[Proceedings of the Supreme Court of British Columbia 1987-05-12]
data provider: CONTENTdm
is part of: Delgamuukw Trial Transcripts
creator: British Columbia. Supreme Court
issued: 2013
created: 1987-05-12
description: In the Supreme Court of British Columbia, between: Delgamuukw, also known as Albert Tait, suing on his own behalf and on behalf of all the members of the House of Delgamuukw, and others, plaintiffs, and Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia and the Attorney General of Canada, defendants: proceedings at trial.
aggregated CHO: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/delgamuukw/items/1.0018360/source.json
format: application/pdf
note: 65 Opening by Mr. Joseph and Mr. Muldoe 1 SMITHERS, B.C. 2 May 12, 1987 3 THE REGISTRAR: Order in court. In the supreme court of British 4 Columbia, this 12th day of May, 1987, Delgamuukw, also 5 known as Ken Muldoe, suing on his own behalf on behalf 6 and on behalf of all other members of Delgamuukw, and 7 others and her Majesty the Queen in Right of the 8 Province of British Columbia and the Attorney General 9 of Canada, at bar. 10 THE COURT: Thank you. Mr. Rush. 11 MR. RUSH: Yes, my Lord. We're prepared to start the opening, 12 and I would like to ask Gisday Wa, Alfred Joseph, and 13 Chief Delgamuukw, Ken Muldoe, to make the opening on 14 behalf of the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en chiefs. 15 THE COURT: All right, thank you. Who's first, please? 16 MR. JOSEPH: My Lord, I'll read my address now. My name is 17 Gisday Wa. I am a Wet'suwet'en Chief and a plaintiff 18 in this case. My House owns territory in the Morice 19 River and Owen Lake area. Each Wet'suwet'en 20 plaintiff's House owns similar territories. Together 21 they own and govern the Wet'suwet'en territory. As an 22 example, the land on which this courthouse stands is 23 owned by the Wet'suwet'en Chief, Gyolugyet, in Kyas 24 Yax, also known as Chief Woos' House. 25 MR. MULDOE: My Lord, I am Delgamuukw. I am a Gitksan Chief and 26 a plaintiff in this case. My House owns territories 27 in the Upper Kispiox Valley and Upper Nass Valley. 28 Each Gitksan plaintiff's House owns similar 29 territories. Together, the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en 30 Chiefs own and govern the 22,000 square miles of 31 Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en territory. For us, the 32 ownership of the territory is a marriage of the Chief 33 and the land. Each chief has an ancestor who 34 encountered and acknowledged the life of the land. 35 From such encounters come power. The land, the 36 plants, the animals and the people all have spirit, 37 they all must be shown respect. That is the basis of 38 our law. 39 MR. JOSEPH: The chief is responsible for ensuri…
has type: Trial proceedings
spatial: British Columbia
identifier: KEB529.5.L3 B757
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0018360
language: English
subject: Uukw, Delgam, 1937-
subject: Indigenous peoples--Canada
subject: Oral history
subject: Wet'suwet'en First Nation
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Vancouver : United Reporting Service Ltd.
rights: Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy, or otherwise distribute these images, please contact the Courts of British Columbia: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/
source: Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Law Library.
type: Text