The Sinixt Confederacy is suing the B.C. provincial government for excluding the United States-based tribe from consultation on land and education issues.
The confederacy, which is part of The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington, announced Wednesday it would file two constitutional challenges at the Supreme Court of B.C. in Nelson.
The first lawsuit follows what the confederacy says was a notice in March from the government that it would only notify the tribe of decisions that impact its territory rather than include it in consultation.
Traditional Sinixt territory extends north from near Kettle Falls, Wash., through the West Kootenay to the tip of the Columbia River, north of Revelstoke.
That land is contested by the Cranbrook-based Ktunaxa Nation as well as the Syilx Okanagan Nation, the latter of whom says it speaks for the Sinixt in Canada and has .
Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Sinixt Confederacy and the Colville Tribes, said in an interview with the Nelson Star that the Sinixt should be treated as other Indigenous peoples are in Canada. That means having a say on all logging, fish, wildlife, water and archaeological issues within its territory.
“We bring a lot to the table where we have a lot of knowledge, but that currently isn't being incorporated or our concerns aren't being met. Notification isn't the same as consultation and I think we’re owed that as a First Nation, an Indigenous people of Canada.”
Black Press Media has requested comment from the provincial government.
Erickson cited , which ruled in favour of American hunter Rick Desautel who had been arrested and charged for hunting out of season as a non-resident. In its decision, the court said Desautel had a right to hunt on his ancestral land and acknowledged the Sinixt as an Aboriginal peoples of Canada as defined by the constitution.
But four years later the Sinixt Confederacy has received no new treaty rights in Canada, nor has the tribe been formally recognized by the federal government. In June 2023, the Sinixt were also left out of by the provincial government that provides approximately $6 million annually for four years to the Ktunaxa, Secwépemc and Syilx Okanagan Nations.
That exclusion, Erickson and the Sinixt argue, ignores a colonial history that split the tribe's territory with the creation of 1846 border between the United States and what later became British Columbia. The majority of Sinixt were forced to settle on the Colville reservation in northern Washington, and in 1956 were declared extinct by the Canadian government.
"We're being treated essentially as a second-class native or a second-class citizen, when if you're really looking at truth and reconciliation we should be an example to look at it how you could do that, how you could do it right in the correct way, and not repeat history.”
The Sinixt are also challenging the B.C. government on amendments to the School Act that bar the confederacy from taking part in Indigenous education councils because it is not defined as a First Nation under the federal Indian Act.
If their history is being taught in B.C. schools, Erickson says, it isn't by the group that represents the Sinixt people.
“We want to make sure our voice is being heard, that it’s being taught in our schools the correct history from Sinixt people, not from others who are teaching it but aren’t teaching the correct history.”
