ATTN:Miles Richardson
Chief Comissioner
British Columbia Treaty Commission
March 6th 2003
Dear Mr.Richardson,
Please review all recent communications sent to the HTG and cc'd to the BCTC regarding the Somena Hw'nuchalewum's request to be considered a governing body of Aboriginal Peoples and some of our reasons for doing so for the purposes of pursuing independent treaty negotiations.
If you have not received copies of these documents yet, please let us know and we will forward on all relevant news clippings, documents and communications.
Today, after ignoring all but one of our requests with regards to the debt load that BCTC representative Peter Hollenbrander claimed in the Cowichan Valley Citizen that Somena would be responsible for paying, Mr.Smith has sent me the following correspondence.
"Hi Meaghan I did speak with Norman Joe this morning. I said that I would email you later today to obtain your fax number so that I could send information. Can you please supply me with a fax number? The financial information you request is stated in the financial statements. Currently, the Cowichan Tribes portion of the treaty debt, as at March 31, 2002 is $1,843,084.00. The numbers are not broken down for each of the tribes that make up the Cowichan tribes. They are only available for the six members of the HTG Society.
Huy ch qa ... Jack"
We would like it noted for the record that my communications with HTG are not just from me on behalf of myself, but from me on behalf of the Somena signatories to the "Request to the Government of Canada" statement. We would like for Mr. Smith to quit pretending that concerns of Somena are limited to just myself. Tthetsumsun (Norman Joe), a Somena Sulqueen (elder leader of Somena), did call Mr. Smith on March 5th to inform him of this disregard of protocol. We find it disturbing that we must constantly be placed in the position of informing HTG of the traditional laws of our people while they claim to be acting to preserve such laws (Snuweyeth). But that is another issue, to perhaps be dealt with at a later time.
Mr.Smith must know from Mr. Morales's attendance of an ad hoc meeting of some of our elders and members that this effort is not the result of one single person's complaints. Mr. Morales may have gotten that impression since Meaghan Walker-Williams was asked by her elders to quiz/cross-examine him on what the HTG is doing. If so it is because of Mr. Morales's lack of understanding of traditional laws and decorum that he may have gotten that impression.
We would like to ask that you inform Mr. Smith to cease ignoring the Somena Hw'nuchalewum by addressing me personally and instead address the S'amuna' (Somena) Hw'nuchalewum in all future correspondence.
He has the names of some of the initial signatories to the "Request to the Government of Canada" in which the Somena Nation informed the HTG on October 10, 2002 that we no longer wanted to be represented by the HTG. We have requested that he send relevant information to them individually, as well as to me as the communications liaison for the group.
It is extremely disrespectful of Mr. Smith, and the HTG, to refuse to acknowledge the request of the elders and si'em as signatories to the "Request to the Government of Canada".
This behaviour is exactly the kind of authoritarian, paternalistic, demeaning attitude which has resulted in the Somena group's assertion of independence and our rights to true "self government" in the first place.
We are not willing to allow any person, particularly any NON-SOMENA person to pretend to speak for us without being hired specifically for that purpose according to our traditional laws. Unless and until the Somena Hw'uchalewum members pin a blanket on any of the HTG, their claim to represent us is false and an assault on our Traditional Laws and rights as Sovereign Aboriginal People.
We do not accept having Jack Smith (a non hwulmuhw mustimuhw) attempting to define who we are, nor do we accept HTG's dictatorial and neo-colonial attitude towards us that demands we be forced to abide by Mr. Smith's belief about what our rights as Aboriginal People are.
Further, we find that the authoritarian approach to "Treaty Making" which HTG has demonstrated by behaving in a demeaning fashion towards any who question their judgment or decisions in how to assert our rights to be more than insulting and more than a breach of traditional laws. In fact, we view the behaviour of Mr. Smith (and other agents of the Crown) to be an actual, physical and legal assault upon our rights to preserve our culture, language, and ancient model of self-governance which has existed since antiquity and which the Canadian Constitution recognizes and affirms. (but does not create)
We are an ancient and honourable body of people who have gathered for a very specific purpose in accordance with our traditional laws. We have far more legitimacy to represent the Somena people who have signed the "Request to the Government of Canada" than the "BC Society Act"-created Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group.
