopted BY BOTH DEPARTMENTS as an inducement to white fishermen to settle in the northern districts of the province, OFFERED SPECIAL PRIVILEGES, licences to fish for salmon independently of the canners, and advantages over and above those held by the fishermen, largely Japanese and Indians, ...(Canada and Its Provinces, "Pacific Province", v.2, part 2, pp.459-60). There is no doubt that provincial and federal governments were working fast to turn resources over to people of their own color and race. In fact, colonization is the negation of the sovereignty of the colonized. - 41 -In section two of the Memorandum, there was a provision recognizing the legislation whereby the consent of the Indian people was to be obtained before any lands could be cut off from a reserve. However, the Report of the Royal Commission was accepted by both levels of government, as we will see, without following the; original requirement for Indian Consent. Section 3 and the first part of section 8 stated that the province would withhold lands from being pre-empted or sold 'which have been applied for as additional Indian Reserves'. These provisions in practice proved difficult to f u l f i l l because by 1913 a vast majority of the (prime) lands had been given to Railway companies and their subsidiaries, leased by Timber and Mining interests or purchased by real estate companies and immigrants. The last section of part seven indicates the tenacious desire of the province to hold on to remnants of its claim to reversionary rights and the conciliatory position of the federal government by allowing in the Agreement, which set out to extinguish provincial interests in Indian Reserves, a provision by which the provincial government could claim lands and funds of a Band which had become extinct. 2. The Personnel of the Commission In accord with the agreement reached between the federal and provincial governments, the Commission was composed of five members. Each government appointing two representatives; the appointees, in turn, appointed a chairman. The Dominion government appointed Dr. James A.J. McKenna from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was described by the federal government as 'one of our Council learned in the Law' (R.C-R., 1916:8, v.l). Aside from this, he had served the Department of Indian Affairs as Commissioner for Treaty 8 (Fumoleau, 1975). From 1901 to 1910, he had also served as the Assistant Indian Commissioner for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The other federal appointee was Nathaniel W. White, K.C., from Shelborne, Nova Scotia. He was the son of a prominent lawyer. The provincial government appointed Mr. James Pearson Shaw. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly representing the Shuswap District. In his private l i f e , he operated a substantial ranch in the vicinity of Salmon Arm. He was also the President of the Kamloops Trust Company, Ltd., incorporated in 1910 under the management of Mr. Sidney C. Burton (Boam, 1912:330). The second appointee was Mr. Day Hort MacDowall. I could find no information as to his background. The four Commissioners appointed an ex-Chief Magistrate from Saskatchewan - Mr. Edward Ludlow Whitemore, as their chairman. These five Commissioners were sworn in on May 19, 1913. - 43 -3. Itinerary of the Commission The manner in which the Commission contacted different Bands was never clearly outlined. It is difficult to determine how meetings were established with each of the Bands. In a l l probability, the meetings were established through the Indian Agents. The problems of communication was difficult on the Northwest Coast. On a number of occasions, the Commission found itself arriving at a village only to find that the inhabitants had left for the fishing season. This may have been less of a problem in the Southern Interior of the province since most of the Indian people were 'settled' on reserves as mixed farmers. Also, in this region, the means of communication and transportations were more firmly established. Between 1913-16, the Commission in its travels throughout the province gathered statements from chiefs, sub-chiefs and individual Band members. It never met with an organized body of Indian representatives, even though a chief from the Okanagan requested such a meeting. The Commission viewed the Chiefs and elders with mistrust because i t felt their influence held back the progress of the younger generation and that they had been filled by outside agitators with misguided notions about Indian rights. The Commission sought statements and received numerous requests for representations from public bodies - municipal councils, boards of trade, railway companies, as well as various departments of the provincial and federal governments. - 44 -A l l evidence, statements, requests, and the deliberations of the Commission, were summarised and published in four volumes as Report of the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs of British Columbia. The decisions of the Commission were made and recorded either as Interim Reports, which can be found on pages 21 to 137 of the first volume, or Minutes of Decisions which are located at the end of the report for each Agency. The Minutes of Decisions dealt mainly with reductions of reserves, establishment of new reserves, or confirmations of old reserves. The Interim Reports mainly dealt with requests for right-of-ways. These requests were made by different levels of government and railway companies. The Commission made a total of 98 Interim Reports - 43 of these dealt with applications by various railway companies for right-of-ways through reserves. This does not mean that only 43 reserves were traversed by railways. One Interim Report could and did cover one or more reserves. In this respect the Commission served as an important mechanism by which railway companies obtained legal access through reserves. The funds raised by the sale of reserve land, for right-of-ways, was equally shared between the two governments. The federal government's share, after expenses incurred by the Commission, was to be held in trust for the Indians. In some instances, locally affected Bands were given half of what the federal government received. In relation to the other Interim Reports, eleven involved applications for road right-of-ways by both federal and provincial governmental bodies plus another application for right-of-way for a hydro line. Another eight Interim Reports were miscellaneous applications for such projects as a bird sanctuary, an - 45-experimental farm i n the Okanagan, a beacon l i g h t and a customs bu i l d i n g i n the Kootenays. The remainder dealt with such decisions as reducing the s i z e of reserves, confirming old reserves and creating new ones. ' These were more f u l l y dealt with i n the Minutes of Decisions. The Kamloops Agency was v i s i t e d on November 13, 1914. The Commission completed i t s investigations by November 13, 1914. The testimony of the Indians, the Indian Agents and other non-Indian people form the Evidence of the Royal Commission. The micro-films contain the verbal statements of witnesses. Therefore, they form a valuable source of information about the s o c i a l and economic conditions of Indian people and t h i e r r e l a t i o n s to l o c a l s e t t l e r s , the p r o v i n c i a l and f e d e r a l governments. These t r a n s c r i p t s have not yet been published and the o r i g i n a l s are kept i n the V i c t o r i a Archives. Although, they have been recently transcribed and are now i n the Library of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. The case study of the Bands i n the Kamloops Agency are l a r g e l y based on the evidenace recorded on micro-film. In essence, there was the raw data, or t r a n s c r i p t s , of Evidence of which the Royal Commission Report was a synthesis. - 46 -CHAPTER IV KAMLOOPS AGENCY — A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT AND REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION There is no doubt, where everything is held in common, aspiration and thrift have no stimulus... The recognition and protection of individual property rights are the first and distinguishing principles of civilisation, and if we f a i l to extend these benefits along with our gifts of money and land, how can we expect Indians to profit materially by them, or adopt the manners and customes of civilized l i f e to the exclusion of...barbarism? Give the Indian... a tract of land, the boundaries of which are re-cognized as his own... In a very short time every acre of any Reserve would be cultivated, and the pernicious custom among our Indians, would no doubt... be abandoned. J.W. Powell - 1880 1. The Native People Identified and the Agency Demographically Located The Native people of British Columbia have been classified (by anthropologists) on the basis of their linguistic divisions (Duff, 1964:12-15). In the Kamloops Agency Indians come under the Ethnic Division of Interior Salish, and speak two languages - Thompson and - 47 -j Shuswap. However, the only Thompson speaking peoples i n the area covered by t h i s study are those of Cook's Ferry i n the v i c i n i t y of Spences Bridge (see Map on page 48). The general outposts of the Kamloops Agency are, roughly, the towns of Ba r r i e r to the North of Kamloops, Salmon Arm and Chase to the East, and Ashcroft and Spences Bridge to the West, the hub being Kamloops. The N i c o l a Valley was added to the Kamloops Agency l a t e r , therefore I have not included i t i n t h i s a n a l y s i s . Time l i m i t a t i o n s have caused me to l i m i t the number of Bands taken under consideration. However, t h i s case study of Bands i n the Kamloops Agency w i l l provide ample exposition of the s o c i a l and economic r e l a t i o n s of Indians to the s e t t l e r society, and the manner i n which the Commission car r i e d out i t s investigations and made i t s decisions. The Indian Reserves i n Kamloops Agency, when the Commission began i t s considerations, contained 166,555.94 acres. A f t e r the Commission v i s i t e d t h i s area and c a r r i e d out i t s i n v e s t i g a t i o n , i t added, 640 acres on the grounds that t h i s would be 'presenting more favourable opportunities for u t i l i z a t i o n of the land by the Indians'. In short, i t was believed that the lands were necessary to the Band which received the a d d i t i o n a l acreage, since the 'surrounding lands are held p r i v a t e l y or by lease, and open range cannot be obtained' ( R.C.R., 1916:306, v . l ) . On the other hand, the Commission ordered a t o t a l of 3,498.53 acres cut-of f , which brought the t o t a l acreage i n the Agency down to 163,707.41 acres. The reductions were ordered on the grounds that the land 'was more suitable for growing f r u i t and truck farming and therefore les s acreage could meet the necessary and reasonable requirements of the Indians (R.C.R., 1916:306, v . l ) . THE KAMLOOPS AGENCY and The B o u n d a r i e s of A g e n c i e s i n B.C.'1 S c a l e ; 9 . m i l e s . t o 1 i n c h + hi - 49 -The Commission also noted that i t had held a total:of 18 meetings of which 13 were with Indian people. The other meetings were with local boards of trade and the Indian Agent. The Commission questioned the Indian Agent about the local conditions of each Band. He provided the Commission with such information as the nature and extent of land use of Bands, their population, whether or not a Band would like to have a school on the reserve, the amount of stock and farm equipment a Band possessed. The detailed examination which follows is based on the published Report of the Commission, and the Transcripts of Commission Hearings. From these we can outline the social conditions of Kamloops Bands. I have given close attention to statements of the Indians and tried to determine whether or not their statements on the nature and extent of land use are supported by the data compiled by the Commissioners. This has been synthesized and is presented in the form of tables indicating the nature and extent of land use. Whereas the Commission based its judgements on the overall per capita of acreage of ;a Band regardless of the nature of the land, I have broken the data down and assessed the amount and type of usable land which existed for each Band. This provides a better way of determining whether or not a Band had too much valuable land lying in idle waste. 2. Neskainlith Band The Commission met with the Neskainlith Band on October 24, 1913. The interpreter was Issac Harris. The Transcript of the Commission - 50 -recorded that the "Chairman briefly explained to the assembled Indians, the scope of the Commission" (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, Victoria Archives, p.19). Throughout the majority of the Agencies and particularly the Kamloops Agency, the Commission did not record the actual explanation of the intent and scope of the Commission. I can only presume that what was stated to the Capilano Indians, at the start of the Commission's hearings, was reiterated to a l l the Bands, particularly in the Southern Interior of B.C. The basis, for the two levels of government in entering into the Commission's agreement was explained as follows: The Commissioners are here for the purpose of adjusting the Reserve and settling the quantity of land that each Reserve should have. If a Reserve for instance, contains no more land than is reasonably necessary for the purpose of the Indians who are upon i t , that Reserve will be confirmed. If a Reserve does not contain sufficient lands to be reasonably necessary for the purposes of the Indians who are upon i t , the Commission will so state and set out how much more land is required, and the Government of British Columbia will give out of their reserved land such additional land as may be required. If a Reserve contains more land than is reasonably required...the Commission will specify that a portion of that Reserve shall be cut off, and will state which portion ; shall be cut off, but that lands can only be cut off with the consent of the Indians interested. ...Any land so cut off with the consent of the Indians will be subdivided and sold at public auction, and one-half of the net proceeds will go to the Province..., and the other one-half will go to the Government of the Dominion...to be held in trust for the Indians. You know the Government of British Columbia has been claiming what has been called reversionary interest in these Indian lands, and they claim that i t is worth money to them and that i t is a valuable asset, so that if any land is sold today, - 51 -they claim to have a share in the proceeds of the sale and this has been a great inconvenience ...in the way of getting a sale brought about. Up to the present time the Indians did not get the whole of the purchase money: the (B.C.) Government claiming to have something in i t . . . The fact that the (B.C.) Government claims a right in the disposal of the purchase money or part of i t opens the door for them to come in and hold up any arrangement that the Dominion and the Indians may make—therefore i t was considered advisable to cut that out, to put an end to the claim by British Columbia to have any interest in these Reserves, and with that object this Commission's agreement was entered into and when the Commission reports upon this matter and their report is carried out a l l the lands that remain, the title will be in the Dominion Government to hold for the Indians...so then when this comes about, i f a sale takes place, the Indians who are interested in the lands sold, the Indians will get one-half in cash and the balance will be held in trust for them (U.B.C. I.C, The Lands We Lost, 1974:208-209). It is questionable whether such an extensive explanation was given to a l l the Bands visited by the Commission. We can only surmise that some version of the above explanation was provided, since we are only told that 'the scope of the Commission was briefly explained to the assembled Indians'. It is possible that the explanation given was a l l too 'brief. In any event, once the explanation of the intent and purpose of the Commission had been given to the assembled Indians, the Commission permitted the Indian leaders and spokesmen to speak out, before sworn testimony was taken as part of the Commission's policy to 'hear the Indians out'. - 52 -Usually, the Chief spoke on behalf of the whole Band while Sub-chiefs or Head Men spoke on behalf of a p a r t i c u l a r reserve or section of the Band i n which he resided. However, any Band member could be sworn i n by the Commission and examined under oath. The people who spoke out on behalf of the N e s k a i n l i t h Band were Head Men William P e r r i s h and Celesta. Apparently, the Chief had passed away j u s t p r i o r to the a r r i v a l of the Commission. William P e r r i s h , speaking through an i n t e r p r e t e r , c a t e g o r i c a l l y stated that he did not want to s e l l or lose h i s r i g h t s on the reserve and also he did not wish to lose any land. Furthermore, he requested a d d i t i o n a l grazing land on behalf of the Band. Continuing, P e r r i s h requested the Commission to intervene, on the Band's behalf, and s e t t l e a boundary dispute. The Indians claimed that a l o c a l white rancher had encroached upon Band land. P e r r i s h was t o l d that i t was a departmental matter and the Commission had 'nothing to do with i t ' . A f t e r William P e r r i s h completed h i s statement, he was sworn i n to give evidence about the nature and extent of N e s k a i n l i t h land use. He t e s t i f i e d that the Band r e l i e d on growing vegetables, grains and l i v e s t o c k . Their stock consisted mainly of draught horses with a few c a t t l e , and t h e i r horses were used to serve t h e i r a g r i c u l t u r a l pursuits and transportation needs. Their land consisted of areas for e i t h e r c u l t i v a t i o n , grazing, hay and grain f i e l d s and timber stands. Depending on the condition of the land within d i f f e r e n t reserves of a Band, a reserve could serve for one or more purposes. A reserve could serve as a source of timber from - 53 -which logs could be hewn for building homes. Another reserve could serve for either grazing stock or for growing vegetables and so on. The nature of land use consisted of a combination of private and common interests to a l l Band lands. While hay, grain and vegetable fields were private domains? the grazing areas, timber stands and wild hay fields were used in common. The witness, in response to the Commission's questions, testified that a l l their land f i t to be cultivated was growing crops such as vegetables, wheat, and oats. The Indian Agent verified this by pointing out that the Neskainlith Band had produced in the last year: 300 tons of hay and 500 tons of threshed oats besides what they kept for their winter feed for their draught horses and cattle (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.161). William Perrish told the Commission that the Band was switching to hay as a marketable commodity. This change was in response to the decreased demand for vegetables as a cash crop and to an increase in dairy farming being carried on by local white ranchers. The Indians in this area took jobs off the reserve to supplement their income from the land. Local ranchers lamented that the cost of clearing land formerly done by Indians had gone up from $2.00 to $15.00 per acre. William Perrish and Celesta, in outlining the nature and extent the Band was trying to use land, also indicated that the Band was constantly facing difficulties in attempting to develop a viable economic base. They told the Commission that they lacked grazing land, suffered from a shortage of water and that their plots were too small. In - 54 -reviewing the data collected by the Commission, I found i t supported the Indians contention that they needed additional grazing lands. The maximum carrying capacity of their pasture lands was 213 head of stock. The Band, according to the Agent, had 304 head of stock. To graze their stock adequately, the Band would have required 5755 acres of fair pasture land (see Appendix B and Tables 1 and 2). In response to the Band's request for additional land, the Commission replied that their request was 'not entertained as not reasonably required' (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, 1916:333). Pasture land was an important ingredient in a Band's mixed farming economy. A Band could have a reasonably sufficient acreage for growing vegetable s and grains but i f there was not a proportional acreage of pasture land an economic imbalance might result. Hay and grain fields could not be used for pasture during the growing season without damaging the crops. If a people were compelled out of necessity to graze their stock in their hay and grain fields during the growing season, they would not obtain enough feed to sustain their stock properly through winter. This Band was no longer able to use common land formerly held by the provincial government for pasture because i t had a l l been pre-empted by settlers. The settlers in occupying land surrounding reserves had also hampered Indians access to traditional hunting and fishing grounds. Consequently, Neskainlith spokesmen requested the Commission to assist them in regaining passage to their hunting and fishing grounds... a l l through the country so that we will come home alright (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.19). Table 1. Animals Owned by Nes k a i n l i t h Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 239 4,780 Cattle 65 975 Total :- 304 5,755 Table 2. Pasture Land Possessed by Neskainlith Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Animals Supportable on Land Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Horses Cattle Total Poor 2,106 42 52 94 Fair 1,860 Good Total:- 3,966 89 114 213 47 62 119 Ln ON - 57 -Another problem confronting these people was the l i m i t e d s i z e of the i n d i v i d u a l p l o t s that a family or i n d i v i d u a l could bring under production. William P e r r i s h t e s t i f i e d to the Commission that there were Band members who did not have land to work. In an attempt to remedy t h e i r problem, the Band divided the land... into small plots i n order to keep everybody working but not enough to make a good l i v i n g (.R.'C:.'E.:', Kamloops "Agency, p. 21) . D i f f i c u l t i e s a r i s i n g out of t h e i r shortage of t i l l a b l e land was compounded by an i n s u f f i c i e n t supply of water. The witness stated that they were unable to obtain enough water to i r r i g a t e a l l the p l o t s . As a r e s u l t , competition for access to the water resulted i n the people grabbing ' i t from one another'. The contention that t h e i r p l o t s of land were too small i s substantiated by data which the Commission gathered. This indicates that arable land amounted to 8.9 acres per capita, and there were only 2.8 acres per capita of p o t e n t i a l l y arable land (see Table 3). To bring that under production the Band needed land c l e a r i n g equipment, water and finances. The d i f f i c u l t y of bringing new land under production was pointed out by Celesta. He stated that although they could c l e a r away brush, they lacked the necessary equipment to clear away the stumps. Once they had removed the brush, they had to wait for the stumps to r o t . Celesta stated: Table 3. Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the Neskainlith Band. Estimated Acreage of C l a s s i f i e d Land Reserves No. 1 ' No. 2 No. 3 Total s : -T o t a l Acreage Surveyed 3,245 2,456 1,273 Agent's Estimate of Crop Land 1,500 60 160 (200-250) 7,974 1,720 (4) Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land 1,460 ' f a i r ' 2,106 'poor' 400 'poor' 3,966 Potential i Crop Land 200 265 80 (2) 545 (5) Timber Land one/third 633 1,448 Cut-Off Land 25 25 495 540 Unassessed La„i 3 ) 70 70 oo 1) Crop land consists of gardens, hay f i e l d s , orchards and grain f i e l d s . Hereafter, Indians' estimates w i l l be placed i n brackets. 2) Cut-off land re f e r s to the loss of land f o r various reasons such as right-of-ways and land reductions ordered by the Commission. 3) This includes land unaccounted for such as cemeteries and v i l l a g e s i t e s or swamps. 4) a per capita acreage of 8.9 acres. 