Fighting for Sutikalh

dru — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:51:37 +0000

St’át’imc unity has kept BC-backed ski resort at bay for ten years

Since first contact with European settlers, St'át'imc people (also known as the Lillooet) have fought against land theft and destruction by resource extraction and development. Their traditional territory surrounds the Lillooet River, stretching from Whistler to the town of Lillooet.

The St'át'imc way of life has always been inextricably tied to the land. For thousands of years, the St'át'imc have hunted, fished, and gathered medicine in the mountains, valleys and rivers of their land. Starting in the 19th century with the 1858 gold rush, and continuing through the 20th century to the present, settler governments encouraged settlement, clearcut logging and hydroelectric dams. The resulting overfishing, destruction of land and blockage of waterways caused food shortages and forced displacement of the indigenous population. Prime lands cultivated or occupied by St'át'imc were often simply stolen without compensation. One St'át'imc chief complained: "Our friends the whites they have been taking our lands away from us and there is nothing left to us and everything that we use they stop us from using it."

In 1911, all the Lillooet chiefs signed a joint statement declaration: "We are aware the BC government claims our Country, like all other Indian territories in BC; but we deny their right to it. We never gave it nor sold it to them. They certainly never got the title to the Country from us, neither by agreement nor conquest, and none other than us could have any right to give them title." In 1927, the Indian Act was ammended to outlaw organizing to challenge land theft.

Photos by Dru Oja Jay unless otherwise noted

For more on the Sutikalh occupation, read this longer account.

Sutikalh 1

Sutikalh 2

Sutikalh 3

Sutikalh 4

Sutikalh 5

Sutikalh 6

Sutikalh 7

Vancouver Media Co-op, part 4

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:33:29 +0000

A few of us from the VMC (including a couple of recent volunteers), took a day trip up to Sutikalh, one of the most successful, and seemingly least talked about acts of Indigenous resistance to the Olympics. It's about three hours from Vancouver if you don't stop along the way.

Picture 1: In May of 2000, members of the St'at'imc nation and their supporters set up a permanent camp near Melvin Creek, located between Mt. Currie and Lillooet, in order to stop plans to build an all-season ski and recreation resort in time for the Olympics. They are still there today.

Picture 2: Words really can't describe how beautiful the mountains are, or how amazing and unfamiliar it feels to breathe the air there.

Picture 3: The water too, was the best I'd ever had.

Picture 4: The "camp" headquarters.

Picture 5: One of many photos from an album dating back to the St'at'imc 2000 blockade to save their land.

Picture 6: Hubert Jim, or Hubie, one of the people currently living at the "camp." This photo was taken during an interview. Hubie has lived at Sutikalh since the 2000 blockade, and will continue to stand guard. "It's my fate. I'm a hereditary chief," he said with a wry smile.

Picture 7: Doug, also living at Sutikalh, comes and goes between there and Vancouver. He showed me his cabin, which a "crew from Denman island" helped him build with discarded shingles from someone else's house. It's small and surprisingly beautiful, with a wood stove inside.

People from 110 different countries have stepped through the doors of the camp since 2000, all by word of mouth.

The Dominion - sutikalh

Fighting for Sutikalh

Vancouver Media Co-op, part 4