Somena Aboriginal Peoples are a unique and distinct group. This was briefly acknowledged years ago in the HTG's original "Statement of Intent" where Somena was listed as a "sub-band" of the Cowichan Tribes.
There is no such thing as a "sub-band" in the Indian Act or in any other law, yet this is the demeaning and belittling term invented by the HTG to refer to our people in their "Statement of Intent" sent by HTG to the BCTC. We would like this noted for the record. The Somena people
have been sovereign and independent for at least 3,000 years and probably substantially more than 12,000 years. We would like the HTG to amend their statement of intent to remove their claim to represent us or at the very least to refer to Somena in a respectful manner and not as a "sub-band".
We are a Hw'nuchalewum, not a "sub-band" nor an "Indian Band". If Mr.Smith does not know what Hw'nuchalewum is, we suggest he ask the elders of HTG's various advisory committees, or Willie Seymour, the former Cultural Advisor to the HTG, or read Chris Arnett's famous book
"Terror of the Coast" or the writings of Wayne Suttles published in "Coast Salish Essays" by Talon Books in 1987.
How can the HTG claim to be preserving OUR aboriginal culture, and developing "self-government" for us when they ignore our own form of governance which has existed for thousands of years? How can they claim to support an inherent aboriginal right to "self-government" when negotiating on our behalf, while they ignore the very same traditional
leaders, traditional governing bodies, and traditional laws that ARE our self-governance and the basis of the inherent rights as Aboriginal Peoples that they claim to support?
We are absolutely astounded that we have to inform HTG of these things. These are things the HTG should be telling the federal government instead of being things we must tell the HTG. If the HTG were actually representing the Somena people, they would already know these things, or at the very least, they would listen when we tell them instead of working hard to belittle us and ignoring the legitimate laws of the hwulmuhw mustimuhw.
The failure of the HTG to recognize the existence of ancient and sovereign aboriginal nations and laws is an attempt to negate and annihilate those nations and those laws and the rights Aboriginal People derived from them.
We should not have to be fighting HTG to protect our rights or Snuweyeth. But, because of the behaviour of HTG, we must take these steps to ensure that our rights and Snuweyeth are not extinguished by HTG's misguided efforts.
Mr. Smith should be aware, based on the correspondence, that a large number of elders and si'em of the Somena community have asked for him to cease negotiations on their behalf. A written notice from prominent Somena sulqween, the traditional leaders of Somena, was given to the HTG and read aloud to them at a maintable treaty negotiation telling them that many Somena people do not wish HTG or Cowichan Tribes to represent them. Nearly five months later, Mr. Smith and Mr. Morales pretend that this is not a serious issue for the HTG and that they are too busy WORKING FOR US (they claim) to listen to us. This demonstrates that HTG does not care whether it really has a current mandate from the people it claims to represent.
Recently, we requested a number of documents, materials and information. (see previous e-mails cc'd to BCTC) Shortly before yesterday's communication, we were told that there would be no problem getting this information, and yet, once again, the HTG is playing games with us about whether this information will be supplied at all and if so, when. (Re: Shana Robinson's communication about the need to consult with legal counsel regarding our request.) We would like for the HTG to make up their minds. If they aren't going to give us the information, then
they need to tell us that, but we ask that HTG please refrain from pretending to meet our requests while ignoring such requests or denying that they have ever been made.
We attach, for the BCTC's reference, an OPEN LETTER TO JACK SMITH published in a widely circulated newspaper in this region nearly two years ago which Mr. Smith never answered. He did write an email acknowledging the Open Letter, promising to respond to the questions it
raised, perhaps publicly, and that was the last we heard from him on that matter.
We request immediate intervention by BCTC so that Mr. Smith and the HTG legal counsel stop playing games with our group. We have an inherent right to self-government of our choosing. It is time for the HTG to amend its "Statement of Intent" since that document is no longer current. HTG claims to represent all Somena people and that is simply not true.
Since HTG will not make that request, we now make that request on our own behalf.
