July 6: Tahltan Nation
The Stikine Canyon is one of the more beautiful places in the world of nature; the area is loaded with grizzlies, brown and black bears, moose, grouse, bighorn sheep, elk and every river is traditionally a run for salmon of many kinds. The north end of the Coast Mountain range runs through the whole of Tahltan Territory, very imposing and producing creek water that, to this day, is “potable” and so clean you can barely taste it. The reason that all of these things described remain true is the resistance of the Tahltan Nation to Canadian colonialism, successfully, in recent decades.
July 6: Tahltan Nation
The Stikine River is one of the most majestic tributaries on Turtle Island. With headwaters near Mount Klappan, it flows right through the very heart of territory for a people who are most often called the Tahltan Nation. The name “Tahltan” was given to the members of the Nation by the first whites to arrive, but there is no one agreed upon name for all five of the “Tahltan” tribes (they are: Táhlók’otíne [Taa-lo-k-o-teena], Tl’abánot’íne [Kla-baa-no-teena], Tl’egot’ín [Tlo-go-teen], Nask’ot’íne [Nah-k-o-teena] & Nahl’ot’íne [Nah-lo-teena] *)-- but “Tahltan” is derived (or bastardized) from the Táhlók’otíne tribe name, as well as from the “Tahltan” River—another one of the many large rivers in the territory. With no agreed upon name beyond the five tribes, “Tahltan” is still the most commonly associated label for the people who have lived in their homeland for tens of thousands of years. There are two main reserve communities on Tahltan territory (along with the smaller reserve inside the town of Dease Lake, and several others throughout Tahltan lands): Iskut-- south of the Stikine River bridge crossing on Highway 37, and Telegraph Creek—112 km southwest of Dease Lake on a gravel road that snakes through the majestic Grand Canyon of the Stikine .
The Stikine Canyon is one of the more beautiful places in the world of nature; the area is loaded with grizzlies, brown and black bears, moose, grouse, bighorn sheep, elk and every river is traditionally a run for salmon of many kinds. The north end of the Coast Mountain range runs through the whole of Tahltan Territory, very imposing and producing creek water that, to this day, is “potable” and so clean you can barely taste it. The reason that all of these things described remain true is the resistance of the Tahltan Nation to Canadian colonialism, successfully, in recent decades.
In the 1970’s, BC Hydro wanted to flood the mighty Stikine, from well east of Highway 37 (“The Stewart-Cassiar”) to the edges of the Stikine Canyon itself. Like all other nations in what is now known as British Columbia, the Tahltan have never signed a final land claim agreement, “extinguishment”, treaty or otherwise— with Canada or the English. BC Hydro hoped this would make it even easier to overrun the Nation in developing a large dam. The Tahltan fought back, using demonstrations and more, under the slogan “BC Hydro: No Dam way!” and in coalition with environmentalists living in the Alaskan Panhandle (where the Stikine meets the ocean), the Tahltan and their allies defeated this attempt to destroy Tahltan lands and Canadian colonialism lost.
The Stikine River, along with the Nass and the Skeena— all major waterways for salmon and sacred to many nations, not least of them the Tahltan— on the coast of BC, are today under assault from Shell Oil’s proposed “Mount Klappan project”. This invariably also involves the Taku River, the Iskut River, the Tahltan River and all life that is dependent upon all of these tributaries for sustenance, from frogs to fowl and bears to bugs. Shell is currently the symbol of colonialism and cultural genocide in British Columbia—they have plans for offshore exploration in the waters between Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert that will inevitably lead the Haida Nation to resist, along with fishers from the nations, cities and towns along the west coast who are already fighting the introduction of “open cage penned salmon farms” (such as the Tsimshian Nation). The Peace Region near Fort St John has had nearly all the available drilling and exploration rights bought by Shell Oil as well. These plans are all a “plan too far”; Shell plans to increase fossil fuel output from BC by 40% in the next year alone. Yet the plans to decimate the regions within Tahltan territory are catastrophic in their implications.
What Shell is planning is not “mere” natural gas extraction, but coalbed methane. Coalbed methane is one of the dirtiest possible extraction processes: life all around every single such project is always wiped out, turning forested mountains into graveyard hills. To poison all of these rivers is not merely genocide against the Tahltan, it will also effect nations from up and down the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. Where Shell wants to operate is neither merely adjoining these rivers, but is at the headwaters of three: the Stikine River, the Nass and the Skeena (the Mount Klappan project). If these headwaters are polluted, almost on top of the continental divide, this could possibly go into both the Pacific and the Arctic Oceans.
The Supreme Court ruling of earlier in 2005 that unceded nations have to be “consulted” (the Haida Nation ruling) helps set the stage for Tahltan resistance. Shell has gone through no such consultation process.
Unlike most indigenous nations controlled by Canada, the Tahltan have an unemployment rate of around 6%-- roughly the average among all Canadians, and far lower than most other colonized nations. This is as a result of the mines that operate in the area—in particular the Eskay Creek mine—with 1/3rd of the jobs going to the Nation. With projects like this already underway, Indian Act chief Jerry Asp has signed an agreement worth $250 000 a year that—in intent—is to streamline future mining, forestry and various energy (hydro, gas, etc) projects. Part of that approval process included 6 simultaneous projects gaining “fast track status”:
• The prior mentioned Shell projects;
• Fortune Mineral—a coal mining operation;
• NovaGold Resources—gold, copper, silver;
• Coast Mountain Power—hydro electric dam;
• bcMetals—gold & silver;
• A new highway from roughly Meziadin Junction to the Alaskan Panhandle Coast, facilitating oil and mining for corporations (along with, allegedly, tourism). This could allegedly come as a result of the NovaGold project, thanks to Asp’s Tahltan National Development Corporation [TNDC].
