THE STO:U) WORLD VIEW AND
THE INDIVIDUALISM OF CANADIAN LAW
by
Denise McDonald

.,.
1

aiNIVEJlS11'Y Of= ttoRTHEni"
B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1997-~COLUMBIA
UBflARY
Prince George, BC

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
In

FIRST NATION STUDIES

© Denise McDonald, 2000
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
August 1999
All rights reserved. This work may not be
reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or
other means, without the permission of the
author.

0

ABSTRACT
The goal of this study is to detennine how the individual rights, particularly those
enshrined in civil law and the Charter of Rights affect the holistic aspect of the St6:16 winter
dances. The Thomas v. Norris court case is the case study. This court case provides an example
of a Canadian court that ruled in favour ofindividual rights, via civil law, in a case that involved
the longhouse of an Aboriginal nation. Eight members of the St6:16 Nation were interviewed for
this study. The role of the Charter of Rights in Aboriginal communities is also included in this
study to provide another example of individual rights in Canadian law and to determine the
opinions of the interviewees regarding the Charter of Rights.
This study describes the holistic nature of the winter dances, including six descriptions of
the holism in winter dances by St6:16 interviewees. Of the four St6:16 interviewees asked, four
agreed that Canadian law has the potential to affect the holistic nature of the winter dances.
When asked if the Charter of Rights should be the law governing the St6:lo longhouses, none of
the five St6:16 interviewees felt that it should be applicable. There was an array of answers from
the six interviewees asked whether the Charter of Rights should apply to the St6:lo Nation as a
whole community. This difference in responses between the disapproval of the Charter of Rights
being the law that governs the longhouses and the mixed responses given with regard to the

Charter of Rights applying to the St6:16 Nation community suggests that there is a difference in
context between the applicability of the Canadian laws to the St6:16 longhouses as opposed to the
St6:16 Nation community.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY ........... . ......... . .. 1
Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER TWO: HOLISM IN STO:LO CULTURE ... . ............. . ........... . . 17
Holism in St6:16 Culture .............................. . ...... .... ... .. .. . . . . 17
Holism in the Winter Dances . . .. . ............ . ..... . ... . .. . . . ........... .. ... 27
Holistic World View Today . .. ·... .. ... . .. . .. .. . . ..... .... . . ........ . . .. ... . .. 39
CHAPTER THREE: THE THOMAS V. NORRIS CASE .................. .. ..... . ... 43
CHAPTER FOUR: LEGALIZED INDIVIDUALISM AND HOLISM ...... . .. .. ....... 61
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
REFERENCES .... . ...... . ..... . ......... . .... . ............. . ............. 85

11

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
"We need to recognize that there can be many reasons for pursuing a university
education, reasons which often transcend the interest and well-being of the
an individual student " (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991, 5).
The archives are in the minds of the St6:lo people, communicated through oral traditions.
Isn't it ironic ... that my mother went to residential school and because of this my knowledge of the
history and culture of my own people is not as vast as I would like it to be. The line of oral
transmission of this knowledge was severed in my mother's generation with the Catholic
residential school she attended at ~

B.C. There, she lost her ability to speak the

Halq 'emey/em language; she lost the opportunity to learn the precious art of cedar root basket
weaving from her mother. The thousands of years that it took for St6:lo people to learn which
plants were medicinal and for what purposes were lost in that one generation for my maternal side
of the family. My mother missed out on being raised and taught by a most kind and gentle St6:lo
woman; I know, because I remember Grama vividly. This and so much more was lost. That's all
it took to lose so much, one generation. The real tragedy is that almost every St6:lo person has a
similar story.
Now, I, from the post-residential school generation, am attempting, through my schooling,
to gain back some of what was lost.

~ Newell (Passamaquoddy), in the context of

residential schools, attests to the power of culture:
They couldn't erase it, and therein lies the hope. Right there. And when
the spirit is reawakened it is more powerful than anything that I have ever
met in my whole life. I am impressed with the strength of culture (Miller
Cleary & Peacock, 1998, 102).
My grandmother and my ancestors had the wisdom and the knowledge to keep generations of us

balanced and solid in our identities, despite the social context we may have been in. Although
some St6:16 people were fortunate enough to maintain much St6 :16 culture, with the passing of
Elders, for many, much of that knowledge has been lost. Doug Cardinal, of the Metis nation,
makes a universal statement about Elders in the Aboriginal world, "our elders are our
books .. .when we lose one of our elders we lose our books" (Eigenbrod, 1995, 93). In spite of the
colonial affront on St6:16 culture, there are still many St6:16 Elders today who take their role as
guardians of the culture seriously so that the rest of the community members always have this
resource to refer to in our pursuit to maintain our cultural knowledge.
It can be a challenge to honour my cultural ways in a Euro-Canadian institution that

demands that I adhere to its culture. Despite the cultural contradiction of attending university
which requires high levels of individuality and competition, I honour my Grandmother, my
Ancestors, and the St6:16 community and aspire to make their presence in this paper strong. My
position here, as author of this thesis, is that of a learner as it is inherent in St6:16 culture to be a
lifelong learner. No matter how many degrees I obtain from Western universities, I will never be
an "expert" . My work will be shaped and guided by traditional St6:16 values which are embedded
in the St6:16 community so I need to participate in a life long endeavour oflearning from my
community.
My ancestral ties are with the Cheam First Nation, but I was raised on the Tzeachten
reserve (both St6:16 communities). Just across the field, on the other side of the Tzeachten
cemetery, was the longhouse where Aboriginal people from all over the valley and Vancouver
Island would participate in or attend the winter dancing during the winter months. I grew up
attending winter dances, so assumed that this was the way it always was. I did not realize that
2

the anti-potlatch ban was lifted only eight years before I was born. It was not until I went to
university and started taking anthropology and First Nation studies courses that I learned that the
winter dances had been banned from 1884 to 1951 . There was something disconcerting about
learning about this and other aspects of Aboriginal history; it seemed like it was the best kept
secret.
Finding myself at the graduate level in university, I had to decide on a thesis topic. Being
a St6:16 woman, knowing about the Indian Act, about Bill C-31, and knowing that the Charter

of Rights' was tied up in the St6:16 experience of colonization , I decided that I would focus on
the individualistic aspects of Canadian law and how it may impact St6:16 culture. I anticipated
that this would be a very challenging topic because I knew that a lot of the support for the
Charter comes from Aboriginal women and I also knew that there are a lot of Aboriginal people
who want nothing to do with the likes of the Charter because of cultural issues. I had some
vague ideas about individual rights and collective rights, but did not feel qualified to state which
side of this debate I supported. Whether I chos_e to support or not to support the Charter, I found
that I could not argue my position very well. I felt that by studying an issue within the realm of
Canadian law, particularly where individual rights are involved, that involved an Aboriginal
nation, I would be able to clarify my stand on the issue of the Charter.
When pondering how the Western concept of individualism in law has affected St6:16
culture, the holistic aspect of the culture kept coming up for me. Somehow, it seemed that the
holistic aspect of St6:16 culture is impacted by Canadian law, but I could not answer, at that
point, how it was affected. In fact, I was not sure that I could even articulate the holistic aspect
1

The Charter of Rights will be referred to as the Charter for the remainder of this paper.
3

of St6 :l6 culture to even begin a discourse. To examine this aspect of St6:l6 culture was very
much a learning experience for at least two reasons. To focus on the holistic aspect of St6 :l6
culture facilitated both the learning process about my own culture and my ability to articulate that
knowledge in a Western academic way. Secondly, it provided a partial answer to the question of
how Canadian law impacts the holistic aspect of St6:16 culture.
In speculating about how the individualism embodied in Canadian law may affect a culture
with a holistic world view I envisioned a dream catcher. The circle is symbolic to many
Aboriginal people as a part of a world view that incorporates balance. The webbing inside the
dream catcher represents the Aboriginal world view of the interconnectedness of all of Creation.
A stone or bead is usually placed somewhere in the webbing of a dream catcher; this symbolizes
the individual. Now, close your eyes and envision the dream catcher: the circle, the webbing, and
the stone. Grasp the stone and pull it up. There's tension as you pull. With the stone pulled up
above the web, stop. Look at the picture. Now open your eyes. Could this visualization process
be an allegory of the affect of legalized individualism on an Aboriginal holistic world view?
Pulling up the stone had the affect of distorting the web. It not only forced the stone (individual)
out of its place in the web (interconnectedness of all creation), but raised the stone (individual)
above the web (all of creation), leaving it in an unstable position. Only when you release the
stone (individual) do you return to a balanced web. To clarify, this allegory does not imply that
individualism is wrong; it is a matter of questioning how highly individualistic values from one
culture may affect another culture that downplays that level of individualism.
In searching the literature for a court case in which individual rights were pitted against
the collective rights of an Aboriginal community I ran across a seemingly controversial court case
4

in the literature, the Thomas v. Norris case, which involved the winter dances of a Coast Salish
community in British Columbia. Losing so much traditional territory during the resettlement of
British Columbia forced a drastic change in the manner that Coast Salish were initiated into the
Coast Salish longhouses. Since specific sites that were used for vision questing had been lost to
the newly arrived settlers the practice of vision questing was limited to an initiation process
carried out mainly in the longhouse. The Thomas v. Norris court case pertained to an involuntary
initiation of a Coast Salish man into the winter dances. This restriction of the practice of winter
dance initiations due to land loss was not seen as a significant factor in the proceedings of the
court case or in much of the debate in the literature regarding the Thomas v. Norris case.
The events surrounding the 1992 Thomas v. Norris case started when Kim Johnny went
to her community to ask for help with regard to her marriage. She asked if her husband, David
Thomas, could be initiated into the longhouse. At first the Elders were reluctant, but eventually
the Elders instructed her to obtain permission from her husband's brother or aunt. The aunt gave
her consent on the condition that the husband's brother consented. Kim Johnny reported to the
Elders that she had the aunt and brother's consent and, in turn, the Elders gave their permission to
initiate the husband. David Thomas (individual) took the men ofthe Aboriginal community who
initiated him (collective) to court claiming that his individual rights had been violated when he
was initiated. The court agreed with him, awarded him $12,000, and charged the longhouse
members who did the initiating with assault, battery, and false imprisonment (Denis, 1997).
Criminal charges were not laid.
Although this court case did not involve the St6:16 Nation, the case is relevant to the
St6:lo Nation because the winter dances are also a part of St6:l6 culture. In fact, cases like the
5

Thomas v. Norris case have initiated changes in practices in the longhouses such as the
discontinuation ofthe practice of involuntary initiations in St6:16longhouses. What was it about
this case that did not bode well in my mind (and I am sure in many other Aboriginal peoples'
minds)? Was it the clashing of an individual with the collective of an Aboriginal community or
was it the way the matter was dealt within Canadian courts? Was the discomfort I felt with the

Thomas v. Norris case specific to the fact that this case is tied into the winter dances or was it
more of a broad concern that included St6:16 culture? The winter dances are so sacred that this is
virtually the only St6:16 institution that is kept relatively private and closed to the outside world.
The question that I will address in this paper is whether individual rights, particularly those
enshrined in civil law and the Charter, affect the holistic nature ofSt6:16 winter dances. To
provide context for the discourse of Canadian laws and the longhouses of the St6:16 Nation,
another consideration in this study will be to query a number of people from my community about
whether or not the Charter should be applied to the St6:16 community and St6:16longhouses.
There was something particularly unpalatable about the Thomas v. Norris case; there was
a contradiction about the situation that was creating dissonance in me upon reading about it. The
court stated that the plaintiff's individual rights were violated by his being initiated into the winter
dance without his giving his permission, but at the same time I had a sense, or feeling, that the
Canadian courts violated the culture of the Coast Salish nation involved in this case because,
according to Coast Salish norms, the winter dances are usually not to be talked about publicly.
The winter dances are sacred and, without regard to whether or not the people of this Coast
Salish consented, discussion about the winter dances was forced into the public realm. Because
the winter dances are such a sacred and private part of the Coast Salish cultures it felt like the
6

court was imposing itself on our culture just as the Euro-Canadian culture was forced upon
Aboriginal people through the residential schools. For this reason this case was chosen as an
example of the Canadian courts meting out its form of justice in a distinctly Aboriginal situation.
I will question in this thesis whether situations such as this could be better handled through an
equally distinct Aboriginal system of justice.
I chose to work from a postcolonial paradigm. Duran and Duran (1995) define the
postcolonial paradigm, " ... a postcolonial paradigm would accept knowledge from differing
cosmologies as valid in their own right, without their having to adhere to a separate cultural body
for legitimacy" (6). This is an appropriate paradigm to frame my thesis for a variety of reasons.
First of all, only the St6:16 people can provide insight into how active the holistic world view is,
the nature of holism in St6:l6 culture, and how laws based on individualism may affect this holistic
aspect of the culture. Secondly, I am attempting to introduce and present my community' s
participation in this thesis respectfully. Thirdly, this is very much in the spirit of the Delgamuukw
decision. A ruling in Delgamuukw was that, "Trial courts must accord independent weight to
oral history ... further, the interpretation of the evidence must give due weight to the First Nations
perspective regarding practices, customs, traditions and their relationship to the land" (Blake,
Cassels & Graydon, 1999). Lastly, I am hoping that this paradigm will position readers who are
non-St6:16 to gain a better understanding of the socio-political issues of concern in this thesis.
This thesis is a qualitative study that does not seek numbers to support its premise. On the
contrary, the goal of this study was to generate a cultural understanding of a Coast Salish issue.
Many Canadians take laws based on individualism for granted, without questioning the cultural
basis behind it. In fact, it is suspected that many Canadians cannot begin to understand why any

7

particular group may so strongly challenge the legitimacy of laws such as the Charter. Yet this is
the issue the Thomas v. Norris case raises, and to understand the St6 :l6 perspective we have to
listen to the St6:16 themselves. Only the words of the St6:l6 can illustrate what a cardinal role the
winter dances play in St6 :l6 society, how distinct the winter dances are, and how the
individualistic values in Canadian law affect the functioning of the winter dances in St6:16 society
or how St6:16 members feel about the Charter being the law that governs St6:16 society and
St6:lolonghouses. Only a qualitative study can capture these St6:lo viewpoints.
Choosing a methodology for this thesis was a challenge. It is amazing and, on the other
hand, not amazing, given the colonial context that all Aboriginal people live in, that there is
relatively little literature authored by Aboriginal people about Aboriginal methodologies. As
Maori author, Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1999), notes, "Most research methodologies assume that the
researcher is an outsider able to observe without being implicated in the scene" (137). It is only
recently that literature by Aboriginal scholars has started to appear which addresses the situations
of the "insider" conducting research within A ~

communities. The roles and responsibilities

ofbeing a researcher who belongs to the community they are working with needs much more
attention because the "insider" researcher must live with the results and impact of their research in
a way that an "outsider" does not.
I am an "insider" researcher so many methodologies that are typically employed may be
uncomfortable for me to use. A methodology that is familiar to me and best suits this work is that
of honouring the traditional St6:16 approach to learning. One of the characteristics of traditional
learning is that the initiative comes from the learner (Archibald, 1997). This feature is common in
many Aboriginal cultures, such as the Aboriginal nations of the Nicola Valley, British Columbia

8

where, " ... a leader provides instruction upon request at the initiative of the leamer ... and that an
individual, even a child, decides who to select as authority figures, when and where" (Sterling &
Hebert, 1984, 294). My St6:l6 grandmother displayed this regard for my autonomy, even when I
was in my youth. As a result, this particular interaction between us has become one of the most
prominent memories I have ofher.
My grandmother lived with us for a brief period of about six or seven months when I was
about seventeen years old. Although she was probably concerned that our language and basket
weaving skills should be passed on, she never said anything to me. One day I asked her, "Grama,
can you show me how to make those cedar root baskets?" She then patiently explained, in detail,
how I could go about gathering the cedar roots that were required for the baskets. She explained
how far away from the tree to dig, how thick the roots should be, amongst other points that, over
the years, I have forgotten. I gathered a handful of roots and quickly learned to appreciate what
hard work it took just to gather the roots. She then showed me how to prepare them for
weaving, but she waited for the initiative to come from me before she taught me anything about
basket weaving. Two factors inhibited me from furthering this traditional education: she was only
with us for a short period and I was a teenager who did ·not realize how critically important this
time with my Grama was. If my lack of persistence dismayed my grandmother, she never
showed it or spoke of it. To this day, 23 years later, I still have that small bundle of roots that we
prepared together. This traditional respect for autonomy, for many Aboriginal people, is not only
shown for humans, but is also expressed toward everything, animate and inanimate, in the world.
This is a part of the holistic world view that is typical of many Aboriginal cultures.
Traditional learning is like the circle: ongoing. Herb Joe explains the St6:16 value of life
9

long learning:
Our ancestors taught that we need to learn every day, all the time. It's
a continual learning process all of our lives here on this earth. Once
our young people start to understand that, then being a part of this
technological world and learning all there is to learn about living in
that technological world is still very much a part oflife's philosophy
from a more traditional St6:16 perspective (Interview, 1999).
The traditional learning method has provided me, as a St6:16 person, with an opportunity to learn
more about St6:16 culture from my family and St6:16 community members. Traditionally, as I
gain understanding of what I need to learn I am obliged to share my knowledge. This writing
process allows me to share the knowledge embodied in the interviews as well as taking the reader
along on my learning journey.
According to Kirkness & Barnhardt ( 1991 ), traditional learning is a different state of
consciousness than that of Western learning. While acknowledging the diversity of Aboriginal
groups, these authors describe a common theme of Aboriginal traditional learning:
While the manifestations can vary considerably from one group of people
to another, some ofthe salient features of such knowledge are that its
meaning, value and use are bound to the cultural context in which it is
situated, it is thoroughly integrated into everyday ijfe, and it is generally
acquired through direct experience and participatioh- in real-world
activities (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991, 6-7).
These characteristics of traditional learning in which knowledge is not abstracted or separated
from the everyday experience makes it a different style of learning from the learning styles that
Western learning institutions encourage in which knowledge is abstracted and compartmentalized.
My comfort level with the traditional learning.style made the traditional learning method of
approaching this paper very attractive. The challenge that came with utilizing this method was to
present it in a way that could be respected by an interdisciplinary academic community.
10

For the purposes of this paper, I needed to blend the two worlds, St6:16 and EuroCanadian, that I deal with in a university. This blending required that I intercept the interactive
traditional learning process and express some of it in a linear fashion through my chosen research
method which was the semi-structured interview. The first step in funnelling the circular nature
of traditional learning into a more linear form was to tape record the interactions between the
interviewee and myself which "froze" it in time and space. The second way the learning process
was transformed into linear format was in the transcribing process and the decision about which
parts of these transcriptions were to be utilized in this paper. Eigenbrod ( 1995) acknowledges
this procedure in the context of traditional storytelling, "... the essential difficulty of that kind of
translation lies in the fact that the communal experience of telling a story needs to be adapted to
the isolation of a writer's work. In other words, the circular communication pattern of the oral
process happening between teller and listener(s) is transformed into a linear process" (92). One
of the first steps of this process was to provide a list of questions for the interview process.
Interview questions and a consent form were drawn up by me so they could be submitted
for approval to the ethics review committee of the University ofNorthem British Columbia
(UNBC). Since the questions had to be approved by UNBC before fieldwork could be carried
out, the hope was to generate more questions than were actually required for the interviews. The
actual interview questions would then be selected from this schedule of questions. Once a first
draft of questions was completed, it was sent to the St6:16 Nation2 research registry for comment.
Staff from the St6:16 Nation administration responded with suggestions such as terminology

2

For most of this thesis the "St6:16 Nation" that is being referred to is the culture group.
The administrative body of the St6:16 Nation is referred to at this point.

