The BC treaty process employs a model of claims negotiation new in the Canadian experience. Contrary to long-standing federal claims policy, treaties are being settled in areas where multiple indigenous groups lay claim to the same territory. Drawing on theories of human territoriality, critical legal geography, and indigenous geography, this thesis examines the indigenous socio-spatial identities at work within (and beyond) the BC treaty process, the spatial dimensions of aboriginal rights as articulated by Canadian courts, and BC Supreme Court actions that have arisen because of overlapping claims. Two overarching goals of the BC treaty process are to achieve certainty of jurisdiction and to avoid aboriginal rights litigation. This thesis concludes that insufficient Crown and judicial engagement with the issue of overlapping claims undermines both of these goals. --P. ii.
In Canada, First Nations rights and title to lands and resources have been recognized however, reconciliation of land use conflicts has proven difficult. Co-management is emerging as a potential process for sharing authority between First Nations and others, though evaluative tools are required. This thesis builds on research by UNBC and Tl'azt'en Nation on adaptive forest co-management of the John Prince Research Forest. Through a case study, it presents a method for working with local First Nations to develop measures of co-management success. The method engages 'local experts' through a modified Nominal Group Technique, with an iterative, participatory approach. Results include a set of locally-defined measures on cultural revitalization, characteristics of effective Tl'azt'en measures, and a method evaluation. The method successfully engaged participants in generating effective measures, and constructive participant feedback was received. Implementation of a monitoring program by the John Prince Research Forest is required prior to complete evaluation.
This study examines the potential of Dakelh place-names as a tool for educating Tl'azt'en children and youth about the Tl'azt'en ancestral past, the Dakelh language and places on the land that have sustained Tl'azt'enne for generations. --P.i.
With the affirmation of Indigenous rights and title the jurisdiction over the management of natural resources within First Nations' territories has come into question. This thesis draws on the experience of two coastal Indigenous communities and the non-Indigenous community of Alert Bay to examine current marine management regimes and work towards establishing new ones. Local community experts are interviewed to determine their views on how marine resources within the Broughton Archipelago should be managed. Five major themes are identified by community experts as pivotal to the establishment of a new community-based marine management regime including: (1) trust building, (2) capacity, (3) power, (4) politics and (5) funding. To address these themes the extensive literature on collaborative management regimes is consulted and local and international examples of collaborative management are scrutinized. A place specific Community-based Adaptive Co-management planning framework, designed to address key themes raised by community members while incorporating traditional and contemporary principles and practice, is presented. --P. i.
Throughout the 1800s and the 1900s, woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) disappeared from the upper Nechako lowlands of the interior of British Columbia, and herds in the surrounding mountain ranges contracted. Conversely, moose (Alces alces) populations expanded during the 1900s and rapidly colonized former caribou habitat. Using historical-ecological methods of research and Geographic Information System (GIS) software, I documented caribou and moose historical distribution and abundance, and examined the causative mechanisms that led to caribou decline. I gathered historical information from four sources: 1) secondary literature 2) semi-structured interviews with aboriginal and non-aboriginal elders 3) journals of the Hudson's Bay Company of Fort St. James 4) other written primary sources. The findings of this study provide evidence of greater historical distribution and abundance of caribou, and confirm the value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge of First Nations (TEK) and of long-term historical perspectives for the study of ecological changes over time. --P. ii.
Henri Lefebvre has suggested that through social practices which visualize, administer, and use lands and resources, a society produces the space in which it operates. He emphasized the heterogeneity of social space and argued that it is a group's political power which determines its ability to influence the production of space. Historical geographers have described the means by which Europeans created new geographies in British Columbia, but little attention has been paid to the role Native people may have played in the production of space. There is a need to recognize pre- and post-contact Native spatiality and its influence on the legal and social spaces of British Columbia. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in central British Columbia, the territory of the Tl'azt'en people was a social and political landscape. Gradually Euro-Canadian visualization, administration and uses of land and resources were superimposed on Tl'azt'en space. Yet Tl'azt'en spatiality was never totally erased. As a result, Tl'azt'en territory can neither be viewed as a space which reflects purely the Tl' azt'en, nor purely the EuroCanadian, production of space. Instead the territory is made up of shared spaces and hybrid spaces which resulted from the interaction of Tl' azt' en and Euro-Canadian societies. The Tl'azt'en's ability to influence the production of space varied with their political power but never completely disappeared. The potential continued to exist for Tl ' azt' en spatiality to influence the production of space in their territory if they gained more political power. The social processes involved in the production of space are perhaps most visible when two parties are negotiating the allocation and management of lands and resources. In the 1970s the Tl' azt'en were engaged in negotiations with the Pacific Great Eastern/British Columbia Railway and the Provincial Government over the construction of a railway through their traditional territory. The Tl' azt'en used their Indian Reserve rights and threats of blockades to create a political space in which they could engage the Government in negotiations over the administration of lands and resources in their territory. The parties reached an agreement by which the Tl'azt'en acquired thirty-five new reserves and a Tree Farm License. Through these negotiations Tl'azt'en social and economic goals were inscribed to a significant degree within the spatial organization of the territory. Like current treaty negotiations, the negotiations between the Provincial Government and the Tl' azt' en in the 1970s involved compromises by both parties, and resulted in the creation of new hybrid social spaces which reflected the goals and strategies of both groups.
First Nations' participation in resource development projects is continuously changing. Some would argue that it is improving the situation for First Nations and their communities, while others would argue that First Nations still lack meaningful decision-making regarding the land on which we live. This thesis focuses on ways in which First Nations, more specifically the Tahltan First Nation, might improve consultation processes with government, industry, as well as internal consultation between leadership and membership. In undertaking this research, I show the Tahltan how a completed First Nation (Heiltsuk Nation) land use plan might raise and address the kinds of issues being discussed in Tahltan communities. My hope is that this research will better inform the Tahltan, and potentially other First Nations, on the role and the potential benefits of a land use plan. --P. 2.
