We live by our traditional systems of governance that sustain us and our lands and resources, as they have for thousands of years. Our society governs all forms of environmental, social and political relations through a sophisticated system of traditional laws, as is our traditional way. It is from this proud history that Tla’amin derives our inherent right to self-government. All of our economic and political systems, along with our spirituality, are based on our relationship with the land, air, and waters.
Treaty Summary
Since 1876, Aboriginal rights have been governed by the “Indian Act” imposed upon indigenous peoples by the separate colonies of British North America prior to confederation.
“The purpose of the act, as stated by its drafters, was to administer Indian affairs in such a way that Indian people would feel compelled to renounce their Indian status and join Canadian civilization as a full members: a process called enfranchisement.” Wikipedia
In 1994 Tla’amin Nation entered the BC Treaty Process with the Province of British Columbia and the Government of Canada. In 2016 the Tla’amin Treaty came into effect.
“Since the beginning of time, our people have lived on the lands that the Creator provided for our ancestors.”
After more than 20 years of treaty negotiations with the Provincial and Federal Government, all parties reached agreement on the essential elements of the Tla’amin Final Agreement which was signed in the Spring of 2014.
The treaty went into effect on April 5th, 2016 and Sliammon became the self-governing Tla’amin Nation.
Tla’amin Final Agreement
The Road to Tla’amin Treaty
Twenty-two years to ʔaʔǰɩnxʷegəs: The Road to the Tla’amin Treaty
In 1994, Sliammon First Nation filed a Statement of Intent with the BC Treaty Commission, the formal first step into a process that would take more than two decades to complete. By 1996 the Nation had moved through the early negotiation stages, and for years after that, talks continued table by table on land, resources, and self-government.
The first major vote came in 2001, on an agreement in principle. It fell short, 51 percent to 49. Negotiators went back to work, and in June 2003, an agreement in principle was signed by Sliammon, Canada, and BC. This time it held.
The Nation then turned to building the institutions treaty would require. In October 2009, 70 percent of voters ratified the Tla’amin Constitution, the governing document that would guide the Nation once the Indian Act no longer applied. That same period saw the Nation deepen its economic development work.
On June 9, 2010, federal, provincial, and Tla’amin negotiators reached agreement on the essential elements of the Final Agreement. The three parties initialled the document the following year, on October 21, 2011, closing out the technical and legal negotiations.
Community members voted on the Final Agreement in the summer of 2012, and on July 10, they approved it. The BC Legislature ratified the Tla’amin Final Agreement Act on March 14, 2013, and the deal received royal assent. The three parties completed signing on April 11, 2014. Parliament passed the federal settlement legislation soon after, receiving royal assent on June 19, 2014.
The treaty came into effect on April 5, 2016. Sliammon First Nation became Tla’amin Nation that day, a self-governing treaty nation no longer administered under the Indian Act. As Hegus John Hackett has put it, the room in 2014 was full of people who wanted certainty, but the Nation had to trust that perfect was the enemy of the good.
What was signed was part settlement and part to-do list, with grey areas the Elders knew would need tending over time.
That trust is also written into the treaty’s name. During the last round of amendments, the Tla’amin Treaty was renamed ʔaʔǰɩnxʷegəs, meaning a good relationship. Ten years in, the Nation continues to work through that relationship’s unfinished business, one agreement at a time.
Final Agreement Fact Sheets