11

changes and queries about the nature of some questions. A copy ofthe St6:16 Nation consent
form was provided for this study so that copies of the interview tapes could be released to the
St6:l6 Nation archives. Once this process was completed, a list of thirty questions, the St6:16
Nation's consent form, and my consent form were then handed in to the UNBC ethics review
committee for approval. The questions and consent forms were approved by UNBC .
The proposal for this project was submitted to the St6:16 Nation Cultural Heritage
Research Registry for consideration. Initially three names were submitted at the proposal stage as
possible interview candidates: Gwen Point, Steven Point, and Sonny McHalsie. Upon approval of
the proposal by the research registry of the St6:16 Nation, arrangements were made to interview
Gwen Point and Sonny McHalsie. As each interview took place, the interviewee suggested
names for further possible interviews. The selections of interviewees were based on these
suggested names or were chosen by me. I selected the sample keeping in mind that gender
balance was an important consideration in this study. The remaining interviewees were: Clarence
Pennier, Herb Joe, and Jo-ann Archibald. Shirley Norris was also interviewed because of her
insight into the Halq 'emeylem language. In addition, I chose to interview two Cheam Nation
spokespersons, the Chief of Cheam, June Quipp, and Joe Aleck. Since Joe Aleck, like Shirley
Norris, is one of the speakers of Halq 'emeylem, there was a heavy emphasis on the language
component in the interview with him. None of the interviewees who participated in this study
requested anonymity.
The interviewee's responses were transcribed. Then, as Jo-ann Archibald (Jo-ann
Archibald, personal communication, July 15, 1999) noted, I had the responsibility of making
meaning of it all. By integrating the excerpts from the interviews into the paper, it is clear that the
12

views of all involved are quite clearly their own. The answers to the questions I was asking in this
study were answered, guidance was provided, or my concerns about the implications of the
Thomas v. Norris case were validated by the interviewees. The attractive feature of this form of

presentation is that any readers of this paper can also learn, as well as form their own
interpretations, from these transcript excerpts. In total there were eight interviews conducted,
each done on a one on one basis. Four of the interviewees are women and four are men. Two of
the eight interviews are language interviews, while the remaining six (three men and three
women) are interviews based on the Thomas v. Norris case. The interviewees in this study are
from seven of the 24 cultural communities of the St6:l6 Nation (see Appendix A for a map 3) .
This study, then, does not represent the whole of St6:l6 Nation, but it is based on a small sample
of St6:l6 spokespersons. The two Elders involved in this study were involved with
Halq 'emeylem language issues. Excerpts from the interviews are dispersed throughout chapters

two, three, and four. Once a first draft of the thesis was completed four copies were provided so
they could be reviewed by St6:16 members who were involved in the study. The four St6:l6
reviewers were: Gwen Point, Herb Joe, Jo-ann Archibald, and Clarence Pennier. Their suggested
revisions were taken into consideration and changes were done accordingly.

3

The map of the St6:16 Nation provided distinguishes which nations belong,
administratively, to the St6:16 Nation. Culturally, those nations from the mouth of the Fraser
·
River up to Spuzzum, British Columbia are St6:l6.
13

Interviewee Profiles

All interviewees involved are prominent St6:16 community members. Below I give
profiles of the interviewees:
Shirley Norris, Tseloyothelwet, is a Halq 'emeylem language instructor and Halq 'emeylem
textbook writer. She is a member of the Sumas First Nation.
Joe Aleck, Siyamalalexw, Chi 'i ye ', is a recently retired Halq 'emeylem and St6:l6 culture teacher
at the Seabird Island Community School. He is also the St6:16 House ofElders official
representative and a member of the St6:16 Nation House of Justice. Joe has been a band
councillor at his community, Cheam First Nation, for ten years.
Gwen Point, M .Ed., was program manager for the St6:16 Nation Education Department at the
St6:16 Nation administration center until just recently. She has recently accepted a position with
the Ministry ofEducation, Aboriginal Branch, as the regional coordinator for the Northeast and
Northwest. Gwen is a member of the Skowkale First Nation and is a prominent member of the
longhouse.
June Quipp is the Chief of the Cheam First Nation.
Herb Joe, Tixwelatsa, is a Cultural advisor for the Xyolhemeylh division of St6:16 Nation
administration center. Herb is a member of the Tzeachten First Nation and is also a prominent
member of the longhouse.
Albert "Sonny" McHalsie is a researcher and the Cultural Advisor at St6:16 Nation administrative
center. Sonny is a member of the Shxw'owhamel First Nation.
Clarence Pennier is Grand Chief of the St6:16 First Nation and is also ~ Executive Director of
Aboriginal Rights and Title at the administrative centre of the St6:16 Nation. Clarence is a
member of the Scowlitz First Nation.
Jo-ann Archibald, Ph.D ., is the Director of the First Nations House ofLeaming and is a member
of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Jo-ann is a member of the
Soowahlie First Nation.

14

This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One (this chapter), the introduction and
methodology chapter, has outlined how this project came about and gives an overview of the
methods employed throughout the study. Profiles of St6:16 interviewees and a section dealing
with definitions and terms are presented in this chapter. In Chapter Two I define, with the
assistance of the St6:16 interviewees, what St6:16 holism is, as well as identifying, through the
available literature, the way holism is expressed in the winter dances. At the close of Chapter
Two the status of the holistic world view in today's contemporary St6:l6 society is examined.
Chapter Three entails an exploration of the Thomas v. No"is decision and how court cases such
as this may impact on the holistic aspect of St6:16 culture. The final chapter summarizes the
contradictions between Western individualism in Canadian law and St6:16 holism, concluding
arguments are made, and recommendations for future study in this area are made.

Terms and Definitions

Before we move on to Chapter Two, I want to introduce some useful St6:16 terms.
"St6:16" was the self-chosen name for St6:16 Nation whose territory runs from the mouth of the
Fraser River up the river to Spuzzum, British Columbia. St6:16 was the
Halq 'emeylem name of the Fraser River in precontact times.

"Halq 'emey/em " is the language of the St6:16 people.
"Aboriginal" is the term that I chose to use throughout this thesis rather than "First Nation",
''Native", or "Indian" because it was decided by St6:16 Nation members as the term to
use in the book, You are Asked to Witness: The Sto:/6 in Canada's Pacific Coast
History (Carlson, 1997). I find that this term is particularly well suited for this thesis
that deals with legal issues as the term "Aboriginal" is usually used in legal contexts.
15

"Shxweli" is the Halq 'emeylem name for the St6:lo concept of"life force" . In the traditional
St6:16 world view everything (humans, animals; elements, the landscape, etc.) has a life
force which gives spiritual meaning to virtually everything in the universe.

16

CHAPTER TWO
HOLISM IN STO:LO CULTURE
"Equality is thus not simply a human attribute but a recognition of the
creatureness of all creation" (Deloria, 1994, 90).

Holism in Sto:lo Culture
From the mouth of the Fraser River (St6:lo) up to Spuzzum, British Columbia is traditional
St6:lo territory. Simon Fraser was the first European visitor to this part of the country in 1808.
In grade school we have typically been taught about the heroics of such visitors, much to the
exclusion of the fact that what he found here were sophisticated societies of Aboriginal peoples.
The fact that everything in this country was already named, such as the Fraser River which was
called St6:lo before Simon Fraser's arrival, is usually not mentioned. Much of Simon Fraser's
exploration through Aboriginal country was made much easier than it would have been had this
country been uninhabited.
Simon Fraser found foot trails to follow along the river where the water was too rough to
take canoes. Aboriginal people provided Simon Fraser with horses, guides, canoes, and food all
along the river as he traveled south. Around the rugged waters of the Boston Bar area an
Aboriginal man helped Simon Fraser and 23 of his crew when he, "scaled the walls [of the
canyon], lowered a pole and drew them up to where they could stand, one by one" (Nuffield,
1990, 237). It's unfortunate that this Aboriginal man's name was not recorded for the significant
part he played in Fraser's journey, just as many Aboriginal people's contributions to the European

17

settlement of this land were left anonymous or not mentioned at all. At Hell's Gate Simon Fraser
found an elaborate system of poles strategically strung over the canyon engineered by the
Aboriginal people to traverse the canyon (Nuffield, 1990).
As Simon Fraser entered St6:16 territory he found the markings of a complex society. He
described a longhouse he saw around what is now Langley:
Their houses are built of cedar planks and in shape, ... the whole
range, which is six hundred and forty feet long by sixty broad, is
under one roof; the front is eighteen feet high and the covering is
slanting: all the appartements(sic), which are separated by partitions,
are square, except the chiefs, which is ninety feet long .... Above, on
the outside, are carved a human figure as large as life, with other
figures in imitation ofbeasts and birds (Duff: 1952, 48).
In and around these elaborate structures he found remarkable loom woven blankets. This
description is of blankets he saw around Agassiz, "They make, with dogs hair, rugs with stripes of
different colours, crossing at right angles and resembling, at a distance, Highland plaid" (Masson,
in Duff: 1952, 57). This only touches on the material wealth of the St6:16. There was, and still is,
a very distinct way of seeing the world. Unfor:tunately, much of this way of seeing the world is
locked away in the Halq 'emeylem language, there for only the few fluent speakers to really
expenence.
There are approximately 5700 St6:lo people on and off reserve (Archibald, 1997). There
are only about 20 fluent speakers of the Halq 'emeylem language left (Norris, Interview, 1999;
Aleck, Interview, 1999}. In the following passages Shirley Norris gives insight into the
difficulties of translating from Halq 'emeylem to English, as well as vice versa, and the fact that
much is lost:

18

DENISE McDONALD: Are there any problems that you notice when you are translating from
Halq 'emeylem to English? Are there certain things that you notice that are different in translating
Halq 'emeylem from English?
SIDRLEY NORRIS : It's hard to translate a lot of Halq 'emeylem to English. Don't translate it
word for word; think about how it was said and it comes out different because I can tell if it's just
directly translated word for word because you say it in Halq 'emeylem and sometimes it sounds a
little broken. But if they say it the way it should be said, the way it was said a long time ago. If
that was it, it sounds like a good phrase, a good sentence.
DENISE McDONALD: So there are, you do find that there are some translations that are
particularly hard?
SmRLEY NORRIS : There are difficulties. There are some that are very difficult to translate to
Halq 'emeylem because I think there are some that cannot be4 . Translating Halq 'emeylem to
English loses the meaning a lot of times. It loses the meaning. I think it loses a lot of the feeling,
the good thing that's in Halq 'emeylem. It loses that if we just directly translate and not think of
long ago when in the natural days conversation that we would be talking maybe along the same
line. But when we come to translating Halq 'emeylem to English, word for word, it loses some of
the goodness, some of the real meaning.
DENISE McDONALD: You can see the culture in the language, the cultural difference?
SmRLEY NORRIS: You listen to the Elders talk. That is the right way; that is the correct way;
that's the real way. And the young ones now are trying and doing their very best. And they put
together phrases or they build new phrases and some of it, it's comical when the Elders listen to
it. But they are trying and I always tell them that they should always make time to visit Elders
and have them say things in our language (Interview, 1999).
Many St6:lo are trying to learn the language; hopefully, they will attain the level of understanding
and speaking the language that our Elders have because much of the richness of the St6:lo
outlook on life is in the language. Translation difficulties in this study are a significant obstacle,
just as in Euro-Canadian institutions such as courts, in trying to convey St6:lo concepts by using
the English language.

4

Shirley Norris explained that because oftoday's technology there are English terms that
cannot be easily translated to Halq 'emeylem (Norris, personal communication, July 19, 1999).
19

The St6 :16 way of seeing the world has been called "holistic" which has been defined as,
"A holistic approach considers whole systems rather than taking a fragmented approach which
ignores the relationships and focuses on the parts" (Friesen, Archibald, & Jack, 1992, 19). The
argument can be made that all cultures are holistic to degrees; this I acknowledge. Where I
depart is in the distinction of "to degrees" . Holism is a hallmark of many Aboriginal cultures
because it is so pervasive in Aboriginal world views. The holism of Aboriginal cultures also has a
very strong spiritual basis which sets it apart from the Euro-Canadian world view.
Huron author George Sioui points out that one of the commonalties amongst many
Aboriginal cultures is the holistic way of seeing the world, "The reality of the sacred circle of life,
wherein all beings, material and immaterial are equal and interdependent, permeates the entire
Amerindian vision oflife and universe" (1992, 8). Vine Deloria explains that many Aboriginal
people hold a distinct holistic world view and provides a few examples:
Behind the apparent kinship between animals, reptiles, birds,
and human beings in the Indian way stands a great conception
shared by a great majority of the tribes. Other living things
are not regarded as insensitive species. Rather they are "people"
in the same manner as the various tribes of human beings are
people. The reason why the Hopi use live reptiles in their
ceremony goes back to one of their folk heroes who lived with
the snake people for a while and learned from them the secret
of making rain for crops. It was a ceremony freely given by
the snake people to the Hopi. In the same manner the Plains
Indians considered the buffalo as a distinct people, the Northwest
Coast Indians regarded the salmon as people (1994, 89-90).
This way of seeing the world does not have a hierarchical value system for the species of the
earth. Equality means something totally different because there are no clean divisions between
man, deities, and animal. Equality in Aboriginal terms typically means that everything in the
universe should be respected as everything has its role and purpose.

20

The interviewees shared how they see holism in St6:lo culture:
HERB JOE : Holism in St6:16 culture is probably a good description of the way in which our
people, through the centuries, evolved. You can't separate one part of yourself from the other
and expect to be healthy. Holism, in terms of personal health, and, of course, then projected into
your family, your extended family, your community, your nation, still applies today. We, of
course, particularly the people who are products of families who are still very traditional in their
approach in education, they still very much believe in a more holistic approach to life. That, of
course, would include taking care of the physical, which is our bodies, the emotions, you know,
the emotions of a heart, the feelings, the mental, of course, the way we think and use our brains
and, of course, the spiritual part of us. Without all four being addressed by our people, as
individuals, then there's not as much likelihood that they're going to be well balanced people,
harmonious, living in a harmonious way with all and everyone that is around them. And then, of
course, ifthat isn't the case, then, as individuals, likely, will end up being not very healthy people,
in one way or another (Interview, 1999).
GWEN POINT: How do I see holism? Again, I see it as a very real part of who we are. I went
through a time when I was a young girl of hearing about it and the stories and legends. I grew up
and witnessed some of it. Nobody comes up and says, 'This is what it is'. No one comes up to
you and says, 'You know we're being holistic. You know we're interconnected' . People don't
come up and say that. It's not until you become an adult that you realize that, that's what exists;
that's what sets us apart. That's what makes us different from the larger society is that we are
holistic in our thinking and how we approach things and anything done in the traditional sense is
done from a holistic way of thinking (Interview, 1999).
JO-ANN ARCIDBALD: I guess I see it in the way of our stories, where our stories are holistic.
They make us think; they make us feel; they help us be better human beings; they can connect to
our spiritual center; they make us think about our actions, what we do; that's part ofbeing
physical. An example of holism would be our various types of stories. The other part of holism
to me is relational. We have the individual within the family, the community, and then nation.
And to me, they're like concentric rings and they interrelate to one another so that even though
we can have a ring that focuses on the individual, it's the individual placed within the other rings
which are the collective. So there is always the relationship; the individual is never separate from
the collective, but 'a part of and the collective is also part of the individual. So the collective can
never be separate from the individual either. So, to me, there is an interrelatedness, a synergy
between them (Interview, 1999).
CLARENCE PENNIER: Well, I agree with the definition that you' ve given that St6:16 culture is
all encompassing and that we're at one with the world and the trees and the rocks. All things are
our relatives. It's important that people realize or understand that that's the way we lived in the
past and that's our history. That's been skewed by our own people and the non-Indian people as
well. [DENISE McDONALD: Would you be able to elaborate on your last comment?] Well, in
terms of the non-Indians trying to understand that part of our stories that we descended froffi, like
in terms of Scowlitz, the sturgeon was one of our ancestors. It's kind of difficult for them to
21

understand that. And it's also difficult for them to understand that the cedar tree was a person in
the past, so it's difficult for them to understand that (Interview, 1999).
SONNY McHALSIE: Everything's connected, like the spirits, the spirits of our ancestors are out
there at night. There's the little people that live in the ponds, the little people that live in the
mountains, and you have to take care of the spirits, pay respect to them. Bertha Peters shared
that story quite a few years ago about how a very good man was, because of his generosity as a
man he was transformed into a cedar tree. That's why we get all the different things that we get
today from the tree. His shrweli is inside that tree. It's like all the different transformer rocks in
the territory, the shrwe/i ... .And so we look at all those different aspects of our culture, anytime,
all together. It's all interconnected. It's made up the winter dance (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: When we look at holism, we have a special attachment to certain things in our
territory. You know, here in Cheam we had the mountain goat where we went up to the
mountains every year. Our ancestors did anyway to pick the wool off the trees to use for
blankets. We have the salmon that has been part of our life. We depend on it for our food supply
and many of our people have not lost this tradition that we depend on it for our food in the winter
in all different ways. So we do have a real attachment to the environment around us. We look at
our forests and how we use that for healing (Interview, 1999).

