AQ by the Issue
Winter 2025
Sacred Places v. Ski Resorts: Skwelkwek'welt, Sutikalh and Qat'muk.
The Petition of January 3, 1995, for an independent and impartial Standing Committee.
Defense of Meares Island: in March 1985, a provincial logging license in the heart of Nuu-chah-nulth territory was the subject of a court injunction.
The 1825 Anglo-Russian Treaty of St. Petersburgh, Concerning the Northwest Coast of America.
More: Sto:lo Chiefs snub the Queen’s Birthday Party in New Westminster, 1875; the Nielsen Report, 1985; the secret Christmas Potlatch 1921 in Kwakwala territory.
Fall 2024
"Modern day" extinguishment settlements; the Native Claims Policy of 1973 continues; Hunting Aboriginal rights, featuring legacy hunting cases;
looking into 20 years of "consultation and accommodation" since the Haida and Taku decisions came out of the Supreme Court of Canada in November 2004; facing the findings of Inquiries into MMIWG; much more.
Summer 2024
Summer 2024
Investigating the armed Highway Toll at Bonaparte, Secwepemc, in 1974, through 8 decades of housing crisis on-reserve.
Celebrating women's lifelong work to take back Indian Status, and control of membership and benefits for Indigenous nations.
How the feds sued women for their Indian Status.
Tracking the Tsilhqot'in title case, after ten years since the first Supreme Court of Canada Declaration of Aboriginal title.
The Native Peoples' Caravan 1974; march on the legislature; Kelowna Accord; much more.
And a special feature on the first year of BC's Indigenous-focused grad requirement - a profile of one class that thrived.
Spring 2024
Summer 2024
The Nanaimo hunting case, 1964,
that brought treaty and title into BC courts; honouring the resistance to the Indian Reserve Commissions; rejecting British Columbia's "Land Act", and more.
Introducing Archive Quarterly
Introducing Archive Quarterly
This publication is the unexpected result of a project that began investigating the ongoing legacy of Indigenous “roadblocks”
in British Columbia.
Special Issues
Introducing Archive Quarterly
Taking a much closer look at the Canadian courts' development of their colonial tool "Aboriginal Title" - coming this Summer.
Examining the continual displacement of Indigenous jurisdiction over their own Children and Families - coming in December.
This Spring and Summer: the Non-Status Indian era, and an investigation into the federal government's devastating impact on salmon.
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This journal, rising up from The West Wasn't Won archive project, offers a curated collection of original docs, interviews, maps and timelines focusing on the legacies that affect us today, west of the Rocky Mountains.
Archive Quarterly - Winter 2025
Features
Sacred Places v. Ski Resorts
Skwelkwek’welt, Sútikalh, Qat’muk, and other favourite spiritual resorts have been protected from development by reoccupations, litigation, and widespread mobilization. The Spirit Homes have been protected at a cost of mass arrests, real and threatened violence, global travel, and community solidarity from the grassroots to the Chief and Council.
Skwelkwek’welt: Kanahus Manuel recalls coming of age in the conflict at Sun Peaks.
With a press release from 2004, samples of media, and a statement by Arthur Manuel’s NGO on economic racism effected by the cooperation of courts, police, and developers. Page 18
Sútikalh: The late Rosalin Sam explained the significance of a place for healing and training, especially in light of the need for healing, in her personal experience. Page 28
Qat’muk: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that development of a resort municipality in the upper reaches of Ktunaxa territory was a justifiable infringement of religious practice. In 2019, the federal government bought out the developer to co-manage the 50km area.
With an excerpt from the 2017 Court ruling, and text of the Qat’muk Declaration, 2010. Page 32
Petition of January 3, 1995
Text of the 30-year-old application to “an independent and impartial Standing Committee with juridical jurisdiction over boundary disputes between the Indians’ Hunting Grounds and the Crown Governments’ Public Lands.”
With a 1997 interview given by Bruce Clark; on accessing the British crown legally.
