News

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. [...]

WLC continues to advocate for Hunting rights through community consultation & position paper The W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council (WLC) has finished many months of work gathering the stories, perspectives, and experiences of W̱SÁNEĆ people who exercise their right to hunt. All of this data has, for the first time, been collected and outlined in a position paper.   This document, the W̱SÁNEĆ Position Paper on W̱SÁNEĆ Hunting Rights, was developed in conversation with community and includes stories from the W̱SÁNEĆ Hunters Committee and Hunters Conference, interviews stored in databases, and historical research into infringements on Douglas Treaty rights. This Hunting Position Paper [...]

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, [...]

W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council releases 5-year strategic plan On May 7, 2018, the leadership of Tsartlip, Tseycum, and Tsawout* came together to form the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council Society (WLC) in order to strengthen their position on shared issues within W̱SÁNEĆ territory. On July 14th, 2022 WLC further reinforced the collective vision and intentions through the creation of a 5-year strategic plan. Prior to the formation of the WLC, multiple layers of government and corporations benefited from the artificial separation of W̱SÁNEĆ people through the reserve system. Accordingly, the resulting infringements on W̱SÁNEĆ territory and breaches of Douglas Treaty Rights were more [...]

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 [...]

Supreme Court Rules Douglas Treaty Valid Rights of Indians Upheld Game Laws Do Not Apply By PATRICK O’NEILL Island Editor B.C. game laws do not apply to Indians on Vancouver Island, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Wednesday.    This is a complete victory for Island Indians, in a case that has travelled the long road on the highest court in Canada from a Nanaimo magistrate’s court trial of two Indians.    And the men who started the whole process, Indian hunters Clifford White and David Bob, were among the last to learn the supreme court’s decision.    Mr. Bob at Nanoose, and [...]