Collectively, the interviewees provide a definition ofSt6:lo holism that shares many of the
classic characteristics of the holism of many other Aboriginal cultures, but has its own distinct
St6:lo version. St6:lo holism is a unique, spiritually based, way of perceiving the world in which
everything is interconnected and, ideally, in balance. Since everything in the universe is
interconnected, mainly through shrweli, it is natural, then, that everything is worthy of equal
status with humans. We are not, as humans, separated out from this world. We are only a part of
something larger and it is through this spiritual system that the St6:lo have a special connection
with the land. It is also this way of seeing the world that can make it difficult for Euro-Canadians
to understand the St6:lo concept of holism.
We, as humans, have our place in the world where we are only part of a much larger
picture. So what we take of the earth, we have an obligation to or are responsible for giving
thanks. If we do not express this gratitude and give back, then the food and material we take to

22

that keeps everything in balance. It is through this spiritually-based concept of reciprocity that
St6:16 cultural values derive their roots.
The concept of sharing comes out of the cycle of reciprocity which is the give and take
cycle that we are to honour. Someone who only takes, without giving and sharing, is breaking
spiritual protocol. Siyemches te Yeqwyeqwi:ws (Frank Malloway) explains the spiritual nature of
the reciprocity behind the First Salmon Ceremony:
He said that one of the shxw/a:m [Indian Doctor] had a dream that the
creator was sending something up the river and told him to go down to
the river and scoop their dip nets, and it was the salmon. They told
them how to respect the salmon and thank the ones that sent the salmon.
The salmon people from out in the ocean, you pray to them and thank
them for what they sent. He used the word children. I don't hear it
often but, he used the word children. The salmon people sent their
children up to you so you'd have something different to eat that gives
you better energy. Those are the words that Ed Leon used. I don't
see them written down like that anymore. Now they just talk about the
salmon people sending the salmon up the river. But the words that Ed
Leon used to describe it was as children. You have to just thank them;
take the bones and send them back after you have eaten the first salmon.
He said that if you didn't do that you weren't showing your respect for
the salmon people and they would quit sending their children out to you.
So you have to show respect for the things that people give to you in the
Sto:lo way (Carlson, 1997, 3-4).
This ceremony perpetuates the reciprocal relationship with salmon people and acts as a check
against secular consumerism. This kind of reciprocal relationship with the world around us acts
to keep the focus away from ourselves and keeps us focussed on our responsibility to stay
spiritually accountable in everything we do. Taking for granted is highly frowned upon in St6:16
culture; taking only for living (necessity) and giving (sharing) is the ideal. Many of these values
that have their origins in the holistic world view are clearly in St6:16 stories in order that children
would start learning these values at a young age.

24

Jo-ann Archibald's point that St6:lo stories are holistic is one that calls for closer
examination of St6:16 stories, bearing in mind that when stories are written down their very
purpose and nature changes:
Long ago the world was not quite right. Everything was mixed up. Our
Elders tell us that animals could talk to people and people could change
their shape. Into this world came X.a:ls. X.a:ls came to transform the
world and make it right. Some people call X.a: Is the "transformer'',
others say he was the "Little Christ," and some call him the "magician".
These names help people to understand who he was and what he did.
I call him X.a:ls because that is his name in our Halq 'emeylem
language.
X.a: Is had very special magical powers. He traveled throughout
the land transforming things into their permanent shape. He punished
wicked people by transforming them into stone, but he also rewarded
some good people by transforming them into useful things.
As Xa:ls traveled up the Fraser River he transformed people at
many places along his journey. It was winter when Xa:ls reached
the village of Shwe 'ij,.yhinnel. He saw that the people there were
starving because it was difficult to find food in the winter. The salmon
and eulachon only came into the river in the spring and summer. In the
winter the river was empty.
X.a: Is wanted to help the people so he transformed one of the village
men into a sturgeon. The man's wife was very lonely without her
husband, and so she was told to stand by the edge of the river. She
carried her lunch - a small piece of deer meat tied in her wrist. As she
stood there in the snow, her husband called her to join him. She dove
into the icy cold river. She was suddenly transformed into a sturgeon
herself Because she had her lunch tied to her wrist, all sturgeon today
have .dark tasty meat behind their gills (Carlson, with Albert "Sonny"
McHalsie, 1998, 29-30).
Transformers are very much a part ofSt6:lo stories. The act of transforming is indicative of the
fact that there is no clean division between humans and all other entities in the universe
(Hallowell, 1992). The cultural phenomenon of transformation plays a pivotal role in the holistic
makeup of the St6:16 world view which makes the St6:16 world a spiritual one in which the
human spirit can connect with all the other forms of life around it.

25

A couple of communities in St6:l6 Nation, Cheam and Chehalis, through the Transformer
%_a:ls, descend from the mountain goat. The St6:l6 wove blankets out of cedar, dogs' hair, and

mountain goat wool. The mountain goat wool that was used to weave the highest valued
blankets, in itself, symbolized purification (Suttles, in Mobs, 1992). These blankets were used as
a form of currency before the Europeans arrived. A variety of blankets are still used today which
is symbolic of the traditional Salish woven blankets. The act of"transforming", particularly
mountain goat wool, into blankets (wealth) put spiritual meaning into the Salish blankets that the
women made (Mobs, 1992). This is an example of the significance of the act of transformation
and the sacred value that this process brings. These blankets were far more than the connotation
of the English term "blanket" as they were valued for far more than for warmth and bedding
only.
Sonny McHalsie explains how everything is alive due to the life force, or shxweli, which
gives spiritual significance to all creation. Many Aboriginal cultures have a concept that is
similar to shxweli or life force. For example, the Maori call the life force mauri; the earth and
everything on it truly has egalitarian status as no one form of mauri is more important than
another because of the interconnecting force, the mana, between everything's mauri (Patterson,
1999). So ifthere is a temptation to consider something "useless" or "less than" something else,
this is offset by the mana. Nothing on earth can be discounted because everything on earth in
one way or another is connected to you. The Maori also have rituals to pay respect to the mauri
of the heavens and earth and they also warn, as many Aboriginal peoples do, that if the earth and
everything on it are not treated with respect there will be consequences to pay.

26

The Maori mauri has much in common with the St6:l6 shxweli. Sonny McHalsie explains
what shxweli is and its ubiquitous nature:
Our Elders taught us that there are spirits everywhere. The shxweli has to
do with the life force or spirit. I asked Rosalee George what that was and
she said that shxwe/i is inside of you; it's in your parents; it's in your
grandparents; it's in your great-grandparents; it's in the trees, the rocks,
and the grass and the ground. It's all around you, so that's what the
Elders mean when they say, 'there' s spirits all around" (Interview, 1999).
To the St6:lo the shxweli provides the strongest link that allows St6:lo people to be
interconnected to all creation. It is the shxweli that is the cultural regulator of the St6:l6 peoples'
concerns for human impact on the land and its resources (elements, plants, animals, fish, etc.).
Everything around us are our relatives and are to be treated with respect.

Holism in the Winter Dances

In order to identify the holism in the winter dance, the first step is to explain what the
winter dance is. This is a challenge. Two difficulties are presented here. The first problem is
that I grew up next door to the longhouse on the Tzeachten reserve and regularly attended so
when conducting the interviews I did not think to ask "what is the winter dance?" during the
interviews. It is similar to asking a Euro-Canadian what a church is. The second difficulty is
that many in St6:lo Nation strongly believe that the winter dances are too sacred to talk about to
anyone outside of the St6:lo community. I was keenly aware that, at times, during the interview
I did not want to go too close to the topic of the winter dances myself
There are boundaries around the discussion of the winter dances, as Sonny McHalsie
points out, "They are very important right now, in fact, it's so important that people can't go in
and tape record and film it. It's kept very private and that was the traditional way of looking
27

after special things was not revealing the location or talking too much about things" (Interview,

1999). Jo-ann Archibald's advice will be a guiding principle at this point, " ... when you think of a
principle, a philosophy, it's like a guideline, a way of thinking about something and then you can
understand the actual practice, the doing of it" (Interview, 1999). Once the philosophy of the
winter dance is understood, the spiritual purposes of the winter dance practices can be better
understood. Although the practices and deities may differ from St6:16, the philosophies and
purpose underlying many Aboriginal spiritual practices have similarities. For the purposes of this
discourse a mix of sources that are already available are utilized to try to capture the philosophy
of the St6:l6 winter dances. My use of the literature and other resources that are already
available serves the purpose of relieving all St6:l6 involved in this project of having to discuss
the spiritual details of the winter dances.
ChiefBobby Joseph is a cultural leader of the nearby

C ~

people. He

explains their version of spiritual dances:
There was only just a thin veil between our mortal world and the spirit world.
They had this very spiritual connection to everything around them. In the old
days when this young man was taken into the woods, he fasted and he prayed.
During his initiation the young Hamatsa would come face to face with ... the
Cannibal Spirit of the north end of the world. And it was at that point that he
began to learn that there was more than one dimension to his existence, that
there was a spiritual dimension as well (von Puttkamer, 1992).
.He further explains, "After the initiation in the wilderness were done there were ceremonies that
enticed Hamatsa to come back" (von Puttkamer, 1992). It is at this point that the initiate
performed hiss dance in the longhouse which is the expression of the initiate's connection to the
5

Young St6:l6 girls typically did not vision quest because "they couldn't go out and train
because they were never allowed out of sight of some older woman until they were married"
according to the late Edmond Lorenzetto (Duff, 1952,99). The same was true of the Nooksack
people, although it was pointed out that women were highly susceptible to vision experiences

28

spirit world. Although the Hamatsa dance is different, the holistic philosophy in which it is
embedded is similar to St6:16 philosophy. The fact that there is only a "thin veil" between us and
the spirit world and that the vision quest, culminating with a song, is a way to connect with the
spirit world holds a similar philosophical base with St6:16 belief systems. There is an abundance
of evidence that initiates in the St6:16 Nation used to practice the vision quest as many of the
St6:16 Nation's neighbouring communities did.
Sonny McHalsie acknowledges that the initiation ceremonies that the St6:lo practice are
done differently today than they were in the past (Interview, 1999). June Quipp states that the
St6:16 used to vision quest, but that the loss of sacred grounds had ended this practice
(Interview, 1999). These statements are supported by the literature. Wilson Duff (1955)
observes that vision questing was not practiced anymore by the Coast Salish, but that it had been
replaced by a process where the initiates gain their spirit power through the Elder winter dancers
in the longhouse. The Nooksack are a Coast Salish people who also practiced the vision quest,
but also had virtually halted the practice because, as Amoss (1978) terms it, " ... all of the haunts
of spirit powers, the regions of'wet and wildness', had been polluted by human use" (53).
As with the Nooksack, one of the reasons that the vision quest is not practiced by most
St6:lo initiates anymore is because most of the sacred vision questing locations are no longer the
St6:16 Nation's to exclusively use. June Quipp addresses this problem:
To us, we have a lot of spiritual connection with water and we really have no
way of trying to keep that serenity or looking at what it really means to us to
have that part of our territory protected. The government had their own ways
of saying this is how we're going to protect this area, but what it does is it
either really restricts our access to our spirituality or it opens up an area to
after her menses and during pregnancy (Amoss, 1978). St6:l6 women do participate in the
longhouse initiations that are done today.

29

too much to the public where it's not protecting some of our spiritual sites
that we've learned from our ancestors that this is where our ancestors
practiced some of the spiritual activities they believed in (Interview, 1999).
Mohs (1987) points out that some of the Washington state Coast Salish have been given back
land specifically for this purpose. This would have to happen for the St6:16 as well in order for a
full revival of the vision quest, particularly since the St6:lo Nation is in such close proximity to
urban areas.
Whether the initiation takes place in the vision quest or in the longhouse as it is generally
practiced today, the goal is still the same. Duff(1955) explains the spiritual aspect of the Katzie
(culturally St6:lo) vision quest as one of connecting with an animal spirit. He claims that the
fasting and cleansing component of the vision quest enables the initiate's "vitality" to travel
through dreams to the home of the animal spirit. The song that comes to the initiate during this
process enables the initiate to call back his vitality. It is this renewed vitality, embodied in the
newly acquired song, that is the initiate's spirit guardian as it is now empowered by an animal
vitality. Jilek (1982) compares this process to a rebirth process.
This description, derived from the literature, of the process that is a part of the winter
dances illustrates the connecting of the St6:lo initiate into the holistic world in the deepest way:
spiritually. This process of immersing a St6:lo person into his or her proper place in the St6:lo
world was probably a matter of spiritually reinforcing a St6:lo person's world view in precontact
times. Today, with the reality of living with two vastly different worlds, the winter dances serve
dual purposes: spiritually reinforcing the view of a St6:16 person who always knew his or her
place in the world and, second, healing a St6:lo person by spiritually immersing the Sto:lo
individual into a St6:16 world view (Jilek, 1982). The St6:lo person can then be spiritually

30

grounded in the holistic way of viewing the world which helps balance the two worlds in their
life.
Chief Bobby Joseph goes on further to explain the purpose of the

~ ~

Hamatsa dances:
It was through this process that our Elders and the wise ones taught our
younger people, 'you are now a Hamatsa. These are the things you
should know. You should know your center, your balance. You should
honour all living things; honour people. Be respectful.' And this was
conducted throughout our dances, this kind of training and orientation.
It was an educational process in itself (von Puttkamer, 1992).

Although the practice may be different, the philosophy of the Hamatsa dances is not unlike the
St6:16 winter dances as Gwen Point indicates in her comments on the purpose that the winter
dances serve for St6:16 people:
It 's a very real thing with the winter dancing and the basic teaching that comes
from belonging to the winter dancing, what we find is that it applies to everything.
You give up your individualism for the good of everyone and not just the people,
but for spirit and all that you use. I guess it's just another level of enlightenment,
I guess would be a good word (Interview, 1999).
Jo-ann Archibald reiterates Gwen's point on the purpose of the St6:16 winter dances, "It's very
spiritual and people are taught about behaviour and rules" (Interview, 1999). June Quipp also
identifies the winter dances as a place of teaching, "It's a place of teaching; our people that go in
there are taught and taught and taught" (Interview, 1999). On of the fundamental teachings in the
winter dances is to spiritually place the self into the web of life in an egalitarian manner; one is
not an island, but a part of an intricate interconnected world.
Herb Joe focuses on the fact that the winter dances help to keep the St6:lo winter dance
participants healthy. For Aboriginal people, a state of balance and health is to be interconnected
with family, community, and the world around us and the winter dances play a role in maintaining

31

this interconnection with the world around us. As Herb Joe states, "You can't separate one part
of yourself from the other and expect to be healthy" (Interview, 1999). In order for Sto:lo people
to be considered healthy by St6:16 standards, one would have to have a holistic world view and
behave accordingly.
These are the responses from the interviewees when I asked how important the winter
dances are to the St6:16 community:
CLARENCE PENNIER: The dances are very important because it's a continuation of the culture
and the past, and, basically, similar today and will continue into the future. It's one of those
things that we can't really do without (Interview, 1999).
SONNY McHALSIE: They are very important right now, in fact, it's so important that there's
rules of not having people go in and tape record and film it. It's kept very private and that was
the traditional way of looking after special things was not revealing the location or not revealing
or talking too much about things and so it is an important part. Although some of the
discussions I've had with Elders talk about how there have been changes in the winter dance, for
instance, things are done a little bit differently. When my cousins first started joining, he joined
to see one of the Elders and asked him what is the significance and that of the winter dance and
his comment to me was that the Sxwo:yxwey dance is from here and the way the winter dance is
done today comes from the Island. It moved in. He said prior to that we had something very
similar to the way the winter dance is done but the initiation ceremonies were quite a bit different
than the way it's done today. So it was an important part of our history, it's just that a lot of
influences from the coast have made its way up. It's still important. It still ties into the whole
land and ties into the spirituality of the land. Our Elders taught us that there's spirits everywhere.
The shxweli has to do with the life force or spirit (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: That kind of varies. I think some St6:16 community members probably aren't as

familiar with the winter dancing as others are. So to those that are really familiar with it, it's very
important. I'm very familiar with it so it's very important to me and my family. Some people are
a bit afraid of it because they don't understand it. As you're aware, it was banned for many years
and this had an affect that some of our community members are a bit afraid because they don't
fully understand it. And to some it's like a religious belief and it's like anything else, I feel I
should have my choices of whether I really want to participate with the winter dancing or not.
It's the same as if I chose to go to church on Sundays, that would be my choice (Interview,
1999).
GWEN POINT: I think they are very, very important and an integral part of our communities and
I grew up hearing about them when I was a young girl because the people
~ practice
anymore and it wasn't until I was older that I learned why and all of that was taken away from

32

our people. We were told that it was bad and not a good thing and so when it did start corning
over the last twenty, thirty years, there was a real learning curve there for our people as well and
kind of a returning to our own spirituality. It's not the only spiritual, spirituality, or spiritualism
that we have, but it's one of And it really, really is integral. It really is a part of That should
have never been taken away in the first place (Interview, 1999).
HERB JOE : The winter dances, historically, have always been a part of the way in which our
people looked after our health and, of course, that includes our spiritual, emotional,
psychological health. The winter dancing is and has been one way that our ancestors looked
after each other and themselves, spiritually in particular. And I believe that it is still a very good
way to keep ourselves, as St6:lo people, grounded and healthier spiritually, emotionally, and
psychologically. So, yes, I believe that it is very much a part of who we are today (Interview,
1999).
JO-ANN ARClflBALD: I think they are very important as I've come to understand, especially
the significance of the traditional philosophies and teachings that are passed on or shared to
people who either become members of the longhouse, the winter dancing, or those who go there
and attend. So, I think what I've witnessed is that a lot of the time the good teachings that come
from the ancestors are shared. Teachings about respect for people, for everyone, and just general
things like that are often talked about. And, so, to me, that' s something that is important and it's
part of the winter dancing, but isn't restricted only to winter dancing, but a lot of those are values
that should be practiced in our everyday lives. But I think when people gather in the winter
dances it's an opportunity to reinforce those teachings. And I think that it is also another
important way for those who are winter dancers to gain another part of their identity and I know
that it was almost lost and now it's gained a strong resurgence. And that had been important
especially to younger people. So I would say it's been important for a sense of creating a
distinctness to St6:lo identity (Interview, 1999).
As Gwen Point states, the winter dances are very integral to the St6:lo (Interview, 1999).

