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Rules and rituals have been passed down through songs, stories and dances.
Prior to colonization, there would have been well-understood mechanisms to resolve disputes such as the proposed pipeline, which crosses multiple house territories and has potential impact on fish, game and forests.
Over time, those mechanisms weakened, under assault from a government-imposed band and council system to which industry and government gravitated, Prof. Borrows said.
With title unresolved, hereditary chiefs have tried to engage with the federal and B.C. governments on the pipeline issue.
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The Wet’suwet’en hereditary system has been outlined in several court proceedings, including Delgamuukw. The case, often referred to as Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa after the main chiefs in question, involved claims to separate portions of land totalling 58,000 square kilometres in British Columbia.
The case is renowned for its length, complexity and impact. The trial heard from 61 witnesses, many of whom spoke in their own language and required translators. Seventy-one chiefs claimed 133 separate territories.
In 1991, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en rights had been extinguished at the time of Confederation. The case went through the B.C. Court of Appeal and ultimately to the Supreme Court of Canada, which in a landmark 1997 decision, confirmed Indigenous title exists in B.C. but said a new trial would be required to settle the claims. A new trial has not been held.
But Delgamuukw resonates today, underscoring hereditary chiefs’ emphasis that traditional territory has never been ceded.
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