USA v. Pitawanakwat, 2000, which successfully relied in part on the Petition to deny extradition.
Defense of Meares Island, Nuu-chah-nulth
In March 1985, the first court injunction against logging, in favour of Aboriginal rights, was granted – and remains in place for a forty-year adjournment of the case.
Excerpt: the BC Court of Appeal ruling, in Martin and Mullin, which pointed out “The fact that there is an issue between the Indians and the province based on Aboriginal claims should not come as a surprise to anyone.” 40 years later, there’s a Tribal park and, still no surprise, no land title resolved in favour of the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Imperial BC in 1825
Treaty of St. Petersburg: The stunning text of the Anglo-Russian Convention on “the Limits of Their Possessions on the Northwest Coast of America and the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean”
Timeline of the Imperial Race for control of trade routes in the Pacific Northwest and access to the Indigenous sovereigns, fur traders, and brokers of inland commerce.
Alaska Native Nations intervene at United Nations human rights processes.
Secret Christmas Potlatch 1921
Indian Agents in Kwakwala territory raided the homes of participants, seizing food, blankets, sewing machines, worth $10,000, and some 600 ceremonial artifacts. People were arrested for singing and gifting; charged and detained in Oakalla Prison to serve sentences up to six months.
More:
Sto:lo Chiefs snub the Queen’s Birthday Party in New Westminster, 1875, with a candid letter telling the government to give back the money for the dinner.
First Nations Leadership Council turns 20, along with the “New Relationship.”
The Comprehensive Claims Policy migrates from “extinguishment” to “recognition and reconciliation of rights” without changing the “cede, release, and surrender” component of settlements. The 2019 policy changes… don’t change that.
44 pages
8.5x11, black and white
ISBN 978-1-7387902-7-2
Archive Quarterly - Fall 2024
Features
Hunting Aboriginal Rights
Inventing “uncertainty”: Canada’s Supreme Court consistently side-stepped the question of Aboriginal rights to hunt, refusing to hear legal questions put before them, and turning the constitutional question into matters of compliance with the BC Wildlife Act.
Legacy Cases reviewed; Excerpts from decisions in the years-long trials of Francis Haines, Tsilhqot’in, “Old” Jimmie Dennis of Tahltan, and Arthur Dick of Secwepemc.
Inquiries: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – An overview and timeline of reports by the Organization of American States’ IACHR; British Columbia’s Inquiry; Canada’s National Inquiry; and the report by Human Rights Watch. International inquiries at the UN treaty body level continue with concerns about the disproportionate disappearance and murder of Indigenous women - and the lack of investigation.
“Modern day” Extinguishment Policy
Tracking the transformation of the Native title and rights identified in the 1973 Calder case, into the Native Claims Policy that mobilizes negotiations to achieve “extinguishment by consent.” Through changing definitions and increasing funding, the Policy has not responded to advances made in courts and harsh international criticism.
20 years since “Consultation” and “accommodation”
Two cases of consultation and accommodation were decided together in the Supreme Court of Canada in November of 2004: Haida and Taku. With timelines leading to that litigation.
Reflections on change over the last two decades, with President Gaagwiis of Haida.
That Day in Court: comments from Victor Guerin about the 1984 case named for his father, Chief of Musqueam, and the first definitions of the duty to consult.
Department of Justice, memo: Re. Crown Consultation with Aboriginal Groups
Implementation of the procedural right to be consulted, since 2004, has been “characterized by bad faith, bias, incompetence, unprofessionalism, and errors of fact, law and jurisdiction so numerous” that litigation has proliferated.
More:
Sovereignty Peoples Information Network explained why they wouldn’t want a treaty with Canada anyway, in their response to the United Nations’ survey of treaties and constructive arrangements between states and Indigenous Peoples in 1994.
Hudson’s Bay Company Governor Simpson arrives in the west, 1824. The Company’s plan was always more than trade, and brought the first Christian Missionaries to carry it out.
