{"id":201977,"date":"2025-09-05T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/201977\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:47:10","slug":"u-s-based-indigenous-group-sues-for-right-to-shape-how-history-is-taught-in-b-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/201977\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S.-based Indigenous group sues for right to shape how history is taught in B.C."},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. Premier David Eby promised on Thursday to fight the lawsuits in court.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

A U.S.-based tribal chairman is accusing Canadian Indigenous groups of perpetuating an extinction of his people as he sues for the right to shape how history is taught in British Columbia<\/a> schools.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, one of a pair filed in the B.C. Supreme Court this week by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state, marks a further deterioration in relations between Indigenous groups that once worked together to preserve language and historical traditions. It has also created a new source of cross-border friction at a time of elevated tensions between Canada and the United States.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, B.C. Premier David Eby<\/a> promised to fight back in court, while Clarence Louie, one of Canada\u2019s most influential chiefs, warned that the time has come for Ottawa to \u201cwake up\u201d to a creeping erosion of its sovereignty.<\/p>\n

But for the province, the lawsuits add to a growing set of demands by powerful U.S.-based tribal groups to influence policymaking, resource extraction and, now, school instruction inside the province, four years after a landmark Canadian Supreme Court decision opened the door to such requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to just be acknowledged again, and, you know, be welcome back. But it just seems to be an uphill battle,\u201d said Colville chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson.<\/p>\n

He also accused Canadian Indigenous groups of perpetuating historical injustices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were fighting colonialism; we were declared extinct. Now we\u2019re fighting a different form from our own \u2013 other First Nations and Indigenous people. It\u2019s a sad state that we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In 2021, Canada\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that the Lakes Tribe, which forms part of the Colville, is \u201can Aboriginal people of Canada\u201d \u2013 a modern-day successor to the Sinixt people whose traditional territory covered a large part of southeastern B.C., extending more than 200 kilometres from the U.S. border. <\/p>\n

Over the past two centuries, many Sinixt people were displaced to the U.S. by development of the B.C. Interior. The damming of the Columbia River flooded historical village sites.<\/p>\n

In the years since the court ruling, the Colville have opened a Sinixt Confederacy office in Nelson, B.C., sought a voice in regional resource development and publicly claimed a right to revenues from Columbia River electrical generation.<\/p>\n

In one lawsuit, the group says they should be allowed to participate in B.C.\u2019s Indigenous Education Council program, which obligates school boards to consult local First Nations on how to bring Indigenous views and history into provincial classrooms. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been hearing that they\u2019ve been teaching other history that isn\u2019t ours,\u201d Mr. Erickson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducators should be teaching the true history, right? To not means you\u2019re just continuing to erase history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a second lawsuit, Mr. Erickson and the Colville are challenging a new B.C. policy in which the province says it will notify U.S.-based tribes of projects proceeding on their traditional land, but not involve them in more rigorous consultation processes except in special circumstances. <\/p>\n

The province justified its decision in a letter earlier this year that said, \u201cthe potential impacts are likely to be less severe for US Tribes whose communities primarily reside in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Mr. Eby reiterated that view: \u201cOur position is very clear. Our obligations are to Indigenous people in Canada. They are not to Indigenous people in the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will be contesting this litigation that the Colville Confederated Tribes have brought in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of the Colville on Canadian soil is, meanwhile, complicated by the fact that many Sinixt were also displaced to other parts of B.C. Among them were the ancestors of Mr. Louie, the long-time chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band. Mr. Louie disagreed with the assertion that Sinixt is not being represented in Canada. <\/b>\u201cBecause I\u2019m Sinixt, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

His own great-grandfather was also a Colville member, until the U.S.-based group booted him from its ranks in the 1950s after discovering he was living in B.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey played that border and disenrolled a lot of people,\u201d Mr. Louie said.<\/p>\n

He contrasted that with recent years, when \u201cthey\u2019re saying there shouldn\u2019t be a border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Louie, who has spoken with the B.C. Premier about its approach to the Colville, said he agrees with how the province has decided to deal with U.S.-based groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be letting these, these American citizens \u2026 have modern say in modern activities up here. That\u2019s for First Nations. We cover that base,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Other U.S. tribes have already begun to seek rights on port and mining projects in the B.C. Lower Mainland and in its northwestern \u201cGolden Triangle\u201d region. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s time, Mr. Louie said, for both provincial and federal leadership in Canada to more assertively push back on those claims. \u201cThis domino effect is going to go across the country if Canada doesn\u2019t protect its sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the U.S., however, the Colville say they are prepared for a long battle, if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it stands right now, we\u2019re the only successor group\u201d to the Sinixt, Mr. Erickson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to fight tooth and nail to get back to where we\u2019re at. And we\u2019re continuing to fight,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

And he added, \u201cif that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to take, we\u2019ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: B.C. Premier David Eby promised on Thursday to fight the lawsuits in court.ETHAN…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":201978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-201977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-pleasemod"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115151060600807941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}