2021 A.D.E. SINCE TIME BEGAN : CAVEAT - FORWARD THINKING STATEMENT - CAVEAT : IN TRUTH WE TRUST 2021 A.D.E.
HOME - INVITATION & FINANCE - CANADA - WETLANDS - TRUST - SUBMISSION
REPLENISHING THE MEDICINE CHEST LEGACIES : INTEGRATING CLIMATE RESET INTO GLOBAL HEALING
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
Greetings To MST Developments : Associate Members : (Mar 17-21)
- Our Introduction To The Proposal That The ILO & ICRC With The UN IPCC Undertake This Medicine Chest Mission
- With The IMF-BIS-WBG Acting As Monitors
HOME - INVITATION & FINANCE - CANADA - WETLANDS - TRUST - SUBMISSIONCOMPOSITE GENIUS OVERVIEW - HANDS UP - PLASMA ENERGY CONSORTIUM
1973 – In the Calder Decision the Supreme Court of Canada splits on the question of aboriginal title.
1968 – Construction on the Roberts Bank Superport began. By 1983 it had become a 113-hectare island, with a B.C. Rail line running along the causeway. Operating around the clock, the facility handles 24 trains each day. Light and sound pollution – excessive noise and vibration – is a constant nuisance to the Tsawwassen people.
1960 – Aboriginal people on reserves are granted the right to vote in federal elections. The phase-out of Indian residential schools begins.
1958 – The BC Ferry Terminal construction is started. During causeway construction the B.C. government tore down our Longhouse. The terminal and causeway were expanded in 1973, in 1976 and again in 1991. The provincial government of the day did not bother to meaningfully consult with the Tsawwassen people. Today, more than 2.6 million cars and trucks drive the causeway every year.
1951 – Parliament repeals the provisions of the Indian Act that outlawed the potlatch and prohibited “land claims” activity.
1931 – The Native Brotherhood of B.C. is formed. Secret, underground discussions are launched to keep the Indian land question alive.
Despite these negative impacts, we have struggled to participate in Canadian society and its economy. Some of our members fought in World War I and World War II.
1927 – Ottawa prohibits Indians from organizing to discuss land claims.
1923 – Ottawa permits Indians to acquire commercial fishing licences.
1920 – Compulsory attendance of Indian children in schools is introduced.
1914 – Tsawwassen Chief Harry Joe submitted a petition to the McKenna McBride Commission then reviewing the province’s reserves. The Chief argued eloquently that the Tsawwassen people did not want to be forced into exile on a tiny reserve. His words went unheeded by the politicians of the day and, over time, aboriginal fishing and other rights were legislated away.
For the first half of the 20th century, Tsawwassen was largely ignored by everybody, except for a few bureaucrats. All of this would change starting in the 1950’s as commercial development and public infrastructure occurred. Ironically, this provided the basis for the development of a people with strong and committed leaders and a determination to overcome the many obstacles put in our way.
1906 – A representation of Coast Salish Chiefs went to England to fight for land claims.
1890 – About 40,000 acres of land surrounding us had been developed by our non-aboriginal neighbours.
1889 – The federal system of permits is introduced to govern commercial fishing. Indians are effectively excluded from commercial fishing.
1887 – Premier William Smithe said, “When the white man first came among you, you were little better than wild beasts of the field.” Little wonder that this kind of racism was soon translated into narrow policies that plunged the province into a century of darkness for the Tsawwassen and other First Nations.
1884 – The Indian Act is amended to outlaw cultural and religious ceremonies such as the potlatch – the major social, economic and political institution of the coastal peoples.
1881 – The first official survey of the Tsawwassen Indian Reserve is completed.
1878 – Canada begins to restrict traditional Indian fishing rights, making a new distinction between food and commercial fishing. The first census of Tsawwassen Indians is conducted.
1878 – Tsawwassen Reserve is confirmed by Commissioner Sproat.
1874 – Our reserve was expanded to 490 acres (198 hectares), still a postage stamp sized piece of land compared to our traditional territory.
1871 – Our Colonial reserve is formally established.
1870 – B.C. unilaterally denies existence of aboriginal title, claiming aboriginal people are too primitive to understand the concept of land ownership.
1860 – The St. Charles Mission is established in New Westminster. This is Tsawwassen First Nation’s first contact with the Catholic Church.
1858 – The Colony of British Columbia becomes official. Tsawwassen lands were pre-empted; settler families were given huge tracts of land.
Over the years, as the colony of British Columbia grew and prospered the Tsawwassen people – like other First Nations – were systematically stripped of their land, rights and resources. Simply put, our land was stolen.
1851 – The International Boundary between Canada and the United States is created, alienating Point Roberts from Tsawwassen Territory without consultation, without compensation.
1808 – The Simon Fraser expedition arrives at the mouth of the Fraser River.
Like many First Nations, after the arrival of Europeans our ancestors were devastated by epidemics of smallpox. Historians estimate that between 80 and 90 per cent of the Coast Salish were killed by the disease, decimating some Tsawwassen villages.
1791 – Spanish and English explorers arrive in the vicinity of Tsawwassen.
400–200 BC – The Tsawwassen First Nation people are by then well established in their traditional territory (as per documented proof from sites at Whalen Farm and Beach Grove).
2260 BC – Sites within our historic winter village confirmed by carbon dating.
7000 BC – According to archaeologists, human beings occupied the southwest coast of B.C.
2021 A.D.E. SINCE TIME BEGAN : CAVEAT - FORWARD THINKING STATEMENT - CAVEAT : IN TRUTH WE TRUST 2021 A.D.E.