5) a per capita acreage of 2.8 acres. - 59 -We are not able to work the land into good condition because we have no tools to do i t with....We cleared 70 acres...but we have been waiting for the stumps to r o t . We have not s u f f i c i e n t tools to work i t (R.C.E. ,. ---Kamloops-Agency, p.26). This Band i n an e f f o r t to develop i t s land had made good progress, but i t was l i m i t e d by lack of water, finances, land c l e a r i n g equipment, and a shortage of land. 3. Adams Lake Band The Commission v i s i t e d and inspected t h i s Band and t h e i r land on October 24, 1913. A f t e r l i s t e n i n g to Commissioner White b r i e f l y explain to them the scope and intent of the Commission, Chief Tawhalst stood up and spoke on behalf of his people: I am glad to hear the Commission and what t h e i r duties are i n coming to v i s i t my reserve. I know we have been getting on very poor on t h i s land, with a l l hardships. I know the Chief (Indian Agent) who thinks that we should be at another reserve. God thinks I should be here, and t h i s i s the same with a l l the other Indians...My land i s very far away and very deep and very high. Therefore I am very sorry that the V i c t o r i a Government has t i e d up a l l that belongs to me. Ever since, I have to pay money before I can cut timber (stumpage), and i t i s my own. My land i s l o t s and the Government has confined me to a small spot and fixed my land so that I could dig i n that l i t t l e spot for a l i v i n g . The Government has taken l o t s of money that belonged to me, and has yet not helped me anything at a l l for machinery or any other improvements. A l l my r i v e r s that are t r a v e l l i n g through here long distance, the - 60 -Government...has made money out of them themselves. The r a i l r o a d has gone through my reserve, and turned out money out of i t , and has given me a c e r t a i n sum to make a d i t c h out of i t , which i s only a quarter of what I was e n t i t l e d to. Look at t h i s r a i l r o a d . . . (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.30). Chief Tawhalst's statement indicates that he was not only conscious of the economic developments which were sponsored by the p r o v i n c i a l government but also that they were taking place at the expense of Indian people. He juxtaposes the small amount of land i n h i s reserve with the land alienated by the p r o v i n c i a l government. He, also juxtaposes the economic prosperity of the province with h i s peoples' poverty. He i s indignant at the p r o v i n c i a l government f or a l i e n a t i n g and p r o f i t i n g from land h i s t o r i c a l l y belonging to h i s people while they were confined to subsist ' i n a l i t t l e spot'. In short he was o u t l i n i n g h i s perception of Indian underdevelopment. His statement was a plea for Native r i g h t s and a stand against reductions of reserve land. This Band has land use patterns s i m i l a r to Ne s k a i n l i t h . Their land can be divided into three basic categories: a g r i c u l t u r a l , which formed approximately one per cent of the i r land; pasture land, which formed about three per cent of t h e i r reserve; and timbered land, which formed another three per cent. A f r a c t i o n of the timbered land could have been cleared and used for a g r i c u l t u r a l purposes. The focus of the Band's economy was on mixed farming - there was an emphasis on a g r i c u l t u r e . From the testimony of Adrian Narcisse t h i s was not always the case. Formerly, they had been stock ranchers, and s t i l l r e l i e d to a degree on hunting and f i s h i n g as a source of food. - 61 -Band members who had l i t t l e or no land sought temporary employment off the reserve. Adrian Narcisse testified that the Band had to change its focus away from stock raising because a l l public grazing land had been pre-empted by settlers. The witness answered questions about the economy as follows: Q. Mr. Commissioner McKenna: After the open range was taken up by homesteaders, was your range confined to those hills? A. Yes, my stock is forced to go to the mountainside, where the grass is not much good. Q. And when the open range was closed, you had to reduce the number of your horses and horned cattle? A. Yes,..., therefore we want more land. Q. And instead of making your living largely from horses and cattle you had to make it from the sale of grain and hay and vegetables? A. Yes, if I had good enough, land so as to cultivate i t for raising vegetables, grain and fruit ( R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p. 34). Since this Band had 241 horses and 52 horned cattle, the Band members required 4^ 600 acres of fair pasture land (see Tables 4 and 5). They had only 3,762 acres of questionable grazing land (see Table 6). This Band's request for additional pasture land was not entertained by the Commission, and undoubtedly stock continually dwindled in numbers. This could only give rise to adverse financial effects since stock was a ready source of cash income and meat. Table 4. Animals Owned by Adams Lake Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Acreage of Fair Pasturage Required to Sustain Stock Horses 241 4,820 Cattle 52 780 Total:- 293 4,600 Table 5. Pasture Land Possessed, by Adams Lake Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Horses Cattle Total Poor 184 Fair 2,038 52 68 120 Good 1,540 77 51 128 Total:- 3,762 133 124 257 Table 6. Land Classification of the Adams Lake Band. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Reserves No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 + 4a No. 5 No. 6 • No. 7 Totals: Total Acreage Surveyed 2,178 80 25 3,540 250 766.37 313 Agent's Estimate of Crop Land 50 (80) 2 80 1,500 (1,100) 30 (30) 20 (30) Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land see Timber Land 38 'fair' 1,540 'good' ('poor') 66 ' p o o r ' 118 ' p o o r ' Potential Crop Land 150 20 17 300 (700) 25 170 Timber Land 2,000 20 200 645 Cut-Off Land Unassessed Land 22 ( o v e r 72 ( o v e r 55.22 82 23 7,152.37 1,610 CD 1,762 (+2,000) 1,392 (2) 2,865 137.22 1) a per capita acreage of 8.89 acres. 2) a per capita acreage of 7.69 acres. - 65 -Narcisse had stated that h i s people had to dig 'in a l i t t l e spot' to make a l i v i n g , and that even i f a l l the good land could be brought under c u l t i v a t i o n i t would s t i l l be i n s u f f i c i e n t . D i f f i c u l t i e s created by shortage of land were compounded by a shortage of water. The witness t o l d the Commission that the Band had only enough water to i r r i g a t e two allotments. Undoubtedly, he meant two allotments at a time. As with the Ne k a i n l i t h Band, these people found themselves 'fighting over water a l l the time'. The land used for various purposes such as for growing vegetables, grain and hay, amounted to approximately 8.9 acres per capita. This i s what the Chief was r e f e r r i n g to when he stated they were confined to a small spot. The data c o l l e c t e d by the Commission indicates that an a d d i t i o n a l 7.69 acres per capita of new land could be opened up for c u l t i v a t i o n (see Table 6). However, capacity to bring new land under production depended on a c c e s s i b i l i t y of water and financing. In many cases, these proved insurmountable obstacles. Adams Lake Band could have raised some c a p i t a l by s e l l i n g timber from t h e i r land. I t had 2,000 acres of f a i r timber and another 745 acres c l a s s i f i e d as good timber stands. However, the Department of Indian A f f a i r s would not permit the Band to s e l l i t s timber. The Agent i n his sworn testimony to the Commission stated that the Indians were not allowed to cut the timber on t h e i r reserve. He did not c l a r i f y why th i s p r o h i b i t i o n was enforced. The Band could have logged t h e i r timber and sold i t to the Adams River Lumber Company, which was leasing one and a half acres on No. 3 Reserve. Instead of developing greater contact with the lumber company, the Agent wanted the Native people removed from the influence of the lumbermen. This point was brought out when he was examined by - 66 -the Commission: Q. Regarding liquor on the Adams Lake Reserve, have you ever had any trouble arising from liquor being used on this Reserve? A. Not until recently - about two months ago I got information; a party wrote me about this matter and asked me to take some action regarding these lumbermen bringing in liquor, and I immediately took action. Q. Mr. Commissioner Shaw: Do you know of any time past where there has been any trouble? A. No, not in my time. Q. Don't you think i t would be better to get them away from here? A. Yes, I think it is the only Reserve where I think they should be removed. I think the Band is very progressive kind of people and have not sufficient land to supply the people. There are two families of about 10 people who are reported to be leading an immoral life...(R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.168). The Indians were aware of the Agents' desire to have them removed from their land. The Chief told the Commission that he and a l l other Band members desired not to be moved. They wanted and requested more land only to be turned down by the Commission. The Band's contention that they lacked water, land and finances were substantiated by the Indian Agent and the data gathered by the Commission. The Indian people of this Band were eager to develop their land but the expansion of the settler society and the negation of their rights continually frustrated their efforts. It was not simply contact with lumber men which was the cause of their 'immoral l i f e ' . The letter complaining that these Indians were consuming alcohol, might well have come, from someone - 67 -i n the town of Salmon Arm? This p a r t i c u l a r ..reserve , was coveted by the Salmon Arm Board of Trade. The issue of morality and l i q u o r hints at defamation of Indians to j u s t i f y t h e i r dispossession. As we w i l l l a t e r see, members of the Board of Trade d i d not hold Native people i n high esteem. 4. L i t t l e Shuswap Lake Band The Shuswap Lake Band was v i s i t e d by the Commission on October 25, 1913. After the scope of the Commission was b r i e f l y explained to the assembled Indians, Chief Clemma Arnouse and Sub-Chief Francois Silpahan spoke. Issac H a r r i s acted as the i n t e r p r e t e r . Chief Arnouse stated: I am glad to see the Commissioners who are v i s i t i n g my place...This place where I am now, i s my own place. I am glad now to have the chance to speak on my place t r u l y , because i t i s my own land. I cannot l e t my land go. I want to say also one word about the laws of t h i s country. I want to get the r i g h t s of the law to administrate my own reserve (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.43). Sub-Chief Silpahan, a f t e r t e l l i n g the Commissioners that he was happy to see them, went on to state - 68 -...I will t e l l you today, how the Indians do come to have hard feelings. You have been staying home when the Indians began to travel (to England, Ottawa, Victoria), and explain their troubles; therefore you people have found out about our troubles, and have come to us. Now you have heard what the Indians explained at Ottawa and then you have come to the reserves to see, and have the Indians to t e l l you a l l about i t . It is not on our reserve only that our hard feelings commence; it is for land outside the reserves where the white men have stopped us. They stopped us from getting deer and birds, and stopped us fishing. That is what we told the Government at Ottawa...When the Indians were here a very long time ago, and able to look for their own food a l l over, the Indians used to increase, and they used to have a good living. ...You a l l know yourselves that we were born here on this land here. You see your own selves as to how we love our land, which land we have made improvements... You have seen our work...We a l l want to work our land to good advantage, and we are short as to our means...(Continuing, he also stated) We are also short in the authorities of our chief, and we want you people to help us and give him authority so he will have as much authority on his reserve as the white people have in their own places...Our Chief is here on the reserve and we have some troubles...and the police comes and takes our people away, and that is why we call upon you to help us by giving authority to our Chief (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, pp. 43-44). The Sub-Chief's statement is an indictment of the settler society for its intransigence towards Native rights which, was the root cause of impoverishment of Native people. The speaker, continuing on in his statement, outlined the type and condition of the land in the - 69 -Shuswap Lake r e s e r v e s . He stated that not a l l the land was good and that the l e v e l lands were too dry to grow c r o p s . Despite a l l the hardships they endured on t h e i r l a n d , he t r i e d to convince the Commission they loved t h e i r land and that they were s t r u g g l i n g to develop and farm t h e i r r e s e r v e s . They recognized that unless they had f inances and c o n t r o l over i t , they would be unable cc c u l t i v a t e the l e v e l and timbered lands. The former type of land r e q u i r e d i r r i g a t i o n and the l a t t e r r e q u i r e d land c l e a r i n g equipment. The Band had no f inances to b u i l d d i t c h e s or to purchase such equipment. The i s s u e of f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t a n c e l e d to an exchange of questions between Commissioner McKenna and the N a t i v e spokesmen which proceeded as f o l l o w s : Q. Did you ever ask Smith, f o r a stumping Machine? A . No. Q. What machines d i d you get? A . Threshing and mowing machines. We asked f o r some fencing to fence the graveyard. We c a l l e d on Smith and he helped u s . The I n d i a n Agent before Smith, he never helped us and we had to buy our own t h i n g s . We have made up our minds to ask S m i t h . . . , f o r help for stumping machines, and work horses and other machinery. I would l i k e to know from Mr. Smith, now where that money came from what was given to us i n machinery? Was i t government money or was i t some of our money which had been p a i d f o r us f o r some of our land which has been taken by the white men? The Chairman ( a f t e r c o n s u l t a t i o n with Agent Smith): I t came out of the money which the government h o l d s i n t r u s t for you ( R . C . E . , Kamloops Agency, p .45). - 70 -It would seem that the issue of financial assistance was a political issue for the speaker in which the accountability of the Department of Indian Affairs to Indian people was at issue. Native people had no way of knowing how much money was held in trust for them, or the sources of money which was spent on their behalf. The source of the funds with which implements were purchased for them was important to the Indians because they did not particularly appreciate taking government aid for fear of jeopardizing their campaign for recognition of their rights to 'unsurrendered lands' and even less did they like their own money being spent in ways they did not approve. This Band's reliance on agriculture appears to have been a recent phenomenon. According to Peter Tommah, who was examined under oath, they used to work for white men until three or four years prior to 1912. In 1908 or 1909, the Band began making their living primarily on the reserve. Q. Do the Indians on this reserve go outside to work for other people? A. A long time ago they used to do i t . Q. Don't they do i t anymore now? A. Some of the young fellows work for white men. Q. At what kind of work? A. On farms, at logging, and in the lumber camp. Q. Speaking generally, the Indians here make their living by cultivating their land, and by working on the reserve as a whole? A. Yes, i t is just a l i t t l e while since the Indians have begun to work their land. A long time ago we used to work for the white men. Q. How long is i t since you commenced to work your land? A. About 3 or 4 years ago (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.48). - 71 -At the time the Commission visited these people, a certain section of the population was engaged in cultivating the soil, growing hay, potatoes and vegetables; they grew 'anything the white men buys'. Another section of the population was logging and clearing land for cultivation on Reserve No. 4. Just as the Adams Lake Band had done, they had sold off most of their stock due to a lack of grazing land (see Tables 7 and 8). The most revealing discussions revolved around Scotch Creek Reserve No. 4. Peter Tommah, a Band member sworn in by the Commission, had this to say: Q. How about Scotch Creek reserve? How many families live or have their homes on Scotch Creek? A. Six families. Q. Do they live there a l l the time? A. Not always. Q. Have they houses anywhere else on any of the other reserves? A. Yes, they have their own houses here in the village, and they have their own land there, which they work. Q. Is there anyone living there at present? A. They are a l l here at the present time. Q. Do you mean that they are a l l here today or have been living there for the last two weeks or a month? A. When the work comes in to the other place, they go there to work, and when there is work here they come back here. Q. How much land is cleared....? A. About 80 acres. That reserve is awfully hard to clear. Q. What do you grow on the land...? A. Hay and other crops. We are just trying that land to see what we can raise on it (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, pp. 50-51). Table 7. Animals Owned by Shuswap Lake Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of F a i r Pasturage s of An imals Number o f An imals Requi red to S u s t a i n Stock Horses 44 880 C a t t l e — T o t a l : - 44 880 Table 8. Pasture Land Possessed by Shuswap Lake Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Horses Cattle Total Poor 1,236 25 32 57 Fair 170 Good T o t a l : " 1,406 (-170) 29 37 66 - 74 -Bands that had more than one reserve often resided on one reserve and moved back and f o r t h to the d i f f e r e n t reserves i n which they were c l e a r i n g or c u l t i v a t i n g the land. The Indians who moved back and f o r t h to the Scotch Creek Reserve were mainly engaged i n logging. As an area was logged out, they would c u l t i v a t e the cleared land. However, the r e a l value of t h i s reserve was the timber; the s o i l was overly sandy. In response to the Chairman of the Commission, the Indian Agent t e s t i f i e d : Q. Scotch Creek i s on the Big Shuswap Lake -how many acres does i t contain? A. 2,105 acres. Q. No permanent residents there? A. No. Q. They go there from time to time? A. Yes, and work i n the lumber camp and make hay (he l a t e r pointed out that they worked for themselves and do not work for anyone outside the reserve) Q. That i s a pretty good reserve for f e r t i l i t y ? A. No, I don't consider i t good at a l l - the land i s sandy, and a great deal of the bottom land i s very hard to clear on account of the heavy cedar (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p. 172). This Band had u t i l i z e d a t o t a l of 155 acres, according to the Indian Agent, for growing apples, vegetables and hay. They had cleared an a d d i t i o n a l 270 acres, of which a portion was ready for the plough (see Table 9). The Indian Agent, taking into consideration that these people lacked access to water, finances and had j u s t began to farm t h e i r land, t e s t i f i e d to the Commission that Table 9. Land Classification of the Shuswap Lake Band. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Reserves Total Acreage Surveyed Agent's Estimate of Crop Land Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land Potential Crop Land Timber Land Cut-Off Land Unassessed Land No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 -No. 5 Totals: 4,265 600 60 2,105 782.59 7,812.59 40 (202) 14 (100) 20 80 (60) 155 (1) 1,050 'poor' 15 'fair' 155 'fair' 186 'poor' 1,406 125 50 25 50 20 (12) 270 (2) 3,000 535 50% 1,950 500 6,015 40 60 2,105 . 4 2,169 Ln 50 (over?) , 17 (over?) 1) 2) a per capita acreage of one acre, a per capita acreage of 2.4 acres. - 76 -within the last two years they have made quite an improvement (R.C.E., Kamloops Agents, p.172). The shifting emphasis towards cultivating the land was widespread in the first decade of the 20th Century. A.W. Vowell, Indian Superintendent for B.C. wrote in his general report, to the Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, that The Indians, have to contend against so many competitors in the labour field, owing to the increasing influx of whites and others into the country during late years, find that they cannot make money as easily as they did in former years when disposed to work...outside their reserves, and are as a consequence giving more attention to the resources nearer home, such as farming and stock raising. During the year reported upon (1908) I know many Indians who formerly went to the canneries and other places during summer in search of work, that have now come to the conclusion that they would be much better off and more comfortable by remaining at home and attending to their gardens and stock, etc., a course which for years I and others have endeavoured to persuade them to adopt as being in every way to their advantage... (D.I.A., Annual Report, 1907-08:270; see also •D.I.A. ,•-; Annual Report, 1908-09:245; 1907-08:258). Other factors which led Indian people to begin cultivating their lands were restrictions on hunting and fishing and racist hiring practices. - 77 -The Indians of the Shuswap Lake Band having just begun using their land gave the appearance that they were uninterested in developing i t . Consequently, the Commissioners thought the Indians were unable to handle their land or did not want to use the land. This seeming indifference gave the Commission a pretext to justify ordering 2,105 acres cut-off. The Commission in contemplation of a cut-off, discussed i t with the Indian Agent, but the. notion of cutting off 2,105 acres was never mentioned to the Band. The Indian Agent in response to the Commission's desire to cut off Scotch Creek, stated that if that reserve was sold the Band would not derive as much income from the sale of the land as i t would from the cutting and sale of the timber. The land was worth less than the timber. Q. Mr.Commissioner Shaw: Would you say i t (No.4) is not reasonably required for this Band of Indians? A. No, I would not say that. I would say that it is required for the Indians. Q. Why...? A. Because from the proceeds of the sale of the timber, they would be able to clear the land where their village is, so as to enable them to make homes and cultivate their land. Q. By what means? A. By the sale of the timber. Q. Would the sale of the timber help them in this respect? A. The timber is worth more than the land. Q. If i t were sold at public auction, would the money derived from the sale assist them in the same way? A. If i t were sold by auction under the present system and the revenue that would be derived after the same was divided between the two Governments, there would not be sufficient money left to bring i t under cultivation... (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.173). - 78 -The Indian spokesmen and the Indian Agent tried to point out to the Commission that the Band had just recently begun to farm the land. They lacked finances, farming and land clearing equipment. They also had land which was difficult to clear and a lot which was second and third class land. A partial financial solution for this Band resided in their timbered land. The argument by the Agent against cutting off Reserve No. 4 did not influence the decisions of the Commission. However, the members of the Salmon Arm Board of Trade appear to have carried more weight. They presented an argument for the reduction of the Indian reserve lands on the grounds that the Indians had an excessive amount of land which they were not using, and that the unused lands were impairing growth of the town. 5. Salmon Arm's Board of Trade - Businessmen's Interest in the Commission The Royal Commission met with the local business representatives of Salmon Arm in the Montebello Hotel. A Mr. James Evans and Mr. A.D. Currie represented the Board of Trade. The basic position of the board, as I earlier indicated, was that they felt Indians had too much land. Mr. Evans began by stating that the valuable land lying in idle waste in the vicinity surrounding Salmon Arm was impending the growth of the town, and he declared that lands held by the Indians 'were very dirty in appearance'. According to Evans: - 79 -Some six miles west of here, just across the front of the settlement, there are about 2,300 acres of land, and about 15 families in occupation of i t . In Tappen Siding reserve there are about 3,100 acres of land and about 20 families averaging about 160 acres each. That 3,100 acres of land, if it was properly cultivated, ought to comfortably support a great many more people...