Also, we again request that the BCTC disclose to us exactly how much money they think we should have to pay for the "work" of the HTG for the past nine years so that we can pay this debt and begin our own negotiations. The HTG seems to be incapable of providing us this basic
information, or meeting our more specific requests concerning past expenditures. (Re: the $200,000 EthnoHistory expenditure to Masie Alphonse which was unusable in the form she prepared it. Our request for a copy has never been honored.)
HTG has indicated that according to them the total debt load for Cowichan will be $1,843,084.00 as of March 31st 2003. Yet, we still have not heard from HTG about what they claim our portion of this debt should be, according to their evaluation of the work that was supposedly done on our behalf. Please note, we did not ask HTG to furnish us the amount of the debt incurred for Cowichan Tribes. We asked, among other things, what portion of this debt is considered to be owed by the Somena Nation. It is exactly this kind of obfuscation and game-playing in the responses to our requests for information that leads us to conclude that despite every good intention we have to work with HTG in good faith to stay within the existing process, HTG is so
completely dysfunctional as an organization that even if we did wish for them to represent us, their representation would not be adequate to sufficiently preserve and protect our rights.
The fact that the HTG has failed to report this basic information to us so that we can begin separate negotiations, indicates a severe breach of good faith on their part. They are clearly trying to impede this so that they can continue to claim to represent us.
We are tired of the secrecy, lies and games of the HTG. We are tired of thousands of dollars a day being spent supposedly on our behalf for which the HTG will not give us a proper accounting.
We were willing to make every effort to work within the negotiation process with HTG, but this seems impossible since HTG refuses to even acknowledge that there have been severe problems with communications, response to letters, and requests for information. Now, they refuse to even acknowledge that these concerns come from more than one person even after a sulqween (elder leader) of Somena called HTG Executive Director Jack Smith for the sole purpose of asking him to acknowledge this.
Indeed, having LOST or thrown away the correspondence that many people have sent in the past, Mr. Smith asks us now to furnish him with copies of the letters we sent to HTG years ago before he will deal with the current requests for information.
We will be happy to disclose those letters at this point to the BCTC, to show just how long Mr. Smith and the HTG have been ignoring some of the people they claim to represent.
We have letters to HTG from not just Somena, but from Penelekut, Chemainus, Quamichan, Kilpahlus, and Khenipsen. We also have video tape footage of members of these nations hand delivering these letters to the Executive Director of the HTG. All these letters were completely
ignored.
Those letters were requests on behalf of various Aboriginal People, (hwulmuhw mustimuhw) to be considered "members" of the HTG in accordance with its own BC Society Act constitution.
We see no point in sending these letters to HTG yet again. The HTG's communications with Somena people do not even meet the legal standards for consultation required of parties who have an adverse interest to our people. An organization which is supposed to be on our side, actually representing us, now admits that they treated our written communications with such lack of concern that they not only did not respond to them at all, they did not even keep a copy of such communications. It would seem that they did not even put our communications somewhere they could find them again. Perhaps they just threw our words into the trash without responding. This is the sort of "representation" they inflict upon us.
There are a number of very recent information requests that we have made of the HTG. Presumably these have not been lost or thrown away and we want them dealt with immediately. Rather than provide the basic information we have requested or consulting with us, they are consulting with their attorneys as if we were an adverse party to the HTG even though the HTG claims to be our legal representative.
We can guarantee that should the HTG refuse to deal with our concerns and requests that NO TREATY SIGNED BY HTG WILL BE ABLE TO OFFER ANY FORM OF CERTAINTY TO THE PROVINCE, FEDS OR Non-Native Citizens of British Columbia and Canada.
Sincerely,
Meaghan Walker-Williams
Communications Liaison
On behalf of the Families of the Somena Hw'nuchalewum
Elders
Norman Joe, (For his family)
Ken Williams, (For his family)
Eugene Thorne, (For his family)
Foster Johnny (For his family)
cc: Janice Switlo, Switlo and Associates
Don Baine, Union of BC Indian Chiefs
David Didluck, on Behalf of the Crown
David Townsend, Hon Geoff Plant's Office
Jack Smith, HTG Executive Director
Somena Hw'nuchalewum List Server
Old Sliammon Nation