Seven Oaks Magazine.

As hundreds of thousands gather in New York to protest the Republican National Convention at the end of August, a smaller and less historic but perhaps more profound convergence will be taking place in the interior of British Columbia. More profound in its demands. More profound in representing over 500 years of struggle.

Sun Peaks resort and Delta Hotels are built on Secwepemc territories that have never been ceded or surrendered. Land and Water BC disregarded the opposition to expansion expressed by the Secwepemc in stakeholder meetings and in June 2001 obtained a court injunction to forcibly remove them from their homelands. The Skwekwelk’welt Protection Center, at the resort’s entrance, claims aboriginal title and rights. For this exercise of rights, 54 arrests with charges ranging from criminal contempt and intimidation by blocking a road to resisting arrest have been made.

In honour of this front-line struggle for land, a convergence is being organized on Secwepemc territories on August 28-29. Hundreds will travel from Vancouver and surrounding areas to escalate the fight against state and corporate occupation.

FIGHTING CORPORATE COLONIALISM: SUN PEAKS AND DELTA HOTELS

Empire-building and colonization have sprouted other more seemingly-benign heads, more subtle, yet as violent and vicious — nationalism, terrorism, and the project of corporate globalization. The state and its corporate arm have increasingly acted in sync to protect the interests of the elite. Whether on a local, national or global level, the assault on genuine democracy and markets are intrinsically related. Their roots lie in the power of corporate entities that are totalitarian and increasingly interlinked and reliant on powerful governments.

For four years, Sun Peaks resort, Delta Hotels and Nippon Cables have been pushing ahead with their expansion, “corporatizing the land that bears our medicines and plants, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the dreams we dream,” according to Janice Billy, spokesperson of Skwekwelk’welt Protection center. The $70 million expansion plan is mind-blowing: clear cut of a total of five mountains for ski runs, development on the drainage basin for commercial and residential real estate and expansion of a 9-hole golf course to an 18- hole golf course.

Sun Peaks developers even have a catchy slogan - Three Mountains, One Village- selling a dream of a community “from extreme to serene, Sun Peaks resort has it all. Our village is as versatile as you are.” Beneath the layers of advertising euphemisms is the deeper truth of dispossession. Meanwhile, in passing, a culture, a way of life, has been casually decimated.

And the absurdity continues: one of the three mountains has been renamed Sundance and one of the lodges at Sun Peaks is called Sundance lodge. Absurd because the siege of Gustafsen Lake in 1995 that the same Shushwap community was embroiled in involved protection of their sacred Sun Dance lands. In a trend that is becoming frighteningly familiar - the market continues to absorb its opposition.

The entire ski resort industry means greater destruction of mountain ecosystems, forests, fresh water, and animal habitats. The effects around Sun Peaks resort are already being felt. The expansion involves putting ski runs on the previously undisturbed Mt. Morrisey, destroying the vital mountain ecosystem. Mt. Morrisey, Todd and Sundance are all being cut, destroying vibrant animal habitats and damaging plant systems that provide berries and medicine for the Secwepemc community. Sun Peaks resort pollutes the water with weed-control chemicals for their golf course and with chemical and bacterial additives used to make artificial snow. Sun Peaks over-consumes water and energy to make this artificial snow (it takes 1/3 the energy of an average town to run a medium-sized ski area).

The Secwepemc assert that the current expansion of Sun Peaks Ski Resort will undermine their ability to exercise their inherent rights to land-use and occupancy and thus their Aboriginal title to the land. The federal and provincial governments have refused to acknowledge Aboriginal title and enter negotiations to establish co-jurisdiction despite legally binding decisions to do so. The government disregarded environmental and cultural impact studies performed by the Adams Lake and Neskonlith Indian Bands and refused to engage in consultation and meaningful discussion with the bands about the development. Notwithstanding the lack of consultation, the $70 million development plan began.

The Secwepemc community responded fearlessly to state and corporate occupation of their lands. The spirit at the Skwelkwek'welt Protection Center (set up in October 2000) is soul-stirring. Lone tents amidst sprawling golf courses and ski lifts. The blockades, the camps. These are not just protests for the sake of protesting. This is a community with ideas, with histories, with stories, with sufferings, with victories, and with visions. Remaining on the mountain despite police harassment, anger from tourists, and no near hope of victory. Victims, winners, survivors, fighters.