(R.C.E., Kamloops Agent, p.8). In the first instance, Evans misrepresented the facts, because Neskainlith Band had 36 acres per capita; Adams Lake Band, 39 acres per capita, and the Shuswap Lake Band, 70.54 acres per capita. In the last instance the Indian Agent, as we have stated, declared that 2,105 acres of their land were of poor quality and the value rested in being a timber reserve. However, Evans, and people like him, viewed Native people and their land in a different light. In pursuing his case, Evans argued as follows: I should like this matter of the 3,000 acres between 20 families, to be dealt with in such a way as would benefit the Indians, the Dominion Government, and the white people in this vicinity. Q. Commissioner MacDowell: How would you suggest dealing with the Indians in a matter of this kind? A. I would deal with the Indians as I would deal with a child. I would not give them title to any part of the land until I found they were capable of taking care of i t . Q. Chairman: What would you say would be a fair allowance of land, per family, for the Indians taking into consideration their present conditions, and looking forward also to a possible increase in their numbers in the future? - 80 -A. I don't think there are 20 per cent of the Indians on these reserves that there were 20 or 30 years ago, but taking into consideration a l l the facts, the nature of the land, the ability of the Indians and the possibility of an increase in their numbers, I think 40 acres would be sufficient for each family, but they should have assistance in cultivating i t . Q. Commissioner Shaw: You made the statement..., that you considered 40 acres was enough for a whiteman to farm, and farm properly, in this vicinity? A. Yes, 40 acres is enough for a whiteman. Q. And does the Indian not look forward to an increase? A. Yes. Q. And 40 acres is enough for a whiteman, also looking forward to an increase? A. No, I don't think so. Q. Mr. Commissioner White: You take an Indian and give him 40 acres. He has 3 boys, and a wife; he dies, and the three boys have that 40 acres divided between them, what would be done for those acres? A. Well, they have the same privileges as a whiteman who is similarly situated, but I would suggest that land might be put aside in other parts of the Province for future allotments... Q. Commissioner Shaw: Do you know of any single Indian who cleared say 10 acres of land? A. No. Q. Do you think i t possible that any will, in the future? A. I would not say that, I regard the Indian as a child who should be taken care of (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, pp.12-13). Commissioner Shaw asked Mr. Evans if he thought i t would be fair to equate an Indian with a white man. Evans responsed by stating that it would be unfair to compare an uneducated white man to an Indian. He maintained that white people had more brain power. - 81 -A.D. Currle, when he was examined, basically concurred with the testimony given by his colleague. However, he thought that Indians would s t i l l be well off if they had 'only five acres' per family; but, he would not begrudge them eighty acres per family if they had assistance to develop their land. The views held by these men - that Native people were dirty, backward child -like people incapable of developing their land and, as a consequence were an impediment to the growth of the white community -were probably a means of rationalizing their desire to speculate on Native lands. Their knowledge of real estate values became evident when Commissioner MacDowell questioned Mr. Currie. Q. What is the value of the land near here? A. Uncleared, from $75.00 to $150.00 an acre; cleared land from $150.00 to $200.00 an acre. Q. Is it not a fact that during the last twelve months some 10 acres of land in this vicinity were sold at $20,000.00? . A. Yes, but that of course was improved land with buildings on i t . Q. How much would represent the value of the buildings on that land? A. The value of the buildings would be less than $2,500.00. (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.15). Mr. Currie also told the Commission that the cleared lands which were selling for $150.00 to $200.00 an acre were being sold in 40 and 60 acre blocks. The direct or indirect potential beneficiaries of any lands ordered cut-off from reserves around Salmon Arm were the lumber-mills employing numerous white men at good wages (Boam, 1912:310), and the - 82 -Salmon Arm Realty Company, Ltd. which was incorporated in 1910 with an authorised capital of $50,000.00. This company had purchased an older company known as the Salmon Arm Realty Company, maintaining the old ti t l e . This company was not only involved in land speculation but also in various loan and insurance companies such as the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation and the British Columbia Loan Company. The Salmon Arm Realty Company had representatives across Canada and in England (Boam, 1912:338). Commissioner Shaw himself was not only a rancher but also a president of a Trust Company. The manager of that Trust Company was described as a man who 'made a special study of realty values throughout the interior of British Columbia (Boam, 1912:330). 6. The Decision of the Royal Commission for the Shuswap District In accordance with Article 2a of the Memorandum of Agreement, the Commission was empowered to reduce the size of a reserve which i t assessed as having excessive acreages. However, the reduction was to be ordered only after obtaining consent of the Indians as required by the Indian Act. All the three Bands so far considered made statements clearly indicating that they were opposed to reductions. They had begun to develop their lands to varying degrees and expressed a desire to continue doing so. However, they pointed out to the Commission that their efforts were being hampered by a lack of arable land, inaccessibility of water, and lack of finances. - 83 -The Commission, although possessed :.. . knowledge of the social and economic conditions of these Bands ordered land cut-off from their reserves. These cut-offs were not even discussed with the Bands. The Commission 'ordered' 480 acres be cut-off from No. 3 Reserve of the Neskainlith Band ( R . C . R . , Kamloops Agency, 1916:348). Indians had stated that the land on the relevant portion of the reserve was bounded by a wagon road and encircled by settlers. It was being preserved by the Indians as a source of timber for either firewood or building material. Also, Celesta testified that if they were able to clear this land i t would be good for growing wheat, oats and apples (R'.C.E. , iKamloops Ageneyy. p.:26) . , .-• From the Adams Lake reserve, the Commission ordered a total of 137 acres cut-off 55 acres from No. 6 reserve, and 82 acres from No. 7. The first was to facilitate construction of a wharf. The Indian Agent testified to the Commission that: ...The Department sent me up to that place to report on a right-of-way running through it (No. 6) to the lake for a wharf (RoCjE.yc. o,r.j'.oo. Kamloops_Agency, pp.158; see :als6 " R:C . R . , " Kamloops-Agency v*vl916:342)1; • , • The Commission also made the following decision about Adams Lake Band's No. 7 reserve: ...having under consideration the reasonable and necessary requirements of the Indians of the Adams Lake Tribe,...,with respect to lands contained in Switsemalph Indian Reserve No. 7 it was - 84 -ORDERED: That there be Cut-Off from the said Switsemalph Indian Reserve No. 7 of the Adams Lake Tribe, ..., a track of land adjoining and to the west of the town- of Salmon Arm, on Shuswap Lake, being a portion of the said Reserve No. 7 containing approximately eighty-two (82) acres...(R.C,R.Kamloops Agency, 1916:342-43; Italics added) .- . 1 . This land, adjacent to the town, was described by the Indian Agent as first class land. The Indians had cleared off a l l brush and trees, however - they could not remove the stumps and could only wait for them to rot. This particular piece of land was rented by a Mr. Palmer for grazing purposes and the rent money was being paid to two widows and a four-year-old boy. It was the main source of income sustaining these three indivudals (Royal Commission Transcript, Kamloops Agency, p.161). Without ever consulting the Shuswap Lake Band, the Commission ordered a total of 2,165 acres cut from its reserves. ORDERED: That Measow Reserve No. 3 and Scotch Creek Reserve No. 4 in the Kamloops District of the Little Shuswap Lake (Kaut) Tribe, BE CUT OFF (R.C.R.., Kamloops Agency, 1916:351). The 60-acre No. 3 Reserve had been fenced and farmed by Indians at one time; but, i t had been sold by the federal government to Mr. Whitefield Chase. However, his money was refunded after the provincial government protested the sale on the basis of its reversionary rights claim. Peter Tommah informed the Commission that the Indians were 'doubtful if they could work that land because the two governments were disputing over the - 85 -reserves' (R. C.E.', "Kamloops Agency, p. 50). In the Agent-'s view. That piece of land, as far as I have heard, is a very good piece of land, and immediately this road question is settled, I think they are prepared to fence it and cultivate i t as soon as the wagon road is put through i t (R.C..E-.., Kamloops. Agency, p'.50) . • Indian use of land on this particular reserve was being hampered primarily because of the dispute between the two levels of government, and secondly because of inaccessibility of the reserve. It was no fault of the Indians that the land was lying idle. The Commission, having the reasonable and necessary requirements of the Indians in mind, ordered Reserve No. 4 totally cut off. This is the reserve the Indians were logging and attempting to cultive. The Commission, although presented with a logical argument by the Indian Agent not to cut off Scotch Creek Reserve proceeded to do so. The Commission rationalized their 'orders' to cut off land from the Bands in this corner of the Kamloops Agency on the basis that the land which was ordered cut-off were 'unused and non-essential to the maintenance of the Indians'. Furthermore, the Commission felt that the people in this area needed less land because the Salmon Arm District was more suitable to truck and fruit farming as opposed to cattle ranching. The Commission in ordering land cut-off from this District was obviously not basing its judgements on the testimony of the Indians, the Agent, or the data which i t gathered. A l l evidence indicates that the - 86 -Indians were striving to utilize their land and if some lands were unused i t was through no fault of the Indians. The Commission, it would seem, was pursuing the federal government's policy of 1908 which was to sell timber and agricultural lands to aid the development and settlement of the country. This position was maintained by the provincial government and other business interests. The Commission, then, was serving the colonizing schemes of the two levels of government regardless of the conditions and wishes of the Indians. 7 . North Thompson Band The Royal Commission met with the North Thompson Band on October 27, 1915. The interpreter was Isaac Harris. It is recorded in the Transcript that the 'scope and purpose of the Commission was briefly explained by Mr. Commissioner White' (R.C.E. ,. Kamloops . , Agency, p.56). The spokesmen for this Band were Chief Andre, who spoke first, Captain George, who spoke second, and Johnny Oxine who was examined under oath by the Commission. Chief Andre and Captain George were concerned about restrictions placed on their hunting and fishing rights. The Indians, as they expressed i t , were beginning to feel locked up on small pieces of land and impoverished because of the increasing alienation of the land and the increasing restrictions placed on the access to the resources of the land. This monopolization of the land and its resources by the settler state was objected to as follows: - 87 -Chief Andre: You know how poor I am, just like as i f I was tied up - therefore I am kind of poor. It seems as though I cannot help myself to better myself like as i f I were afraid a l l the time. Everything seems to be locked up now, different from what i t used to be a long time ago. It used to be that everything was open to me,... Where I am now, the Reserve is pretty small, and I want the Commissioners to help me by fixing my land right and make i t solid for my children. .. forever ( R . C.E. , Kamloops jAgielfcy y -p /56) , Captain George's statement was not transcribed in f u l l , the transcript merely recorded that he spoke to the same effect along which Chief Andre had spoken. The portion of Captain George's statement which was recorded indicates the consequences of the growing web of restrictions being placed on the socio-economic pursuits of Indian people. I want to be able to be free to go and hunt anywhere outside the reserve. When I have some crops to sell, I should be able to sell i t , and so that everything will be open to me. That is a l l I have to say ( R : , - C . H . , Kamloops Agency, "p.56) . \' Commissioner-McKenna askedrthe speaker whether or not"he could sell crops? He replied that he could sell his crops but he thought that someone just may pass a law to stop him. The notion that a law could be passed stopping Native people from selling their produce was not too far fetched since laws were used to restrict Native people from hunting and fishing along with a host of other laws and regulations which entangled Native people to such a point that they were trapped into a l i f e of subsistance. - 88 -The Indians in accordance with hunting regulations were only permitted to hunt during the month of September - the hunting season. However, i f they could prove that they were in need of food they would be issued a special permit which allowed them to k i l l one deer. The Agent for the Lytton Agency outlined the issue of hunting permits and fishing regulations as follows ...The Indians as a general rule...object to this permit because they are only given a permit to k i l l one deer, and they say that sometimes i t takes them 2 or 3 days to get a deer and often they have got to go quite a distance to get i t . So that by the time they return there is very l i t t l e of the deer left. When they go out in a party they say they are only allowed to k i l l one deer and they eat that a l l up before they get back. ...And this shooting and fishing question means a great deal of correspondence for the Agent and in fact for every Agent in the country, because there are so many of the Indians who want these permits. I think the fishery regulations are thoroughly good with the exception of allowing the Indians to sell. I think i t is a great hardship that an Indian is not allowed to sell his salmon in order that he might be able to buy sugar, tea and flour and other ordinary necessities of l i f e (R.C-.E.'y Lytton Agency., pp.509-510) . . - : These hunting and fishing regulations were enforced in areas denoted as 'regulated districts', but not enforced in others denoted 'unregulated districts'; however, the unregulated areas such as the North Thompson, were fast diminishing. - 89 -The statements of the Indians and the Agent for the Kamloops Agency indicates that the North Thompson Indians, a few years prior to 1912, had been principly trappers with a subsistance diet of game and fish. This area was rather isolated until the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway was constructed. Johnny Oxine, when he was questioned about reliance on hunting and trapping, pointed out that his people used to get $10,000.00 per year from the sale of furs, but We don't get any of that $10,000.00 worth now, because the white men have come along and taken a l l our furs away (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.62). The above statement simply means that with the expansion of the settled areas, the fur bearing animals were depleted through the destruction and. . alteration of ecological systems through the building of roads, establishment of ranches, the opening of areas for mining. This interpretation is supported by the Indian Agent's statement. He indicated that the North Thompson Indians were a very moral and hard working people, who within the last five or six years had made a great transition from basically being trappers to farmers. He also pointed out that the Indians had recently been hemmed in by settlers and coal mines (;R.C.E. , /Kamloops Agency, p. 178-7:9) . •"• Circumstances created by the influx of settlers, mining companies and the construction of the railway compelled the Indians to try and develop their land. In their efforts to do so they were encouraged by the Agent to develop a mixed farming economy. In 1912, they were in - 9 0 -the process of expanding their wheat, oat and vegetable production. The Indians normally sold any surplus produce which they may have had to the settlers. The Indian Agent told the Commission that this Band was fortunate in having a ready, although temporary, market for their produce in the construction camps of the railway company. The Indian Agent was asked by the Commission i f the Indians worked off of the reserve; he replied that they worked very l i t t l e off of the reserve with the exception of a few individuals who s t i l l trapped f u l l time. Johnny Oxine was also asked i f the Indians worked off the reserve to supplement their new economic pursuits; he replied to the questions as follows: A. Yes, when we find work. Q. What kind of work do you find outside of the reserve? A. General work, farming in the haying season, etc. Q. Did any of you work on the Railroad during the construction of it? A. Yes, inside our reserve, when the railroad was going through we helped to cut the right-of-way. Q. Do you hunt and trap during the winter months? A. Yes, we trap. Q. Taken altogether, do you make a fairly comfortable living for yourselves on the reserves? A. Some of us are not living comfortably, provided we do not go outside the reserve and help ourselves. Q. Commissioner McKenna: You mean provided you don't go outside the reserve to work? A. Yes, and trap outside of the reserve too. Q. Would the majority of the people have to go off the reserve to labour and to trap, in order to make a comfortable living? A. Some of the Indians here are regular trappers and would sooner go out and trap, and some are farmers who stay at home a l l the time (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.59). - 91 -These people were unable to make a complete transition to mixed farming for various reasons of which some of them involved lack of agricultural lands, pasture lands and finances. In his testimony the witness also told the Commission that only about seven individuals (heads of families?) were capable of cultivating land more extensively than other Band members who 'only have small fields'. He went on to say that they were having difficulty in cultivating their land due to a 'shortage of machinery, horses, e t c ' and in any event even if they had the necessary equipment for farming, the land would be 'too short'. The data collected by the Commission supported the Indians' contention their lands were too small. The acreage of arable land per capita amounted to 6.4 acres. This included the swamp hay meadows which were subject to annual flooding (see Table 10). The amount of potentially arable land of this Band equalled 50 acres. It had lost more land to railway right-of-ways than i t had as potentially arable land. Furthermore, the railways disregard of the Indians fishing stations resulted in their destruction. Other significant factors which further aggravated the social conditions of the Indians were lack of funds and shortage of grazing lands. Testimony of the Indian Agent indicated that the irrigation system of the Band was only capable of irrigating 80 to 90 acres. According to the Agent, i t was beyond the means of the Band to extend its irrigation facilities. However, the members were able to cultivate 160 acres by utilizing dry farming techniques to grow crops such as oats, wheat and hay. But this technique could not be widely adapted due to the semi-arid climate in the area. Table 10. Land Classification of the North Thompson Band. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Total Agent's Estimate Agent's Estimate Potential Timber Cut-Off Unassessed Reserves Acreage Surveyed of Crop Land of Pasture Land Crop Land Land Land Land No. 1 3,112 l,200 v w 500 'poor' 50 800 • 108 , 438 (over?; 500 'fair' +500 fire wood ,' No. 2 5 Fishing Station — one. acre . I No. 3 5 Fishing Station — - — washed away N> I No. 4 8 -- 5.5 (2) Totals: 3,130 l,200 v ' 1,000 50 1,300 114.5 1) 500 acres is swamp land which overflows annually. 2) a per capita acreage of 6.4 acres. - 93 -The hay and grains which were grown went toward feeding the stock estimated by the Agent to consist of 135 horses and 47 cattle. The Indians testified that they had 100 horses and 70 cattle. This Band was plagued by a shortage of pasture lands which consisted of 500 acres of 'fair' land covered in scrub timber. ' They had an additional 500 acres which was classified as being poor and mainly served as a source of firewood. Taking this to be the case, the pasture land of the Band would have been able to sustain approximately 22 head of horses and 28 head of horned cattle. Looked at from another perspective, they needed 3,700 acres of fair pasture land for the horses and 705 acres of the same quality of land for their cattle. In total, the Band needed approximately 4,405 acres (see Tables 11 and 12). The Band requested 1,280 acres of land specifically for pasturage. The Indian Agent, under examination, told the Commission that the Indians had no pasture land to speak about. He also testified that he had made an application for land on which these people could graze their stock but no attempt was made by the Department of Indian Affairs to act on the application. The Agent stated that he had made recommendation to the Department of Indian Affairs to obtain a portion of vacant land but the Department, to his knowledge, had not acted on his recommendations by applying to the provincial government for the land. The Indian Agent was told, by a Commissioner, to give the Commission a description of the land and that the Commission would act Table 11. Animals Owned by North Thompson Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 135 (100) 3.700 Cattle 47 (70) 705 Total:- 182 4,405 Table 12. Pasture Land Possessed by North Thompson Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Horses Cattle Total Poor 500 10 12 22 Fair 500 12 16 28 Good Total:- 1,000 22 28 50 - 96 -on his recommendations. The land which was 'vacant and available' amounted to 1,280 acres. However, the Agent for reasons unknown recommended 640 acres be constituted as reserve land. The Commission responded to his recommendations by stating: Allowed: Six hundred and forty (640) acres, more or less, subject to survey (R.C.R., Kamloops Agency, 1916:333): ; As earlier indicated these Indians were concerned abou t the increasing web of regulations, particularly those which affected hunting and fishing. The response by Commissioner Shaw typified the Commission's position on game and fishing regulations. Commissioner Shaw rationalized the game and fishing regulations as necessary so as not to deplete the fish and wildlife. Johnny Oxine responded: Yes, we know that, but a long time ago when there was no laws fishing and hunting was very plentiful (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p. 62). Native people did not and could not understand why they should be penalized while commercial fishing companies were permitted to use massive fish traps often responsible for the wasteful destruction of tons of salmon. Furthermore, Native people could not understand why their fishing rights should be curtailed since they had not confered the right to the government to regulate the fish and game. It was the view of the - 97 -Native people that the government(s) had no authority to impose fish and game regulations on them. Native people s t i l l maintain this view today. The contrast between the growth of capitalism and the increasing web- of laws surrounding the activities of Native people, -the. small pieces of reserves, led people like Chief•Andre to utter: You know how poor I am, just like as i f I was tied up - therefore I am kinda poor. It seems as though I cannot help myself to better myself, like as i f I were afraid (to be jailed or fined) a l l the time. Everything seems locked up now, different from what i t used to be... (R.'.C-.-E/, Kamloops Agency, .p. 56) . As a final note about the Commissioners' deliberations in this vicinity, I would like to point out how they rationalized their decision to grant this Band, whose arable and pasture lands were negligible, only 640 acres for pasturage. The Commissioners stated that they would create a Reserve containing 640 acres in a locality. presenting more favourable opportunities for utilization of the land by the Indians in the characteristic industries of the Agency, farming and stock raising (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, 1916:306). The fact of the matter is the acreage given to this Band would only have met about a third of their requirements. They simply had no - 98 -room for expansion or growth. Consequently, the philosophy of the Commissioners was contradicted by their decision to grant these people only one half of what was available for the purpose of farming and ranching. 