That rapid-fire approval triggered anger and resistance from elders in Telegraph Creek, immediately followed by the community of Iskut. The arguments that elders and others put forward is simple: this is their land, the small projects that exist already have nearly eliminated unemployment— the Nation would receive nothing but environmental devastation of their lands, and lose their permanent food supply, were these projects to go ahead.
On January 17, 2005 elders from the community of Telegraph Creek occupied the band office and served a public letter to Jerry Asp, firing him and “restoring elders power”. Iskut withdrew from the Tahltan Central Council the following day. The chief has refused to recognize either the actions of the elders in Telegraph or the severance of ties from Iskut.
Jerry Asp no longer has a home in Telegraph Creek; meeting a similar fate as now-former Indian Act Kanehsatake chief James Gabriel, Asp’s home is now a burnt out hole in the ground. He has moved to the reserve within Dease Lake and continues to attempt to “administer” the territory, meaning he holds “official” meetings with corporations and colonial governments, but not the communities that have driven him out.
The corruption and pro settler-state attitudes of the Asp camp have been fully detailed, with elders giving the description:
“Asp and his family have learned the white man’s way well and are now using this knowledge against their people,” and others in the Nation will tell you that he is a millionaire, though Asp doesn’t divulge such matters. Reading the pages of the Vancouver Sun you will meet his fan club immediately; Don Cayo, normally the staff Indian hater and colonial apologist, has recently written several paeans to the brilliance of Asp turning a profit. This Indian Act Chief has indeed made money, though it has not seen any massive increase in standard of living among the Tahltan. Asp is, however, a major investor and “pioneer” of the “Tahltan Nation Development Corporation” (since 1985). As former head of the corporation, Asp oversaw the TNDC while it established many roads, mining access routes and even open pits. The access roads being proposed by the TNDC to the proposed NovaGold Galore mine sites are the beginnings of the controversial highway to Alaska. Meetings held in Dease Lake between Asp and various corporations from Shell Oil and NovaGold, among others alarm the occupying elders the most—fearing they will be used by both Asp and his corporate allies to meet the supreme court mandated requirement for “consultation” and perhaps even “accommodation”.
There are many more recent developments—and the occupation of the band office continues with many card games having been played, solitaire and otherwise, with at least one elder having slept on the floor every single night since the “elders insurrection” began. That’s how things are playing out in Telegraph Creek. Back in the community of Iskut, Oscar Dennis explains:
“We have simply had it with the Tahltan Central Council. We have spent a lot of our time recently writing up a constitution, modeled after the Haida Nation.” When asked if this structure was to be separate from the Indian Act, he answered simply, “Yes.” The constitution being drawn up involves both “modern” and “traditional” approaches to governance of the Nation, involving separate but equally powerful elected and traditional bodies; there will be an elder’s hereditary council, along with the elected nationals-- those who will supplant the current Indian Act structures.
It is yet to be seen if these models will work as well for the Tahltan’s fight against Shell Oil and the imposition of major new mining programs across their lands, just as it has helped the Haida Nation’s recent fight against Weyerhaeuser. This connection to the Haida Gwaii struggle of recent months— dubbed “Islands Spirit Rising”—runs even deeper than all of these constitutions and monikers; Shell Oil, having announced plans to increase production by a whopping 40 percent, will soon try to begin offshore drilling from Haida Gwaii. Perhaps, then, the occupation in Telegraph Creek and defiance from Iskut should be dubbed “Mountain Spirits Rising”, though the mountains that surround the entire Tahltan Nation territory could scarcely rise any higher.
But constitutions are one thing; actions are another. Dennis also spoke of what would happen if any if Shell or other corporations simply try to work anyhow.
“We’ll blockade them on the access roads,” he explained. I’ve got this friend [John Doe] who always tells me he doesn’t want to talk, but call him when we are going to blockade. He just wants to do things.” Oscar also stated “There is Asp’s approach, which is to say to Shell and others that ‘You can come here after you give me 2 million dollars’. Then there’s saying to them that ‘You can come into our land over my dead body’—the two are totally different.”
Oscar Dennis’ father—Iskut elder James Dennis—was one of the leaders and originators of the 1970’s fight against BC Hydro flooding traditional lands around the Stikine River, one of the most sacred bodies of water in the entire Nation. Nothing but a small, “old school” metal bridge appears where the Stewart-Cassiar meets the mighty Stikine today (and a sign telling canoeing visitors that the waters downriver from here are impassable). Standing on the bridge and looking East out over the valley, Oscar spoke of that fight to save his people’s valley from Canadian colonialism:
“My father was instrumental in leading the fight to stop BC Hydro from destroying our lands. Whenever the struggle gets tough today, we come here and look out over our waters, and get inspiration from the river,” he explained. “We won then, and we can win now, this river is proof.” He paused before turning to walk away, glancing back one last time.
“It’s still here, and so are we.”
Sources for this report:
1) Oscar Dennis [Iskut], personal interviews.
2) http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/Pages/newsroom/newsstories.php?filepath=http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/news_stories/archives/001039.html
3) http://sb4.nearlyfree.org/News/2005/03/07/TahltanResistanceGrows/
4) http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2005/02/22/TheSeizureatTelegraph/
5) http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2005/02/23/TelegraphSeizurePart2/
6) James Bourquin [Iskut resident], personal interviews.
* “Nahl’ot’íne” is an estimate of the proper spelling for this tribe; during my discussions with Oscar Dennis he did not feel comfortable giving any spelling for this particular tribe to avoid making errors. Any incorrect spelling or translation of this tribes name is the responsibility of this author.