In November 2001, provincial Attorney General Geoff Plant terminated all discussions with the Secwepemc community, demanding that people vacate the camp located on traditional territories and return to the federal Indian reserve. In a letter dated November 2001 “people at Sun Peaks need the confidence that they can go on with their lives while we continue with our discussions.” Read: business as usual must continue. “The protestors have demonstrated that their manner of asserting rights requires that others be excluded from exercising theirs.”

A mockery considering that traditional land-users (i.e “the protestors”) have shared land in a spirit of co-existence since time immemorial. In fact more than a mockery, in a manner that reveals the blatant racism, Sun Peaks residents that assault Secwepemc defenders undergo no police investigation and are “justified” in asserting their rights to utilize their snowmobiles and perpetuate the processes of environmental devastation and cultural genocide.

In response Chief Arthur Manuel wrote, “It is unreasonable that you insist that we vacate our lands before you will even discuss our right to use and occupy our lands… Even these mass arrests will not deter us from using our Aboriginal title lands as we have from time immemorial. You may be able to use your police to grab and hand cuff our Elders, land-users and youth and haul them away. But you will not be able to keep them away from our land. They will return and all our people will return.”

After one year of failed attempts at negotiations with the province and Sun Peaks, the Secwepemc youth, Elders and land-users established a permanent log building on McGillvary Lake road near the resort. An extremely defiant step to move off the reserve and build and establish community on the traditional territories. Elders taught the youth hunting, fishing, recognizing plants and their uses, and building traditional structures such as sweatlodges, along with regular discussions on outstanding land issues.

On December 10, 2001 (ironically-or perhaps not- International Human Rights Day), Sun Peaks Resort demolished two sweatlodges along with the cordwood home of Native Youth Movement activist Nicole Manuel and her family. With the supervision of the government of British Columbia and with the blessing of the courts that ruled in favour of an injunction application presented by Sun Peaks Resort, hate crimes against religious and sacred sites were committed. In its place, freshly groomed ski trails.

Collusion between state and corporate interests is nowhere clearer than in the destruction of indigenous lands. The land at McGillvray Road was not under tenure by Sun Peaks in June 2001, they merely possessed a Controlled Recreation Agreement with the province of British Columbia. The first attempt at getting an injunction to remove peoples off their own land was unsuccessful. Two weeks later, the Crown land was transferred under a lease agreement to Sun Peaks (based on a hand-drawn sketch of the area and no legal description of the property) and an injunction issued to remove Secwepemc off their own lands. Two youth and two Elders (ages 75 years and 73 years old) were charged with criminal contempt when they refused to leave.

The process of criminalization continues: during the trial the defenders utilized the ‘colour of right’ defense stating that they believed they were not breaking the law because Sun Peaks is built on Secwepemc territories without their consent. To this Judge Sather ruled that their beliefs were beyond reason and bordering on ridiculous. (A similar judgement was passed down to political prisoner Wolverine during the trial of Gustafsen Lake)

Currently, over 15 Secwepemc defenders have court-ordered restrictions placed on them, ranging from 5 to 10 kilometre bans. One year later, when several youth and Elders returned to the McGillvray Lake area, under heavy police monitoring, one RCMP asked two men: “What race are you? Are you even human?” And perhaps more despairing is the silence around such atrocities. Indigenous peoples are being refused the inherent right to even walk on the land; Elders and youth are being smeared as terrorists; a movement is being ruthlessly crushed.

Yet the resistance continues -- the Secwepemc have developed a huge national and international support network (that puts all the city-slicker activists to shame), participated in United Nations Convention of Biodiversity discussions, made submissions to the United Nations Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, along with ongoing fundraising and raising awareness. A Statement of Defense and Counterclaim to the trespass charges has been submitted to the provincial court, a crucial step in asserting Aboriginal title and forcing the government (judicial and executive branches) to deal with unsettled land issues.

One of the greatest strengths of movements in the present is our solidarity and our vision for something new. Something more just. We maintain the right to imagine and to create a global apparition – for there is more hope in a global struggle. Yet the movement already exists. It has existed for over 500 years. We must remain grounded in the historical realities of this land, remain true to and honour indigenous struggles, ideas and visions for they are inextricably linked to all futures and all our movements that agitate for Earth and a more just existence.

To find out more about the convergence against Sun Peaks on Aug 28-29, email noii-van@resist.ca.