The chief of a Campbell River-area First Nation is raising concerns about how other nations’ Aboriginal rights and title will be affected by a K’ómoks First Nation treaty set to be approved in principle on Monday.
Wei Wai Kum elected chief councillor Chris Roberts issued a statement on Friday asking for a delay in the treaty-initialling ceremony in Courtenay.
Roberts said his nation is prepared to take “any necessary steps” to protect its rights and territory, adding that he has the support of hereditary chiefs.
“K’ómoks has grossly overstepped their territory and is trying to use the treaty process to take away the lands, waters and rights that our ancestors fought and died for,” Roberts said in a statement.
While Wei Wai Kum First Nation is generally supportive of nations reclaiming their lands and governance through the treaty process, Roberts said he has serious concerns about the K’ómoks treaty.
“We expect the governments to take a pause and that K’ómoks will meet with us to find a respectful resolution,” said Roberts, who could not be reached for an interview Friday.
Representatives of the K’ómoks First Nation and the provincial and federal governments are expected to attend the initialling ceremony.
The Courtenay-based K’ómoks First Nation has a registered population of 350, though the largest of its four reserves is near Sayward at the mouth of Salmon River, just over 120 kilometres from Courtenay.
If the treaty is ratified by all parties, the nation’s reserve lands would become private lands of the K’ómoks, according to a treaty summary on the K’ómoks First Nation website.
But the Wei Wai Kum say some of the K’ómoks reserve lands in the Sayward area are within the greater Laich-kwil-tach Nation that K’ómoks is not part of.
The First Nation is concerned that some Laich-kwil-tach title rights will be extinguished if the treaty is signed, Roberts said.
K’ómoks First Nation said in a statement Friday it continues to consult with neighbouring First Nations regarding its treaty, but the nation will proceed with Monday’s ceremony, as the treaty is now “substantially complete” after 30 years of negotiations.
The K’ómoks Treaty is specific to the K’ómoks and does not affect, recognize or provide any rights for other Indigenous people, the nation said.
K’ómoks treaty negotiation team member Melissa Quocksister said she understands why there might be concerns and fear surrounding the treaty “due to a lack of understanding” around the process.
The treaty team is always open to working with Wei Wai Kum, said Quocksister, who is the team’s communication and engagement consultant.
“Wei Wai Kum are our friends and our families,” she said, noting that she herself is related to Roberts. “At the end of the day, we are stronger together.”
Her nation conducted treaty negotiations alongside Wei Wai Kum for years until the K’ómoks First Nation left the Hamatla Treaty Society to negotiate on its own in 2006, she said. “We wanted to make some movement faster than the other nations were ready to.”
According to the Wei Wai Kum, the addition of K’ómoks reserve lands at Salmon River near Sayward was the result of an amalgamation between the Laich-kwil-tach Walitsama tribe and the K’ómoks First Nation, arranged by a federal Indian Agent in 1940.
During the early 1800s, the Laich-kwil-tach held exclusive right to the waters and lands from northern Johnstone Strait to south of Comox by right of conquest, the We Wai Kum First Nation said in the statement.
“So strong was [Laich-kwil-tach] hold and authority that other First Nations were forced to pay a toll to transit Seymour Narrows, which was originally called Yaculta Rapids after the [Laich-kwil-tach] people,” the nation said, adding that Yaculta is another anglicized form of Laich-kwil-tach.
Brian Thom, a University of Victoria anthropology professor who specializes in Aboriginal title rights, said the dispute between Wei Wai Kum and K’omoks is indicative of just how complicated the issue of title rights and nationhood can become.
“The idea that a contemporary Indian band can make representations on behalf of a people who are a nation, when there are other ways to construct what a nation is — not everyone agrees on this.”
Treaty negotiation tools often do not have the nuance to deal with “very intricate issues of history and culture” like those brought up by the Wei Wai Kum, he said.
As a result, nearly all modern treaty agreements between Canada, B.C. and First Nations stress that they only apply to the specific nation that has ratified the agreement and do not affect any other Indigenous groups, he said.
Thom said We Wai Kum’s Friday statement will certainly be noticed by negotiators. “They’re going to be no doubt regrouping and having discussions about just how much of this dialogue needs to be resolved before K’ómoks triggers [their ratification] vote.”
The K’ómoks treaty must be ratified by the nation’s members, in the B.C. legislature and in Parliament, before it can take effect.
Murray Rankin, outgoing Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, said he has heard there were concerns with the K’ómoks treaty agreement.
Rankin said the ministry is committed to addressing those concerns through formal consultation and discussion of nation-to-nation protocols. “We have time to do this work, as the K’omoks Treaty, if approved, would not be effective for several years,” he said in a statement.
Ronnie Chickite, chief of Wei Wai Kai, another Campbell River-area nation with ties to Laich-kwil-tach, was unavailable for comment on Friday.
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