Hide Article Text (OCR)
to fight for the rights which; they claimed, r .. : the- past forty years .there has beers in the heart of the throughout the province to avoid ai! resort to force and cIt -may isafely be stated that from the year 18/0 until Indian people of this province a very real sense of injus- vio1ence“in'the assertion of their rights, being fully assured crhe present time the indians have been actively asserting ticc. Why has hot more serious trouble arisen from the that if those whom we represent and others having the st‘their: claim, arid have from time to itme mad. all possible state of things thus shown to hav existed for so long a .same interest press forward unitedly and harmoniously,efforts to secure its recognition time? In the. western .'states s similar state of things' led using only legal and constitutional means, ful! successIn the y« ar 1887 me claim of the Indians was formally to fighting between the fndians and th. whites Why lias will- ultimately, crown the efforts which are being puturged by the Naas-River and Tsimpshean tribes, , and not the same result followed in British Columbia? The forth.” became the subject of discussion between representatives true answer is that there has also been in the hearts of This, declaration was, in the spring of 1910, followedof those tribes and the Government of the province at these Indian people a deep-rooted trust in the Sovereign up in a practical way by the Indians, of the Upper Naas eran interview held in the city of Victoria. The following of Great Britain. river, who served upon those seeking land in that district asextracts fromy;the. verbatim, report of that interview pub- This attitude on-the part of the Indians is well illus- copies of. the following statement of their claim :lishcd by thfe...Government Printer.will show the claim jrajelt;j by the journey to England undertaken by*three Whereas we, the 'ndian people-of.the Aiyansh Val- ?qthen made;.by the northern Indians and the answer given jn(jjan chiefs in the year 1906, and the interview then had ley, Naas River, British Columbia, being, the lawful and !)a ,n°sf rePI'escf*Vn8', c Ijpvernmcnt: ■ by those chiefs with His late Majesty King Edward upon original inhabitants and possessors of- all the lands con- 11Burton .(speaking for■ John Wesley, of Naas): Our ^ subject of the land question tained therein from time immemorial; and being assured HPreserve isj.vcry'little, and we have .not got any timber ^ |onK.standing issue between the in °«r possession of the same by the proclamation of ‘iSt Zk StalK TheJSSJh.,“5 S»« Core, III, under date o( October 7'■after that U a treaiv .. -cause of which appears.to have been the course adopted unuer me omisn vrown,. . . na' Hon Mrfsmithe Whar do von mcars bv ~ trcatv5 thlt; Provinciai Govlt;!rnmenf in submitting to the And whereas, it-is provided in-the said proclamation “Wesiev•* I have mentioned after i certain amount of Supreme Court of the province questions involving a that no private person do presume to make any purchaseland iSt outfor thiKSroutside of that Te want of .'the title claimed by he Indians. from us of any land: so reserved to us until «-e shall. ™such a 25S law of England and the Dominion During the year 1909 and the early part of die year have cede^ ^^7“ o( th* CrtwnGovernment, which made a treaty with the Indians. 1910 about twenty of the principal tribes formed a pro-. ln P“b,*c meetinS between us and them, ins“Hon.-Mr.. Smithe: Where did you hear that? vincial organization for the protection of their rights,, and And whereas up to the present time our lands have mWesley: Jt is in the law books. the claim of the Indians was formally presented to the not been ceded by us to the Crown, nor in any way cfflt;
Newspaper Details
Vancouver BC Saturday Sunset
Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
Sat, Apr 01, 1911
Page 40
Full Page
Clipped by
Richa B.
CA 27 Dec 2023
Other Publications Near Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver Building Record
Vancouver Express
Vancouver Trades Unionist
Vancouver BC Trades Unionist
Vancouver British Columbia Lumberman