The winter dance is a part of the very fabric ofSt6:lo society as it encompasses St6:lo teachings
and spirituality which perpetuates the culture as well as helping St6:lo people stay healthy and
balanced. Since many St6:lo leaders have been and are also spiritual leaders, one can see how
critical this institution is.
Some of the interviewees mentioned the colonial history, the role that it played in the
erosion of St6:16 spiritual practices, and how it has estranged some of the community members
from the winter dances even to this day. According to Paul Tennant (1990) two factors played a

33

significant role in the greater impact that Euro-Canadian settlement had on the cultures of the
south coast ofBritish Columbia which includes St6:16 territory. The south coast was more
heavily populated at earlier dates upon contact than other areas of the province of British
Columbia so this meant that the Aboriginal people of the south coast found themselves minorities
amongst the newcomers relatively early. The second point that Tennant (1990) makes is that
Protestants welcomed some indigenization of their religious services while Catholics did not.
Because the south coast was missionized most heavily by the Catholic church the affects on
these Aboriginal cultures were probably more severe. Simon Fraser had just come down the
Fraser River in 1808. By the 1860's Bishop Durieu had ordered the Aboriginal people of the
Georgia Strait to stop winter dancing (Jilek, 1982). So missionary forces were at work
dismantling the winter dances even before the official anti-potlatching laws came into affect in
1884, but the anti-potlatching law gave "teeth" to this trend.
The anti-potlatching law was enforced in St6:lo territory as the archives show; this is an
excerpt from a letter by the Indian agent of the day to the Indian superintendent of British
Columbia:
Only two Potlatches have been held in this Agency since I took charge five
years ago. One was given by an Indian named Bill Uslick who resides at
Chilliwack. Bill claims to be a Methodist. Rev. E. Robson who was to
prevail upon Bill not to hold the potlatch but without success. He then
wrote to me explaining the situation and I in tum wrote the Indian and
pointed out the law to him on the matter and warned him that if he gave
the Potlatch I would punish him. Notwithstanding this, Bill Uslick gave
the potlatch. It lasted one week at the expiration of which time everything
he had in the world was either eaten or given away. To some he gave a
horse, to another a wagon, to another a canoe, and so on. After the Potlatch
was over I had Bill Uslick arrested and sentenced to two months imprisonment
(Devlin, June 23, 1897).

34

Although these forces did much to devastate St6:16 traditional dances, the dances did not totally
disappear. Resistance to this law, for many Aboriginal nations, came in the form of underground
winter dance activities until the ban was lifted in 1951 (Sewid-Smith, 1979).
The Sytlwe/ [winter dance spirit power] continued to traverse the land, not
acknowledging Canadian law. Siyemches' te Yeqwyeqwi:ws (Frank Malloway) shed some insight
into the spiritual nature of the winter dances that draws the St6:16 into the longhouses every
winter:
... the power of Sytlwe/ [winter dance spirit power] is in the mountains, and in the
mountains, and in the fall when the snow has come Sytlwe/ hits people and then
they wake up and start singing; and Sytlwel goes around the world. And I used
to often wonder, "what do you mean it goes around the world? Goes right around
to China and comes back?" And then I was looking at a map of the Coast Salish
Territory and it sort of goes in a circle: Sechelt, Nanaimo down to Victoria, across
to Neah Bay, you know, and up to Nooksack and it comes back, and its almost like
that's the only world the Coast Salish knew. And I was thinking "that's how the
Elders described their territory, the Coast Salish territory: around the world (Carlson,
1997, 14-15).
The St6:16 winter dances were still being practiced, although in a clandestine manner. My
mother remembers the dances going on in her home when she was young, before she went to
residential school. Despite the underground activities that took place, there was tremendous loss
because the official ban lasted 67 years.
When I asked how the interviewees saw holism in the winter dance, once again, each
interviewee had something different to contribute:
JO-ANN ARClflBALD: I would say it is because, of course, it' s at the core. It's very spiritual
and people are taught about behaviour, in the sense of respecting and they're taught rules.
Again, teachings and rules. When you think of holistic it's physical and there's always good
food, good nourishment. I think the emotions are certainly dealt with there and knowledge. I
think that has it's own type of knowledge. So, to me, it's an example of, if we think of holism as
in these four realms: of the intellectual, the physical, the emotional, and spiritual (Interview,·
1999).

35

Again, teachings and rules. When you think of holistic it's physical and there' s always good
food, good nourishment. I think the emotions are certainly dealt with there and knowledge. I
think that has it's own type of knowledge. So, to me, it's an example of, if we think ofholism as
in these four realms: of the intellectual, the physical, the emotional, and spiritual (Interview,
1999).
HERB JOE: I see it as a part of the winter dances. Same as, if you want to use an analogy, the
same as Euro-Canadians would see religion as being a part of their lives. They have a different
methodology, I suppose, in practicing their religions and view of spirituality, but yes, I think the
winter dancing is still relevant today. It still helps our people stay healthy. I think, again, some
of our younger people are having some difficulty understanding some of the concepts because
they don't have more traditional educational backgrounds that would include all of the
foundation knowledge that they would need to make this initiation into winter dancing a much
more meaningful part of their lives. So it's, for the younger people, it' s a lack oftraditional
education (Interview, 1999).
GWEN POINT: I think it's a very real thing with the winter dancing and I think the basic
teaching that comes from belonging to say the winter dancing, what we find is that it applies to
everything. You give up your individualism for the good of everyone and not just people, but for
spirit and for all that you use. I guess it's just another level of enlightenment, I guess would be a
good word .. . .If you were to be a hunter and you were trained to be a hunter, you can't just go
and shoot a deer or go out and kill for the sake of killing. You had to prepare yourself You had
to cleanse mind, body, and spirit and so there was no real separation with the winter dancing.
It's just more isolated, more intense, and it's held in a higher regard because the people that
belonged to the winter dancing were seen as gifts to the community. With them they brought the
knowledge that the people needed or they brought an understanding that the people needed so I
guess it's another level of spirituality that our people were seeing it was a gift given to them by
the Creator to use to benefit everybody, not necessarily an individual, but the people that
belonged to the winter dancing were held in regard and were taken care of, and, yet in the same
breath, they never put themselves above the people, that they were ' better than', but they carried
what they had and that understanding, unspoken understanding, is that was to benefit the people
(Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: Yes, it is. I consider the winter dances when, I don't really say winter dances, I
talk more about spirituality. And that, to me, is part of the winter dancing. Our winter dancing
is part of our spirituality, but it relates to the environment around us. We have our people that
have their special clothing for winter dancing and how they have to be put away. Even some of
our food, when we feed ourselves, our children, and we don't quite finish what we have on our
plate, a lot of our spiritual dancers do have a beliefthat you don't just throw it out. You have a
special place you bring that leftover food so you can share it. You're sharing it still. And it's so
hard to look at trying to stop anything. When our culture, our nature has always been of a
sharing nature and I guess this makes it really difficult for some of us when we look at, 'Do we
want to stop any of the development that's going on? Do we want to keep things the way they
were?' We know there's people out there that may need something we have, but I really feel that

36

that sharing has been abused. And so when we look at, that's part of our holistic living, sharing.
You know, you don't have anyone come into your community, corning from a long way, without
feeding them. That' s part of our culture because in the past people had to travel days and days
or weeks to some kind of gathering and so it was always said that we feed them. Any food that's
leftover you pack them a bag to go so on their trip home they are taken care of as well. When
you're looking at the Charter of Rights and laws, even in the area where you feed people that
come to visit you or whatever there' s the health bylaws now that are put into place. You can
feed anything to your family or I can feed my family anything and the health department can' t say
anything, but if I'm feeding people that are from not within my family or not even with my
community they like to come in and inspect the facilities and the people that are cooking. So
there's a lot of people may not think about it; it is an infringement on me and my community
(Interview, 1999).
SONNY McHALSIE: I'm not sure because I don't wear the paint. I haven't been involved with
the very specific ceremonies, the teachings that they get while they' re in there. You can only
participate in certain activities and they share their song when they dance and what are those
other things that they're taught, I'm not sure. I can't really say whether or not that view is in
there. This is where a fellow from Fort Langley said, 'We're all in our own personal voyages of
self-discovery and everyone is at their own stage of that (Interview, 1999).'
It is quite clear that most of the interviewees agree that the winter dances are holistic in
nature. The winter dances are integrated into the St6:16 community in a way that is quite
different from churches in Canadian society. Gwen Point expresses this by stating that ".. .there

-

was no real separation with the winter dancing. It's just more isolated, more intense ... "
(Interview, 1999). June Quipp also explains that the winter dances spiritually connect the Sto:lo
to the land, "Our winter dancing is part of our spirituality, but it relates to the environment
around us" (Interview, 1999). These statements describe the interconnection ofthe winter
dances with the rest of the St6:16 world.
Note that June Quipp states that she prefers to call the winter dances "spirituality". Joann Archibald and Gwen Point acknowledge the spiritual component of the winter dances. Herb
Joe makes a very interesting comment when he states that the winter dances are spiritual, but
notes that there are similarities and differences between Christian religion and the spirituality of

37

the winter dance. George Tinker ( 1996), an Osage/Cherokee author, makes the distinction that
Aboriginal spirituality is not a religion, but is a way of life. All four ofthe St6:16 interviewees
explain how the winter dance is holistic in nature by giving examples of how it ties back into the
everyday life ofthe individual, the community, and the surrounding environment. This is also a
characteristic ofthe St6:16 winter dances: it is a way oflife. This is true of not only the dancers
in the longhouse, but the many St6:16 that attend the dances as well as they are also a part of it.
Gwen Point gives an example of how holism and everything that it entailed was not
restricted to just the winter dance, but was also a part of everyday practices. She explains that
St6:16 hunters could not just go out and shoot a deer because they had to cleanse and purify
before the hunt. Andrew Callicum, or Andrew Kaa-Laq-mai, a Nuu-Cha-Nulth Potlatch Host
from Vancouver Island explains that his people also had purification practices:
In the old days a person was commanded by law of our forefathers to go
through a period of purification. Normally, there is a two year period of
planning for a feast and then within that two years the dancers would be
purifying themselves. And essentially you had to be clean physically,
and spiritually and they say that when you're going through this cleansing
you're not going to know lust, that you're not going to know greed, and
that you're not going to be angry. The bottom line for the whole ritual
is discipline (von Puttkamer, 1992).
There were attempts at undermining the St6:l6 value system and the mechanisms that the St6:16
used to instil the discipline to adhere to these values through the anti-potlatch laws, residential
schools, and Indian agents. Since St6:16 people are the only people who can restore and maintain
the St6:l6 winter dances, the St6:16 Nation needs the tools (self-determination, land, language
restoration, etc.) to be able to recover as much of its rituals as the St6:16 people see fit.

38

Holistic World View Today
I asked the interviewees how they felt that the holistic aspect of St6:16 culture was doing
today:
GWEN POINT: I think that's a really good question. And I think it's a really important
question. When I was a young girl I was fortunate to grow up with that holistic way of thinking
and being, and still the larger society' s education system was being imposed on our people for
the last three or four generations and with the thought in mind to take that away .. ..So now, I
would say, in the last generation, our people have realized that we've lost an awful lot in our
culture, in our way of thinking, in our way of life. And that we live at a time when we need to
survive in today' s society. So how do you do that? Our Elders will still tell us, 'you go to
school, you go to university, but don't forget who you are' . So, in a sense, a lot of our people
are turning back to our traditional ways and St6:l6 Nation is an example of that. Where we' re
doing business and getting ready for the year 2000 and we' re sending our children to universities
to get higher education so we can co-exist with the larger society and, at the same time, we' re
working hard to bring back ·o ur language because embedded in the language is our values and the
way we think. So, yes, we' ve been affected by Euro-Canadian culture. We've lost an awful lot
in the way of our traditions. Our people are struggling, as a nation, to become healthy again in
body, mind, and spirit, but the acknowledgement and the recognition of what our people have
been through, I would say from our leaders, to our spiritual people, to our children in the schools
are turning back to our culture and our survival is going to be based on using the best of both
worlds. And we don't necessarily directly benefit from that. It's going to be the grandchildren
and it's our hope that our grandchildren are going to be able to beXwelmexw [Aboriginal] and
have that well being and that integrity in our values and our spirituality as a natural part of who
they are (Interview, 1999).
HERB JOE: Well, of course, Euro-Canadian culture, Western European philosophy of life has
impacted our people and very significantly. The strategy on the part of the, first, the British, and
then the Canadian government for assimilation of our people and the strategy that they
implemented has definitely impacted our people and, initially, I'm sure that there was a universal
struggle on the part of all First Nations people to reject what the assimilation process was [and
the] pressure that was putting ori our people. And, gradually, I guess over five to six generations
and now we' re into the seventh generation, there has been a more significant impact in this last, I
would say, two generations. And the last two generations are struggling to fully understand how
holism and that whole philosophy of life is a very much a part of who they are today. They've
been educated in this Euro-Canadian education model and that, of course, stresses the exact
opposite of holism. It, in fact, stresses individualism. And a lot of, I would say a good
percentage of our younger people, the last two generations, would definitely fall into that
category where they would have some difficulty in fully understanding what the meaning of life is
in terms of holism. They would probably look upon their parents, grandparents, and their
39

ancestors as being old fashioned and not fitting into this modern new world of technology and
kind of thing, but I find quite the opposite to be true. In my own life, .for instance, I feel that I
can be very much a part of this new technological world and still maintain my holistic view on life
and trying to stay healthy ... (Interview, 1999).
JO-ANN ARCIHBALD: I think the generations that have these teaching and then maybe follow
them are the Elder generation who take their role as Elders. That means that they have the
wisdom and they are the teachers. Where in the schools there's been curriculum about St6:16
people some of those values are taught so maybe the school kids who have that teaching from the
curriculum might have it. I would think those involved in the ceremonies, winter dances, and
especially cultural activities would know it and have it. There are, I think, a big segment of our
population that are lost, that have been colonized and haven't gone through decolonization, don't
have those beliefs and teachings (Interview, 1999).
SONNY McHALSIE: I think this world view is slowly coming back. It's part of the revival. I
think because of the assimilation processes imposed by government, the residential school
experiences, the epidemics that our people have undergone, a lot of our culture has been lost.
That whole world view, it's something that we're still trying to get back and the more we learn
about our culture, the stronger we get to be accepting more about it. I think that view is slowly,
slowly coming back to us and we're glad the Elders still have that. We're still fortunate to have
fluent Halq 'emeylem speakers and that's one of the things we're trying to look at right now and
we look at the whole treaty process and you start looking at all the different substantive issues.
You start looking at the policies and guidelines that need to be developed. We need to look at
that in terms of "what is the St6:l6 perspective in the past? How did our ancestors look at those
resources?" When you look at the heritage policies that we have how, basically it was written by
an archaeologist, from an archaeological perspective and we need to revise that. We need to
incorporate into that the Halq 'emeylem language and Halq 'emeylem language will reveal to us
what perspectives our Elders had towards heritage issues and any of those issues, environment,
hunting, fishing, all of those. So, that world view is going to slowly come around, and it needs to
because if we're going to have to define what Aboriginal rights, what it is. We need to look at
what our traditional laws are and those traditional laws are going to help us define what
Aboriginal rights and title [are] because the courts sustain that the courts can't do it for us, the
provincial and federal government can't do it. Only the First Nations define what their Aboriginal
right and title means. When we look at our traditional laws of whether they're oral history or
whether they're through rocks that have been transformed and the stories associated with that.
All of those things tied into all the different teachings, different stages of life. Those have to
come together into our traditional law and we'll have that very unique world view (Interview,
1999).
CLARENCE PENNIER: A lot of people, a lot of our own people don't really understand the
significance of the holistic approach, our relationships with our land and the resources. And it
has been changed by the way our people have been educated, not only today, but starting from
probably the residential school era when our people were forbidden to speak the language. And
that's where we learned all of our history. Through the language our people used to tell us all

40

these stories and once they ceased to learn our language it really prevented the continuation of a
lot of our stories. A lot of people, not all (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: .. .they [Euro-Canadians] put more value on the economy than our holistic beliefs
or even in the protection of our resources .... So when you talk about how can we hold on to this,
I don' t think we are going to be able to unless we really take direct action in protecting what we
believe in ourselves rather than let someone decide how its going to be protected for us
(Interview, 1999).

