A Sinixt encampment in British Columbia. Photo from Sinixt Nation / Facebook
The Arrow Lakes people, also known as the Sinixt, are still fighting for their rights after being declared "extinct" by the Canadian government in 1956. Michael Marchand, an Arrow Lakes descendant and a council member for the Colville Tribes of Washington, explains the struggle:
Arrow Lakes lands roughly went from the Kettle Falls Fishery on the US Columbia River side and extended north up toward the headwaters of the Columbia River. So it covered a vast territory. Lakes people were a very wealthy and powerful people for thousands of years. Each summer 5,000 Indians or so would gather at the Falls. It was a major trade center for North America. They were wealthy businessmen, they were traders. They caught salmon by the ton. Salmon was dried and baled and bales were stacked all over. This was traded all over the west. Horse caravans were brought to the Plains. Canoes freighted the salmon downriver and it was traded up and down the west coast. This went on for thousands of years. Then as the countries of the USA and Canada were formed, a border was created. Lakes lands were on both sides of the border. To make a long story short, the lands were so rich that Canada wanted them and took them. Arrow Lakes people were declared extinct and their lands confiscated. To my knowledge no other tribe in Canada was treated like this. In the last two decades a number of cases in Canadian courts have had rulings that state that the original land owners, the First Nations governments, still retain aboriginal title to their lands. Several tribes have gone to court and won. The courts said they were the original owners. That the lands comprising 99% of British Columbia were never sold. That there was never a treaty giving up those lands. They were still owned by the First Nations governments.Get the Story:
Council Corner: Michael Marchand discusses Lakes membership (The Tribal Tribune 2/11)
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