56 pages
8.5 x 11
Black and white
ISBN 978¬1¬7387902¬6¬5
Electromagnetic Print
Archive Quarterly - Summer 2024
Features
Bonaparte Highway Toll, 1974 - A new investigation of the summer blockade of Highway 12, at Two Springs, Secwepemc. With new interviews and a compilation of reports from the time, the coverage leads into a wider background for a detailed Timeline of the on-reserve housing crisis.
Ten years since Title – Reviewing the Declaration of Aboriginal title in "Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC" - with interviews, a book review of “Lha Yudit’ih ~ We Always Find A Way,” by Lorraine Weir and Chief Roger William; maps of the title area; a Timeline of the case; and a narration of the title case's progress through the courts, from Lha Yudit’ih.
Celebrating fifty years of Native Women's Associations across Canada! Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell joins us to discuss her legendary case to regain Indian Status after sexist provisions in the Indian Act withdrew it.
And: Grandmothers Healing Journey, with photos of the Fraser River canoe trip; and excerpts from the Indian Act as its amendments impacted women and children's right to Indian Status.
First Class - Indigenous-focused graduation requirement - One year into BC's Indigenous education mandate for secondary students, a class profile with one course made in Sto:lo that thrived.
More: 20 years since the Kelowna Accord; the first ever report of the Department of Indian Affairs (Minister of the Interior) in 1874; and a look at the "biggest demonstration in BC history" - Indigenous march on Victoria Legislature, June 25, 1974.
44 pages
8.5x11, black and white
ISBN 978¬1¬7387902¬4¬1
Journal of the west wasn’t won archive project
Electromagnetic Print
Archive Quarterly - Spring 2024
Features
The 1964 treaty, title, and rights hunting case - White and Bob (Snuneymuxw/Nanaimo), with news from the time; an interview of that day in court with Kitty Sparrow; an excerpt from the Respondents Factum; the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision without a hearing; and circumstances at Fort Victoria from “The Smallpox War Against the Haida,” by Dr. Tom Swanky.
1874 BC Lands Act and the Attorney General of Canada’s disallowance of the Province’s unconstitutional assumption of jurisdiction to legislate and dispose of lands in unceded Indian territories.
Petition of the Douglas Tribes, 1874 – Chiefs of a hundred communities report Governor James Douglas’ broken promises of lands to be reserved for them against white settlement; conditions of life; and demands for judicial settlement.
Allied Tribes protest the Indian Reserve Commission of BC, 1924, by Petition to Ottawa to reject the Commission’s final report. Having cut off 80% of good arable land from the remaining, small Indian Reserves which survived Joseph Trutch’s arbitrary reductions, the McKenna-McBride Commission of 1912-14 added rocky barren lands to parcels that amounted to less than one percent per-person of lands that were given away to settlers by pre-emption.
“The Fourth World ~ An Indian Reality," by George Manuel and Michael Posluns. A review of the 1974 book that exposes the four signal threats to Indigenous Peoples: the Priest, the Game Warden, the Doctor, and the Indian Agent. Sharing stunning reports of sharp dealing in federal and provincial schemes, while Native Community Development Officers (of which Grand Chief Manuel was one) promoted political responses.
More: BC’s 2024 attempted amendments to its Lands Act; what Canada’s UNDRIP Act actually says; the Potlatch Laws of 1884. 1949 re-print from The Native Voice, re Status Indian right to vote in provincial elections
40 pages, 8.5x11
Black and white
ISBN: 978¬1¬7387902¬3¬4
Electromagnetic Print
Special Issues
TITLE
Contents
Introduction:
Title
The Indigenous Territories
Fort Government
The Governor’s Picnic and the Chilcotin War
The Indian Reserves
Oakalla
The Void Off-reserve
Case Summaries concerning Aboriginal Title & Rights:
White and Bob, 1964-65, and Calder, 1969-73
Paulette et al v. The Queen, 1977 to R. v. Haines, 1978
Baker Lake v. Minister of Indian Affairs, 1980, to CPL v. Paul, 1988
R. v. Sparrow, 1990, to Delgamuukw & Gisdayway v. The Queen, 1991
Ryan v. Ft. St. James Forest District M’ger, 1994, to R. v. Côté, 1996
R. v. Pena et al, 1997, to Delgamuukw & Gisdayway v. The Queen, 1997
Halfway River v. BC, 1998, to Paul v. BC, Forest Commission, 2003
Haida Nation v. BC, 2004, to R. v. Marshall; R. v. Bernard, 2005
Cook v. BC Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, 2007, to West Moberly v. BC, 2011
Tsilhqot’in Nation v. BC, 2014, to Gamlaxyeltxw v. BC, 2020
Nuu-chah-nulth v. BC, 2021, to Nuchatlaht v. BC, 2023
Contrasting Titles:
Comparing the colonial court’s definitions of “Aboriginal title” to the declarations of title made by Indigenous Nations.
