“They wanted the land, and they wanted us out of the way.”
Those were the words of Carla Alphonse, a member of the Tsilhqot’in Women’s Council, one of about 80 people who attended a July 18 event in New Westminster commemorating war Chief Ahan from the Chilcotin War of 1864/1865.
After members of a road crew intruded on the Tsilhqot’in territory in 1864, they were killed. Five Tsilhqot’in chiefs were tried and hanged in the Chilcotin in 1864 and Chief Ahan was tried and hanged in New Westminster in 1865.
The BC government and the federal government have fully exonerated the chiefs for any wrongdoing related to the settler’s deaths.
“Today, we reflect the past and commemorate Nits’il?in (Chief) Ahan to provide healing. Memorializing this day is about recognizing the past, and claiming a new path for the future. We will never forget and we recognize the sacrifice of Nits’il?in Ahan and the other five war chiefs made for our people,” said Nits’il?in Roger William of Xeni Gwet’in First Nations Government. “We will continue to fight this fight by standing up for relations based on mutual respect, understanding our rights, title, and traditional ways of life.”
Each year, a delegation from the Tsilhqot’in National Government travels to New Westminster to commemorate Ahan on the July 18 anniversary of his death. Elders and toddlers are among those who attend.
At Tuesday’s ceremony, several speakers said the Tsilhqot’in chiefs were defending their communities against settlers, who were intentionally spreading smallpox to kill off the people whose lands they wanted.
Tom Swanky, a historian who has done extensive research on Chief Ahan and the Chilcotin War, said a couple of things have confirmed that settlers intentionally spread smallpox – eyewitness accounts from the Tsilhqot’in people and confessions of settlers.
While smallpox epidemics normally kill about 30 per cent of the population, Swanky said it was in the range of 80 to 90 per cent in places where it was spread intentionally.
“These extremely high death rates are, on their own, overwhelming evidence of the disease being intentionally spread,” he said.
According to William, it’s estimated that more than 70 per cent of all Tsilhqot’in people died from smallpox epidemics between June 1862 and January 1863.
New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian said he was appalled to learn about the “deliberately targeted genocide” of smallpox attacks upon Indigenous people throughout British Columbia, attacks that had their “epicentre” in the Tsilhqot’in territory.
“This was a deliberate genocide,” he said. “There were vaccinations that were available and given the settlers. Indigenous people, the Tsilhqot’in, were targeted by what can only be considered biological warfare.”
A document from the Tsilhqot’in National Government, handed out at the July 18 memorial, states that war Chief Ahan had a duty to enforce Tsilhqot’in law and to help his fellow warriors, who were ambushed by the Crown at a peace conference in August 1864. Ahan was later ambushed by the colonial agent who was to have ensured his safe passage to a peace potlach.
“The Chilcotin War has also left a painful legacy for many generations,” William said. “Our children are taught about the wrongful hanging of their chiefs from a very young age, shaping their interactions with outsiders and government workers. Our relationships to the Crown and the governments have been shaped by the deceit we faced 158 years ago. The Chilcotin war made us strong as a people.”
Joyce Charleyboy, who drummed at Tuesday’s event, thanked the warriors for their fight in 1864, saying her people would not be able to speak their language today or learn their songs if not for their efforts.
Chief Samuel Schooner of Nuxalk Nation in Bella Coola thanked the Tsilhqot’in National Government for allowing him to attend the memorial. He said smallpox had a tremendous impact on his grandfather’s village in Bella Coola, where 300 people had lived prior to the spread of smallpox.
“In three months, they wiped their numbers down to 17 people,” he said. “So can you imagine? You’re losing your grandparents, your aunts, your uncles, your nephews, your nieces, your grandkids. Your moms and dads.”
Schooner said the Tsilhqot’in people “are really lucky, fortunate” that they’re still able to speak their language.
“We have maybe 12 fluent speakers left, and that number can change any day,” he said. “That’s the impact. Why these guys fought.”
Chief Ahan: Part of New Westminster’s history
Qayqayt First Nation Chief Rhonda Larrabee welcomed attendees to the Chief Ahan memorial, held in the New Westminster Secondary School gymnasium.
Some believe Ahan may have been buried in the cemetery that was located on the site. Once the old New Westminster Secondary School is demolished, that property will become a park.
“As I am part of the committee that is designing a memorial park at the site of the old cemetery that was here on Eighth Street, I want you all to be assured that there will be a marker,” Larrabee said. “There will be information that’s going to tell the story, and it will honour Chief Ahan for all time.”
Maya Russell, chair of the New Westminster school board, the high school is still being taken down piece by piece, but a written installation will be ready by next year’s Chief Ahan memorial.
“This site … is one powerful example of how our community has not done things in a good way,” she said. “It’s part of a larger cemetery site that has been neglected time and time again, where graves were damaged, desecrated, and built over.”
Mayor Patrick Johnstone said the City of New Westminster has declared this year to be A Year of Truth. He said much hard work will be done in the city this year and in the years ahead in uncovering and admitting to the role the city played in the harms that were inflicted on Indigenous peoples in the last 165 years
“New Westminster has this unique history in that we are not just reconciling the history of people whose lands who host us on these lands, but we had a role across the province because of our unique role in the colonial history,” he said. “The events that took place in New Westminster impacted Indigenous people across all of the province.”
Johnstone said Ahan’s fight for the Tsilhqot’in people is now part of New Westminster’s history.
“As a city, again, we are focused on this uncomfortable, sometimes very uncomfortable, stage of truth telling and truth seeking because we recognize that is the path to reconciliation,” he said at Tuesday’s event. “So I thank you chiefs, I thank you elders, just the keepers of the stories for gifting us today with your stories, with your drumming, with your songs, and for coming to New Westminster to do this memorial and make sure that the people of New Westminster don’t forget this history.”
