A History of Reserves in British Columbia A presentation to give background to the how reserves were established in BC.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III (Britain) after the defeat of France in the Seven Years War established a basis for government in British North American territories required negotiation of treaties with Aboriginal inhabitants before claiming land for settlement sometimes called an "Indian Bill of Rights." (Historica, The Canadian Encyclopedia. (2007). The Royal Proclamation of 1763. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1SEC827445.

The Royal Proclamation and Land Title in British Columbia EVEN THOUGH… The Royal Proclamation of 1763 required the negotiation of treaties to extinguish Title and claim Aboriginal lands for settlement. NEVERTHELESS… James Douglas created reserves throughout the colony without negotiation. Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. (2005). Background to the McKenna McBride Commission. http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/Resources/ourhomesare/narratives/Background_1.htm.

The maps for this presentation come from a 1975 publication by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs called “Our Homes Are Bleeding” (the same title as their digital collection). The maps represent land in BC generally and not any one reserve particularly. In each map, the area shaded in blue represents land belonging to First Nations. In this first map, you see that the land all belongs to the First Nations. This is the land before there were reserves, before colonization. Reserves did not exist. First Nations were self-governing, self-sustaining nations, with their own systems of owning and managing their lands and resources. Everything that followed represented a shrinking land base as a result of colonial ideas, assumptions and settlement without any recognition of Aboriginal Title and Rights.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared: “any lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by us,…are reserved to the …Indians.” Before BC was part of Canada, the Governor, James Douglas did try to purchase some lands and sign some treaties. Although First Nations saw these treaties as treaties for peace rather than for land, it was the only time in BC history where the government even made an attempt to buy the land. After signing 14 treaties on Vancouver Island, the Colonial Office refused to pay for any more treaties. It is notable that these 14 treaties, Treaty 8 in the northeast and the Nisga’a Treaty, signed in 2000, are the only treaties in BC. The Colonial Government then began laying out the first “Indian Reserves” in BC. There are Douglas reserves on the South Island, Fraser Valley, Fraser Canyon, and Thompson River. As you see in the picture, much of the land is already lost. However Douglas’ unwritten policy was to try to reserve settlement, hunting and fishing areas, so they were the largest size that reserves would ever be again.

In 1864, Joseph Trutch, as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works became in charge of setting out Indian Reserves. He resisted setting out any new reserves and actually thought that the reserves that had been allotted were too big. He reviewed a number of the reserve allotments and decided to make them smaller. As you can see in the map representation, a considerable amount of land was lost or “cut off” from reserves. When BC entered confederation (became part of Canada) in 1871, under the agreement made by the governments, the management and trusteeship of First Nations and their lands were supposed to be the responsibility of the Federal Government. However, many disputes followed, in part because the BC Government did not want to give up any of what they thought was their land to the federal government for Indian Reserves and any land taken from reserves would go back to the province. The two governments kept arguing over what sort of policy they could adopt in BC.

To try to deal with their disagreements, the governments established the Joint Indian Reserve Commission, which became the Indian Reserve Commission. The Commission was supposed to have the governments act together to review and allot new reserves. They allotted many of the reserves in British Columbia. They also “resurveyed” previous reserves, which sometimes resulted in loss of lands for First Nations. Although they were supposed to be acting together, the governments still could not agree on policy. In the other provinces, the Dominion government recognized Aboriginal Title by signing treaties for land surrender, giving between 160 and 640 acres per Indian family. But British Columbia refused a Dominion government proposal to increase Indian reserves to 80 acres per family. The two governments temporarily agreed to 20 acres per family.

The railway was also promised as part of the agreement when BC entered into confederation. This was another way in which the reserve land was reduced for many reserves in the Railway Belt. Even though the two governments were supposed to agree on a reserve policy, their disputes continued until BC refused to allot any new reserves.

However, the issue of reserves would not go away However, the issue of reserves would not go away. So in 1913, they established another Commission, the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of BC (aka McKenna McBride Commission). The goal of this commission was supposed to be to “finally” settle the issue of First Nations land in BC. The Commission could recommend new reserves and enlargements, but were not allowed to cut off or eliminated reserves without permission of the First Nations who lived on them. Commissioners traveled around B.C. gathering testimony on issues of land. This testimony is available on the UBCIC website, and selections are provided for this lesson. The Dominion Indian Affairs Settlement Act of 1919 and the British Columbia Indian Lands Settlement Act of 1920 were passed in an attempt for both governments to claim the power to adopt the recommendations of and make changes to the Royal Commission Report. Through these Acts, the Governments also claimed the power to cut off lands without consent, in opposition to the existing laws requiring consent and ignoring Aboriginal Title and rights. After passing these acts, the governments cut off over 36,000 acres of land from reserves all over British Columbia without consultation, consent, or compensation.

The McKenna McBride Commission did not settle issues, and in fact the cut-off claims resulting from the Commission eventually contributed to the first Specific Claims policy. Over time, reserves and what was originally First Nations land has been lost in a number of ways. There were laws allowing certain amounts of reserve land to be taken for roads and works without compensation, which made it cheap for governments to do so. As you can see in the representation, the land looks a lot different than it did, with only very small lands still shaded blue.

www.ubcic.bc.ca Show video to help pull ideas together. Video from Land is the Culture, UBCIC production of 1970s. www.ubcic.bc.ca