Tsawwassen First Nation

The Tsawwassen are a Canadian First Nation on the east side of the Strait of Georgia, near the border with the United States. They belong to the family of languages ​​of the Salish, speak a dialect called Hun'qum'i'num. The government recognized in January 2010, exactly 283 people as members of the tribe. Of these, 166 were living on the reservation.

History

The oldest finds in the area of ​​Tsawwassen First Nation could be dated to about 2260 BC by radiocarbon method. Other sites such as Whalen Farm and Beach Grove dating back to the presence of Tsawwassen at least until the time of 400-200 BC.

The traditional Tsawwassen area ranged in the north east to the area around Pitt Lake, Pitt River to Pitt Meadows down where the river empties into the Fraser River. It included the peat bog Burns Bog and parts of New Westminster. From Sea Iceland it was enough to Galiano Iceland and joined Salt Spring Iceland, Iceland Pender and Saturna Iceland with a. North Eastwards came the Point Roberts Peninsula added, then the area around the Serpentine and Nicomekl River.

Like most Indians of the West Coast Tsawwassen lived in family groups, the longhouses inhabited. But they carved no totem poles, but decorated house posts, masks, tools with carvings etc. Also they processed cedar fibers and goat hair to dresses and headgear. Also, the wooden building material, firewood, canoes and dresses delivered.

Using tidal traps, fishing, nets and harpoons they hunted fish, especially salmon and pike. These oysters, crabs and other sea creatures were hunted and collected. The salmon was considered a supernatural being, and therefore he had to be hunted and eaten in a very particular way. The remains were returned to the sea in a private ceremony. Numerous species of birds were on the menu, such as ducks, loons, to seals and sea lions. Land mammals such as moose, deer, black bear and beaver were hunted seasonally.

Also Camas, Cranberries and medicinal plants were harvested, and with them was also traded and exchanged.

Reserves, loss of land

1851 took place last frontier settlements in the wake of the border treaty of 1846 between the United States and Great Britain. A portion of the Tsawwassen Territory was now in the U.S. state of Washington. More land was lost by the fact that white settlers bought it. 1858 joined the first cross-country road in British Columbia to Tsawwassen Beach with Fort Langley. 1859 was followed by the first inner-city street North Road between Burnaby and Coquitlam.

1871 a tiny reserve was assigned, which was enlarged in 1874 to 490 acres. Today it covers 717 acres or 290 hectares 40,000 acres were now gone to white settlers. The neighboring settlement Delta grew until 1903 to 2,000 inhabitants, of whom only 350 Chinese people, almost all working in fish factories.

1914 sent chief Harry Joe a petition to the McKenna - McBride Commission, with a request for review of the reserves. But she was dismissed. Nevertheless supported young Tsawwassen the Canadian Army in the First and Second World War.

Industrialization

For a long time, there are serious disputes with the Delta Council on the issue of supply of good drinking water. The same applies to the question of sanitation, although for decades the disposal of industrial wastewater itself was not cleaned - whether in the Fraser River, Boundary Bay, the Burrard Inlet and the Strait of Georgia. Delta, which forms a part of the compression chamber Metro Vancouver, consists of the cities of Ladner, Tsawwassen and North Delta.

1958 built BC Ferries Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to a terminal for their ferries. To this end, a nave was demolished. When the terminal in 1973, 1976, and was enlarged in 1991, there were no consultations with the Tsawwassen. In 1968 the construction of the Roberts Bank Super port, a giant terminals of the Port of Vancouver - to 1983 it was an island with an area of ​​113 ha noise, pollution, vibrations had to be accepted by the next door living Tsawwassen. The former fish-filled bay was a dead industry waters with an almost entirely changed the flora and fauna that has displaced the endemic species. Only since the Tsawwassen went to court, the authorities speak with them.

Retrieval of resources

1995-97 a new nave was built. Meanwhile, more than 120 species of migratory birds visit again the Tsawwassen area. In August 2008 165 Tsawwassen lived on the reservation, 107 outside, another 5 in other reserves - a total of 277 registered members. The Tsawwassen itself currently expect 328 people to their tribe, of which approximately 60 % are under 25 - a very young nation. However, the unemployment rate at 38 %, the average annual income in just over 20 000 CAD, whereas it deserves in neighboring Delta over 60,000.

The Tsawwassen count by the Nisga'a of the first tribes that have reached the final stage of the so-called BC Treaty Process. On December 8, 2006, a contract was signed with the government. This Canada recognizes that the Tsawwassen many wronged. Now the tribe is but increasingly participate in the economic development of Canada and strives to support the Tsawwassen in all matters concerning protection of cultural identity. In many areas the Tsawwassen can live within their territory by their own laws. The disposition of archaeological finds is done by mutual agreement between the museums and the representatives of the Tsawwassen.

However, the contract would have been in the form of 2003 allows for the expansion of the Roberts Bank Super port. In March 2007, the Tsawwassen voted overwhelmingly opposed to the treaty, because should have been given all the rights of the Indians. Similarly, two other tribes, the Temexw and Lheidli T'enneh who regarded the contract as well as sell- behaved.

But in July 2007, voted the Tsawwassen for a new contract package, which enlarged their territory to 724 ha, and included 13.9 million CAD ​​in cash and 36 million for a development program. The contract also reserved in this form salmon fishing for the tribe. In return, the Tsawwassen give up more land claims and agree in principle willing to pay taxes, of which the First Nations have been largely excluded.

Since 2009 is the industrial use, here called " Development", in the hands of the First Nation. Thus accounted for the limitations of the Indian Act, which the tribe was defeated by then, and so contracts with investors and companies like Ivanhoe Cambridge and the Property Development Group could be closed. On the Traditional Territory shall in accordance with the agreement dated April 2011 to 70 ha area businesses are located, including the Tsawwassen Mills, a shopping center, which is to be completed by 2015. In the more rural region, the criticism is directed against both the economic sense of the project, as well as against the conversion of the more rural character.