8. Kamloops Band The Royal Commission visited the Kamloops Band on October 28th, 1913. Issac Harris, an Okanagan Indian, was the interpreter. Mr. Commissioner McKenna began the investigation of this Band by briefly explaining 'the scope and purpose of the Commission'. The people who stood up and spoke to the Commissioners, on behalf of the Band, were Chief Louis, Captain Lecamp, Alexander Bob and Johnnie Leonard. Johnnie Leonard was the only person examined under oath by the Commissioners. Chief Louis told the Commissioners that the Joint Reserve Allotment Commission, headed by Sproat, McKinley and Anderson, had laid out the boundaries of the Reserve and upon completion told him that the land as demarcated is 'yours forever'. He also pointed out to the Commissioners that they had cultivated the land as far as their water supply permitted, beyond that, the land was too dry and their attempts at cultivating the soil led to failure. He attributed their shortage of water to the Western Canada Ranching Company - formerly known as Harper's Estate. This company was only supposed to be permitted by agreement, to take water remaining after the Band had taken its allotted 500 inches. However, the Ranching Company was taking more than the - 99 -agreement called for and a l l which remained for the Indians amounted to 250 inches. Let me quote a portion of Chief Louis statement: I fixed the land among my children here, and wherever - the water reaches that land i t raises good crop. We have tried to cultivate the land which the water cannot reach, and i t has been a failure. It.gets dried up without irrigation. Right east from here there is good land on the River banks, and on the beaches. If the water could reach these lands i t would be better for us. There has been a ditch line surveyed to get water for these lands. After-wards a white man took up a ranch between the reserve and the creek from where the water was to be gotten, and he stopped my water from coming. The other land we have here, i t is pasture land for the cattle, and timber land, and the timber is for our improvements for my people... Of course - you cannot expect me to find everything and find out how to work the land, but we are starting in a good way of getting on to work the land to the best advantage...Now you Commissioners have come and have seen yourselves, the shape we are in, and I have also called upon you gentlemen (presumably members of the Board of Trade) for help. Of course we are not like the white men who have a l l kinds of machinery to work the land, and I will say that I am glad the Commissioners have come to see and help us (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.64). Whereas Chief Louis spoke about the general situation of the Band, Captain Lecamp spoke about Harper's Ranch. He told the Commission that he understood that the Commissioners were there to hear a l l the grievances of the Indians; therefore, he wanted to t e l l the Commission that a l l the Indians objected to the Harper's Estate being inside the reserve. Chief Louis interjected and stated... - 100 -You know that It is the feeling of my people here, as i f for instance, there was a table and a hole in the middle of that table, the dishes and utensils would f a l l through, and that is the way of i t with this bit of land inside our reserve...(R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.66). The greatest inconvenience to the Band was the water which the Ranch was taking from the Band. Alexander Bob told the Commissioners that his people were only suffering from one handicap which was a shortage of water. The Commissioners dismissed this issue on the grounds that they understood that there was enough water to go around; the Commission stated that i f the Band was not getting its proper share, the Band should apply to the Water Commission 'not to us'. The last remark by the Commissioners ended a l l discussion and Johnnie Leonard was then examined under oath. He pointed out that the Band members were mainly involved in the mixed farming economy of the Band; however, their involvement in the Band's economy did not preclude them from working outside the reserve for white farmers, or in mills where they were paid $1.50 per day. As in other reserves, there was a small section of the population which could not be employed on the Reserve and worked elsewhere. Johnnie Leonard also told the Commission that, aside from the 250 inches of water they lost to Harper's Ranch, they had also lost access to another creek in 1903. He went on to t e l l the Commission that they were well equipped with farm-implement, which they had purchased themselves, and that their irrigation system was constructed independently of government aid! The Indian Agent, when he was examined, pointed out - 101 -that the only financial aid which the Band had received was $300.00 to assist in the repairing of its irrigation system. Presumably, the funding was derived from the sale of Band land to the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway which had constructed a line and a train station on the reserve. The point which becomes evident in the statements of Native people is that they were using less land, or unable to open up more land and lacked land due to the increasing incroachment of white settlers. In the case of the Kamloops Band, the Indian Agent touched on some factors, which adversely affected the Indians. Mr. Smith was examined under oath, in Victoria, on November 19th, and 20th, 1913. He testified that the Indians had cultivated more land than their water supply could irrigate and that i f they had more water they could cultivate an additional 1,700 acres. To accomplish this, he pointed out, they would need financial assistance to construct an earthen ditch. The Chairman questioned the Agent about developing a policy of 'pouring' money into a reserve everytime the Indians wanted some ' l i t t l e improvements' done - a view contradictory to the provincial and federal policy of building railroads, roads, setting up experimental farms, and generally assisting development. In any event, the Agent pointed- out that the -Indians were' in such a situation that they could not afford to build irrigation systems, having families to support. He pointed out that this Band had lost control over its finances recently when the Department took over their management, and now the Band had no funds to carry out economic development. - 102 -The Agent told the Commission, that the Band was leasing out some grazing land to a white rancher for $1,500.00 per year and the Agent wondered where the money was going! He said that i f the people had that money they could use it to construct their irrigation system. He was told by Commissioner Shaw that: The fact of the matter is the former manager used to advance money to the Indians on behalf of the lease, but the Department stopped i t and the whole thing now goes to Ottawa (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.150). The federal policy in 1912 of completely taking over Band funds had the effect of draining the Band's finances. The control of funds by the Department stifled economic growth as much as the loss of water. The examination of the Agent switched to questions about the Indians'disaffection with the right-of-way of the C.N.P.R., which traversed the whole length of the reserve. The Agent indicated that the Native peoples' disaffection was rooted in the fact that the contract, as understood by the Band, had been broken. The Agent stated that the contract specified the width of the right-of-way to be 90 feet; however, the railway Company fenced off 100 feet. Furthermore, the railway was pushed right through the village 'practically cutting i t in two'. The people had to remove 'their meeting house and several other buildings'. Also, a piece of swamp, hay land, which used to drain sufficiently early to be cut, no longer drained because the railway had blocked the natural drainage outlet of the field. - 103 -Finally, the Agent pointed out that the Indians agreed to the construction of the railway through their Reserve based on the under-standing that i t was to be constructed along the river bank. Had the railway been so constructed i t would not have disrupted the village, the land usage, and taken so much valuable agricultural land out of production. Instead, the railroad was built, contrary to agreement, through the village, through farm lands and in addition an extra ten feet was taken. To these complaints the Commissioners replied, The only thing is that the arrangement made with the Indians and the arrangement made with the Department are different. Commissioner McKenna: What the Department should do is to make them pay for the damages to the buildings, and I think i t is a matter for you, Mr. Smith, to take up with the Department (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.155). A final and significant point which was discussed with the Agent but never with the Band involved the issue of cut-offs; the Agent was asked what portion of the reserve could be cut-off without adversely affecting the Band. The Agent tried throughout the examination to point out that a l l the land was reasonably required by the Band. The questioning proceeded as follows: The Chairman Q. Supposing i t was desirable to cut off that portion of the Kamloops Reserve between the village and the river that sandy portion -I suppose that could be cut off without detriment to the Indians? A. It would be a detriment in this way - they get a small revenue in that sandy portion of the Reserve - the Contractors buy that sand from them at so much a load. - 104 -Mr. Commissioner MacDowell: How much would i t (the revenue) come to in a year? A. Possible $300.00 or $350.00. The Chairman: Q. In front of that there is some property of the Reserve - You know here there is something that looks like a river bed on marshy land -I suppose that is no good; we saw water on i t as we passed along? A. It is good - they get hay from that. It overflows every year, and when the water receeds, they cut that meadow, and they use i t for pasturing their cattle. Q. Don't their cows get mired in it? A. No, i t is not miry. Mr. Commissioner Shaw: That water was from the f a l l rains? . A. Yes. The water has always been out of that slough sufficiently early for them to cut that hay...The Canadian Northern has blocked the lower end of i t with their track, and there is not sufficient outlet for the water to flow off of i t . . . The Chairman: Q. Supposing we should come to the conclusion that it was proper to cut off a portion of that reserve; what portion could be cut off with the least detriment to the necessary requirements of the Indians? A. The portion that might be cut off, (and I might not be in favour of cutting off any), would be that portion lying east of the Industrial School. Mr. Commissioner McKenna: You said just now that i f land was to be cut off with the least detriment to the Indians — t o their reasonable requirements—it would be near the school. Now could any land be cut off without interference with the necessary requirements of the Indians? The Chairman: Q. If I understand your answer, in your judgement a l l that reserve is necessary for the reasonable requirements of the Indians? A. Yes. Mr. Commissioner MacDowell: Are they using a l l that Reserve? A. No. Q. Well then, i f they don't use i t , how can you say that i t is necessary for their requirements? A. That is not a fair way to put the question. If they had the facilities i t would be to their advantage to use that reserve. What facilities? A. Water and irrigation. Q. Can they get that? A. Yes. (-R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p. 1-45-47)." - 105 -It is evident that the views of the Agent concurs with the position stated by the Indians that external factors were responsible for the limitations of their economic growth and expansion. The Agent and the Indians maintained that white encroachment on their allocated water supply had hampered the Band's economic growth. The Agent testified that the Indians were unable to construct an irrigation system due to a lack of finances and this in turn was due the Department of Indian Affairs' control of Indian monies. These and other factors led to the curtailment of the Native peoples' capacity to utilize fully the potential of their lands. It is evident from the statements of the Indians, thus far examined, that they were eager to develop their lands and expand their production. Considerating the difficulties faced by the Native people of Kamloops, they had done quite well in 1912. They had outfitted themselves with the necessary farm implements which they had purchased; they had grown 23 tons of wheat, harvested 105 tons of oats and pease, 6 tons of beans, 280 tons of potatoes, 80 tons of turnips, and 30 tons of miscellaneous vegetables. According to the Agent, they had 500 horses and 123 head of cattle (The Indians estimated that they had 800 horses and 500 head of cattle). They also cropped 710 tons of hay and leased out a section of their grazing lands for $1,500.00 per year. Arable land, though productive, was small and amounted only to 6.19 acres per capita. Relative to the other Bands, this Band was fortunate in that its land was not divided into many small reserves; also, i t had reasonably large and good grazing land so that some Band members could pursue stock ranching to the exclusion of agricultural - 106 -pursuits. The potentially arable land amounted to 10 acres per capita (see Table 13). The Agent classified the Band's 23,558 acres of pasture land as being first class. If that were the case, then one half of the pasture lands could sustain about 1,200 head of cattle and the other half could sustain about 800 head of horses (see Tables 14 and 15). Even i f the Agent's or the Indians' claim as to the amount of stock are taken into consideration, the Band had room to expand their stock grazing on their pasture lands or to lease their 'excess' pasture lands. They chose the latter course, in a l l probability to raise finances and to preserve their level of surplus hay and grains for marketing. From the testimony of the Indians and the Agent, and the Data collected by the Commissioners, i t cannot be said that the Indians were willingly leaving their lands in idle fallow. 9. Kamloops Board of Trade Businessmen's Interest in the Commission The Kamloops Board of Trade met with the Commissioners on October 20, 1913 in the Leland Hotel. The members representing the Board of Trade were H.T. Dennison, Secretary; Sgt. James A. Gi l l , President, Mr. F.J. Fulton, K.C., and Captain Worsnop. The position of the Board of Trade was presented to the Commission by Mr. Dennison in the following memorandum: whereas i t is the opinion of the Kamloops Board of Trade that the continued use of the land on the North Banks of the Thompson River, held as an Indian Reserve is not in the best interests of either the Indians, or the City of Kamloops, the Board desires to represent to the Royal Indian Commission here assembled: Table 13. Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the Kamloops Sand. Estimated Acreage of C l a s s i f i e d Land Reserves T o t a l Acreage Surveyed Agent ' s Estimate of Crop Land Agent ' s Estimate of Pasture Land P o t e n t i a l Crop Land Timber Land Cut-Off Land No. 1 33,131 1,700 (1,000) 23,558 'good' 2,800 (1,500) 600 713 No. 15 F i s h i n g S t a t i o n 4,000 'wor th less ' 2 No. 7 F i s h i n g S t a t i o n 3 No. 4 180 75 180 No. 5 46 F i s h i n g S t a t i o n 11 'poor ' 15 Unassessed Land 180 (over?) T o t a l s : 1,720 (1) 23,558 2,890 (2) 600 713 1) 2) a per c a p i t a acreage of 6.2 acres , a per c a p i t a acreage of 10 acres . Table 14. Animals Owned by Kamloops Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 500 (800) 10,000 Cattle 123 (500) 1,745 Total :- 623 11,745 Table 15. Pasture Land Possessed by Kamloops Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Animals Supportable on Land Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Horses Cattle Total Poor Fair Good 23,558 800 1,200 2,000 Total:- 23,558 800 1,200 2,000 - 110 -1st. That the land is not well cultivated, or employed to proper advantage by the Indians; 2nd. That its close proximity to Kamloops is not beneficial to either the Indians or the City; 3rd. That the development of Kamloops is restricted by the reservation of this property; 4th. That the land should be more profitably employed. 5th. That the prosperity of the Indians would be advanced by the sale of the land; and it is therefore resolved; That the Royal Indian Commission be requested to consider the advisability of recommending the sale of a l l , or at least 800 to 1,000 acres of the said land on the banks of the river opposite the City of Kamloops. Sgt. James A. G i l l , Pres. Sgt. James A. G i l l , speaking on behalf of the memorandum, stated that the close proximity of the Reserve has been a 'burning question for years'. He said that convictions of Indians for possession of liquor due to accessibility, was increasing. Since a white community would be built around the new train station on the Reserve, the Board felt that the Indians should be removed from the increasing evil influences of whisky. Gil l testified that the Board thought i t "desirable that they (the Indians) should be removed as the land..., which is not being used to any great extent, could be utilized for industrial purposes". (Royal Commission Evidence, Kamloops Agency, p.3). Mr. Fulton, speaking on behalf of the memorandum, also alluded to the increasing accessibility of liquor and the necessity of removing the Indians from such evil influences. He further rationalized the position of the Board by stating that, in its opinion, 'not one-half of the Reserve was being used properly and 'under modern conditions', he thought, the Indians should not be allowed - I l l -to 'hold back the development of the Province'. He added that he had seen white settlers come to Kamloops only to return to the ranges utterly disgusted because a l l the fertile land had been tied up -presumably he meant in Indian Reserves. The Kamloops Standard reported that Commissioners J.P. Shaw and D.A. McDowell "expressed opinion that i t seemed feasible suggestion, that of removing the Indians further from the City, as their proximity to white men was demoralizing (Oct. 21; 1913:1). However, the Chairman of the Commission told the Board of Trade that its requests were beyond the Commission's powers. In any event the Commissioners agreed •,' ' to cutting off 380 acres on February 11, 1915 (see Royal Commission Report, 1916:346, v.l). The position of the Board was not arrived at without some complaints and opposition. The Board members criticised the Commission for not giving them adequate notice of its desire to meet with fehemf . the Board also criticised the Commissioners for not clearly outlining why i t wanted to meet with its members. The Kamloops Standard on October 21, 1913, reported on page one, that Capt. Worsnop and President J.A. G i l l had expressed surprise that the meeting had not been properly announced. A day later, an editorial in the Inland Sentinal expressed more succinct views: It was extraordinary enough that the Commission should seek a conference with the...Board on a public holiday; i t was extraordinary enough that the Commission should give such inadequate notice of their plan to visit Kamloops; but i t is almost inconceivable that the Commission should neglect - 112 -to state why a meeting with the Board was desired. The result was that the members of the Board of Trade were rushed together, and, a l l unprepared, discussed a proposal initiated by the President that the Kamloops Indians by transferred from the present Reserve...After a great deal of acrimonous interchange of opinion the Board decided to recommend this removal of the Indians, and Mr. F.J. Fulton was deputed to enunciate the desirability of the step. This, however, proved an utter waste of time, for the chairman declared that i t was not within the purview of the Commission to make any such recommendations. (October 22, 1913:4). The manner in which the Commissioners announced their desire to meet with the Kamloops Board of Trade is significant especially i f i t is an indication of their procedure of establishing meetings with Indian people. The opposition which the Board met in drawing up its position came from the Indian Agent and from a minority of its members. The Kamloops Standard in reporting on the meeting at which the memorandum was drawn up, reported that the Indian Agent opposed the memorandum. Agent Smith, in arguing on behalf of the Indians, stated that the Reserve was being cultivated to the extent permitted by the supply of water. Mr. Smith objected to the request to have the Indians removed from their Reserve and he added "that money cut no figure; the Indians wanted the land and not the money".(Kamloops Standard, Oct. 21, 1913:1). The Agent also indicated to the Board that its request exceeded the powers of the Commission. In response, the President, Mr. J.A. G i l l , "declared that there were always.ways of accomplishing these things". (Inland Sentinel, Oct. 21, 1913:1). The members who opposed the memorandum were Capt. Worsnop, J.M. Harper and Alderman McGill. Capt. worsnop condemned the - 113 -memorandum as a mere land grabbing scheme. However, he pointed out that he would not mind purchasing the Reserve land i f the impetus to sell had come from the Indians. Aid. McGill maintained that the Indians were not a detriment to the city from a financial point of view because they spent a lot of money in the city. J.M. Harper merely pointed out that the Indians had never been treated fairly by whites and in any event Kamloops had a lot of room to branch out in without bothering the Indians. These objections were over-ridden by the majority of the members who were present and the memorandum passed without any alterations as i t was originally presented by the President. However, the Inland Sentinel published an editorial critical of the intentions of those behind the memorandum: There is no disguising the fact that consideration for the Indian did not stir the general run of those present at Monday's meeting, and the Indians' lack of enterprise was brought forward merely to show how Kamloops would benefit were the aborigine driven away and a townsite with stores and banks near the C.N.R. depot established, and the remainder of the land farmed by white men—from the East according to the recommendation of one speaker. This would be advantageous to the real estate dealer, to the banks and merchants, and to the white people generally, and might under certain circumstances be desirable. What treatment of the Indian in the transaction is to be expected, though, of a man who says that those discussing the matter need take no thought of the Indian as his interests are protected at Ottawa and Victoria? Such a man is speaking either as a partizan against his conscience or in ignorance. Offences against Indians in land jobbery reek to Heaven; and the Attorney General of this Province has had to be restrained by the Dominion authorities in connection with Indian land transactions. (October 22, 1913:4). - 114 -The above e d i t o r i a l i s i n many respects a commendable condemnation of the land grabbing schemes continuously experienced by Native people. However, i t should be noted that the f e d e r a l government moved to r e s t r a i n 'land jobbery' only under c e r t a i n circumstances. At times i t contributed to the problem. For example, the railway company, backed by both l e v e l s of Government, had the choice of b u i l d i n g on the lands of the Esate of Pragnell and Cosier, which was established i n 1909, and on the land of other land owners (see Boam, 1912:338), but chose to b u i l d on the Indian Reserve (see Inland Sentinel, Oct. 23, 1913:4 -'The Mail Bag). They chose t h i s course because the land could be obtained as part of the Government's land grants to the railway or at a p r i c e below the market value of the land. P r i v a t e lands could not be obtained i n such a manner, while lands under f e d e r a l j u r i s d i c t i o n could be so obtained. This i n my view was another form of land speculation. The d i s r u p t i v e influence . of the railway has already been discussed; i t could not be argued that the breach of contract and the construction of the t r a i n yard, s t a t i o n and tracks on Band land was i n the best i n t e r e s t s of the Indians. 