Yearly Archives: 2022

Aboriginal hunt closes portion of park Residents of Sidney Island concerned over unsupervised hunt of fallow deer BY LARRY PYNN CanWest News Service    A portion of a national park has been closed to the public for the first time in B.C. specifically to allow an aboriginal hunt for fallow deer, an imported species that is damaging vegetation on Sidney Island.    A 160-hectare portion of Sidney Spit. within the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, is closed to the public through Feb. 28 to allow the aboriginal hunt.    Nineteen native Indian bands lay claim to portions of the Gulf Islands, ranging from [...]

PUBLIC SCHOOL URGED FOR INDIAN CHILDREN    Indian children educated away from the larger community show learning difficulties which get worse with time, says a team of educators from the University of Victoria.    They should be moved from schools on reserves to the public school system. Reserve schools could then be used as adult education centres, they said in a report on a four-week summer project.    Headed by Dr. Charles Galloway of the faculty of education, the group worked in co-operation with the Tsartlip Indian band on the Saanich Peninsula to run a special summer school for pre-school and older children. [...]

W̱SÁNEĆ Hunters Reclaim Traditional Land Management Activities on Sidney Island  The W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council is hosting several hunting trips to Sidney Island as part of an ongoing effort to restore the Island’s native species. Shown above: Knowledge Holders and Youth during a Hunting Trip on Sidney Island this fall. W̱SÁNEĆ Land Management Practices Maintained Ecological Balance Prior to colonialism, W̱SÁNEĆ people practiced numerous land management practices as part of the sacred responsibility to care for plant and animal relatives. Practices such as Traditional Hunting & Fishing, and Prescriptive Burns all helped to ensure the land, plants, animals and subsequently [...]

Meet Eryn Rogers, the new Policy and Negotiation Analyst for the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Read the transcript below to learn more about Eryn and the work she'll be doing to change legislation and policies to better reflect and create space for Indigenous rights and self-determination. Interviewer: Can you tell me a bit about who you are and where you're from? ÍY SȻÁĆEL, my name is Eryn Rogers. I am of English, Scottish and Welsh Heritage, but was born and raised in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the rohe (traditional territories) of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Tamaoho, Te Ahiwaru - Waiohua, [...]

Council reneges on deal, charges Tsawout leader By Grania Litwin    The Tsawout Indian band wants Central Saanich Council to follow through on a deal made in 1968.    “The Indian people should be able to make a living off our land just like our non-Indian neighbors do,” said band councilor Gus Underwood Jr.    “Or is it the municipality’s intention to force the Indians to a lifestyle of welfare and unemployment?”    He was referring to a decision to stall a 92-unit trailer park development proposed by his father, Gus Underwood.    Council’s Committee-of-the-whole voted to ask for a comprehensive development plan for the [...]

A WHITE PLOY SAYS CHIEF Integration Plans Hit    Federal government plans to integrate Indians within the white school system is really an attempt at assimilation, Tsartlip Chief Philip Paul said here Saturday.    Speaking to a South Vancouver Island Tribal Federation conference, Paul said the reason federal Indian schools had failed was that they had white curriculums.    What is needed is programs to make Indian people feel they are worthwhile, to enable them to make their own contributions to society, and to let them determine how much they wish to remain Indian.    Paul predicted Indians would get control of their education, [...]