All six interviewees felt that the St6:16 holistic world view has been affected by EuroCanadian culture. Four interviewees identify the public education system that St6:16 children are
a part of as presenting a challenge in maintaining this world view. Three mention the assimilation
strategies of the state as having affected this world view; two name language loss as playing a
crucial role, while one went further to say that, as a result, this language loss meant a decline in
the storytelling. There is hope though, as three interviewees mention, that the Elders still have
this world view and two state that St6:16 people are turning back to their culture. The
interviewees give advice to help solve this dilemma: use the best of both worlds, keep learning
traditional ways which will help the St6:16leam how to balance the two worlds in their lives, and
take direct action to protect what the St6:16 believe in. Sonny McHalsie points out that the
St6:16 Nation will have to eventually address their heritage policies in order to have these policies
reflect the St6:16 world view.
There is little doubt that the St6:16 holistic world view has been affected. The deck has
been very much stacked to work against the survival of the St6:16 world view, from
assimilationist policies, to the public education system, and massive language loss. The hope and
spirit have not been lost, despite all of this, as indicated by the interviewees and their
acknowledgement that the tides are turning. This is good because how the community is doing
collectively is a good indicator of individual well-being within the community. Like the webbing
41

inside the circle of the dream catcher, if the interconnected webbing (collective) is strong it will
catch someone (individual) when

~

fall. If the webbing is tattered and worn out, a person may

fall .

42

CHAPTER THREE
THE THOMAS V. NORRIS CASE
"Harmony, not justice, is the ideal" (Alex Denny, in Monture-Angus, 1995, 243).

In discussing individual versus collective rights and the Constitution many people are quick
to point out that there are significant collective rights within the Constitution. This is true. In
fact, about one third of the rights in the Constitution are of a collective nature (Magnet, 1986).
Radha Jhappan (1993) makes an important distinction though: there is a difference between
collective rights between groups and collective rights within groups. It would appear that the
collective rights in the Constitution are collective rights between groups.1 An example ofbetween
group rights would be the actual dilemma that St6:16 Nation regularly faces:
Those reserves surrounded by dense urban development face different
problems. For example, Xwe/item [Euro-Canadians] living on private
property near reserves sometimes complain that drumming and singing
associated with the smilha, or "Winter Dance," ceremonies disturb their
sleep and infringe upon their right to peace and quiet. This places Sto:/6
communities in an awkward position. They want to establish positive
relationships with their neighbours, but do not want to compromise
their right to practise their spiritual activities in accordance with
tradition (Carlson, 1997,83).
The between group rights of concern in this scenario are the St6:16 Nation' s right to practice
their winter dances and Euro-Canadians' right to quiet. The term "collective rights" suggests

1

1nterestingly, section 33 was offered to Aboriginal groups during the Charlottetown
Accord talks to accomodate some within group collective rights.

43

that there has been acknowledgement and accommodation of the collective nature of Aboriginal
societies; this is only partly true. The collective rights that have been recognized are mainly
between group collective rights while Canadian law reins supreme within our Aboriginal
communities as can be seen in the increasing court cases between Aboriginal community
members.
Within group collective rights would protect the collective practices that are an essential
part of the everyday functioning within the St6:lo community. To determine if there are any
within group collective rights I consulted Steven Point, a former chief of St6:lo Nation who is
currently serving as a provincial court judge, to help me answer this question. His answer can be
summarized by three points (Personal communication, September 1, 1999). His first observation
is that the St6:lo community, in its everyday functioning, is very collective in nature. Steven
Point's second comment is that this collective way of living is not formally recognized by the
state. Finally, Steven Point explains that we will only know the answer to the question of what
(within group) collective rights we legally have on a case by case basis as cases such as the
Thomas v. Norris occur. We may retain some of the collective practices of the community or the
Canadian courts could potentially undermine them. In this particular case the court ruled in
favour of the plaintiffs individual rights.
The Thomas v. Norris court case is a good example to illustrate Jhappan's ( 1993 )
concept of between and within collective rights. In much of the literature about this case, the
focus of the debate is at the within group level. When the attention is maintained at the within
group level, the result is that many authors, who are not a part of the winter dance cultures, are
preoccupied with arguing about an internal Aboriginal issue that is preferably the Aboriginal

44

nation's to resolve. Arguments are made that try to provide an answer to an Aboriginal issue,
arguments that center around issues such as who was right in this case or whether individual or
collective rights should prevail. This is not the intent here. My concern is to determine how
these Euro-Canadian laws may affect the holistic aspect of the winter dances. In attempting to
uncover an answer to this question, it does not bring my attention to the case specific details, but
leads me to question the court's role in mediating an Aboriginal issue which is more of a between
group concern. I, therefore, do not want to become drawn into the argument of who was right
or wrong (the individual or the collective), but will focus on the role that the Canadian court
played in this case that involves the private and sacred winter dances.
According to Jilek (1982) the winter dances took on a new social function that was a
direct result of European contact, that of addressing acculturation stress. This stress could
manifest itself as behaviours that are harmful to the self or others in which case involuntary
initiation was called for, not unlike situations that Euro-Canadians take matters into their own
hands in difficult situations such as this. A St6:lo informant identifies the point at which the
St6:16 community might attempt to avert crisis:
It's when you don't regard your life. You rnistreatyourselfand those around
you, and probably you're going to be a candidate for suicide. People will see
this and will say it would be safer if you come in sye 'wen and change your
life (Jilek, 1982, 80).
Numerous examples of acculturation stress are given in Jilek's (1982) book. It is also mentioned
that there is a "rebirth" process that is very symbolic and is part of a process that has potential to
bring much positive change to a St6:16 person's life. Acculturation stress is still a very real
phenomenon for some St6:16 people as there will always be many colonial institutions to deal

45

with on a daily basis. The winter dances can serve to ground a St6:16 person m:ore securely in a
St6:16 world view, providing a base to balance a bicultural existence.

It appears that many of the changes in the longhouse are directly due to the dramatic
change that resulted from the arrival of Europeans here in North America. As discussed in
Chapter Two, the training and vision questing are no longer practiced as it once was as a direct
result of missionary pressure, anti-potlatching laws, and land loss. Contemporary initiation
practices have been altered largely because of the land loss upon the arrival of Europeans. One
of the reasons that Salish members were involuntarily initiated was because of destructive
behaviour due mainly to acculturation stress; therefore, the colonization of Aboriginal peoples
needs to be a factor in the overall picture of the winter dance. The Coast Salish cultures have
been relatively fast and efficient in adapting to change, especially considering the restrictive
environment that they are thriving in. The nature of Coast Salish spirituality has been fluid
enough to accommodate acculturation stress and the winter dance changed to address this
problem.
The events of concern in the Thomas v. No"is case started when Kim Johnny requested
that her common law husband be initiated into the longhouse because, as she stated, "for us, it
was the right thing to do- I thought it would help our relationship" (Thomas v. No"is, 18). Kim
Johnny requested help from the longhouse community with regards to her relationship with the
plaintiff, David Thomas, and, despite the fact that there was not complete agreement amongst all
community members who were aware of the request for initiation, the longhouse community
members responded to her request for help. They decided that David Thomas would be brought
into the longhouse and initiated. He was taken from his home and kept in the longhouse for five

46

days of initiation before the police became involved in the situation. David Thomas filed a
complaint against the men who were involved in the initiation for "nonpecuiary, aggravated,
punitive and special damages, for assault, battery and false imprisonment" (Thomas v. No"is, 2).
The court ruled in favour of the plaintiff, David Thomas. Justice Hood stated in his
judgement that, "His [David Thomas'] freedoms and rights are not 'subject to the collective rights
of the aboriginal nation to which he belongs"'(Thomas v. No"is, 52). The judge awarded David
Thomas $12,000 in damages for nonpecuniary and exemplary damages.
The Thomas v. No"is case is an example of the Canadian court's legal and cultural authority
over Coast Salish societies. This court ruled that individual rights take precedence over
collective rights in the Coast Salish longhouse. This 1992 British Columbia case is illustrative
because the courts ruled in favour of individual rights for a community that is essentially
collective in nature. This case is an example of the manifestation of the individualism within
Canadian law clashing with the collective functioning of an Aboriginal community. The
collective nature of the St6:lo Nation, as will be discussed later in this paper, derives from and is
a part of the holistic world of the St6:lo. This case is pertinent to the St6:lo Nation because this
case sets a precedent for our winter dances as well. On these grounds, this case was chosen to
examine the affects of individualistic law on an Aboriginal culture.
Not only did this court case force discussion of the winter dancing of this Vancouver
Island nation into the public realm, but the judge ruled in favour of individual rights in this case as
well. Coast Salish people prefer not to even discuss the winter dances outside of their
community because the winter dances are sacred (Denis, 1997). Winter dances are a part of
St6:lo culture as well. As Sonny McHalsie explains in Chapter Two, "They ~

dances]are

47

very important right now, in fact, it's so important that people can't go in and tape record and
film it. It's kept very private and that was the traditional way oflooking after special things was
not revealing the location or talking too much about things"(Interview, 1999). Unfortunately,
the details of the winter dances of that were unwillingly divulged are now a part of the public
record.
In the literature that was located regarding this case, none had originated from the
communities that were affected by this case and its decision. The major commentary, to date, on
this case is a book written by a Quebecois author called We Are Not You: First Nations &

Canadian Modernity (Denis, 1997) who questions modernity and its institutions' ability to
interpret and judge another' s spiritual practices and beliefs. Interestingly, the author Claude
Denis aligns his Quebec community alongside Aboriginal communities throughout the book and
highlights the common problems that both of these communities experience in Canada. The
authority of modernity is questioned in this book, particularly with regard to Aboriginal issues
like those brought up in the Thomas v. No"is case. Denis outlines how the European history of
religious wars played a key role in modernity's practice of separating religious/spirituality and
politics and questions how the separation of religion and politics can be assumed to be a universal
principle when it is based upon a European specific experience. He urges Canadians to look
upon other cultures as possible sources for alternative "lessons in political and moral philosophy"
(Denis, 1997, 152).
Claude Denis ( 1997) explains that he was not successful in getting cooperation from anyone
from the Aboriginal community that was involved in this case to consult with in the writing of his
book. One contact warned him that the Aboriginal community of interest may not cooperate

48

because the winter dances have always been presented as "savage" by Euro-Canadian writers.
This contact spoke to the Aboriginal community on the author's behalf and reported that no one
wanted to participate in the writing of this book. The members of this Aboriginal community did
not want to talk to a Euro-Canadian author whose book was favourable to the winter dance, so
one can imagine how repugnant it must have been for the Aboriginal people of this nation to be
forced by law to talk in detail about the winter dances in the actual court case. The action that
the community took in response to Denis, in itself, illustrates the collective nature of Aboriginal
communities as many decisions are made and adhered to collectively. Despite not having access
to the Aboriginal community, Denis argues that Aboriginal communities are perfectly capable of
looking after their own internal justice issues.
Avigail Eisenburg ( 1994) takes a different stance in analyzing the issues of individual and
collective rights in three cases of which the Thomas v. No"is case is one. She states that the
dominant view, which she identifies as the individual versus collective rights paradigm, is
misleading and that the values underlying rights should be identified in order to appreciate the
court's decision in this case. Eisenburg calls this perspective she endorses the difference
perspective. Toleration of difference in the Canadian justice system requires rights to protect
these differences (particularly against the state). Rights, then, enforce the value oftolerance for
difference. Eisenburg views the court's decision as one of defending the plaintiffs right to his
differences from the community that his common law wife belonged to.
I agree with Eisenburg (1994) when she states that the dominant paradigm of individual
versus collective rights may not suffice when considering the decision in the Thomas v. No"is
case. She states that, "Because rights are understood to be fundamental values, conflicts

49

between them appear to juxtapose values which cannot be compared to or weighed against each
other" and then argues that we need to examine the values that underlie these rights ( 1994, 8). I
concede her position this far, but contend that we also need to consider the values underlying
Aboriginal systems of justice. It is at this point that I would like to add St6:16 values to this
debate.
Responsibility, rather than rights, is a main "tool" of the St6:l6 theory of justice. This
value derives from the St6:l6 holistic world view and is a more expedient value in order to
maintain this view. Herb Joe addresses one way that the value of responsibility is encouraged in
St6:16 culture:
There's a saying in our language that when translated in English means
'when you come to your senses, or when you become a young man, or
you become a man' and that doesn't mean when you've reached the age
of nineteen and legally become an adult, or twenty one, or whatever
arbitrary age is decided upon by law. It basically means when you're
mature and responsible enough to be considered a man [my
emphasis] (Interview, 1999).
The St6:l6 cultural value of responsibility prepares the St6:16 person to take his or her place in
the St6:l6 holistic world because it encourages a St6:16 member to focus outward and take into
consideration all that which is around them. It is in this context and from this view that the
St6:l6 person, ideally, finds his or her place in the world. This value of responsibility is most
likely to encourage the exercise of a St6:l6 person's culturally sanctioned autonomy in the most
responsible manner. This traditionally valued way of conducting the self promotes harmony
which is the St6:16 equivalent to the Euro-Canadian concept of justice (Aleck, Interview, 1999).
I will utilize the concepts of rights and the value of difference that underlies those rights
which are based on Eisenburg's (1994) argument, Jhappan's (1993) model ofbetween and within

50

collective rights, and St6:l6 values. The St6:l6 values that are pivotal in justice issues are
responsibility and harmony. Although Canadian courts rule in favour of individual or collective
rights when these rights are at odds, there are gradations of individualism and collectivism in
societies. This chart is only a tool to examine differences between two cultural systems and is
not meant to be comprehensive.

I. Canadian
A. Individual Level
a) Rights= difference
B. Collective Level
1. Between Group

a) Rights == difference
2. Within Group
a) Rights = difference
Fig. 1

n. sto:Io
A. Individual Level
a) Responsibility = harmony
B. Collective Level
1. Between Group
a) (Aboriginal) Rights= difference
2. Within Group
a) Responsibility= harmony

Canadian Law and St6:lo Differences in Emphasis of Values
Eisenburg's (1994) concept that rights serve to protect difference works well for the

St6:lo Nation at the "between group" level (IT. Bl) because St6:lo culture is different and needs
protection from the assimilating forces of dominant Canadian culture, just as Canada needs rights
at this level to protect Canadian culture from the potentially overpowering American culture.
Although rights are suitable to use within Canadian society (1. A and I. B2), potential problems
can emerge for the St6:lo Nation when these values that the Canadian courts enforce are applied

within St6:lo {IT. A and IT. B2) society. Within St6:lo society there may be times when the Euro51

Canadian concepts of rights are incongruent with St6:16 concepts of justice because St6:16
concepts of justice derive from the holistic world view.
The dissonance I experience when I ponder this case is mainly a result of the cultural
differences in conceptions of justice. The Canadian values of rights are enforced in an adversarial
manner which is not consistent with the traditional St6:16 holistic world view as the St6:16
versions of justice demand that conflict be resolved by the people and in a manner that best
encourages harmony. In the Thomas v. Norris case, the dispute between the Aboriginal man and
the Aboriginal community appeared to be agitated simply by the fact that the Canadian courts
were involved in this case at all as well as by the manner in which the Canadian court dealt with
it. Since the St6:l6, traditionally, see the world as interconnected and we, as humans, are only a
part of this interconnected world, harmony is the goal. The St6:16 cultural value of responsibility
is the main mechanism employed to maintain the harmony ofSt6:16 society. Rather than the
St6:16 individual being bestowed with rights to test and exercise, St6:16 culture is culturally
structured in a way that the onus is on the individual to know their place in the world in order
that harmony can be maintained. Disputes between St6:16 individuals and the St6:16 collective
need to be resolved in a St6:l6 holistic manner in order to best preserve relationships once the
dispute is resolved.
One could argue that the defendant, David Thomas, in the Thomas v. Noms case should
have the individual right to choose whether or not he wished to be initiated. I concur with this
argument, but add that the Aboriginal nation.involved in this case could have mediated this
conflict just as competently as the Canadian courts if this nation had the authority to resolve its
own internal issues. My concern is the manner is which these kind of

~ are arrived at.