10. Deadman's Creek Band The Commission met with the Deadman's Creek Band on October 29, 1913. The scope and purpose of the Commission was b r i e f l y explained to the people by Commissioner White through Issac H a r r i s . Once th i s was - 115 -completed, Chief Joe Tomma stood up and spoke about the p l i g h t of Native people, i n general, and the members of his Band, i n p a r t i c u l a r . He also touched upon the response of the fe d e r a l a u t h o r i t i e s to the demands by the Indians to have t h e i r r i g h t s recognized. But, he refused to answer any questions about the condition of the reserve and the nature and extent of land use on the reserve. However, Jimmy Taylor volunteered to be sworn i n and examined under oath. Before I deal with h i s sworn evidence and that of the Indian Agent, I would l i k e to quote Chief Joe Tomma's statement because i t outlines very well the economic and p o l i t i c a l p o s i t i o n of Native people within the s e t t l e r state. Chief Joe Tomma, sa i d : - My brothers, you have known that I have been poor for a long time. I t i s nine years ago since we started to state our grievances, which also went to Ottawa (aside from London and V i c t o r i a ) . You can see the way I am situated here now. Therefore a l l the Indians of t h i s part have gathered up what they have to say, and have sent i t to Ottawa. I have been waiting for an answer to what I have said before on that account, t i l l the present time. The Chairman:- Are you prepared to give a statement with respect to your reserves, as to how you use them and how you are situated? A. NO ANSWER ( s i c ) . Mr. Commissioner McKenna:- What was the subject which you brought to the attention of the Government at Ottawa? A. The grievances of a l l the Indians i n B r i t i s h Columbia, that the white man has s p o i l t ( s o c i a l l y ruined) us and locked us i n . The white men have taken a l l the land and claimed a l l the water r i g h t s , and stopped us from hunting, f i s h i n g , etc. (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency," p.77) : . This statement of the Chief,' j u s t as testimony of other Native spokesmen, i s an i n d i c a t i o n of the Indians r e a c t i o n to the devious - 116 -po s i t i o n of the f e d e r a l government. In order to recognize r i g h t s of Native people_and-rectify i n j u s t i c e s perpetrated against them, the Federal government would have to oppose i t s own scheme to colonize Native land. The feder a l government stood for colonialism, and colonialism i s a negation of the ri g h t s of the colonized. History has demonstrated t h i s to be a fact of l i f e . The testimony of Jimmie Taylor centers around the Band's problems rel a t e d to water and range lands. He t e s t i f i e d that the reserve lacked range land, consequently, they had to enter into a lease arrangement to graze t h e i r stock on 'common' range land leased by white ranchers. According to the witness Indians were permitted to use the common range land as part of a land lease agreement entered into with a Mr. Smith-Curtis. Apparently, the Indian Agent, Mr. Irwin, who preceeded Mr. Smith, had advised the Band to lease 3,864 acres (Agent Smith quoted 4,926 acres) of good land for 999 years. In exchange the Band was to receive $1,000.00 per year for the duration of the lease and the use of 'common' grazing lands. In addition, the leasee was to construct for the Band a high l e v e l d i t c h capable of carrying 200 "miner's inches" of water. That amount of water would have been enough to i r r i g a t e four to nine hundred acres. Through the lease, the Band hoped to augment t h e i r i r r i g a t i o n system(s) which was only capable of i r r i g a t i n g 150 acres (see Table 16). The Indians had b u i l t t h i s system without government a i d , which represented a l l the c u l t i v a t e d land on the reserve due to the d i f f i c u l t y of obtaining water;---, t h e i r dream to expand t h e i r economic Table 16. Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the Deadman's Creek Band. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Total Agent's Estimate . Agent's Estimate Potential Timber Cut-Off Unassessed Reserves Acreage Surveyed of Crop Land of Pasture Land Crop Land L a n d L a n d ^ N o i 20,134 150 ( 2 0 0 ) ( 1 ) 11,800 'poor' 4,500 ( 2 )(1,100) — 4,926 (leased) Totals: 20,134 150 11,800 4,500 4,926 1) 2) a per capita acreage of 1.4 acres, a per capita acreage of 31.6 acres. - 118 -base vis-a-vis the lease proved to be an empty one. The Indians discovered that Smith-Curtis had not intended to honour the agreement. The witness described the way in which Smith-Curtis was able to deny the Band their ditch and the way the government responded to their complaints: Q. (by a Commissioner): Did you ever bring this under the notice of the Government? A. Yes, but I don't know whether they payed any attention to i t or not. He (Smith-Curtis) came back here last year and he said "you fellows have not got any stated time for me to dig the ditch," and he said he would give us the $1,000.00 with which we were to dig the ditch ourselves. We have found out since that this Company (B.C. Orchard Company) over here have digged a ditch for him, but he will never dig our ditch (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.80). The Indian Agent, Smith, in his testimony to the Commission, stated that the $1,000.00 was a promise of compensation to go towards the improvement of the old ditch until such time as Smith-Curtis was prepared to construct the water system as agreed upon in the lease arrangement. Leases could only be signed by the Department of Indian Affairs and not by the Band. The Department was solely responsible for the lease agreement which in this case, can only be seen as fraudulent. While Smith-Curtis had refused to construct the ditch for the Band, as the Indians had expected, he had contracted with the Walachin Company to construct a flume which had already been completed prior to the arrival of the Commission. This flume, which ran from one end of the reserve to the other, was capable of carrying 750 "miner's inches" of water. The water was destined to irrigate some 3,000 acres of land which - 119 -was planted in apples trees and was to have been divided into ten acre lots and sold to British immigrants. The Indians had, apparently, placed a lot of hope on the irrigation system, which had been agreed upon in the lease, to expand their meagre economic base on the reserve. Without the water, the Band was limited to ~1.4 acres per capita.of cultivable land. Their potential arable land of 4,800 acres, or an additional 31.6 acres per capita, would remain an unrealizable potential (see Table 16). The members of this Band augmented their meagre income by working as farm and ranch hands. Ranching on the reserve was questionable due to the quality of their pasture lands'(see Tables 17 and 18). The small sample of problems confronted by this Band were undoubtedly problems which Chief Tomma and other chiefs had presented to the federal and provincial authorities. Chief Tomma was very conscious that a l l Native people lived under similar conditions and had suffered the same ill-treatment at the hands of interlopers such as the state and capitalist entrepreneurs. 11. Cache Creek Band The Bonaparte Band, and we will later see, the Ashcroft Band, were classified as the most impoverished of the Agency. The Bonaparte Band lacked land and finances to build an irrigation system for the small amount of arable land i t had. According to the Agent, these people were very poor because "All the good land in that valley is held by white settlers" (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.186). Table 17. Animals Owned by Deadman's Creek Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 300 (300) 6,000 Cattle 40 (25) 600 Total:- 340 6,600 Table 18. Pasture Land Possessed by Deadman's Creek Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Fair Good Horses Cattle Total Poor 11,800 236 295 531 Tota l : - 11,800 236 295 531 - 122 -The Chief of the Bonaparte Band c l e a r l y understood the basis of the p l i g h t of h i s people. This i s i l l u s t r a t e d i n h i s statement to the Commission: I have no object (sic) i n waiting so long f o r t h i s Commission to come, but I have learned and seen how my c h i l d r e n are poor, therefore I would l i k e to say a few words. What I say i n regards to my ch i l d r e n , I guess you have seen i t yourselves as w e l l . I might say quite a l o t , but when i t comes to the f i n e point, I am short of land and i t i s hard to get water. We are not the only ones that have the same grievances, but mostly a l l the Indians a l l over t h i s part have the same grievances (RiCfFj. , Kamloops,.Agency, p.. 86) An analysis of the data c o l l e c t e d by the Commission supports his contention. The Commission reported that t h i s Band had a t o t a l of 6,133.8 acres of land and a population of 186, for 32 and 2/3 acres per capita. However, the Commission did not analyse i t s data for i f i t had i t would have discovered that t h i s Band was only capable of using 0.9 acres per capita (see Table 19). The Band had an a d d i t i o n a l p o t e n t i a l of 815 acres but the Commission declared that 350 acres of th i s land was impossible, to i r r i g a t e . This land was p o t e n t i a l l y c u l t i v a b l e only i n so f ar as the Band could r a i s e funds to b u i l d an i r r i g a t i o n system. This i t could not do. ^ comment made by the Commission indicates the s o c i a l and economic condition of t h i s Band and, also, that the Commission was f u l l y aware of i t s p l i g h t : Table 19. Land Classification of the Bonaparte Band. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Reserves Total Acreage Surveyed Agent's Estimate of Crop Land Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land Potential Crop Land Timber Land Cut-Off Land Unassessed Land No. 1 I No. 2 No. 3, 3a, No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 2,057 2,078 1,760 65 99.8 80 80 (21) 78 (24) 20 (4) Fishing Station Fishing Station Fishing Station 1,900 'poor* 1,550 'poor' 300 200 250 65 1,677 ( 1 ) 100 . (over? 60 (over? Totals: 6,133.8 178 (2) 3,450 815 (3) 1) mountainous terrain. 2) a per capita acreage of 0.9 acre. 3) a per capita acreage of 4.4 acres. - 124 -With the Bonapartes (the Ashcroft Band are), the most unfortunately situated Indians of the Kamloops Agency (Royal Commission Report, v . l , 1916:326). This Band was endowed with 1,677 acres of land u n f i t even for pasturage and 1,900 acres of land which was c l a s s i f i e d as ' i n d i f f e r e n t pasturage'. The l i n e between the two categories i s very t h i n . This accounts f o r approximately f i f t y per cent of the Band's land. The pasturage of t h i s Band was p r a c t i c a l l y n e g l i g i b l e (see Tables 20 and 21). The Chief, conscious of the nature of h i s land, put to the Commission 'a broad request " f o r more land" ' (Royal Commission Report, v . l , 1916:333). The Commission, i n f u l l knowledge of the conditions of t h i s Band, responded to the request by declaring that i t was "not entertained" (Royal Commission Report, v . l , p.333). The Band c e r t a i n l y must have been angered by the Commission's response to t h e i r request, and the Commission, i n not responding to such apparent need, gave clear i n d i c a t i o n that i t was not acting to solve problems rel a t e d to Indian a f f a i r s i n B r i t i s h Columbia. I t becomes increasingly clear that the Commission was designed not to understand and a l l e v i a t e the p l i g h t of the Native people, but to aid the state to colonize and s e t t l e the land. To have p o s i t i v e l y responded to the request of the Indian people would have been, i n the state's view, , disrupting and impeding settlement of the land. In order to survive these Indians had to seek work outside of the Reserve. This proved f r u i t l e s s , as the Indian Agent stated "they are looking i n other channels for t h e i r support and can't f i n d i t " (Royal Commission Evidence, . Kamloops Agency, p.186). A f i e l d i n which the Indians i n t h i s and other areas had e a r l i e r played a s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e Table 20. Animals Owned by Bonaparte Band and Land Required f o r Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 272 5,440 Cattle 20 300 Total :- 292 5,740 Table 21. Pasture Land Possessed, by Bonaparte Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Fair Good Horses Cattle Total Poor 3,450 65 86 151 Total:- 3,450 65 86 151 - 127 -was in freighting. However, they were being forced out of the business as white freight managers began to contract only with white freighters. This situation was likely brought about by pressure from the white transport workers union which had been established in this area in 1903 (Year Book of B.C., 1903:330). The sudden increase in the immigrant population, in this era, had placed a premium on jobs and on farm lands and as a result whites favored whites, resulting in the economic subordination of Natives and other colored peoples in the province. Tenas Lapp, a Band member discussed the problem faced by Indians in getting freighting contracts. He responded to Commissioners McKenna's questions as follows: Commissioner McKenna: Do you do any freighting at all? A. The Indians used to freight a long time ago, but the whites have made regulations so that the Indians cannot haul freight. Q. Who made these regulations? A. They were made in Ashcroft. Q. Have they a freighter's Union there? A. I don't know. Q. If an Indian went down to Ashcroft with a wagon, and someone wanted him to take freight down for him, would anyone stop him from hauling that freight? A. No, if an Indian was sent from here with freight he could take i t alright, but they could not enter the business on their own account. When an Indian hauls a load he is charged $5.00 for a license before he can take a load of freight (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.94). The Indian Agent's comment about the Ashcroft Band was also applicable to the Cache Creek Band. He stated "If debarred from teaming there is nothing to keep these Indians alive" (R^ C.R., v.1,19]6:326) - 128 -In short the poverty of the Bonaparte Band was due to the shortage of land, due in turn, to alienation of a l l the good land by settlers, racist hiring practices, and the lack of finances to build an irrigation system to be able to use the meagre acreage which was 'reserved for them' by the state. 12. Ashcroft Band The manner in which the Ashcroft Band had become underdeveloped economically, was different in some respects from the Bonaparte Band. Originally, the Ashcroft Band had successfully farmed its land. However, as white settlers moved in, the Band began loosing land and more devastatingly, water. These difficulties were compounded by the fact that they, too were being 'pushed out' of the freighting business. The story behind the loss of this Band's water supply was told to the Commission by Chief Francois Scotty. He stated that Band had lost two sources. First, they lost to a Mr. Steve Tingley, who had appropriated a small spring which the Band used to irrigate 20 acres. Tingley built a cement flume and completely diverted a l l the water. Scotty stated that... We had a spring down the road here, with which we used to irrigate 20 acres..., and we had very good crops. When John Creek was there he used to borrow water from us. Since Steve Tingley took over the ranch he has built a cement flume, so that we cannot get a drop of water (R,C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.104). . ; - 129 -From borrowing a portion of water the ranchers had shifted to out-right appropriation of a l l the water. The inevitable corollory to the loss of water was disuse of the land. The other source of water, McLean's Lake, which had also been lost to the settlers, had a more profound effect. The Ashcroft Band had been allotted a lake at the time their reserve was established by Judge O'Rielly, so that they could cultivate land which would otherwise have no value without water. The Indians explained to the Commission that a white rancher had taken i t upon himself to dam up the outlet of McLean's Lake even though the lake was within the middle of McLean's Lake Reserve No. 3; the consequences were, primarily, the loss of a main source of water for irrigation and secondarily, the flooding of 'a rich fertile plateau' rendering the land useless. A Band member, Samson, indicated that since the dam was built they were not permitted use of the water. They were compelled ..to pack their drinking water from a great* distance. Samson pointed out:-: They have damned McLean's Lake and have stopped us from getting water water there, and even when they have finished irrigating..., they might turn i t in to us, but instead of doing so, we have to walk half a mile for drinking purposes (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.105). • ' Another witness, Waskin, the acting Sub-Chief, was sworn in and examined under oath by the Commission. This man, it appears, became Chief just after the dam had been built. In response to the Commission's questions about the construction of the dam, he had this to say: - 130 -Commissioner White:- Do you know anything about the dam that was b u i l t at McLean's Lake? A. No, I don't know anything about i t , because when t h i s dam was put i n , Harry Cornwall was chief, and I have not been Chief very long. Q. You do not know what bargain was made? A. No. Q. When you were Chief, did you ever object to the dam being put i n there? A. Yes, I objected to i t always. I did not want the dam there. Q. Did you complain to anyone about i t ? A. I to l d the Indian Agent that I did not want the white men to go and put the dam there. Q. What was the name of the Indian Agent? A. Mr. Irwin. Q. Did you ever complain to the present Indian Agent? A. Yes... Q. Do you know who put the dam there? A. Barclay. Q. Did you ever complain to Barclay about i t ? A. No, I did not, we always depended upon for Indian Agent to do that f o r us (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency; pp.114-115). The Indian Agent, Mr. Irwin, who was replaced by Agent Smith j u s t p r i o r to the inauguration of the Commission, was the same Agent who advised the Deadman's Creek Band to accept the fraudently misleading Smith-Curtis lease. These practices could be car r i e d on since the p r o v i n c i a l government did not recognize the water rights of Native people. The Indian Agent f o r Lytton i n h i s testimony to the Commission, outlined some of the problems confronting the Indian Bands regarding t h e i r water ri g h t s by s t a t i n g : - 131 -A. In regards to water throughout my agency, but not only my Agency but throughout a l l the Agencies where i r r i g a t i o n i s c a r r i e d on; the p r o v i n c i a l government i s working a good scheme, but at the present time they seem to have l e f t the Indian Records out altogether, and I would l i k e to suggest that i t would be a good thing i f the matter were taken up by the Commission and pointed out to Ottawa the a d v i s a b i l i t y of appointing an Engineer to look a f t e r the water records... i f there was an engineer who could take his i n s t r u c t i o n s from the Comptroller of Water Records and the Indian Department i t would f a c i l i t a t e matters very much not only for the Agents but also for the Indians. Q. This i s a question of advising the Indians as to the best means for u t i l i z i n g the water? A. Yes, the p r o v i n c i a l Government are having surveyors going round and surveying the lands that white men have taken and they are leaving out the lands of the Indians altogether - our records up to the present are not recognized by them. Mr. Commissioner Shaw: Is not Mr. Cochrane looking a f t e r them? A. He i s only looking a f t e r the records for them. Q. They don't make any provisions to get the water to the land. A. No. Mr. Commissioner McKenna: Is not the Water Rights Branch here co-operating with the Dominion Government? A. No... Mr. Commissioner McKenna: What does the p r o v i n c i a l Government engineers do as to the water records of the white s e t t l e r s ? A. They c o n t r o l the water, how i t i s to be used and the q u a l i t y that i s allowed them for the land they have under c u l t i v a t i o n . Q. Have they no r i g h t to do anything on the reserves? A. They claim they have no r i g h t to do anything on the Indian reserve at a l l . . . (R>C,E, ,Lytfon" Agency, pp.115-16) The Indian Agent from Lytton also pointed out that he had received numerous complaints from whites that Indians were wasting water and because of these complaints he feared the engineers would cut-off or cut back the water from the Bands. The fa c t of the matter was that s e t t l e r s - 132 -were taking water even i f i t was within the boundaries of reserves. The Chairman of the Commission in summing up the Commission's meeting with the Ashcroft Band expressed surprise at the manner which the Band lost its water: THE CHAIRMAN: Addressing the Indians: "Some matters have been brought under our notice today which have been rather a surprise to us, that is, with respect to the manner in which the water seems to have been cut off from these reserves. It may be alright according to the law, but I do not know how the law in these parts is as regards this matter. However, I think the Indian Agent should look into i t , which no doubt he will do I have no doubt that the Commission will, in due time make representations to the Government at Ottawa, upon the subject, so that if a wrong has been done with respect to these reserves, the Indian Agent will be instructed to permit no such wrong to be done in the future without taking proper steps to prevent i t . " (E.C.E.-, Kamloops Agency, p.115) Oddly, the statement by the Chairman does not denote any intention to recommend to Ottawa that the past injustice should be corrected; he only states that the Indian Agent should in the future prevent such injustices. The loss by this Band of its water and the use of its fertile plateau represented a critical aspect of the on-going usurpations of the Natives' means of production and subsistance. Chief Francois Scotty testified that the Ashcroft Reserve was at one time connected with the McLean's Lake Reserve. However, he pointed out that settlers had come in, since the reserve was set up, and taken portions of land from the reserve, thereby, leaving them very l i t t l e pasture land: - 133 -Mr. Commissioner White: What is the pasture like on these reserves? A. Our pasture land is not very big, on account of the white people cutting off portions of i t . Q. Do you mean to say that the white men have cut off portions of the reserve? A. Yes, the reserve that Judge O'Rielly gave us the white men came and cut off portions of i t . That reserve used to run from Ashcroft to McLean's Lake. Mr. Commissioner MacDowell: Did you sell any portion of it? A. No, we never sold any of it ( R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.109). The Chief's contention that the Band lacked pasture land is supported by the data which the Commission had gathered. The Commission classified this Band's Reserve No. 2, the reserve with the pasture land, as having 2731 acres with 'pasturage limited' (see Tables 22 and 23). Yet, this acreage formed the backbone, a very weak backbone, of the Band's pastureland. In any event, this Band could have had sufficient pasture land but i t would have been useless without its complementary hay fields. According to the data gathered by the Commission the Band had a total of 496 acres under cultivation - 5.9 acres per capita (see Table 24). The Indian peoples' capacity to farm the land was not the only means of subsistance which was being curtailed. They were being forced out of the freighting business and, ultimately, out of developing a Native freighting company. The prevalence of horses amongst Native people indicates their past involvement in the business of freighting goods and supplies. Table 2 2 . Animals Owned by Ashcroft Band and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 54 1,080 Cattle 5 75 Total:- 59 1,155 Table 23. Pasture Land Possessed by Ashcroft Band and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Good Horses Cattle Total Poor 720 14 18 32 Fair 3,234 81 108 189 Total:- 3,954 95 126 221 Table 24. Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the Ashcroft Band, Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Reserves Total Acreage Surveyed Agent's Estimate of Crop Land Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land Potential Crop Land Timber Land Cut-Off Land Unassessed Land No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 770 3,470 1,003 307 (1) 50 (20) 446 (10) 720 'poor' 2,731 'fair' 503 'fair' 32 1,000 200 Totals; 5,550 496 (2) 3,451 1,200 (3) 32 1) 300 acres classified as useless. 2) a per capita acreage of 5.9 acres. 