DataCenter lends its help
In early October Miho Kim from the DataCenter traveled to
our Secwepemc community in the interior of what is known
as "British Columbia, Canada." She traveled to
support our struggle and Movement of Indigenous Peoples
back out onto our traditional territories. Moving off the
Indian reservation system and back out onto our land has
been met with a constant barrage from the lowest level of
local cops to the highest level of government and corporate
officials.
My people have been working tirelessly to
get Sun Peaks Ski Resort (owned by Japanese company Nippon
Cable) off our land. For the last three years we have tried
many avenues to make this happen including direct actions,
occupations and roadblocks, all kinds of appeals for public
support, letter writing campaigns, boycott campaigns and
both legal and political tactics. We have done this with
very little resources and many times with just our bodies
on the line.
Because of our little resources the information
that the DataCenter gave us is crucial for us to continue
with our campaign. Through the research by the DataCenter
we have realized that the beast we are up against includes
many more players than previously thought.
Who are the Secwepemc
The Secwepemc are the indigenous people of this area that
occupy a traditional territory bigger than present-day Florida.
Secwepemc are food gatherers and hunters. Today the Secwepemc
have been pushed off our land onto 17 small Indian reservations.
Our population is presently 7,500, a drastic decline to
what it once was at over 100,000.
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| Elders
teach the younger generation the threatened traditional
lifestyle as a means to assert their inherent title
and rights to the land. They are preparing to smoke
the wild salmon they harvested, which is a crucial food
source in surviving the long winter. |
Our History-Our Struggle
Since the beginning of contact and the colonization of my
People, the governments of BC and Canada and corporations
have teamed up to engage in a constant campaign to steal
the ownership, jurisdiction, management and control of our
Secwepemc Territory. We have never signed treaties and we
will never give away our land to any corporation or government.
Our Territory belongs to us. Even under "Canadian"
laws, in the constitution of Canada and Supreme Court rulings,
it states that 'aboriginal title and rights' do exist and
must be recognized. But my People, the true owners of the
land, are ignored.
Overdevelopment and urbanization in our Territory
has left very few places left to continue to practice our
way of life, to harvest food and live. So when Nippon Cable
planned to expand Sun Peaks Resort further into our mountains,
we call Skwelkwek'welt, we decided to take our future into
our own hand. Knowing well that we are also up against the
government of BC and Canada's assumed control over our land
we vowed to stop this expansion from going through, which
includes a total of five entire mountains, several mountain
lakes and creeks and important food and medicine harvesting
areas.
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(left) Sun Peaks' Cahilty
Lodge owner Nancy Greene is a Canadian Olympic gold
medalist and celebrity advocate of the ski resort
industry with her husband, Al Raine, a ski resort
developer. Approached aggressively and offered a fat
reward by Nippon Cable, in 1993, the couple became
the "public face" of Sun Peaks to lend credibility
to the new resort.
(right) The Tod Mountain
is one of three mountains that form the panoramic
spectacle of mountains all around the Sun Peaks village.
These large-scale ski runs, 117 in total, have already
depleted the sources of food and medicine for the
Secwepemc.
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Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center
Secwepemc Elders, Native youth and traditional food gatherers
and hunters came together in the mountains of Skwelkwek'welt
and set up a permanent home in October of 2000. This began
the fight to assert our ownership to our mountains and our
territory and to stop Sun Peaks from sprawling into more
of our precious mountains. This permanent home became the
first Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center (SPC).
Native Youth Movement
In May of 2001, the Secwepemc youth formed a Secwepemc Chapter
of the Native Youth Movement (NYM) in order to appeal to
the young Natives in the community to join in the fight
against Sun Peaks. Native Youth Movement is a warrior society
whose main purpose is to defend and protect Indian territories,
people and our way of life.
Don't
mess with our Mountains
Since we stepped off the Indian Reserve and asserted ourselves
back out onto our Territory we have been the target of constant
police surveillance and harassment by all forms of assumed
authority. In three years there have been 4 Skwelkwek'welt
Protection Center camps, 2 traditional cedar barks homes,
a log cabin, a cordwood home and 2 Sweat Lodges destroyed
by the invading government, Sun Peaks and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP, the equivalent of law enforcement
in Canada). Within this time there has been over 60 arrests,
of mostly Elders, women and NYM warriors. Court injunctions,
Trespass Notices and Seizure Notices have been used in order
to forcibly remove us from Skwelkwek'welt, a form of genocide.
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Irene
Billy is one of the Secwepemc elders who have stood
up to defend their community and deliver their clear
message to the CEO of Nippon Cable, Masayoshi Okubo,
in Tokyo. In 1997, the Secwepemc got Nippon Cable
to sign a non-binding Protocol Agreement wherein
they committed to developing a relationship based
on mutual respect and trust. Nippon Cable plans
to expand their resort, occupying more mountain
habitat critical to Secwepemc livelihood, despite
the community's vocal opposition.
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Ways to help the Secwepemc
1. Organize food and tool drives in your community.
The 5th Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center is still standing
at the entrance to the Sun Peaks Resort and is in need of
tools (saws, axes, shovels, etc.), supplies (tarps, rope,
etc.) and non-perishable food items.
2. Hold benefits and Skwelkwek'welt video
showings in your community to raise funds and awareness.
Our only finances are through personal contributions, donations
and fundraising. So this is a sure way to support our struggle.
3. Contribute to the Skwelkwek'welt Defenders
legal fees. Many Secwepemc women and youth are facing real
jail time. Help our People stay Free and on the Land.
Documentaries are available for sale on VHS
and DVD. T-shirts bearing a "Not For Sale" logo
adorning the map image of the Secwepemc Territory are available
for a $20 donation. Email Skwelkwek'welt
Protection Center for details.
Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center
www.skwelkwekwelt.org
jrbilly@mail.ocis.net
Native Youth Movement
www.nativeyouthmovement.com
nymcommunications@hotmail.com
"Skwelkwek'welt
brought us life, it dragged our beaten warrior spirit off
of the Indian reservation system and brought us back onto
the land, reminded us what it meant to be Indian. For many
of us in Native Youth Movement, it saved our lives and gives
new hope for the future. As the wildfires roared at 300-feet
high and surrounded Sun Peaks this past summer, the land
screamed for renewal. Natures way of rejuvenating the old
so she may provide an abundance of food and wildlife for
the future and our way of life and struggle continues."
- Kanahus Pellkey, Secwepemc/Ktnuxa NYM Warrior
photos: Skwelkwek'welt Protection
Center.