A

52

decision such as this could be determined through a process that maintains the integrity of the
institution of the winter dances while resolving disputes between community members. In order
to facilitate this kind of a system of justice to deal with longhouse issues, the winter dancing
nations would have to be the authorities in the process of creating such a system.
Most Aboriginal people are desperately trying to maintain as much of their traditional
cultures amidst the dominant cultures that they are surrounded by. A Maori person expresses
this concern that many Aboriginal people face, "I'm not a racist, but there's not many places left
here can hold our identity" (Liu & Temara, 1998, 143). The winter dancing nations need to be
able to monitor laws that pertain to the winter dances because it is one St6:lo institution that is
left that is relatively closed to the public. The winter dances are the St6:lo Nation's most spiritual
institution which requires a deep cultural understanding in order to appreciate the significance of
this institution.
The winter dance nations, which include the Vancouver Island Nation involved in this
case and the St6:16 Nation, should have more cultural and legal authority to mediate issues
pertaining to the winter dances. Aboriginal cultures and their institutions are not static so will
change to reflect the times. If self-determining powers to mediate some of their own conflicts
were practiced by the St6:lo Nation, the St6:lo could direct their own cultural change in a
~

appropriate manner. A case such as the Thomas v. Norris case should be delegated to

the winter dancing nations to mediate because the manner and values that the Canadian courts
employ derive from a different world view. This is not to say that the methods and values of the
Canadian courts are wrong, but these courts simply do not originate from the same world view
that the winter dances represent and derive from.

53

The liberal concept of equality is also a part of the rights paradigm as it is a concept that
rights are based on. The term "equal" is typically taken to mean equal rights for all, which
theoretically eliminates discrimination, despite differences. The problem is that the concept of
"equality" tends to have an assimilating component as it tends to work against Aboriginal or
group rights that are different than those that the typical Canadian holds. Frances Svensson
(1980) addresses this very phenomenon and identifies the new kind of discrimination that "equal"
rights spawn:
The objective is to eliminate discrimination, on the grounds that it is unjust.
In the process, differentiation (for example, on a community basis) tends to
be thrown out along with discrimination, in spite of legal, social, and possibly
moral reasons for retaining it. The result is a new kind of discrimination [my
emphasis], a refusal to distinguish the needs, rights, and interests of communities
with right-claims against the dominant, policy-making components of
individualized society (428).
This problem requires serious consideration, particularly since one of the main concerns of the
St6:lo Nation is to protect the St6:lo culture from assimilating forces. There are cases, like the

Thomas v. No"is case, in which special consideration should be given because of the private and
sacred nature of the issue being dealt with.
Thomas Isaac ( 1992) outlines the arguments that the judge used to make his decision in
the Thomas v. No"is case and points out the following matter of interest. A very significant
issue is raised by this author:
In addition, the decision has introduced the possibility of limiting
Aboriginal control over customs and traditions that goes beyond the
threat of physical harm to an individual. Little in the decision lends
direct support to the proposition that the decision is limited strictly to
situations regarding direct physical harm. Indeed, in the macroscopic
sense, the decision is seen by some as being one which adversely
affects the nature of Aboriginal rights (Isaac, 1992, 628-629).

54

equivalent of Canadian justice: harmony. The problem was that the Canadian court had the final
say in determining that its versions of justice be served in this case by adhering to individual
rights.
The question of whether the Charter has the potential to change the nature of the winter
dances was put to four of the interviewees; of the four that were asked this question these were
their responses:
JO-ANN ARCIDBALD: Yes, back to the example then, that shows how it can change because
· from that court decision the people who performed the initiation were charged so, in a sense, if
people don't want to be charged for assault then they have to change what they do which may be
going against tradition, but, again, maybe not. Because I think there's a lot of problem anyway
in trying to figure out what was our traditional way of initiation. And how have the practices
changed? And again, there's this whole area ofwhen you think of a principle, a philosophy, it's
like a guideline, a way of thinking about something and then the actual practice, the doing ofit.
And I think in some cases, not only in winter dancing, but elsewhere, we have gone to too much
reliance on the ritual and the practice without understanding what's the underlying principle and
philosophy. And where the actual practice takes precedence and we don't understand why we
do things anymore and I think if we get back to understanding the principle and -philosophy then
we've picked the appropriate practice. And I think that has got in the way and because of the
language difference, all kinds of history we've experienced that it's been easy to get away from
what were the traditional practices (Interview, 1999).
GWEN POINT: Oh, yes, I think they do. I, personally, would never initiate someone this way.
Or even in the family but, at the same time, we can't have a law being used against the winter
dancing then there's something wrong, right? (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: Oh, definitely. If we have people that refer back to this case. Again, I really feel
they are violating our spiritual activities, our future, our spiritual laws. I mean, look at the
Catholic church, they have the ten commandments. It's similar [to] ~ our laws are in the
longhouse and how they were never taken into consideration when the ·Charter of Rights was put
together (Interview, 1999).

SONNY McHALSIE: Yes (Interview, 1999).
All four responses to the question of whether the Charter can affect the nature of the
winter dances were answered in affirmation that it could. June Quipp points out that the
longhouses are important institutions because they play a role in the upholding of the St6:16
56

moral order just as the ten commandments are an integral part of the Catholic church. Gwen
Point mentions that the St6:16 have lost so much as a result of the legal ban on winter dances.
The St6:16 revived the decriminalized winter dances and it appears that this revival is still in a
state of recovery and flux. If the Canadian courts, rather than a St6:16 based justice system, have
jurisdiction over the longhouses, the legal values of the Canadian courts may eventually form the
basis of the moral order of the St6:16longhouses.
When I asked if the interviewees felt that the Charter should be the law governing the
longhouse there was a considerable amount of certainty amongst those interviewed that it should
not apply to the longhouses:
SONNY McHALSIE: I don't know, like when you look at traditional law, everything seems to
stem around collective, or family rights to certain degrees (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: There's a bit of a difference in each initiation to the winter dancing. In our
area .. Jike you say, it's really difficult to talk about the initiation of the winter dancing and I don't
really believe that the courts may have had all of the information to make a sound decision on
winter dancing or to dictate to us how we should initiate our winter dancing when we've
practiced it for generations. They violated us to begin with when they banned the winter dancing
and now what they're trying to do is tell us that they can tell us how to do it. I'm not sure
whether they've done that with any other religion. In my mind, this is a religion to me
(Interview, 1999).

GWEN POINT: I think it makes it very difficult, right? For the people that belong to the
longhouse. I think that every situation has to be looked at. You can't blanket. And I think that
maybe if I've learned anything it's this, that you can't make blanket statements like this to any
culture or any group. I think that there should have been maybe a little more work done. And if
tpat is a concern then I think how you do business say here in the valley and how you do business
on the Island is going to be two different things and there should have been some kind of
consultation with the people or the Elders in that community. Like because the longhouse
teachings, certainly for the valley, for the ·last generation, it would be different on the Island I
think. I don't know if they've lost it as much as we have here. I think there needs to be some
discussion around it, right? They can't blanket the Charter of Rights on this kind of work
(Interview, 1999).
CLARENCE PENNIER: I would disagree that the Charter of Rights should apply to our culture
and our traditions in the longhouse and I say that because one of the Charter rights was the
57

freedom of religion and, to a certain extent, the dances in the smokehouse would be similar to a
religion and it would be difficult for our people to try to explain that to a judge. So, it' s probably
one of the reasons that the judge came down saying it violated his individual rights (Interview,
1999).
HERB JOE: I haven' t really studied the Charter of Rights to know an awful lot about the
intricacies of it, but just off the top of my head I would say the Charter of Rights is probably a
good document as far as it goes. But I don't think, from a St6:16 perspective, that they've
considered how our culture has evolved and that the whole philosophy of life, culture, traditions,
customs of the St6:16 people aren' t based on individualism. They' re based on communalism, on
family, extended family. And I don' t think that the Charter of Rights is written from that
perspective. It's a different view oflife. It' s a view oflife that evolved out of Europe, not out of
Canada. The Euro-Canadian people have their ancestors to thank for that philosophy of life and
that philosophy of life came out of Europe, not out of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada
(Interview, 1999).
The responses were close to unanimous amongst the five interviewees that were asked
this question. Herb Joe and Sonny McHalsie point out that a basic unit in St6:16 justice is the
family rather than the individual. This is not to say that the individual is not considered in matters
of St6:16 justice, just as collective rights are not excluded from Canadian law, but that many
matters in St6:16 society are dealt with through the family unit. June Quipp and Gwen Point state
that each longhouse situation is unique and this needs to be taken into consideration when
resolving disputes. Not one of the five St6:16 interviewees felt that the Charter should be the law
governing the longhouse. The reasons given were based on fundamental issues of culture,
tradition, spirituality, and the Sto:lo Nation's right to overlook these areas of Sto:lo life
independently.
With the arrival of Europeans, the Sto:l6 have had new and changing challenges to face
because the colonial climate has gone through many phases. Although the Sto:l6 are gaining
more autonomy, harmony and balance are difficult to achieve when there is a dominant society
all around the little patches of St6:16 reserves. Achieving harmony was particularly difficult to

58

maintain when the St6:l6 were not consulted at all regarding issues that affected them, but
attaining and sustaining harmony is still a struggle that St6:l6 Nation faces today. June Quipp
gives an example of the kind of contemporary problem that the St6:l6 typically deal with:
We've talked about being part of the process right from the beginning in
any kind of developments. What happens is we get a copy of a proposed
development that's already had a lot of work put into it. [Then they] say,
'How do you think this will have an infringement on you?' Regardless
of what we say or do we end up being the third party that may end up
putting a stop to something or putting up a big fuss. Then we always
end up looking like the bad people because we feel that it will have an
impact on some of our spirituality (Interview, 1999).
June Quipp describes a scenario that the St6:16 and other Nations regularly face. This concept
also works for the Thomas v. No"is case. Aboriginal people have voiced their dissent with
regard to any form of legally enforced individualism on Aboriginal communities by the Canadian
state. For example, Aboriginal people recognized that the intent of the Gradual Civilization Act
of 185 7 was to legally enforce individualism on the collective nature of Aboriginal communities.
One Aboriginal leader's reaction was documented, "Surely, one tribal leader noted accurately, it
was an attempt 'to break them into pieces.' It did not, he continued, 'meet their views' since it
was inconsistent with their desire to maintain tribal integrity within customary forms most
recently expressed by their insistence on group rather than individual tenure of reserve
land"(Milloy, 1985, 59). The government of Canada knew how Aboriginal nations across the
country felt about legalized individualism well before they implemented individualistic Canadian
laws and yet, they were applied to Aboriginal communities. When cases like Thomas v. No"is
come around, even though Aboriginal people never wanted laws such as these in the first place,
Aboriginal people end up looking like the unreasonable party.

59

The Iroquois concept of how they expected the newcomers and Iroquois to live in
harmony is a useful concept to draw on and still a very important one today. The Iroquois
envisioned the two societies living side by side with the least amount of trouble. The two parallel
lines on the Two Row Wampum belt symbolizes the two societies, the newly arrived people and
Iroquois, living autonomously side by side.2 Each society was to be entitled to run its own affairs
and make its own laws. They were not to cross. The chart in Figure One can, for these
purposes, illustrate how the two cultural views are different enough to consider parallel justice
systems. Unfortunately, this did not happen and the Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal societies
have crossed with the inevitable tangle as a result. The Thomas v. Norris case is an epitome of
that cross of the lines and the resulting tangle.

2

1992).

This is not an unrealistic goal as far law goes. India has parallel forms of laws (Asch,

60

CHAPTER FOUR

LEGALIZED INDIVIDUALISM AND HOLISM
"The goal of therapy from a traditional healing perspective, then, is not
to strengthen the client 's ego but to encourage the client to transcend the
ego by experiencing self as embedded in and expressive of community "
(LaFromboise, Trimble, & Mohatt, 1990, 631).
In searching the academic literature with regards to Aboriginal people and the Charter it
becomes apparent that a number of contentious issues have been identified. Ovide Mercredi and
Mary Ellen Turpel ( 1993) identify two major factors that make the application of the Charter to
Aboriginal communities problematic. The first point they make is that there was no consultation
with Aboriginal people when the Charter was being implemented and applied to Aboriginal
communities; this is a commonality that the Charter has with the Indian Act. Secondly, the
Charter is being used to "fix" some of the problems that were created by the Indian Act. 1 Other
shortcomings of the Charter include the fact that the Charter has also, intentionally or
inadvertently, become a tool that is, at times, used against culture (Bickerton & Gagnon, 1994).
Denis ( 1997) charges that both Quebec and Aboriginal people have experienced increasing
resistance against their claims for autonomy as a direct result of the Charter because it increases
the "equality" argument which, in turn, negates "difference". One of the most damaging

For example, as a result of the Charter, Bill C-31 was created which
~ many
Aboriginal women to gain their Indian status back, but the reason they lost their status in the first
place was because of the Indian Act.
1

61

outcomes of the application of the Charter is that this issue ofwhether or not it should apply to
Aboriginal communities has divided many of those same Aboriginal communities (MontureAngus, 1995; Borrows, 1994).
Although Mary Ellen Turpel acknowledges that Aboriginal people have used the Charter to
fight against colonialism, she identifies three major problems that may arise out of the legal
enforcement of individualism onto Aboriginal communities. The first problem is that of
undermining the cultural notion of responsibilities and substituting it with the Canadian value of
rights. The second point is that the Charter works to break down traditional forms of conflict
resolution. The third consequence is that internal conflicts are taken outside of the community to
be resolved in the public courts rather than being resolved within the community via its own
conflict resolution processes {Turpel, 1990).
When the United States was implementing the Bill of Rights and imposed it upon Native
Americans, there was strong opposition by Native Americans. At a hearing before the Bill of
Rights became law, a Sandia Pueblo Native, Domingo Montoya, voiced his dissent:
The demands of the Civil Rights Act, if imposed upon us against
our most strenuous objections, will repeat once more the old pattern.
Once more, we will lose the freedom to choose our own destiny.
We ask only to be allowed to grow and change in our own way,
true to the values and traditions of our people (Amendments in
Svensson, 1980, 432).
The author, Frances Svensson, reports that the general belief by Americans was that they were
liberating Native Americans by imposing the Bill of Rights on their communities. The debate
regarding the application of colonial laws, particularly laws that encompass individual rights in
this case, to Aboriginal nations is not limited to Canada.

62

The literature also bears out a concern by Aboriginal people that the Charter may ultimately
be creating challenges for the Aboriginal communities regarding Aboriginal identity issues.
Marie Smallface Marule, a member of the Blood Tribe, feels that our strength as Aboriginal
people lies within our tribal identities and that Canadian policies work to break down that
strength (Smallface Marule, 1984). She states that the cultural values of materialism and
individualism, embodied in many Canadian policies, work against Aboriginal traditional value
systems, therefore making this issue of Canadian policy one of the most pressing issues for
Aboriginal people. It seems that the assimilation policies of the anti-potlatch laws and residential
school days are still with us, only in a much more indirect and subtle way.
Marlene Brant Castellano identifies the problem as one of Aboriginal collective identity
issues being all tied up in constitutional bureaucratic processes which results in the shelving of
these Aboriginal issues along with other constitutional issues (Laponce & Meisel, 1994). She
argues that Aboriginal collective identity issues are "life and death" issues and Aboriginal people
live it and witness the urgency while this remains an academic issue in Canada. These words from
Aboriginal spokespersons indicate that there is an identity factor at risk and, as Castellano points
out, that there is no time to waste in addressing them. The Charter may be protecting EuroCanadians at large, but may have negative side affects on Aboriginal communities. Issues of this
kind require serious attention as the colonial history of Aboriginal people in Canada has been one
of a constant struggle to protect Aboriginal cultures.
The affects that Canadian law has on Aboriginal cultures may not be obvious, but are of a
more subtle nature as Mohowk author, Taiaiake Alfred, notes:
In this supposedly post-colonial world, what does it matter if the reserve is run
by Indians, so long as they behave like bureaucrats and carry out the same old

63

policies? Redefined and reworded, the 'new' relationship still abuses indigenous
people, albeit more subtly. In this 'new' relationship, indigenous people are
still bound to another power's order (1999, x.iii).
Aboriginal nations, in order to become strong, healthy, and self-determining, nations require the
authority and power that truly self-determining nations hold. Aboriginal nations determined their
own affairs for thousands of years before the relatively late arrival of newcomers and it is only
through the direction of the Aboriginal people themselves that the Aboriginal nations will fully
recover their full strength and potential. St6:lo authority over their own internal justice issues
needs to be expanded to realize this potential.
As with many other Aboriginal languages, there is no Halq'emeylem word that easily
translates to "justice". Joe Aleck explains the St6:lo concepts of justice, "One word that we use
is 'slaq' .. .It means, sort of, like law if we're trying to find a word in English. In English it means
everyone ... all human beings living in harmony, working together, caring for one another, and
loving one anther and supporting one another. That's our justice" (Joe Aleck, Interview, 1999).

