The First Nations of British Columbia This page intentionally left blank The First Nations of British Columbia: An Anthropological Survey Robert /. Muckle UBCPress /Vancouver © UBC Press 1998 Reprinted 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. Printed in Canada on acid-free paper oo National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Muckle, Robert James. The First Nations of British Columbia Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7748-0663-X 1. Indians of North America - British Columbia. 2. Indians of North America - British Columbia - History. I. Title. E78.B9M82 1998 971.1'00497 C98-910172-X Canada UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. UBC Press The University of British Columbia 2029 West Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 (604) 822-5959 Fax: (604) 822-6083 E-mail: [email protected] www.ubcpress.ca Contents Maps and Illustrations / vii Preface / xi Part 1: First Nations Defined What Is a First Nation? / 2 Two Kinds of First Nations People / 3 Population, Reserves, and Settlements / 4 Bands, Ethnic Groups, Tribal Councils, and Other Affiliations / 5 Suggested Reading / 10 Part 2: Archaeology and First Peoples First Nations and Archaeological Perceptions of the Past/ 12 The Nature of Archaeological Research in British Columbia / 12 Early Migrations through British Columbia / 15 Here to Stay / 17 Settling Down / 17 Prominent Sites / 18 Tracing Ancestry / 22 Suggested Reading / 22 Part 3: Ethnology in British Columbia Anthropology and Oral Tradition / 26 Traditional Culture Areas of British Columbia / 32 Languages / 34 Population / 37 Settlement Patterns / 37 Diet / 42 Technology / 43 Social Organization / 46 Myths, Spirits, and Shamans / 48 Health and Healing / 49 Art /51 The Potlatch and Other Important Ceremonies / 54 Trade, Slavery, and Warfare / 56 Suggested Reading / 58 Part 4: Culture Change and Modernization Population Loss / 60 The Impact of the Fur Trade / 61 The Impact of the Gold Rushes / 62 The Impact of Non-Native Settlement / 64 Missionaries and Residential Schools / 65 Government Relations with First Nations / 69 Assertions of Aboriginal Rights / 77 Negotiations in the 1990s / 80 Economic and Cultural Initiatives / 82 Outstanding Issues / 83 Suggested Reading / 87 Appendices 1 The First Nations of British Columbia / 90 2 Major Ethnic Groups / 117 3 Excerpts from the Royal Proclamation, 1763 / 123 4 Excerpts from the Laurier Memorial, 1910 / 125 5 Excerpts from the Nisga'a Agreement-in-Principle, 1996 / 128 6 First Nations Involved in Treaty Negotiations, January 1998 / 134 Glossary/ 136 Selected Bibliography/ 141 vi Contents Maps and Illustrations Maps 1 First Nations in British Columbia / 7 2 Archaeological Sites and Early Migration Routes in British Columbia / 20 3 Culture Areas of North America / 32 Illustrations 4 Qtsaya (Sara Tweedie) and Lorelle Brett Snow on a Nuxalk reserve near Bella Coola, 1997. Courtesy of Banchi Hanuse 8 Sel Sil Se Mat (Flo Williams) and her nephew, Gabriel Moody-Thomas, 1997. Courtesy of Samaya Jardey 8 Chester Thomas, 1997. Courtesy of Samaya Jardey 13 First Nations archaeologist John Jules, 1992. Courtesy of George Nicholas, Simon Fraser University/Secwepemc Education Institute 14 Three Secwepemc archaeologists, 1997. Courtesy of George Nicholas, Simon Fraser University/ Secwepemc Education Institute 21 Sproat Lake petroglyphs. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN11733 27 Nuxalk dancers in costume, 1886. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN4606 28 George and Francine Hunt, 1930. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN9533 30-1 Haida village of Masset, 1890. BC Archives D-09210 34 Members of McLeod Lake Nation in a cottonwood dugout canoe, c 1912. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN3376 36-7 Haida village of Skidegate, late nineteenth century. BC Archives B-03660 38 Hul'qumi'num village, turn of the century. BC Archives D-00692 39 A recent chiefs pole and house, Masset. Courtesy of Gillian Crowther 40 Men wearing traditional clothing outside a summer lodge near Spences Bridge, early twentieth century. Photograph by James Teit. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN14833 41 Ktunaxa men, late 1880s. BC Archives C-00782 41 Ktunaxa settlement, turn of the century. BC Archives B-03802 44 Cedar dugout canoe in a Gitxsan village, c 1910. BC Archives A-06896 45 Straits Salish men in goat hair robes, turn of the century. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN11743 46 Haida woman, 1884. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN5320 50 Nuu'chah'nulth woman shaman, early twentieth century. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN5410 viii Maps and Illustrations 51 Sweatlodge, early twentieth century. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN999 52 Wooden sculptures in Halq'emeylem cemetery, turn of the century. BC Archives E-04581 53 Haida man, 1881. BC Archives D-06324 55 Tahltan people, turn of the century. BC Archives D-08961 57 Warrior in protective clothing. Photograph by Edward Curtis. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN7369 63 Gold miners along the Thompson River, late nineteenth century. Courtesy of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia PN8770 66 Metlakatla, 1880s. BC Archives G-04699 67 Church and totem pole, Old Masset. Courtesy of Gillian Crowther 81 Reconstructed pithouse at Secwepemc Archaeological Heritage Park. Courtesy of George Nicholas, Simon Fraser University/Secwepemc Education Institute 82 Aboriginal students from the Sk'lep School on the Kamloops Reserve, 1997. Courtesy of George Nicholas, Simon Fraser University/Secwepemc Education Institute 86 Nuxalk woman wearing a mask by Ray Martin, 1997. Courtesy of Banchi Hanuse Maps and Illustrations ix