3) a per capita acreage of 14.29 acres. - 137 -Under the examination of McKenna, the Chief t e s t i f i e d that even though the Indians took out licenses to f r e i g h t goods the forwarding Agent at Ashcroft would not permit them to haul goods: Q. Do you do any teaming at a l l ? A. The boys started i n teaming. They took out a l i c e n s e and j u s t went one t r i p when the white men t o l d them they could not do any more. Q. Since then you have not done any more? A. Yes...because the white men won't give us any teaming to do. Q. Who won't? A. The forwarding Agent at Ashcroft (R-.C.E. , Kamloops Agency, p.110). The Indian Agent e x p l i c i t l y stated that i f these people were debarred from teaming that they would starve to death, a l i k e l y outcome, since deseases such as tuberculosis, whooping-cough, br o n c h i t i s and alcholism are linked to the s o c i a l and economic condition. The Commissioners commented on the p l i g h t of the Native people by stating that they were the 'most unfortunately situated Indians'. Their misfortune and the misfortune of a l l Native people was not a r e s u l t of where they were situated, but of how they were exploited and oppressed. 13. Cook's Ferry Band The Cook's Ferry Band was comprised of two portions. The Chief responsible for Reserve Nos. 1 through 7 was Johnny Whitmetea ( s i c ) . The man who was chief of the Reserve Nos. 8 through 15, as well as the Oregon Jack Reserve, was Johnnie Tetlanetea ( s i c ) . For the sake of - 138 -convenience, I will deal with each section of the Band as outlined above, but only after I have dealt the statements of each of the chiefs. The first speaker was Chief Johnny Whitmetea. He outlined the historical and changing relations between the Indians and the settlers, and the establishment of reserves: ...the Government of Victoria had taken a l l the outside land and claimed it as theirs. They have taken possession, and sold our land, and that is how we are so poor. Everything that was on the land they have taken possession of i t and we have been very sorry about i t . Now we hear again lately that the Victoria Government has said "We own a l l the reserves; any day that we feel inclined, why we will turn you out" (R,C.E.^ -Kamloops Agency.., p.1-17) . The origin of the Chief's concern, expressed in the latter part of his statement, undoubtedly derived from the politicans, settlers, and newspapers who clamoured for appropriation of reserve land. Indians here responded to the 'rumor' that the province had asserted control over the reserves by organizing themselves into a committee. This committee travelled to Ottawa and Victoria to seek answers and to discuss the Land Question. The officials at Victoria, after hearing their case, simply told them that they, the Indians, were wards of the Queen and they, themselves, were servants of the Queen and that everyone must wait for an answer from the Queen. The Chief told the Commission that ever since then they had been waiting for a reply. - 139 -Chief Titlantea also indicated his concern over the notion that the Victoria government was going to take over the lands in the reserves. The speaker recounted how Indians went to Ottawa and met with Prime Minister Borden. The Prime Minister responded to their questions by stating that since he was a new official, he could not give them an answer. They were told to go home and wait for a response. The Chief concluded his testimony in the following manner: Since then we have been waiting to hear from him and have written to him since, quite a number of times (R.C.E.-, Kamloops Agency, p. 119). The statements and actions of the Indians indicate that they were not willing to give the land in the reserves to the province or to stop seeking a solution to the question of sovereignty to the land in the Province. Let us turn to the nature of their land use and see whether or not that the contention of the Chiefs that they were an impoverished people,is supported by the data of the Commission. The reserves, of which Johnny Whitmetea was chief, were mainly small plots of land scattered about the valley near the confluence of the Nicola and Thompson River. These people could not feasibly develop their land because of the small size and a lack of water (see Table 25). In some of their reserves, they had lost some of their tillable lands either to slides and to the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway Company. On reserve.Nos. 2 and 3, the railway company had not bothered to go around the garden plots. The Chief testified that he had lost a garden plot Table 25. Land Classification of the Cook's Ferry Band-A. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Reserves Total Acreage Surveyed Agent's Estimate of Crop Land Agent's Estimate of Pasture Land Potential Crop Land Timber Land Cut-Off Land Unassessed Land No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4, 4a, 4b No. 5, 5a No. 6 No. 7 21.34 55 106.56 150.56 40 2,008/5 218 (4) 1.34 Fishing Station 15 30 (10) 200 15 (3) 20 'poor' 50 120 (1) 1,008 200 'poor' 34 800 8.95 12.8 I—1 o Totals: 2,399.84 261.34 (2) 1,378 834 (3) 21.75 1) balance of land classified as useless. 2) a per capita acreage of 2.4 acres. 3) a per capita acreage of 7.7 acres. 4) I cannot account for discrepancies between the figures given by the Agent in his testimony and those finally recorded in the Report of the Commission. - 141 -ten feet long and forty feet side. This may not seem very substantial except for those people who were forced to live on very small amounts of arable land. Reserve Nos. 4, 4a and 4b were basically suitable for a village site and pasturage. Reserve Nos. 5 and 5a, constituting a combined acreage of forty acres was reportedly very fertile and productive at one time. However, the land had fallen into disuse because a settler had appropriated the water supply. A witness testified that ...Years ago the Indians used to get very good crops off those two Reserves, when we had plenty of water, but since the white men took the water, we have not done half as well ( R.G.E.. Kamloops Agency, p.124). Of a l l the reserves which these people had, Reserve No. 6 could have been the foundation for developing a reasonably viable economic base. The Indian Agent under sworn testimony indicated that approximately 1,500 acres was excellent bottom land suitable for cultivation. However, the people were only able to utilize 80 acres but not without increasing difficulty because they were losing their water. To attempt to remedy their problem, Agent Smith examined a stream nearby with the intention of building a dam to store water for irrigation purposes. Apparently he approached the Department of Indian Affairs in search of funds to carry out his plans; however, the Department would not 'entertain the cost of constructing' the dam (Royal Commission Evidence, Kamloops Agency, p.193). Two or three years prior to 1913, the Indians had been cultivating the 80 acres with increasing success. However, a Mr. Curnow claimed prior record to the water which the Indians had been using. The loss of water impoverished these people. The Indian Agent in his testimony told the - 142 -Commission that he had ...made arrangements with him (Mr. Curnow) l a s t year through which he gave them some water s u f f i c i e n t to r a i s e a small patch of potatoes there. It i s too f i n e a v a l l e y to allow i t to go that way. These Indians, among them, they have quite a l o t of c a t t l e . They had a l o t a few years ago but they l o s t 8 a good many, with the r e s u l t that they are poorly o f f . They are very nearly as bad (off) as the Ashcroft Band (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.193). Reserve No. 7 had 218 acres of land, of which the Agent c l a s s i f i e d 200 as poor, stony, h i l s i d e pasturage. This reserve was the home of three adults and four c h i l d r e n . From t h i s land they claimed they had formerly carved out a meagre subsistance on 3 acres, growing potatoes and hay. Even t h i s became impossible a f t e r the railway company diverted t h e i r water. Apparently, the Canadian P a c i f i c Railway had b u i l t a flume across the Thompson River and appropriated the water to f i l l i t s water tanks for the steam locomotives. The data c o l l e c t e d by the Commission indi c a t e that the land which the Indians were able to use amounted to 2.4 acres per capita (see Table 25), that: i s , i f we go by the figures presented by the Indian Agent. According to the fi g u r e s provided by the Indians they had 0.47 acres per ca p i t a . The p o t e n t i a l l y c u l t i v a b l e land amounted to 7.7 acres per ca p i t a . This Band had no timber land to speak about and pasturage was also meagre. They had 1,378 acres, of which the Agent c l a s s i f i e d 220 acres as poor, stony, i f not worthless, even f o r pasturage. This l e f t 1,178.56 acres of f a i r , l i g h t l y timbered s i d e h i l l pasture land. - 143 -These people had 470 horses and 310 cattle; however, the figures are not that clear. By utilizing the guidelines established in 'Appendix -B, fifty per cent of these people's pasture land could sustain only 28 head of horses; the other fifty per cent of their pasture would have been able to sustain only 34.5 head of cattle (see Tables 26 and 27). It is obvious that these people lacked pasture land. The shortage of such land and loss of their water obviously formed the basis for deterioration of their stock which the Indian Agent reported in his testimony. 14. Reserve Nos. 8 and 15 (Chief Titlantea's Reserves The people on Reserve No. 8 and 15 had developed a broad reputation for their agricultural produce whereas the people on Reserve Nos. 1 to 7 had formerly excelled in raising stock. The mainstay of this general portion of the Cook's Ferry Band rested on their No. 9 Reserve-Pemymoos. Their other reserves were either covered by swampy lakes, providing some swamp hay, or lacked water. PemynDos Reserve had excellent soil for growing grains, fruits and vegetables. These people, as had other Natives, received a letter of excellence for their beans, potatoes, oats and wheat at a Chicago Exhibition. The Indians, according to the Indian Agent, had 400 acres under cultivation on Reserve Nos. 9 and 11. Also, they had 800 acres "cultivable open land with facilities for irrigation (which) will be Table 26. Animals Owned by Cook's Ferry Band-A and Land Required for Pasturage. Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Horses 470 Cattle 310 Total: 780 Acreage of Fair Pasturage Required to Sustain Stock 9,400 4,650 14,050 Table 27. Pasture Land Possessed by Cook's Ferry Band-A and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Good Horses Cattle Total Poor 220 4.4 5.5 9.9 Fair 1,178 24.0 29.0 53.0 Total:- 1,398 28.4 34.5 62.9 - 146 -utilized if better road facilities can be secured" (Royal Commission Report, v . l , 1916:318; see also Table 28). As the Indian Agent revealed, the Indians productive capacity was curtailed by a lack of road facilities. Without a road, they found it difficult to market their produce, for they had to bring i t out by pack horses and i t often arrived at the market late and damaged. Consequently, the Indians would not receive the price for their produce which they might have otherwise obtained. The Chief, under sworn testimony, disclosed that he had complained to Agent Irwin about the necessity of a road. He had told the Agent that they were compelled to use packhorses, as they had done 100 years ago, even though there were now trains. Their requests for roads f e l l on deaf ears. Agent Smith, under examination by the Commission, explained to the Chairman why the Indians could not get their road: (Chairman) That is the place where they say they have no road? A. Yes, they have to pack a l l their fruit and produce out on horseback. Q. Is there no way of stopping that - could they not have representation made to get them proper roads? A. Yes, I have had Mr. Griffiths estimate the cost of building this 5% miles, and he estimates the cost would be about $3;000.00, and the suggestion was, that if the Department would contribute \ of the amount, they (the provincial government) would build the road. Q. Did you bring that matter under the notice of the Department? A. They informed me that they had no funds to apply for that purpose, and this year I took the matter up again, and I was informed by the provincial government that THEY REFUSED TO CONSTRUCT IT, BECAUSE NO ONE WOULD BE USING IT BUT THE INDIANS, AND THAT IS THE REASON THEY WOULD NOT BUILD IT (Royal Commission Transcript, Kamloops Agency, p.196). Table 28. Land C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of the^Cook's Ferry Band-B. Estimated Acreage of Classified Land Total Agent'8 Estimate Agent's Estimate Potential ' Timber Cut-Off Unassessed eserves Acreage Surveyed of Crop Land of Pasture Land Crop Land Land Land Land No. 8, 8a 29.8 Fishing Station 29.9 — —, No. 9 4,507.8 250 (70) 3,457 'fair' 800 35-40Z firewood No. 10 22 16 10 'poor' 4 (over?) No. 11, 11a 369 150 (10) 214 'poor' 140 235 (over?) No. 12 395 ( 1 ) 320 'poor' 75 No. 13, 14 1,115 805 'poor1 310 No. 15 520 300 'fair' 220 Totals: 6,958 416C2> 5,106 1,674(3> 1) over 100 acres covered by lake. 2) a per capita acreage of 15 acres. 3) a per capita acreage of 66 acres. Table 29. Animals Owned by Cook's Ferry Band-B and Land Required for Pasturage. Acreage of Fair Pasturage Kinds of Animals Number of Animals Required to Sustain Stock Horses 217-242 4,340-4,840 Cattle HO 1,650 Total:- 327 to 352 5,990 to 6,490 Table 30. Pasture Land Possessed by Cook's Ferry Band-B and Actual Number of Animals Supportable by That Land. Kinds of Pasture Acreage Possessed Animals Supportable on Land Committing Half to Cattle and Half to Horses Good Horses Cattle Total Poor 1,349 27 34 61 Fair 3,757 94 125 219 Total:- 5,106 121 159 280 - 150 -The decision of the two l e v e l s of government not to bu i l d a road for the Indians, even though the Indians were struggling to use the i r lands to the best of t h e i r c a p a b i l i t i e s , demonstrates that the governments' concern was something other than i n a s s i s t i n g the Indians to prosper. The f e d e r a l government, i n denying Johnny Whitmetea's people t h e i r dam and Chief T i t l a n t e a ' s people t h e i r road, could not be construed as l i v i n g up to a desire to a s s i s t the Indians to r e a l i z e p o t e n t i a l i t i e s of t h e i r land, e s p e c i a l l y , since i t gave outright grants of m i l l i o n s of d o l l a r s to the C.N.P.R. and the G.Tr.P.R., along with m i l l i o n s of acres of land. Oddly enough, the terminals' of these railway l i n e s were often on Indian reserves. The examples which come to mind, are False Creek i n Vancouver, Prince George, Kamloops and Prince Rupert, j u s t to name a few. Furthermore, the federal government was able to appropriate from Department funds $76,400.00 to finance the operation of the Commission i n the years of 1914-15 (Department of Indian A f f a i r s Annual Reports, 1914/15:176). The p r o v i n c i a l government's reason for not constructing the road d i r e c t l y contradicts i t s notion that Native people were responsible for the i d l e waste of t h e i r land. While the p r o v i n c i a l government was refusing to b u i l d roads for Native people, i t was boasting, through the press, that i t had spent $10,000,000.00 for improving roads and wharves throughout the province. An a r t i c l e i n the Kamloops Standard quoted a member of the p r o v i n c i a l government as s t a t i n g : - 151 -"It has been a year of general and substantial development in a l l branches," said Hon. Thomas Taylor, ..."and there is no part of the province where settlement exists in which some work of improvement has not been undertaken" (The Kamloops Standard, Jan. 2, 1914:1). The provincial government outlined the philosophy behind its plans and works in developing the province: Asked about the race problem...in British Columbia, Sir Richard replied that British Columbia was a white man's country, and he was doing his best to keep it such. Sir Richard stated that, although land prices in the west were generally thought to be high, there were s t i l l many: thousands of acres open to the settler which the government would be glad to give him and the government is doing a l l in its power to open up this grand country so as to make lif e easier and pleasant for the newcomer (Kamloops Standard, Nov. 4, 1913:1). The provincial government's notion that Native people held excessive acreages which were lying in idle waste, does not hold up under scrutiny. On the contrary, Native people were struggling to utilize their land but because of the province's disregard for Native rights and the complicity of federal authorities, Native land could not be rendered productive. 15. Summary and Assessment of the Commission's Decision for All the Agencies in British Columbia The Commission's activities covered the whole province, collected four volumes of statistics, and a .volume-of Evidence for.' It - 152 -each of the fifteen Agencies in the province. The deliberations of the Commission over the Kamloops Agencies resulted in it ordering a cut-off of 3,498.53 acres of land valued at $130,814.40. The average value of the land ordered cut-off amounted to $37.39 per acre. By the same token, the acreage of land ordered by the Commission to be constituted as new reserve land amounted to only 1,477 acres valued at $7,385.00, with an average value of $5.00 per acre. The minimum amount of quality land in the Kamloops Agency on which the Indians were trying to subsist was greatly reduced by the decisions of the Commission. Throughout the whole province, in a l l fifteen Agencies, the lands ordered cut-off by the Commission far exceeded the value of land added and hence reduced the quality of reserve lands. The Commission ordered 47,055.49 acres cut-off, from a l l fifteen Agencies, which had been valued at $1,347,912.72 to $1,533,704.72; the average value per acre of that land ranged from $26.52 to $32.36. In contrast, the acreage of land ordered to be constituted as new reserve lands amounted to 87,291.17 acres valued at only $444,838.80, with an average of $5.10 per acre (Royal Commission Report, 1916:177). The Indians objected to the decisions of the Commission on the grounds that the federal and provincial governments lost nothing and the real losers were the Indians. They also objected to the legislation which enabled the governments to adopt the findings of the Commission. - 153 -"The Order i n Council states that the Indians s h a l l accept the findings of the Royal Commission as approved by the Governments of the Dominion and the Province, as a f u l l allotment of reserve lands, and further, that the Province, by granting said reserves as approved, s h a l l be held to have s a t i s f i e d all claims of the •• Indians against the province. What chance w i l l there be for the Indians i n the future to get a d d i t i o n a l lands or a f a i r ad-justment of a l l t h e i r r i g h t s , i f B i l l 13 i s made law?" (It has been said) B i l l 13 i s merely an enabling Act, giving the Government power to deal with B r i t i s h Columbia, and that the whole bargain i s so advantageous to the Indians, that the Indian Department f e e l s j u s t i f i e d i n backing i t up. We are sorry that the Indian Department i s of t h i s opinion, for i t places i t out of sympathy with us, and makes i t appear to the Indians an instrument of oppression and i n j u s t i c e ( I t a l i c s added; S.'J.C, Report and Evidence, 1927:125 To return to a consideration of an overview of the Commission's decisions, I would l i k e to point out that these varied i n accord with the economic conditions of an area. There were, i n my view, two basic zones. The North-central zone of the province which had not been 'opened up' by corporate investors u n t i l the construction of the Grand Trunk P a c i f i c Railway i n 1914, consequently there had been li m i t e d demand for land t r a d i t i o n a l l y used by Native people. Since the area had not been 'opened up' by c a p i t a l investors i n railway construction and resource explorations, fewer reserves had been established. Therefore, the work of the Commission consisted i n large part of i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z i n g the reservation system. P r i o r to the inaugeration of the Commission there existed only 381 reserves i n the North-central zone. However, i n 1916, the Commission established 387 new reserves i n the area. The decisions of the Commission brought the t o t a l number of reserves i n the area to 768. By contrast, i n the Southern - 154 -zone of the province where the p o l i t i c a l economy of the s e t t l e r nation had been more broadly established and the majority of the Indians placed on reserves, the a c t i v i t i e s of the Commission consisted mainly i n assessing and adjusting the acreage of the reserves. In t h i s zone the Commission merely added 125 new reserves i n an e x i s t i n g 531 reserves bringing the t o t a l of reserves to 656 (see C a i l 1956:462, Table X). Viewing the Commission i n t h i s l i g h t i t can be seen as a mechanism by which the f e d e r a l government extended and consolidated the reservation system. The f e d e r a l government viewed the reservation syst as a stage (Indians might say a purgatory) through which Indians must pass before entering c i v i l i z a t i o n . Superintendent of Indian A f f a i r s - J.W. Powell outlined the r o l e the reservation system was to play i n a l t e r i n g the l i f e s t y l e of the Native people. He stated: There i s no doubt, where everything i s held i n common, a s p i r a t i o n and t h r i f t have not stimulus... The recognition and protection of i n d i v i d u a l property r i g h t s are the f i r s t and d i s t i n g u i s h i n g p r i n c i p l e s of c i v i l i s a t i o n , and i f we f a i l to extend these benefits along without g i f t s of money and land, how can we expect Indians to p r o f i t m a t e r i a l l y by them, or adopt the manners and customs of c i v i l i z e d l i f e to the exclusion of...barbarism? Give the Indian, a t r a c t of land, the boundaries of which are recognized as h i s own, ... In a very short time every acre of any Reserve would be c u l t i v a t e d , and the pernicous custom among our Indians, would no doubt be abandoned (D.I.A.