If a member of an Aboriginal community offends another (and therefore, their family) then the
goal of Aboriginal justice is to have the offender compensate the offended party to restore
harmony to the community. This is where the Elders' roles are crucial as they play a key role in
teaching the offenders 1 the expected manner of conducting themselves. This whole process is
one of restitution by the offender, healing, and reintegration of the offender back into the
community, thereby, restoring harmony. Our responsibility is to recognize and respect this
balance as well as the role and power that each element of the earth holds. No life or element is

In the Navajo culture "offender" means, "He acts as if he had no relatives" (MontureAngus, 1995, 256).
1

64

perceived to be "useless" or designated for elimination because each has its role. To do so
would be an injustice in Aboriginal value systems.
Donahue ( 1997) points out that the Canadian practice of justice is totally incompatible
with Aboriginal notions of justice. First of all, the Canadian court system isolates the individual
from their community which is antithetical to an Aboriginal justice system. Secondly, it places
the individual in an adversarial position which can serve to reinforce the isolation of the
individual. The third difference is that the truth is expected to emerge from this adversarial
process, resulting in punishment as the solution to the problem. And, finally, the offender can be
left stigmatized in the end (Donahue, 1997), many times unable to fully function within society,
for example, as the record he/she acquires inhibits employers from hiring the offenders. A study
by James Waldram (1997) on Aboriginal women in a prison system illustrates how ill-fitting the
Canadian system is and how only Aboriginal justice systems will really work for Aboriginal
people.
The study took place at the Kingston Prison for Women. As Waldram (1997) points out,
many Aboriginal people do not encounter Aboriginal spirituality until they enter the prison
system. It is noted in this particular study that some of these women committed suicide after
being exposed to Aboriginal spirituality (Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples - The Path to
Healing, 1993). It was found that, in many cases, it was too late at this point for these
Aboriginal women to learn about the more culturally appropriate Aboriginal spirituality because
they were already deep into dysfunctional lifestyles. The enlightening came too late:
Some of these women, who had lived anti-sociallifestyles to the point
where they had to be locked up for their own safety and the safety of others,
became aware that life had meaning, purpose and direction; but when they
returned to the cells and the ranges and were confronted with the harsh
65

realities of the oppressive and cruel prison structure, the change was too
abrupt and overwhelming. Suicide was their escape from this mindsplitting discrepancy between the inner peace they had acquired and the
unspeakable cruelties of the prison system (my emphasis- Royal Commission on
Aboriginal Peoples - The Path to Healing, 1993, 62-63 ).
This is an explosive issue that should be read as a tragic example of what can happen to
Aboriginal people when the colonial climate makes it so difficult for us to maintain our cultural
ways. In "bringing our people back" in a culturally friendly environment, a holistic environment,
before Aboriginal people hit the prison systems, there should be no danger because, ideally, there
are supportive families and communities surrounding the person in healing. This is a function
that the winter dances serve amongst other functions.
The respect for the shxweli of everything on earth, which lends to harmony, manifests
itself as empathy for the shxweli of everything on earth. The ways of expressing this value are
real as the destruction of the earth or any life form on it can elicit genuine shock and/or sorrow
from Aboriginal peoples. Significant impacts on the land such as clear cuts, extinction of fish,
plants, or animals, and large scale pollution can educe genuine emotion. When David Suzuki
was walking through a forest with James Gosnell of the Nisga' a Nation, the forest ended and a
clear cut became apparent. James Gosnell's response was, "It was as if the land had been
skinned of life. I couldn't believe that anyone would deliberately do that to the earth" (Knudtson
& Suzuki, 1992, xxvi). Devastation ofthe earth and forms oflife on it (injustice) can leave its

mark on the psyche of Aboriginal people.
The St6:lo are no different. Val Friesen, Jo-ann Archibald, and Rita Jack, in making the
same point, quote Tillie Guiterrez of St6:16 Nation who expressed her empathy that she felt when
Euro-Canadians were cutting down and chopping up cedar trees:

66

You know, when I was very small, I saw some other people come to Katz
Landing there. They started building all these chutes. They were sliding
blocks of cedar.
My heart cried. I was small, but I felt it. You know, even right now I feel
like crying over it because I was unable to do anything about it. I was just
standing there, watching all these cedar blocks coming down. It looks exciting
all right. But I wasn't excited about it. I was brokenhearted, because of that
cedar coming down. They were shipping them out somewhere, I don't know
where, and making shingles and what have you, and right there and then my
heart was already telling me that we were being robbed. And there was nothing
I could do (Val Friesen, Jo-ann Archibald & Rita Jack, 1992, 59).
This is a typical reaction and is the usual intense emotion that is felt by many Aboriginal peoples
when witnessing destruction to the earth. Aboriginal peoples still very much live a colonial
legacy as our souls are regularly assaulted by witnessing destruction to the earth and, worse yet,
to have to stand by helplessly.
I only now can begin to really understand why I silently felt so sad at all the
"development" going on at home. Although I could not articulate these feelings by calling it
respect for the shxweli of everything on the earth, I was raised with the philosophy, spoken and
unspoken, that we should leave things be. Despite the fact that my mother went tc residential
school, I commonly heard her disapproval whenever Euro-Canadians cut down so much as one
tree. My father's family owns land that, other than the large swath of land that has to be
permanently trimmed down for the three Hydro power lines a stones throw from our front door,
has largely been left "undeveloped". As Douglas Cardinal states, "The measure of a man is seen
through the prospering life that surrounds him, not the inanimate objects he has forcefully
acquired"(l977, 54-55). This applies to Aboriginal women as well. I grew up very rich.
Aboriginal people value their sense of justice just as Canadians hold their ideas of justice
in very high esteem. The reality and intensity of both demonstrations of cultural empathy are

67

real, the only difference is that offences of Aboriginal forms of justice are legal in Canada so that
Aboriginal people do not see their form of justice being addressed.2 So why would the Canadian
form of justice be seen as more "real" or important than the Aboriginal form of justice?
Aboriginal concepts of justice derived from their holistic world view, so Aboriginal justice should
be a recognized part of our everyday world.
For Euro-Canadian culture, the ultimate offence of individual rights is to take another' s
life. In the United States taking another' s life can result in the death penalty as a consequence.
Offenses of Aboriginal justice go on every day around us with almost no redress. This has
become too much to bear for one tribe in Columbia. This tribe, the U'wa, only ask that their
land be left alone for their own cultural existence and survival, but this request is falling on deaf
ears. There are plans for oil extraction on their lands. This tribe is so pained by their state of
affairs and the injustice that they see that they have threatened collective tribal suicide if
"development" does not stop (del Pilar Uribe Marin, 1999). This is an example of an overt
assault on an Aboriginal peoples' sense of holism, but what about the more subtle forces that
work against the holistic aspect of Aboriginal world views?
What, for example, are the potential affects on the holistic aspect of Aboriginal cultures
of legally enforced individual rights as defined by the Charter? In his 1997 study Rod
McCormick interviewed 50 British Columbia Aboriginal people to determine what they felt
facilitated the healing process for them. McCormick explains that in order for an Aboriginal
individual to be healthy he or she needs to feel that they are a part of the interconnection of the
world. He states that this culturally specific state of normalcy is in direct conflict with the
2

This is with exception of some weak environmental laws which is not enough by
Aboriginal peoples' standards.
68

mainstream Euro-Canadian cultural emphasis on individualism. An important finding emerged
that is relevant to this study:
One difference that was discussed in this paper is that affective healing for
First Nations people focuses on interconnectedness rather than on autonomy
which is a more common goal for Western therapy. For the First Nations
people in this study, connecting with family, community, culture, nature,
and spirituality all seem important in successful healing ( 181).
Since most Aboriginal communities are holistic and collective in nature, it is impossible to
separate or eliminate elements of that holistic world because to do so generally means altering a
state of balance for an Aboriginal person. This has implications, then, with the Charter and
Aboriginal communities.
If traditional healing practices serve a decolonization function by encouraging an
immersion into the community rather than isolating and strengthening the ego, one can begin to
see how potentially difficult it could be for a St6:lo person to function in a society steeped with
individualism as a value. The ideal in St6:lo society is to develop strong "collective-esteem",
rather than focussing only on self-esteem. The development of the "collective-esteem", in which
a St6:lo person learns how to fit smoothly into the harmony of the collectivity, requires a healthy,
holistic world view. The St6:lo expression of individualism is expressed in a different manner
than it is expressed in Euro-Canadian culture. Calvin Morrisseau ( 1998) identifies the underlying
value of non-interference to be the Aboriginal concept ofthe right of an individual. Gwen Point
expresses the same value:
But, I think, some the work that's happening here at St6:lo Nation and in
many of our communities is our people are going back to our traditional
way of doing business. They're going back to how our Elders taught,
worked, and built in our values, built in our collective rights. You are free
to be an individual and you're encouraged to seek your strength as an
individual and you're encouraged to seek your strength as an individual

69

and, at the same time, to use that strength to benefit all people, not just ·
yourself (Interview, 1999).
Her advice adds further clarification that the non-interference principle is based on respect for the
autonomy of an individual to seek their strength and to use the gift that the Creator gave them.
The Canadian and Sto :16 cultures both have concepts of individualism, but they originate from
different cultural contexts and different socio-political settings.
The St6:16 interviewees were asked how a St6:16 community member's well-being may
be looked after in a more traditional St6:16 sense. These are excerpts from their responses:
CLARENCE PENNIER: Well, part of the responsibility that we haven't been maintaining
through the years is that we' re responsible for our family members. Today, we're just doing it as
nuclear families more or less and we should be looking after ourselves more as extended families
and we haven' t been doing that as much as we should have. So, that would be a way of going
back to ensuring that things are a lot better for individuals (Interview, 1999).
JO-ANN ARCHIBALD: I think if we go back to what we were taught, to look after ourselves. I
mean to be able to ensure that we provide a loving environment like how our Elders have looked
after the grandchildren and talked about ways that we should, especially respect and care for one
another (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: We' ve had what we call 'family circles' and we've called in all sorts of people to
work with an individual in a lot of cases. In order to have the circles the individual has to be
willing to participate. Sometimes they are forced to participate and often it turns out that it's
been the best thing for that person and the family. But the communities are so infiltrated with
European ways ... .There's a poster that talks about measles, smallpox, TB, and all of these
diseases that wiped out a lot of our people. Now we've got AIDS and a lot of these things are
transmitted because of some of the lifestyles that some of our people are living right
now .. ..These are going to be really difficult issues to deal with, holistically, to try and make sure
an individual's rights or even well-being .. .I don't know if we look so inuch at an individual's
rights as well as their well-being and I think that's the big difference between First Nations and
St6:16 and the non-native. Quite often the Charter of Rights doesn't really look at a person's
well-being. It just says that by law you can't do this or you can't do that, but, holistically, when
we're looking at an individual's rights, it' s more the individual's well-being than their rights that
we try to really take care of (Interview, 1999).

SONNY McHALSIE: We're still at the stage where we're looking at trying to look at what are
Nation rights; what are community rights, family rights, and individual rights? Now, for the most
part, I think most of the other larger ones have been looked at and [we] probably haven't spent a
70

lot of time looking at individual rights. Now, how those individual rights are, for all we know,
we may have individual rights that are parallel to the Charter of Rights, but may somehow take a
different form and may just not be aware of it.. . .I think the way we' d have to look at that is look
at the language and see how much of family and individual ... the perspectives that they hold
(Interview, 1999).
GWEN POINT: Again, I think that that is being done. It's not something that people are saying,
' Oh, we're doing this over here' and ' Oh, we're doing that over there' , and ' Oh, we're doing
this' because of the Charter. But, again, some of the work that's happening here at St6:16 Nation
and in many of our communities is our people are going back to our traditional way of doing
business. They're going back to how our Elders taught and worked and built in that are our
values, built in that are our collective rights. Yes, you are free to be an individual and you ' re
encouraged to seek your strength as an individual and, at the same time, to use that strength to
benefit all people, not just yourself So, I see it happening. I see it happening in a good way and
I'm not saying all our issues are addressed because this is a very, to me, a recent phenomenon.
It's a very recent under-taking. Where, again, from our leaders, from our chiefs, to our children
in the school, to our Elders, and our youth, are all taking an active role and working towards
becoming healthy people and falling back on our traditions and it's a good thing. So, while it's
not being spelled out how an individual's well-being is being taken care of, it's happening in a
good way. And, again, I say it's exciting (Interview, 1999).
HERB JOE: Historically, there was a respect for individual rights, but there wasn't a glorification
of individual rights as there is in the Euro-Canadian philosophy of life. Individual rights were
balanced against the rights of the family, of the community, of the Nation. So everything was in
balance rather than having a system set up where individual rights take precedence over most of
the other rights of the community. What you end up with is a model where an individual is pitted
against the society and you have a whole society, the rights of that society pitted against the
rights of the individual. Well, to me, it's the epitome of the Euro-Canadian philosophy oflife
and it's so adversarial. It's always pitting one side against another, one against the whole. It's
black and white; there's always a winner and there's always a loser. In our approach to life
where we looked at the balance and the well-being of everyone in the community and everyone
in the Nation, that balance of course would ensure that the individual' s rights were taken very
much into consideration. So, I believe in the traditional approach oflife that our St6:16 ancestors
took and that it was a successful one for us. That's not to say that it could be successful for
people who were raised out of a different culture, for instance, someone who came from Europe,
Germany for instance. I would think that because of the centuries of education and educational
process in their history would almost guarantee that that individual would have great difficulty in
surviving in our culture (Interview, 1999):
Gwen Point describes the recent trend of the growing confidence that the people of the
St6:16 Nation have in their own culture to provide answers to many St6:16 issues. The
interviewees call for a return to our basic St6:16 social structure and values, while pointing out
71

ways that the Euro-Canadian based concepts of justice are not well suited to the St6 :l6
community. June Quipp points out that there is much healing to be done in the St6 :l6
communities and that the Euro- Canadian concept of rights may not be sufficient to facilitate this
healing process. Herb Joe explains that the adversarial nature of the Canadian justice system,
which results in a winner and a loser, is not consistent with how the traditional St6:16 culture
functions . Overall, the interviewees responses indicate a desire for the St6:16 Nation to be based
upon social structures that reflect St6:16 traditions and values.
When I asked about how St6:16 Nation might, in a more traditional sense, resolve conflict
within the St6:lo community these were the responses:
JUNE QUIPP: I really believe that we can work something out. As I mentioned earlier the really
difficult part right now is that we are struggling with the First Nations and non-First Nations
rules and regulations right now and it's been really difficult to try and sort them all out and you
try to put into place I guess you'd call laws for First Nations. Tried to protect some of our
traditional laws and it really becomes difficult to separate the two, maybe even integrate the two
to make something that's going to be satisfactory to us, satisfactory to the non-natives. It's
something we're working on. We're working on it and it's not going to be easy. I think it's
going to take quite some time to try and get something that's at least satisfactory to a good
majority of St6:lo Nation. I'm sure whatever comes out of it is not going to be satisfactory one
hundred percent, but it, hopefully, would be something that will be liveable (Interview, 1999).

HERB JOE: Historically, we've evolved as a people and in evolving as a people who learned to
live together in communes, or a communal system, in family systems, we had to learn how to
resolve conflict. And resolving conflict is a part of our culture, is a part of our traditions. Would
we be able to continue to do that? Yes, of course we would. And, [in] particular, now in the
beginning of the new millennium the culture has become more acceptable to learn from the
perspective of our last two generations, they're now seeing that there's value in learning the
traditions and the customs. And we've got a lot of young people now who are actively searching
for a St6:lo education that would include the culture, the traditions, the customs, the history of
the St6:16 people. And once they learn a little bit about the St6:16 people, it's addictive. They
will continue to learn and, of course, in learning about St6:16 people and the culture, as I said a
little earlier, conflict resolution was one, was just one part of the culture that helped us to evolve
through the centuries to what we were previous to European contact and we were a successful
society at the time. And a fairly structured and sophisticated society that included conflict
resolution as one of the means of maintaining balance in the community. So, yes, I think that it'll
continue; it would've continued and particularly now that there's a renaissance in learning First

72

Nations culture, there's going to be more and more of our people who learn how historically our
people resolved conflict. And it wasn't through warfare as the main way of resolving conflict.
There were many other ways that assisted us in resolving even very serious conflict. That's not
to say that we didn't have warriors and go to war. That seemed to be a necessary part of all
cultures. You need to have ways and means of protecting oneself, particular[ly] protecting those
that are unable to protect themselves, defenseless ones, the children, and the Elders (Interview,
1999).
GWEN POINT: Yes, and I think we already do that, right? I think that, without going into
detail, situations arise where people in the community seek out, whether they're spiritual people,
or whether they're leaders in the community, or whether they're cultural people, or Elders. This
kind of work is already happening, where a family knows that someone in their family needs to
be a 'part of . So I think, in a sense, that kind of work is already happening; it's just not
formalized . And I think that many of the longhouse community people that attend, or part of
that, have carried it in a good way, that the kind ofteaching and knowledge is just becoming a
part of the community, so things are being addressed (Interview, 1999).
JO-ANN ARClllBALD: Y[es], if we go by and if we agreed on cultural ways of conflict
resolution. I think it's of course best when you work it out within the family, in a way, or if
there are ways to be able to have like a mediator, sometimes our Elders are asked to do those
sort of things and in a way what they do is remind us about the values to help us figure it out
ourselves and so, I guess there could be opportunities to do that (Interview, 1999).
CLARENCE PENNIER: This is one of our longer term goals within the Nation. The House of
Justice has been established and that's one of the primary responsibilities that the House of
Justice should be able to set up dispute resolution processes to resolve issues between individuals
and families, and families and families, and communities and communities. So, we'll eventually
get there (Interview, 1999).
Obviously, there are conflict resolution mechanisms built right into the culture, as the
interviewees indicate. Jo-ann Archibald mentions that the Elders can not only mediate, but teach
us, at the same time, about resolving conflict in a culturally

~

way. Herb Joe addresses

a stereotype by noting that our conflict resolution was not typically through warring. Gwen
Point states that the conflict resolution methods in the St6:16 culture have just not been
formalized yet, while two interviewees state that it is in the long term goals ofSt6:16 Nation to
identify these strategies. Hopefully, these issues can eventually be resolved, to clarify and bring

