Tribes near Ketchikan submitted evidence Jan. 30 to the Canadian and British Columbia governments that they hope will give them a voice in transboundary mining discussions.
“The border that transects these transboundary rivers is a completely false construct. Nothing in nature respects that line on the map – the water, the salmon, the people, the wildlife, nothing respects that. What happens in the upper reaches of these trans boundary rivers will impact our tribes, our communities, and our tribal citizens,” said Guy Archibald, SEITC’s executive director.
Tazia W’ally Sthaathi Ta Wagner, a member of the Wolf Clan in Metlakatla, testified that she grew up harvesting hooligan, moose and king salmon on the Unuk and plans to protect that cultural right. Earthjustice, the organization representing the tribal commission, has also brought a case against the Canadian government alleging that their refusal to consult with Alaska Native Tribes on large-scale mining development is an international human rights violation. The claim was“This isn’t a new right. I mean, these are rights that go back millennia,” said Earthjustice attorney Ramin Pejan.
Then, a door opened back in 2021. That door was the Desautel case – an Indigenous American citizen tried in Canada’s courts for killing an elk in British Columbia without a hunting license. The defendant lived on a reservation in Washington and argued that he was exercising his aboriginal right to hunt in the traditional territory of his ancestors. Archibald explained that the case forced the Canadian Supreme Court to ask a central question.