-, Annual Report, 1880:120)' ). - 155 -The Deputy Superintendent General of Indian A f f a i r s - Frank Pedley restated the above p o s i t i o n i n the following manner: The importance of a g r i c u l t u r e i n r e l a t i o n to Indians has to be considered i n various aspects, of which the main are the production of f i x i t y of abode, which i s the f i r s t and e s s e n t i a l step towards any form of c i v i l i z a t i o n , then the furnishing of a means f o r the a c q u i s i t i o n of habits of industry, and f i n a l l y as a permanent occupation and source of maintenance. In so far as concerns the two f i r s t mentioned, i t has e f f e c t i v e l y answered i t s purpose, ... The main factors tending to increase the aggregate area (cultivated) are the r e c r u i t i n g of the ranks of the farmers from Indians who so far have preferred to prosecute t h e i r natural resources, and that i s i n turn c h i e f l y affected by the gradual disappearance of game and fur before the advance of settlement (D.I.A., Annual Report, 1907/08:xxv). The main fa c t o r s increasing dependence on a g r i c u l t u r a l were not disappearance of game and f u r , as the case study of the Kamloops Agency indicated. They were also r a c i s t h i r i n g and contracting p r a c t i c e s , technological changes, and r a c i s t laws and p o l i c i e s which e f f e c t i v e l y l i m i t e d the scope of business and employment opportunities. It i s no accident that the majority of Native people are c h r o n i c a l l y unemployed i n the mid 20th Century - there are deep h i s t o r i c a l roots. Aside from the reservation system producing f i x i t y of abode, i t was also viewed as a means of resolving the thorny issue of Native claims to sovereignty. I t was seen as a means of s a t i s f y i n g ' a l l the claims - 156 -of the Indians against the province'. The governments then felt they could develop the lands surrounding the reserves without the burden of 'Native Title'. - 157 -SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The primary purpose of this thesis was to determine whether or not the testimony of the Indians before the Joint Commission on Indian Affairs, 1912-16 had any impact on the decisions of that Commission and ultimately on the actions of the governments. A secondary purpose was to see whether there was any foundation to the B.C. government's contention and popular opinion that Indian Reserves contained too much valuable land lying in idle waste. The Commission, in its attempts to determine the nature and extent of land used by Indians, visited and investigated Indian Bands throughout the province gathering data and Indian testimony on which it professed to make i t s decisions. The Commission, as exemplified by its visits to different Bands in the Kamloops Agency, obtained testimony from the Indians outlining their successes and failures in attempting to develop their lands. Indians' economic l i f e had been in a state of transition for some time and at the turn of the Century and the time of the Commission, income from wage labour, trapping, transporting of supplies by pack train, was declining and being augmented or being replaced by mixed farming. These changes in work patterns were brought about by a combination of fishing laws, preferential hiring of European labourers, and decimation or reduction of hunting and trapping areas through extensive railway construction, resource extraction, and settlement. The Indian Agent testified to the Commission that in view of these changes he was pleased - 158 -and surprised at the extent Indians had been able in just a few years to clear and utilize their land. The Agent and Indian leaders outlined to the Commission that these accomplishments had been achieved not only against great odds but also without government aid. Spokesmen for each Band testified that although Indians were trying to develop their land they found it difficult. Their arable land was so small they found i t impossible to 'make a good living'. In many instances, reserve lands which had not been put to plow were either prohibitively rocky, steep, covered in shrubs and trees or, the Indians lacked the finances to put the land into production. Such barriers to land use were compounded by the provincial government's repudiation of Native rights and the web of laws undermining them. These factors moved the Indians to state that they felt as though they were 'locked up'. In other words they felt imprisoned. The data and testimony of Indian spokesmen collected by the Commission, conclusively demonstrated there was no foundation to the contention that there was an 'excessively large acreage' of land wasting away within reserves. On the contrary, the data demonstrated reserve lands lacked stands of timber for construction and land for pasture, hay fields, and other purposes. In respect to the main purpose of this paper, one can determine whether or not the testimony of the Indian spokesmen had any impact on the decisions of the Commission, and ultimately on the governments, simply by examining the application of Clause 2a of the McKenna-McBride Agreement. - 159 -As we have shown, in the Commission's work in the Kamloops Agency, the Commissioners sought the advice of others but not those directly affected by reserve reductions. On occasion the Commission even went against the sound advice of the Indian Agent that reductions would prove detrimental to the Bands affected. The Commission ordered reduction of reserve land without once complying with Clause 2a of the agreement. In ordering the reductions, they went against the explicit wishes of the Indians who told the Commission that they stood opposed to reductions of their reserves. On many occasions the Indians requested additional land. The Commission's response, in many instances, was that such requests were 'unnecessary and unreasonable'. Data gathered by the Commission indicated the opposite. In spite of the small amount of Indian land prior to the reductions, the federal government, which was responsible for safe guarding Indian interests, sanctioned the decisions of the Commission to reduce some reserves. The Commission's meetings with Bands and provision of opportunities to air their views, seems merely to have been a public campaign to show that justice was being pursued on a democratic basis. The Commission's hearings were a facade which mocked Native peoples' rights and their aspirations to have injustices brought out into the open and corrected. Principle among these was loss of access to resources due to repudiation of Native rights, mainly by the province of B.C. The provincial government disavowed the water rights of Indians, and encouraged what can only be termed theft of their water supply by corporations, farmers and ranchers. - 160 -Furthermore, the Province legitimitized such theft by issuing water rights permits to such non-Indians. Federal and provincial governments in order to promote settlement on the westcoast, jointly passed Fishing Regulations in 1912 deliberately designed to favour European fishermen and undermine Indian and Japanese in the industry. These and other injustices which Indians desired to have corrected were brought by them before the Commission. But such Issues were termed by the Commission 'matters extraneous to the Agreement'. The Commission had been advised by a Committee of the Privy Council not to burden itself with issues which the Minister considered as being of 'slight importance not affecting Indian land which require adjustment between the parties' - the parties, in their thinking, included the two senior governments but not the Indians. The governments cannot argue or claim to have been uninformed about the grievances and claims of Indian people. Native leaders and spokesmen from both the westcoast had already, between 1902 and 1912 petitioned the governments in Victoria and at Ottawa and even travelled to England to petition the King, in attempt to obtain a fair hearing from the Privy Council or the Supreme Court of Canada (Patterson, 1962:48-49, 70, 73). The federal government claimed that the purpose of the Commission was to place the status of reserves in B.C. on the same footing as those in the rest of the Canada. However, this was not the only purpose it served. - 161 -The Commission, served the government in Victoria as a pretext to perpetrate once again, under the cloak of legality, its practice of land jobbery. The possibility to share in profits from sale of cut-off land, which proved to be of prime quality, was certainly a windfall. A case in which the Province stood to gain at the expense of Indians who were struggling to make a living on reserves already too small, scattered, inaccessable and dry reserves to which they were compelled to retreat as avenues of employment became increasingly circumscribed. In the light of the history of conflict between the two governments, the Commission may have served as a means of 'peacefully' opening up reserves to the railway companies by averting conflict such as that which arose over the Tsimpsean reserve. In this way it may have hastened the opening up of new areas for investment and settlement to the financial and political benefit of a l l except the Indians. More fundamentally, the Commission served as the means for expanding and consolidating the reserve system, particularly in the northern and central zone of the province. As indicated earlier in this paper, government policy was to establish and extend the reserve system as new areas were opened up for resource exploitation and settlement. Creating Indian reserves was a way to undermine any conflicts which might arise between settlers and natives. The main thrust of the Commission's work in the northern and central zone was creating reserves where none existed. This is demonstrated by the Comission's summary of its activities in the Stuart Lake Agency: - 162 -The Commission's work in this Agency, as in the Stikine, was chiefly incident to the creation of Reserves for tribes and bands of Indians hitherto, unprovided for and which railway construction (G.T.P.Rly.) and the subsequent influx of white population have only recently brought in touch with civilization other than as represented by Northern frontier trader, trapper, and perspector (Royal Commission Report, Stuart Lake Agency, v.4, 1916:767). In contrast, the Commission's work in the southern zone of the province was mainly concerned with 'adjusting and correcting' the size of reserves. Funds to be raised from sale of cut-off land would have assisted in financing the expanding administration and its programmes. Also by eliminating the encumbrance of the province's claim to reversionary rights, the federal government was given a free hand in leasing or selling reserve land or resources as a means of raising funds to finance the Department of Indian Affairs. Furthermore, the federal government, as indicated by Agent Smith, took control of Band funds. Previous to 1912 Band funds raised from timber sales and land leases went directly to Band members, which, they had used to finance various development projects. The funds raised from administration of reserve lands would, in the government's view, relieve 'the burden of the administration of Indians from the country1 (Department of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1907/08:xxxv). In essence, Indians were financing their own colonial adminis-tration. The objectives and the work of the Administration on which the federal government was expending funds raised from Band land and resources, was summed up by the Commission in its General Report: - 163 -The f i r s t l e g i s l a t i o n of the Dominion respecting Indians was enacted by Chapter 42 of the Statutes of 1868. I t provided that " a l l lands reserved for Indians or held i n trust for th e i r benefit, s h a l l be deemed to be reserved and held for the same purpose as before t h i s Act. At the time of entry of B r i t i s h Columbia into the Dominion, the Federal Act of 1868 continued i n force; and a further enactment, Chapter 6, of the Statutes of 1869 continued i n force, had been made for the gradual enfranchisement of the Indians. I t provided (and the law remains with v a r i a t i o n s ) for the subdivision of Reserves into l o t s , and the holding thereof by i n d i v i d u a l Indians under .location t i c k e r s with the view to the subsequent issue of "Letters Patent" (equivalent to crown grants of s e t t l e r s ) to the holders of such enfranchised Indians (R.-C.R. , v . l , 1916:16). ' B a s i c a l l y , the government's strategy involved undermining the Native economic p r i n c i p l e s of common usage of land and i t s resources, by gradually d i r e c t i n g them into adopting p r i n c i p l e s of private property and creating a Native population a f t e r i t s own image, a l b e i t a poor image. By t h i s strategy, as J.W. Powell expressed i t , In a very short time every acre of any reserve would be c u l t i v a t e d , and the pernicous custom (common usage of land, potlatching, and so on) among our Indians, ..., would no doubt be abandoned (D.I.A., Annual Report-? 1880:120) . Once Indian people had abandoned t h e i r 'pernicous customs' adopted p r i n c i p l e s of private property, the government reasoned, they - 164 -would have proved themselves worthy of enfranchisement (Department of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1913/14:xxvi-vii). In the government's estimation the reservation system was 'designed as a stepping stone to municipal government' (Department of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1909/10:xx). Where the Provincial government asserted that Native people had no rights and must simply give way to the superior race of Europeans, the Dominion government viewed itself as having a mission of ridding Natives of pernicous customs and preparing them for l i f e amidst the superior Europeans. In this fashion the trustee of the Indians hoped to solve the Indian land question to the satisfaction of a l l concerned and put an end to what i t considered unjustified Indian claims - what I call sovereignty - to the soil (Department of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1909/10:266; 1911/12:229-30). Therefore, when Indian leaders and spokesmen agitated for recognition df Native rights, and also clearly indicated to the government that they did not want any land cut-off and sold, the government interpreted the demands of the Indians as 'unreasonable views of their rights and privileges which have been stirred up by demagogues, either of their own people or some unscrupulous white men' (Department of Indian Affairs, Annual Report, 1908/09:260; 1910/11:xx). Believing this, the Dominion government felt justified and duty bound, in preventing the Commission from dealing with the issue of Native rights, and in over-riding the objections of the Indians to reductions of their reserves and thus ignoring Clause-2a of the Terms of Agreement of the Commission. The Dominion government accomplished the last by passing - 165 -the Indian Settlement Act (c.32, S.C. 1919) in conjunction with the British Columbia Settlement Act (c.51, S.C. 1920) giving the Lieutenant Governor-in-Council and Governor-in-Council legal authority to order such reductions or cut-offs to be affected without surrender of same by the Indians, not withstanding any provisions of the Indian Act to the Contrary...(Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, 1974:199). In summation, we can say that by reviewing the relevant social events which led to formation of the Commission, and by critical analysis of the Commission and its role in federal Indian policy, we have shown how the legal system of the settler nation was used as an instrument by which colonized Natives were dispossessed of their land and its resources. This dispossession, subsequent impoverishment, and oppression of Native people was accomplished under the notion of 'Manifest Destiny' and an ingrained belief in racial superiority. These are the corner stones on which the political economy of the settler nation presently rests. It is no accident that Native society remain economically underdeveloped and politically dominated. - 166 -BIBLIOGRAPHY Government Publications B r i t i s h Columbia. L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly. Sessional Papers. V i c t o r i a . 1900-1916. B r i t i s h Columbia. Year Book and Manual of P r o v i n c i a l Information by R.E. Gosnell. 1897-1901. B r i t i s h Columbia. Report of the Royal Commission on Indian A f f a i r s i n the Province of B r i t i s h Columbia. V i c t o r i a , Acme Press, 1916. Volumes I-IV. B r i t i s h Columbia. Royal Commission on Indian A f f a i r s f o r B r i t i s h Columbia. Evidence of Royal Commission Meetings. P r o v i n c i a l Archives of B r i t i s h Columbia and U.B.C.I.C. Libr a r y . Report and Evidence, Ottawa, King's P r i n t e r s , 1927. Canadian Annual Review of Public A f f a i r s , by J . C o s t e l l Hopkins, F.S.S., 1900-1916 (Toronto, The Annual Review Publishing Company). Canada. Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s . Canada Year Book. 1960. Canada. Parliament. Department of Indian A f f a i r s . Annual Report. 1875-1916. Canada. Parliament. Department of the I n t e r i o r . Water Power Branch, Water Resources Papers Numbers 1-2, Ottawa, Government P r i n t i n g Bureau. 1914. Canada. Parliament. Dominion Bureau of S t a t i s t i c s : Seventh Census of Canada, 1931, Vol. I and VII, Ottawa, King's P r i n t e r s . 1936. General Publications Abercronbie, C l i f t o n William. The Part Played by S i r Wilfred Laurier i n the Development of Canada, M.A. Thesis, U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1929. Brown, Robert Craig et^ a l . , Canada 1896-1921, A Nation Transformed, McClelland and Stewart Ltd. 1974. Boam, Henry J . B r i t i s h Columbia, I t s History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources. The Gresham Press, London, England. 1912. - 167 -Cail, Robert Edgar. Disposal of Crown Lands in British Columbia. 1871-1913. M.A. Thesis. 1956, in University of British Columbia Library. Carrothers, W.A. Emigration from the British Isles. With Special Reference to the Development of Overseas Dominions. London, P.S. King and Son Ltd., 1929. Cessaire, Aime. Discourse on Colonialism. Monthly Review Press. 1955. Duff, Wilson. The Indian History of British Columbia. Volume 1. "The Impact of the White Man". Victoria. 1964. c Fanon, Frantz. Wretched of the Earth, New York. Grove Press 1965 , 1963. Toward the African Revolution. Grove Press. 1969. Fisher, Robin. Contact and Conflict. Indian and European Relations in British Columbia. 1774-1890. University of British Columbia. 1977. Grantham, Ronald. Some Aspects of the Socialist Movement in British Columbia. 1898-1933. M.A. Thesis. 1942. in University of British Columbia Library. Herring, Frances E. Among the People of British Columbia: Red, White, Brown. London, T. Fisher Unwin. 1903. Hunt, P.R. The Political Career of Sir Richard McBride. M.A. Thesis. 1953 in University of British Columbia Library. Issac, Julius. Economics of Immigration. London, 1951. Johnson, R.J. The Canadian Pacific Railway and British Columbia. M.A. Thesis, 1939, in University of British Columbia Library. Johnston, Stanley C. A History of Emigration. From the United Kingdom to North America. 1763-1912. Frank Cass and Co. Ltd. 1966. Johns, H.P. British Columbia's Campaign for Better Terms. 1871-1907. M.A. Thesis. 1935, in University of British Columbia Library. Jorgensen, Joseph G. "Indians and the Metropolis". In American Indians in Urban Society by Jack 0. Waddel et al., Little, Brown and Company, 1971. Leacock, Stephen. Canada: The Foundations of Its Future. 1941. Lenin, V.I. Collected Works, Volume xix. New York. International Publishers, 1942. - 168 -Lower, J.A. The Grand Trunk Railroad and B r i t i s h Columbia. M.A. Thesis. 1939 i n University of B r i t i s h Columbia Lib r a r y . MacDonald, Norman. Canada: Immigration and Colonization. 1841-1903. Aberdeen Press, 1966. Mclnnis, Edgar. Canada: A P o l i t i c a l and S o c i a l History. Rinehart and Company, Inc. 1959. Myers, Gustavus. A History of Canadian wealth. Toronto, James Lewis and Samuel. Publishers, 1972. Ormsby, Margaret A. B r i t i s h Columbia: A History. MacMillan Company of Canada Limited. 1958. Patterson, 11, E. Palmer. Andrew P a u l l and Canadian Indian Resurgence. Ph. D. Thesis. 1962. Ann Arbor, Michigan. In University of B r i t i s h Columbia L i b r a r y . Petersen, William, Planned Migration. The S o c i a l Determination of the Dutch-Canadian Movement. University of C a l i f o r n i a Press, 1955. Regeher, T.D. The Canadian Northern Railway Pioneer Road of the Northern P r a i r i e s , 1895-1918. MacLean-Hunter Press, 1976. Reid, L.V. Railway Development i n Canada. M.A. Thesis. 1949, i n Un i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia Lib r a r y . Robin, Martin. The Rush for Spoles. The Company Province, 1871-1933. Canadian Publishers, 1972. Ryerson, Stanley B. The Founding of Canada Beginning to 1815. Progress Books, 1972. Shaw, A.G.L. Great B r i t a i n and the Colonies 1815-1865. Methuen and Co. Ltd., London. 1970. Smith, Brian Ray Douglas. S i r Richard McBride: A Study i n the Conservative Party of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1903-1916. M.A. Thesis, 1959, i n Uni v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia Library. Smith, W.G. A Study i n Canadian Immigration. The Ryerson Press, Toronto. 1920. Stevens, G.R. Canadian National Railways Towards the Inevitable 1896-1922, Volume 2. Clarke, Irwin and Company Limited, 1962. Tien-Fang, Cheng. Or i e n t a l Immigration. Commercial Press Shanghai, China. 1931. - 169 -Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. The Lands We Lost: A History of Cut-off Lands and Land Losses from Indian Reserves i n B r i t i s h Columbia. 1974. Wellman, David T. P o r t r a i t s of White Racism. Cambridge University Press, 1977. Woodsworth, James S. Strangers Within Our Gates or Coming Canadians. F r e d r i c Clarke Stephenson, 1909. Zaslow, Morris. The Opening of the Canadian North 1870-1914. McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1971. Newspapers The Inland Sentinel The Kamloops Standard The Province The Vancouver Sun The V i c t o r i a Daily Colonist 170 -APPENDIX A. M E M O R I A L To the Hon. Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior, Ottawa 4^ Dear Sir and Chief,—We the undersigned Chiefs of the Shuswap, Couteau or Thompson, Okanagan, Llllooet, Slalo or lx>wer Fraser, Chilcotin, Carrier, and Tahltan tribes in the interior of British Columbia, assembled at Spences Bridge, B. C, this tenth day of May, 1911, hereby greet you, and make known to you as follows:— That in this letter we desire to speak to you heart to heart, and as roan to man about those things' which concern us most. We do not come to you with lies In our hearts, nor in any scheming way, but simply with plain statements of facts, and ask you to listen to us patiently. We do not wish to get the best of anybody, but Just to obtain our rights, and the justice we believe we are entitled to. We ask for the same treatment that has been accorded to other Canadian IndianE ln the settlement of our land question, and in other matters. We know your govern-ment is strong, and has the power to treat us who are weak as it suits them; but we expect good and not evil from them. We regard you as a father appointed to look after our interests, that we may not be oppressed and imposed upon by others. We believe the settlement of our grievances will result in benefit to the whites of this country, as well as to us You already know most of those grievances we complain of. and the position we take regarding them. Some of our chiefs have written you from time to time, and several have visited the government in Ottawa within the last ten years. Your government has received petitions and complaints from the chiefs of the Thompson tribe in 190S and 1909. The Declaration of the Shuswap, Thompson, and Okanagan tribes, July, 1310. The memorial of the same tribes presented to Sir Wilfred laurier at Kamloops, August, 1910. Then Mr. McDougal. Special Commissioner, visited us twice, and no doubt sent in a report to your govern-ment as to our condition. Consequently we need not reiterate everything here. You know how the B. C. government has laid claim to all our tribal terri-tories, and has practically taken possession of same without treaty, and without payment. You know how they also claim the reservations, nominally set apart for us. We want to know if we own any land at all in this country. As a last chance of settling our land question with the B. C. government, we visited them in Victoria on the third of March last, and presented them with a petition (a copy of which we believe has been sent your government), asking for a speedy settle-ment Forty of us from the interior waited on U J C government along with the Coast Indians. In this letter we wish to answer some of the statements made to us by the B. C. government at this interview. Premier McBride, speaking for the B. C government, said "We Indians had no right or title to the unsurrendered lands of the province." We can not pos-sibly have rights in any surrendered lands, because in tbe first place they would not be ours if we surrendered them, and, secondly, we have never surrendered any lands. This means that the B. C. government asserts that we have no claim or title to the lands of this country. Our tribal territories which we have held from lime immemorial, often at cost of blood, are ours no longer if Premier Mc-Bride is correct. We are all beggars, and landless in our own country. We told him through one of our chiefs we were of the opposite opinion from him, and claimed our countries as hitherto. We asked that the question between us be submitted for settlement to the highest courts, for how otherwise can it now be settled? His answer was: "There was no question to settle or submit to the courts." Now, how can thi6 be. That there is a question is self-evident, for Pre-mier McBride takes one side of it, and we take the other. If there was D O ques-tion, there would have been nothing to talk about; and nothing to take sides on. We wish to tell you. Chief, this question is very real to u6. It is a live issue. The soreness in our hearts over this matter has been accumulating these many years, and will not die until either we are all dead, or we obtain what we consider - 171 -any proposition be made to us by the Government, we would not trust them; we would demand a full understanding ot everything, and that all be made subjects of regular treaty between us and them. Mr. McBride claimed many reserves are larger than the Indians need, and much of the land remains unoc-cupied. We of the Interior claim this is not so. We think we at least should have as much land ot our own country' to farm as Is allowed to white settlers (viz.: 160 acres), or as much as our Indian friends of Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana retain on the opening of their reserves (viz.: from SO to 160 acres of the best agricultural land available, chosen ty themselves, for each man, woman and child K At the time the Indian Reserves of British Columbia were set apart, and for long afterwards, the British Columbia Government allowed 320 acres of land to each white person pre-empting land from them. As at this time our population was much greater than now, the amount of reservation land per capita would be smaller ln proportion, and the farce of the Reserves being adequate when set apart all the more apparent. We ask Mr. McBride to state the amount of good land In the Reserves which can be successfully cultivated by us under present conditions. Why should we be expected to make a good living on four or five acres of land, whilst in 1881 and later 320 acres was deemed none too