Declarations:
Indigenous Nations state their titles. Excerpts from the historical texts.
Summary:
Denial
Recognition and Extinguishment
Burdens of Proof
Adversaries in the Court Room
“Interpretation” and “ultimately by negotiation”
Innocent Third Parties
Good Faith, Bad Faith
Duress and Consent
No deed, no surrender. No consent, no jurisdiction.
Exhaustion of the Domestic Remedy
International Intervention
Timeline:
A chronology of events concerning the expression of Land Title and Jurisdiction west of the Rocky Mountains
STATUS
Contents
Introduction:
The Indian Department
The Registrar
An Act for the Gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes 1857
Enfranchisement
Indian Act 1876
Indian Agents
The Little Brown Book
A Century of Forced Displacement:
On Family Lands – but not on-reserve
The Void
BC Association for Non-Status Indians, 1969
Native Women’s Associations, 1970s
United Native Nations, 1976
BC Native Housing, 1978
National Association of Indian Friendship Centres, 1950s
Citizenship, 1951 Indian Act
The Double Mother Rule
Taxation without Representation
Restoration of Indian Status; Erosion of Band Power:
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982
Bill C-31, 1985, and reinstatement without compensation
Erosion of Band powers to confer Status
Increased Population; static Reserve Boundaries
Charlottetown Accord 1992
Individual Cases concerning Indian Status:
Yvonne Bedard
Jeanette Lavell
Sandra Lovelace
Batchewana v Corbiere
Powley
Harry Daniels
Sharon McIvor
Descheneaux
Summary
Indigenous Control of Indigenous Citizenship
The Right to Nationality
Self-Determination
Traditional Authorities
Roads to Restitution
SALMON
Following the commodification of salmon by a colony designed to export food and resources.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Newcomer fisheries Commissions were tearing out Indigenous selective weir fisheries in headwater streams, while dumping barge loads of unprocessed salmon at the entrance to the Fraser - when they ran out of cans to pack them in.
Conflict and criminalization of Indigenous fisheries is a century-long, ongoing clash of values between Native and Newcomer.
This Special Issue tracks a cycle of conditional government recognition and partial accommodation, amid headwater to saltwater Indigenous Peoples' commissions and cooperation and competition.
Featuring:
Band Fishing Bylaws On-reserve
Territorial Fisheries Commissions
Inter-Tribal Fishing Treaty
BC Aboriginal Peoples Fisheries Commission
and
Government Reports: Pearse-McRae; Toy; Cohen; more
and
Winning the Aboriginal right to fish:
Sparrow, van derPeet, Gladstone, Smokehouse, Ahousaht, Lax Kwalaams, Nuu-chah-nulth, Thomas
and
Government Accommodation Programs:
A1 License Buybacks
Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy
Community Fishing Licenses
Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Oceans Management
PICFI
Pacific Salmon Commission
and
the duty to protect the resource
and
Mandated Negotiations v. Indigenous Peoples' Rights...
Introducing AQ ~ journal of The West Wasn't Won
EMP
Welcome to Electromagnetic Print, where you'll find books that resonate in arts, politics, memoir, community and identity.