73

forth some culturally relevant conflict resolution methods so as to reduce the use of the more
adversarial conflict resolution styles that the Canadian courts practice.
By enforcing the Charter on Aboriginal people, there is potential to slowly erode the
culturally appropriate place of St6:16 individuals within the St6:16 collectivity (ie. become
assimilated, secular individuals) which would fulfil the historic plan (Indian Act, residential
schools, White Paper, etc.) of getting rid of the "Indian problem". If:
Individuals cannot assert collective rights unless a group exists. If native
groups freely chose [my emphasis] to assimilate into the dominant culture(s)
in this country, it would be nonsensical for an Indian individually to assert
an aboriginal right. The right would have to be extinguished with the group's
loss of identity (Pentney, 1987, 47).
Note that the matter of the application of the Charter is not necessarily a situation of"free
choice" because, to date, Canadian law reins over Aboriginal nations. Once Aboriginal
collectivities have been, over time, largely broken down into autonomous individuals,
theoretically, the Canadian state has no obligation to Aboriginal rights.
The rights theory came from an adversarial environment that arose out of the creation of
the state. The individual had to be endowed with claims that were legally codified to give the
individual "political tools" to protect the self against the state and others (Pentney, 1987).
Aboriginal people have been

~ into this adversarial arena because of the colonial

situation we have found ourselves in. Now the Aboriginal people need protection from the state
and Aboriginal rights are recognized in response to that need.
Dworkin makes the distinction between rights being protected in a "strong sense" or a
"weak sense" (Pentney, 1987). The protection in the "strong sense" means that this right is
heavily protected. To infringe on a right that is protected in the "strong sense" is wrong, uriless

74

there are special circumstances to justify the infringement. "Between" Aboriginal rights are
protected in the strong sense now, but Aboriginal "within" group collective rights are, officially,
virtually non-existent because Canadian law is the law within St6 :16 society. Canadian concepts
of individual rights are protected, even in the St6:16 community, in the "strong sense". EuroCanadians have their "within" group cultural value of individual rights protected in the "strong
sense", while Aboriginal "within" group cultural values are virtually non-existent in the Canadian
laws that are applied to Aboriginal communities. In order to fully perpetuate the St6:l6 culture,
St6 :16 people need to be able to administer St6:l6laws over St6:l6 specific issues.
Despite all the variance of opinion in the literature, the Canadian public, and the
Aboriginal nations about whether or not the Charter should or should not apply to Aboriginal
communities, how possible is it that Aboriginal peoples may even have a choice in the matter?
Boldt and Long (1984) bring up a couple of points that may give some glimmer of hope that
Aboriginal nations may have some choice in the matter. They cite Douglas Sanders' argument
that Aboriginal people may be in a very unique position to reject the Charter, if they so wish, on
the grounds that, unlike the provinces and municipalities, they are a group that was not created
by the Constitution (Boldt & Long, 1984, note seven). 3 They also point out that the Canadian
state could opt to exempt Aboriginal nations, at least in part, from the Charter if they so chose.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP, 1996) present two possible
interpretations regarding whether or not the Charter is applicable to Aboriginal nations. The first
approach would find that the Charter does apply to Aboriginal nations because section 32(1) can
be interpreted to mean that governments are subject to the Charter, while section 35(1) would
3

0ne of the proposals in the Charlottetown Accord was to recognize that Aboriginal
peoples' right to self-government existed before the Constitution (Jhappan, 1993).
75

include Aboriginal nations as an order of government. The second interpretation could
potentially exclude Aboriginal nations from the jurisdiction of the Charter because the Charter is
in Part I of the Constitution, while section 35, which recognizes Aboriginal rights to selfgovernment, are in Part II of the Constitution. "This result, according to the second approach, is
that the Charter cannot 'abrogate or derogate from' the exercise of inherent powers of Aboriginal
self-government. Since any limitation on Aboriginal government powers would amount to such
a derogation, section 25 affectively prevents Aboriginal governments from being held
accountable for Charter violations" (RCAP, 1996, Vol. 2, pt. 1, 229). This interpretation holds
some promise of exemption from the Charter for Aboriginal nations if Aboriginal nations are
seeking an exemption through legal means via the Canadian legal system.
The St6:16 interviewees were asked whether they thought that St6:16 Nation should be
able to reject, in whole, or in part, the Charter. The responses were mixed:
GWEN POINT: I guess I look at this [Thomas v. No"is] case and I wonder, if those people
knew that this would happen would they have done it? Like, to me, not everybody has all the
information, right? And, how do you do business and I know that different longhouses do
business different ways, different families do business different ways and I think that there needs
to be that understanding. We're a common sense people. We do things that are going to be in
the best interests of all people, not individuals, right? So what's the right thing to do? And I
think that question needs to be put to the people and I know that they would come up with an
answer. They would say, 'Well, if this is the law, Canada's law, right? How does this apply to
how we do our work? Why do we do, why do they do what they do?' And I think that they
would .. .it could be addressed in a good way, a proper way (Interview, 1999).
CLARENCE PENNIER: Well, I don't think that we should probably reject the Charter of
Rights. It has to be an accommodation of our collective rights. There has to be some
recognition that we do have collective rights and I think that has been stated by the Supreme
Court of Canada, that our rights are collective rights. Aboriginal rights or Aboriginal title rests
in the collective. That gets into legal things that will come up a little later on once we've finally
determined, 'OK, these are the collective rights that we have.' And whether we do that through
the treaty negotiations or whether it comes out through further court cases when they've finally
clarified what our rights are and changes the collective. There will be further ~
cases
challenging the collective versus the individual rights of the Charter. So, it's a roundabout
76

answer. I believe the Charter should be there. It is there and it will stay there, but it shouldn 't
really apply to our collective rights (Interview, 1999).
JO-ANN ARCHIBALD: It' s not the Charter, but it's taking the Charter, which is a very Western
document, if I generalize it, to, on the other hand, Aboriginal concepts of rights and I always find
they' re very different. And when you try and place one to the other, you have these tensions,
more than tensions often. And I think that' s the problem we have is trying to make one fit the
other. And it' s important to define the concept on it's own, like in the sense of an individual,
"What is the relationship to an individual and collective right" and even, "What is a ' right'?
There might be different connotations of the meaning between a Western constitutional use and a
cultural, Aboriginal, traditional use of the word. So, all of that is problematic and I think that
really we need to be first, as a nation, defining these rights and responsibilities ourselves and
developing that as part of our own constitution. And then once doing that, seeing how it relates
to the general Charter of Rights (Interview, 1999).
JUNE QUIPP: Oh, I believe so. I believe that there are probably some good things in there, but,
again, we've always been left out as part of the strategic planning of any of these laws, or acts,
or legislature. You know, we just never had part of it. That in itself, I always find that it's a
violation to First Nations (Interview, 1999).
SONNY McHALSIE: I think there might have to be some kind of a compromise. I haven't
looked into that issue or talked too much about that. I don't know (Interview, 1999).
HERB JOE: I don't know if we should reject the Charter of Rights. I, personally, would say
that, no, we shouldn't reject the Charter of Rights. We should make every possible attempt to
understand the Charter of Rights and its implications to the St6:16 people and if we could
become more aware of how it will impact on our people we can prepare our own political
leaders. We can prepare our own educators to take into account when teaching our younger
people. So, reject it, no. Take it as a part of an educational process, yes (Interview, 1999).
There is an interesting array of responses to the question of whether St6:16 Nation should
be able to reject, in whole or in part, the Charter. This is probably indicative of the variety of
~

that would come from the community, as a whole, if the St6:16 community was

surveyed for their response to this question. There were two "no" responses, one "yes", one
position of "compromise", and three (Gwen Point, Jo-ann Archibald, and Herb Joe) suggestions
that further study of these issues are needed. The form of further study that Gwen Point
articulates is for issues like this to go to the St6:16 people for feedback on the issue. Jo-ann

77

Archibald's suggestion is to define, in St6:l6 terms, what "rights" and "responsibilities" means,
while the study that Herb Joe recommends is to study how the Charter may affect St6 :l6 people
and then educate St6 :16 people about these possible affects. Obviously, there is plenty of room
for further exploration in this area.
Overall, there was unanimity in responses as far as the holistic nature of the winter dance,
its integral place in St6:l6 society, that the Charter has potential to change the nature ofthe
winter dance, and that the Charter should not apply to the longhouse. On the other hand, when
queried whether the Charter should apply to the St6:16 community there were diverse responses,
suggesting that there may be a difference of context between the Charter applying to the
longhouse and to the community. Why such a big difference between the responses given for the
longhouse and those given for the St6:16 community as a whole?
Those St6:16 members interviewed preferred that the longhouse be kept Charter free
because it is a very private, spiritual place where St6:l6 identity is reaffirmed and healing of
St6:16 members takes place. This institution is very private, is very distinctly St6:l6, and the
St6:l6 want to keep it that way. This is probably the reason why there tends to be a negative
response from Aboriginal people who are aware of the Thomas v. Norris case, including the
winter dance peoples who actually went through this court case. This Aboriginal nation was
unsuccessful in "proving" that the winter dances are an Aboriginal right. This left the winter
dances wide open to the discrimination of"equality" that is built into the justice system,
particularly through the Charter. The winter dances should be an Aboriginal right as this is a
"between" group issue and because it has not been determined to be an Aboriginal right yet,
leaves winter dance issues open to the Canadian value of"equality". This Canadian conception

78

of equality means that the winter dance peoples are to exhibit the same cultural values that those
in Canadian society do, thereby, not allowing for difference.
As far as the Charter applying to the everyday community life of the St6:16, this is where
there were more diverse responses. It is not surprising that the responses were more varied
when referring to St6:16 society being governed by the Charter as this would likely be the nature
of the responses if this question was put to the St6:16 community as a whole. As was pointed
out in the literature, there does tend to be varied opinions amongst Aboriginal peoples with
regard to the application of the Charter to their communities. There were three responses that
indicated that this area needs more study which also lends insight into the individual variance of
responses as these interviewees would prefer to make an informed decision.
It is speculated here that another reason for the difference of opinions may be because
this aspect oflife is, by necessity, a more bi-cultural existence because the St6:16 are interacting
with Canadian institutions on a daily basis in their lives. Gwen Point also brought up the fact
that there are Euro-Canadian people that are married into St6:16 Nation which makes it a more
complicated issue to alter, discard, or replace the Charter (Gwen Point, personal communication,
July 13, 1999). This may be a situation where the community would have to be consulted to
determine whether or not the Charter should be applicable to St6:16 Nation.
The responses are an indication that the issue of whether the Charter should or should
not apply to St6:16 Nation, as a society, requires more study and needs to be brought to the
people. Further study is needed at the community level, particularly with regard to the Charter
being the law for the St6:16 community. It is also at this level that it could be very challenging to
develop a more culturally appropriate charter because then the community would be barraged

79

with dilemmas such as, 'which law prevails in interactions between a Euro-Canadian and a St6 :16
person? ', whereas, it would be less complex to have St6:l6 law governing the longhouse because
it typically is only St6 :16 people who are in any way involved with the longhouse. Over time,
solutions to these issues could be arrived at by the St6 :l6 community.
Much work in the area of St6 :l6 justice is being carried out today as Joe Aleck explains:
Right now, I'm in the House ofElders in the St6:l6 government and I'm the
Elders representative and also in the House of Justice we are trying to get
together our traditional system of justice by forming our own police force,
our own court system, and, above all, to resolve some disputes within our
families and communities by putting together a family group conference or
some people say circle sentencing. It is more like a family group conferencing
where our people, even long time ago, gathered and bring the victim and the
offender together and their families to resolve things so that there's a 'win, win'
situation, not 'lose, win'. But, the victim will be given something in return or
supported by the offender and their families and so that, hopefully, that all the
people that speak, whether its chiefs, Elders, families, to respond to the offender
to say what he has done is not our traditional way ofliving. So it works
together (Interview, 1999).
Hopefully, this good work will continue so that the St6:l6 Nation can, eventually, take on more
of its own justice issues. It is particularly the internal, or within group, justice issues where it
would be most beneficial to have the people resolve their own conflicts amongst themselves in a
culturally relevant manner. This is one key to the St6:16 Nation becoming a stronger,
autonomous, and productive community.
Conclusion
This learning journey has been fruitful as the dissonance I experienced when reading
about the Thomas v. No"is case has been explored. I now know that there were valid reasons
for this reaction I was experiencing. My sense was, and still is, based on the fact that this
Canadian court assumed authority over a longhouse issue. Since the winter dances are like the

80

cultural soul of the winter dance nations, there are strict protocols, such as privacy codes, around
them and, to date, the only party "privileged" to be above and beyond these protocols is the
Canadian state and its courts. The Canadian court publicly questioned the people of the
Aboriginal nation involved in this case about the details of the winter dances and the initiation
that took place in the case. The court ruled that the people of the longhouse were wrong in the
way they dealt with the initiate. Certainly, there could be a more culturally appropriate system of
justice to handle the affairs of the longhouses.
My stance regarding the Thomas v. No"is case was validated through this study when
the responses to my questions that I asked the St6:lo interviewees were given. None of the
interviewees felt that the Charter should be applicable to the longhouses, while, interestingly,
there were a variety of responses when I queried whether the Charter should be applicable to the
St6:lo Nation as a community. This difference in answers suggests that these St6:lo interviewees
hold the winter dances in high regard and that closer examination of how justice issues that
involve the winter dances may need to be a part of the solution to justice issues that pertain to
the winter dances. These responses by the interviewees validated my feelings about the Thomas

v. No"is case because the source of my discomfort with the case centered around the fact that
the winter dances are distinctly Sto:lo and, through the precedent set in the Thomas v. No"is
case, I felt uncomfortable with the Canadian courts' authority over them. If the St6:16 Nation
have the authority to mediate issues specific to the winter dances, the winter dances can continue
to be revived and evolve under the direction of the St6:lo. This way the respect and reverence
around the winter dances can be maintained because resolving conflicts that involve the winter

81

dances could be carried out in a more culturally appropriate manner and the public aspect of it
could be contained more to the St6:16 community.
Clearly, the winter dances are an institution where the St6:16 holistic world view is
perpetuated. It is expressed by the St6:16 interviewees that the individualism of Canadian law
could affect the holistic aspect of the winter dances because of the emphasis on individualism and
the gulfthat is created between the disputants because only one party "wins" in these courts.
The St6:16 Nation, in utilizing its own justice system, particularly with regard to the winter
dances, would base this system on the values ofthe St6:16 culture. The value of responsibility
derives from the holistic world view; therefore, implementing this "tool" of St6:16 justice would
enable the St6:16 to more easily maintain this world view.
St6:16 conceptions of how individuality and the collective nature of society work have
similarities and differences with Euro-Canadian society. The St6:16 utilize the concept of
responsibility in conjunction with autonomy or individuality in a way that the St6:16 culture,
ideally, encourages responsibility in individuals in order that they will exercise their autonomy in
a responsible manner. This ensures harmony within the collectivity. The Euro-Canadian concept
of rights does not accomplish this St6:16 cultural task as it gives autonomy or individuality as a
right.
The Canadian court is a fundamental institution that represents the values ofEuroCanadian society. Euro-Canadian society values individualism more highly and expresses it in a
different way than St6:16 society. With the Canadian courts handing down decisions that favour
either individual or collective rights, St6:16 Nation is in a position where it is likely that there will
be further cases that rule in the favour of individual rights to the detriment of the collective

82

functioning ofthe St6 :16 community. In essence, the Canadian courts are replacing the collective
powers ofthe St6:16 community with Euro-Canadian laws because, in a sense, the St6 :16
collective is the law. It is critical that St6 :16 Nation mediate these kind of justice issues that
pertain to internal St6:16 issues in order for the St6 :16 Nation to be the authority in how the
St6:16 culture evolves. The winter dance nation involved in the Thomas v. Norris case should
have handled this case, as it would have allowed this nation to find a solution on its own
regarding how it manages its internal situations in these fast changing times. Euro-Canadian
society has had the freedom to adjust its laws to changing times. Aboriginal nations, particularly
considering the colonial disruptions to their cultures, require the same latitude and tolerance to
adjust to changing times.
This study is important because it serves as a contribution to the literature done on
Aboriginal issues by Aboriginal people. It also provides some data regarding St6:16 concerns
about the cultural protection of the winter dances, which is very timely in these times of modem
treaty-making. Every culture has its institutions that are considered to be the pinnacles of its
society and the health of these key institutions are almost a marker of the health and vitality of
the culture of that people. Many of these cultures are fortunate enough to possess the selfdetermining powers to forge ahead and create systems and laws to protect their cultures and the
institutions that help maintain those cultures. Issues that pertain to the winter dances are very
important to the St6:16 people because this institution is like the cultural soul of the St6:16
community. Just as any person may question the right of another society to assume authority
over their cultural institutions, and out of a concern about the state of the St6:16 holistic world
view, my hope here is to move beyond the debate in the literature that tends to center around

83

whether the court decision in the Thomas v. Norris case was right or wrong and begin
questioning how Canadian law may impact on aspects of St6 :l6 culture. Ifl succeed in starting
some debate around this issue, I will consider this paper to have completed its goal.

84

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2 C.N.L.R. 139 (B.C.S.C.).

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Interviews
Aleck, Joe
Personal interview, 11 April 1999.
Archibald, Jo-ann
Personal interview, 17 May 1999.
Joe, Herb
Personal interview, 12 April 1999
McHalsie, Albert "Sonny"
Personal interview, 22 February 1999.
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Point, Gwen
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~ Water
St6:lo Nation Member
Non St6:1o Nation Member

Map - Courtesy of Sto:lo Natios

D St6:1o Traditional Territory

D

-

/ \ / Streams

Legend

Created by the St6:1o Nation,
AR&T Department,
Leeanna Rhodes, GIS Technician
Laura Fowler, GIS Technician
July 20,1999

The purpose of this map it to provide an overview
of the First Nation Communities in the St6:1o
Traditional Territory.

Annendix A