much for a white man? Pasture need not be taken Into con-sideration at that date, as then the unfenced range country formed a sufficient pasturage, and was used equally as much by whites as by Indians. " A tew of the reserves may appear large on paper, but what amount of good land is ln them? Most of them consist chiefly of more or less barren side hills, rock elides, timbered bottoms hard to clear, and arid flats devoid of water for irrigation. In very' few places do we have any chance to have good farms, and they must of necessity be small in area. Either the land or the water is lacking. In many places even the total acreage of the reserves is exceedingly small. All parts of all reserves known to us are used by us one way and another as fully as possible, considering our present disadvantageous position, and the nature of the lands. If by occupancy Mr. McBride means actual living on or cultivating of each part of reserve, then we plead guilty to our inability to occupy the greater part of them, for we cannot live on and cultivate rocks, side hills and places where we can get no water. Even in many places that we do occupy fully, and cultivate continually, we lose our crops altogether, or in part, every year, owing to whites taking the Irrigation water, and stopping us from using it when we most require it under the claim of prior rights to the water. In this they are sustained by the British Columbia Government who recognize their water records as superior to ours. Mr. McBride also said the Indians share in enjoying the advantages arising from building cf railroads, waocn roads, trails and other Government utilities. Perhaps we do, but have we not assisted In building; them, and have they not been built up from the direct robbery of ourselves, and our country? We claim these things are rightfully ours, and yet we are made to pay for using them. Had we never assisted in the making of these railways and roads; had his Government paid us tor all our timber that was used, and all our fifty millions of gold taken out of this country, and all our salmon that has been caught, and destroyed, and many other things which might be mentioned that went into the making of these roads; had we been paid only a small share of all this wealth derived from the destruction (in most cases), not the Improvement of our country; or had the country been bought from us, so it were actually the property of the whites to destroy or do with as they pleased, • then the British Columbia Government might speak of our sharing in the benefits of roads to which they infer we are in no way entitled. Good trails we had in plenty before the whites came. The whites are Indebted to us for having them ready made when they came, and allowing them to use them without charge. The wagon roads benefit us but little, for most of them do not so to our reserves, and besides, we have no chance to have much produce to haul over them. Rail-roads have not helped us much. They cut up our little farms, and give us no adequate compensation. They have killed many of us, and also many of our horses and cattle since their advent. Besides they act as highways for robber whites, and all kinds of broken men who frequently break into our houses and steal from us. - 172 -We never asked that any of these things be built so we could share in them, and we well know they were not built for our benefit. Government utilities such as the police, for instance, we see no benefit ln, for they are used to force laws on us we never agreed to, and some of which we consider Injurious and unjust. This, then, appears to be all the British Columbia Government can claim to have done for us, viz.: They let us use a few inferior spots of our own country to live on, and say we ought to be grateful to them for giving us such large pieces. They made some roads of various kinds for themselves, and say we ought to be grateful for being allowed to share ln the use of them. We ask is this the brotherly help that was promised us in early days, or Is It their compensation to us for the spoliation of our country, stealing of our lands, water, timber, pastures, our game, fish, roots, fruits, etc., and the introduction of diseases, poverty, hard labor, Jails, unsuitable laws, whisky, and ever so many other things In-jurious to us? Now you have the British Columbia Government's statements re these questions, and you have our statements. We leave it to you to decide who has done wrong. We or they. We desire a complete settlement of our whole land question, and the making of treaties which will cover everything of moment to us ln our relations between the whites of this country as repre-sented by their Governments, and we as Indian tribes. As the British Columbia Government through Mr. McBride has refused to consider any means of settling these matters legally, we call on the Dominion Government at Ottawa—the central and supreme Government of Canada—to have the question of title to our lands of this country brought Into court and settled. We appeal to you for what we consider Justice, and what we think you would yourself consider Justice if you were in our position. Who has the power to help us in this matter? a just settlement If a person takes possession of something belonging to yon, surely you know it, and he knows it, and land is a thing which cannot be taken away, and hidden. We see it constantly, and everything done with it roust be more or less in view. If we had had nothing, or the British Columbia Govern-ment had taken nothing from us, then there would be nothing to settle, but we had lands, and the British Columbia Government has taken them, and we want a settlement for them. Surely then, it is clear there is a question to be settled, and how is it to be settled except in the courts? . Mr. McBride made the statement, "We Indians were well satisfied with our -position, and that the present agitation among us was fomented by certain whites." We deny this statement completely—it is not true. The fact of our visiting the Victoria Government—many of us from long distances, and at great expense— shows that we are not satisfied. As we have staled before, we never have at any time been entirely satisfied with our position, and now that the country is being more and more settled up, and we becoming more restricted in our liberties year by year, we are very far from satisfied. Why should we be satisfied? What have we received, and what has been done for us to make us satisfied? AH the promises made to us when the whites first came to this country have been broken. Many of us were driven off our places where we had lived and camped from time immemorial, even places we cultivated, and where we raised food, because these spots were desirable for agriculture, and the Government wanted them for white settlers. This was done without agreement with us, and we received no compensation. It was also in direct opposition to the promises made to us by the first whites, and Government officials, that no white men would be allowed to locate on any place where Indians were settled or which were camping stations and gardens. Thus were we robbed by the Government, and driven off many of our places by white settlers (backed by the Government), or coaxed ofT them with false promises. Then we were promised full freedom to hunt, fish and travel over our country unrestricted by regulations of the whites, until such time as our lands were purchased or at least until treaties were made with us. Another promise broken, and so on with alL We can tell you all of them if you want to know, and prove them through witnesses still iiving. What of Governor Seymour's promises made to the Lower Fraser Indians who convened at his request purposely to hear his message to them concerning the proposed policy of the whites towards the Indians of this country? They rank with the other early promises—all broken. This is enough to show there is a sufficient reason for our dissatisfaction, and also that it required no white men to point out these things to us, and urge us to be dissatisfied. Even if it be true that certain white men help us at the present day in our agitation to - 173 -obtain our rights by doing writing for us; etc., why should Mr. McBride find fault with them? Did not Governor Seymour and other great men of the Province in early days state to us that the whites had come here to help us and be brothers to us? Why should he denounce these men for doing what his predecessors, and, we believe, also the Queen, said was the right thing to do? We have learned that most whites do not keep their word (especially when it is not written wordi. Only those very few whites who help us appear to be trying to keep the white man's promises made to is by the white chiefs of this country in early days. They alone appear to uphold the honor of their race. We assure you. Chief, the 1 rer.ent agitation among us over these matters is simply the culmination of our disratisfactlon which has been growing with the years. With changing con-ditions, greater pressure and increasing restrictions put on us, we had at last to organize, and agitate. Either this, or go down and out, for our position lias been gradually becoming unbearable. We have not been hasty. It has never been our policy to jump at conclusions. We have never believed in acting without full knowledge, nor making charges without full proof. Although we have known, yet we have waited a long time for the hand of the British Columbia Government to be shown so we could read it without any doubt. . Some ot our chiefs, distrust-ful and impatient, many times during these long years, one way and another, through the Indian office, through Victoria, through Ottawa and in other ways, have attempted to get matters concerning us straightened, but they have always been baffled in their efforts. Others, hopeless and disgusted, would not try. Then we were ignorant and groping in the dark; now we are more enlightened and can see things clearer. Lil;e conditions drove U6 of the interior, nnd the Indians of the Coast, to organize and agitate independently, and unknown to each other. It is only lately we have joined forces to try end obtain a settlement of all questions concerning us. Mr. McBride gave a partial explanation of how the Reserve System of British Columbia originated. This does not concern us. What we know and are concerned with is the fact that the British Columbia Government lias already taken part of our lands without treaty with us. or payment of any compensation, and has disposed of them to settlers and others. The remaining lands of the country, the Government lays claim to as their property, and ignores our title. Out of our lands tbey reserved small pieces here and there, called Indian ReserveE, and allowed us the occupancy of them. These even they claim as their property, and threaten in some places to take away from us, although we have been in continuous occupancy and possession. No proper understanding was arrived at, nor proper agreements made between ourselves and the British Columbia Government, when the reserves were laid off. Not one of us understood this matter clearly nor in the same light the British Columbia Government seems to have done. Things were not explained to us fully, and the Government's motives appear to have been concealed, for they were understood differently by the various chiefs. We never asked for 1 art of our country to te parceled out in pieces and reserved for us. It was entirely a Government scheme originating with them. We always trusted the Government, as representing the Queen, to do the right thing by us, therefore we never have opposed any proposition of the Government hastily and without due consideration. We thought, although things appeared crooked, still in the end, or before long, they might become straight. To-day were the like to occur, or Only the Federal Government, and we look to them. As the building of railways, and settlement ln this country is proceeding at a rapid pace, we wish to press on you the desirability (for the good of all concerned) of having these matters adjusted at as early a date as possible. In tbe hope that you will listen to our earnest appeal, we, the underwritten chiefs, subscribe our names in behalf of our people. -174-JOHN CHILAHITSA, Chief Douglas Lake Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. BABTISTE CHIANUT, Chief Nkamlp Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. JOHN LEOKOMAGHEN, Chief Ashnola Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. CHARLES ALLISON, Chief Hedley Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. FRANCOIS PAKELPITSA, Representative Penticton Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. BABTISTE LOGAN, Chief Vernon Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. JOHN INHAMCHIN, Chief Chopaca Band, Okanagan Tr ibe. ALEXANDER CHILAHITSA, Her id i ta ry Head Chief, Okanagan Tr ibe. LOUIS GHLEGHLEGHKEN, Chief Kamloops Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. BASIL DAVID, Chief Bonaparte Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. FRANCOIS SELPAGHEN, CMef Shuswap Lake Band, Shuswap "Tribe. BAPTISTE WILLIAM, Chief Wi l l i am ' s Lake Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. SAMSON SOGHOMIGH, Chief A l k a l i Lake Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. JAMES CAPEL, Chief C l inton Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. THOMAS PETLAMITSA, Chief Deadman's Creek Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. MAJOR CHESCHETSELST, Chief Leon Creek Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. ANTOINE CHELAHAUTKEN, for Chief Etienne, Chase Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. JOSEPH ISTCHUKWAKST, Chief High Bar Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. FRANK TAHIMESKET, for Chief Samuel, Canim Lake Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. LOGSHOM, Chief Soda Creek Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. AUGUST JAMES, for Chief Maximum, Halowt Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. ANDRE, Chief North Thompson Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. LOUIS CHUIESKA, Captain Spallumcheen Band, Shuswap Tirbe. JOHN INROIESKET, Acting Chief Canoe Creek Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. JOSEPH TSEOPIKEN, Chief Dog Creek Band, Shuswap Tr ibe. ADOLPHE THOMAS, for Chief Dennis Skelopautken, Fountain Tr ibe. ROBERT KUSTASELKWA, Chief P a v i l l i o n Band. JONH NELSON, Chief Quesnel Band", Car r ie r Tr ibe. JAMES INRAITESKET, Chief L i l l o o e t Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. JAMES JAMES, Chief Seaton Lake Band L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. JOHN KOIUSTGHEN, Chief Pasulko Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. DAVID EKLIEPALUS, Chief Zez i l No.2, L i l l o o e t Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. JAMES STAGER, Chief Pemberton Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. CHARLES NEKAULA, Chief Nkempts Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. JAMES SMITH, Chief Tenas Lake Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. HARRY INKASUSA, Chief Samakwa Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. PAUL ROITELAMUGH, Chief Skookum Chuck Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. AUGUST AKSTONKAIL, Chief Port Douglas Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. JEAN BABTISTE, Chief No. 1, Cayuse Creek Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. DAVID SKWINSTWAUGH, Chief Bridge River Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. PETER CHALAL, Chief Mission Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. THOMAS BULL, Chief Slahoos Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. THOMAS JACK, Chief Anderson Lake Band, L i l l o o e t Tr ibe. SIMO NIZDE, Representative Anahem Band, Ch i l co t i n Tr ibe. DICK ANAHEM, Represntative Risky Creek Band, Ch i l co t i n Tr ibe. NANOK, Head Chief Tahltan Tr ibe. PIERRE KENPESKET, Chief of the Kinbaskets, Kootenay, Shuswap Tr ibe. WILLIAM MAKELTSE, Chief Thompson Band, Couteau or Thompson Tr ibe. ANTONE YAAPSKINT, Chief Coldwater Band, Thompson Tr ibe. MICHEL SHAKOA, Chief Quilchena Creek Band, Thompson Tr ibe. WILLAIM LUKLUKPAGHEN, Chief P e t i t Creek Band, Thompson Tr ibe. GEORGE EDWARD INKWOITUNEL, Chief Potatoe Garden Band, Thompson Tr ibe, CHARLES KOWETELLST, Chief Kanaka Bar Band, Thompson Tr ibe. BENIDICT INGHAULETS, Chlfef Keefers Band, Thompson Tr ibe. SHOOTER SUTPAGHEN, Chief N ico la Lake Band, Thompson Tr ibe. PAUL HEHENA, Chief Spuzzum Band, Thompson Tr ibe. GEORGE SROI, Chief North Bend Band, Thompson Tr ibe. JONAH KOLAGHAMT, Representative Coutlee Band, Thompson Tr ibe. JOHN WHISTAMNITSA, Chief Spence's Bridge Band, Thompson Tr ibe. SIMON WAUESKS, Chief Ashcroft Band, Thompson Tr ibe. JOHN TEDLENITSA, Chief Pekaist Band, Thompson Tr ibe. MICHEL INHUTPESKET, Chief Maria Is land, Stalo or Lower Fraser Tr ibe. PIERRE AYESSUK, Chief Cat ' s Landing and Hope Band, Lower Fraser Tr ibe. JAMES KWIMTGHEL, Chief Yale Band, Lower Fraser Tr ibe. HARRY YELEMITSA, Chief Agassiz Band, Lower Fraser Tr ibe. HARRY STEWART, Chief Ch i l l iwack Band, Lower Fraser Tr ibe. JOE KWOKWAPEL, Chief Quoquapol Band, Lower Fraser Rribe. CHARLES JACOB, Chief Matsqui Band, Lower Fraser Tr ibe. -174-JOHN CHILAHITSA, C h i e f Douglas Lake Band, Okanagan T r i b e . SABTISTE CHIANUT, C h i e f Nkamlp Band, Okanagan T r i b e . JOHN LEOKOMAGHEN, C h i e f Ashnola Band, Okanagan T r i b e . CHARLES ALLISON, C h i e f Hedley Band, Okanagan T r i b e . FRANCOIS PAKELPITSA, R e p r e s e n t a t i v e P e n t i c t o n Band, Okanagan T r i b e . BABTISTE LOGAN, C h i e f Vernon Band, Okanagan T r i b e . JOHN INHAMCHIN, C h i e f Chopaca Band, Okanagan T r i b e . ALEXANDER CHILAHITSA, H e r i d i t a r y Head C h i e f , Okanagan T r i b e . LOUIS GHLEGHLEGHKEN, C h i e f Kamloops Band, Shuswap T r i b e . BASIL DAVID, C h i e f Bonaparte Band, Shuswap T r i b e . FRANCOIS SELPAGHEN, C h i e f Shuswap Lake Band, Shuswap T r i b e . BAPTISTE WILLIAM, C h i e f W i l l i a m ' s Lake Band, Shuswap T r i b e . SAMSON SOGHOMIGH, C h i e f A l k a l i Lake Band, Shuswap T r i b e . JAMES CAPEL, C h i e f C l i n t o n Band, Shuswap T r i b e . THOMAS PETLAMITSA, C h i e f Deadman's Creek Band, Shuswap T r i b e . MAJOR CHESCHETSELST, C h i e f Leon Creek Band, Shuswap T r i b e . ANTOINE CHELAHAUTKEN, f o r C h i e f E t i e n n e , Chase Band, Shuswap T r i b e . JOSEPH ISTCHUKWAKST, C h i e f High Bar Band, Shuswap T r i b e . FRANK TAHIMESKET, f o r C h i e f Samuel , Canim Lake Band, Shuswap T r i b e . LOGSHOM, C h i e f Soda Creek Band, Shuswap T r i b e . AUGUST JAMES, f o r C h i e f Maximum, Halowt Band, Shuswap T r i b e . ANDRE, C h i e f North Thompson Band, Shuswap T r i b e . LOUIS CHUIESKA, C a p t a i n Spallumcheen Band, Shuswap T i r b e . JOHN INROIESKET, A c t i n g C h i e f Canoe Creek Band, Shuswap T r i b e . JOSEPH TSEOPIKEN, C h i e f Dog Creek Band, Shuswap T r i b e . ADOLPHE THOMAS, f o r C h i e f Dennis Skelopautken, F o u n t a i n T r i b e . ROBERT KUSTASELKWA, C h i e f P a v i l l i o n Band. JONH NELSON, C h i e f Quesnel Band, C a r r i e r T r i b e . JAMES INRAITESKET, C h i e f L i l l o o e t Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . JAMES JAMES, C h i e f Seaton Lake Band L i l l o o e t T r i b e . JOHN KOIUSTGHEN, C h i e f Pasulko Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . DAVID EKLIEPALUS, C h i e f Z e z i l No.2, L i l l o o e t Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . JAMES STAGER, C h i e f Pemberton Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . CHARLES NEKAULA, C h i e f Nkempts Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . JAMES SMITH, C h i e f Tenas Lake Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . HARRY INKASUSA, C h i e f Samakwa Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . PAUL ROITELAMUGH, C h i e f Skookum Chuck Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . AUGUST AK5T0NKAIL, C h i e f P o r t Douglas Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . JEAN BABTISTE, C h i e f No. 1, Cayuse Creek Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . DAVID SKWINSTWAUGH, C h i e f B r i d g e R i v e r Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . PETER CHALAL, C h i e f M i s s i o n Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . THOMAS BULL, C h i e f Slahoos Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . THOMAS JACK, C h i e f Anderson Lake Band, L i l l o o e t T r i b e . SIMO NIZDE, R e p r e s e n t a t i v e Anahem Band, C h i l c o t i n T r i b e . DICK ANAHEM, R e p r e s n t a t i v e Risky Creek Band, C h i l c o t i n T r i b e . NANOK, Head C h i e f T a h l t a n T r i b e . PIERRE KENPESKET, C h i e f o f the K i n b a s k e t s , Kootenay, Shuswap T r i b e . WILLIAM MAKELTSE, C h i e f Thompson Band, Couteau o r Thompson T r i b e . ANTONE YAAPSKINT, C h i e f Coldwater Band, Thompson T r i b e . MICHEL SHAKOA, C h i e f Q u i l c h e n a Creek Band, Thompson T r i b e . WILLAIM LUKLUKPAGHEN, C h i e f P e t i t Creek Band, Thompson T r i b e . GEORGE EDWARD INKWOITUNEL, C h i e f Potatoe Garden Band, Thompson T r i b e , CHARLES KOWETELLST, C h i e f Kanaka Bar Band, Thompson T r i b e . BENIDICT INGHAULETS, Chlfef Keefers Band, Thompson T r i b e . SHOOTER SUTPAGHEM, C h i e f N i c o l a Lake Band, Thompson T r i b e . PAUL HEHENA, C h i e f Spuzzum Band, Thompson T r i b e . GEORGE SROI, C h i e f North Bend Band, Thompson T r i b e . JONAH KOLAGHAMT, R e p r e s e n t a t i v e C o u t l e e Band, Thompson T r i b e . JOHN WHISTAMNITSA, C h i e f Spence's B r i d g e Band, Thompson T r i b e . SIMON WAUESKS, C h i e f A s h c r o f t Band, Thompson T r i b e . JOHN TEDLENITSA, C h i e f P e k a i s t Band, Thompson T r i b e . MICHEL INHUTPESKET, C h i e f Maria I s l a n d , S t a l o or Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . PIERRE AYESSUK, C h i e f Cat's Landing and Hope Band, Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . JAMES KWIMTGHEL, C h i e f Y a l e Band, Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . HARRY YELEMITSA, C h i e f A g a s s i z Band, Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . HARRY STEWART, C h i e f C h i l l i w a c k Band, Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . JOE KWOKWAPEL, C h i e f Quoquapol Band, Lower F r a s e r R r i b e . CHARLES JACOB, C h i e f Matsqui Band, Lower F r a s e r T r i b e . - 175 -APPENDIX B. CARRYING CAPACITY OF PASTURE LANDS. I developed and utilized the following guidelines to determine the carrying capacity of pasture lands for different reserves analyzed in my thesis: 1. good pasture lands can sustain approximately one cow for every ten acres or one horse for every fifteen acres. 2. fair pasture lands can sustain approximately one cow for every fifteen acres or one horse for every twenty acres. 3. poor pasture lands can sustain approximately one cow for every twenty acres or one horse for every twenty-five acres. The above method of classification is not a scientific assessment of the carrying capacity of Indian reserve lands. There are many variables, such as weather, different types of soil, types of vegetation, types and extent of use in determining the carrying capacity of pasture lands on an accurate basis. My intention is merely to present an approximation of the carrying capacity of pasture lands within the reserves under consideration. The above guidelines were developed on the basis of the Report of the Deputy Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs, the testimony of a white rancher - Mr. Jackson of Merritt, B.C., and by consultation with a professor at the University of British Columbia. - 176 -The Deputy Superintendent-General - Sir John A. MacDonald stated that the Joint Reserve Allotment Commission was assigning '22 acres of grazing land for each horse or head of cattle' to the Shuswap and Okanagan Indians (D.I.A., Annual Reports, 1878:16). The white rancher from the Merritt area stated to the Commission that... We generally always calculate 15 acres to the head; that is mountain land (R.C.E., Kamloops Agency, p.229). Dr. R.M. Strange, an associate professor with appointments in the Plant Science and Forestry Departments at U.B.C, verified that my assessments of the carrying capacity of range lands in the Kamloops area was within reasonable bounds. Also, he pointed out to me that the forage patterns of cattle are less destructive than those of horses. Consequently, two horses are equivalent to three cows, or, where one cow requires 10 acres of pasture land, a horse would require fifteen acres. In a l l fairness, I would like to point out that lands so sown in hay for pasturage and irrigated can sustain one and half animal units per acre a modern phenomena. On the other hand, very poor pasture lands can sustain one animal unit for every sixty acres of pasture land. Finally, I am solely responsible for the criteria developed to categorize and determine the carrying capacity of Native pasture lands.