Aboriginal Leaders Dissect Tsilhqot’in Decision

Chief Judith Sayers (Hupacasath; Port Alberni), Grand Chief Ed John (Tl’azt’en; First Nations Summit), and Dave Porter (Kaska Dena; First Nations Summit) break down the significance of the Tsilhqot’in Decision in theTyee.ca. Gist:

In recognizing the Aboriginal title and rights of the Tsilhqot’in Nation, Justice Vickers has effectively quashed the legal strategy of the provincial and federal governments to deny the very existence of our peoples and our inherent Aboriginal title and rights.

He was particularly scathing of their argument that Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal title should be limited to small “postage stamp” parcels of land, to small sites where specific activities or practices took place. He found this to be an “impoverished view” of Aboriginal title — “A tract of land is not just a hunting blind or a favourite fishing hole . . . [these sites are] but a part of the land that has provided ‘cultural security and continuity’ to Tsilhqot’in people for better than two centuries.”

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