A New Westminster city councillor was honoured to be part of a historic day in the Tŝilhqot’in people’s history.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a ceremony in the Nemiah Valley and apologized to the Tŝilhqot’in community for the hanging of six of their chiefs more than 150 years ago. Five Tŝilhqot’in chiefs were hanged in the Chilcotin in 1864 and Chief Ahan was hanged in New Westminster in 1865.
Following up on a "statement of exoneration" he made in the House of Commons in March, Trudeau visited the Nemiah Valley to meet with the Tŝilhqot’in people and to tell them that their chiefs were fully exonerated of any wrongdoing for attacking and killing members of a road crew that intruded on their territory in 1864, saying they were leaders and warriors who were acting in accordance with their laws and traditions while fighting against the colonial government of the time. Trudeau said the colonial officials subsequently invited the chiefs for peacekeeping talks, only to arrest, try and sentence them to death.
“It was important to me to meet members of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation and deliver in person the statement of exoneration of six chiefs – heroes of this Nation – who were treated and tried as criminals,” Trudeau said in a press release. “Together, with the Tŝilhqot’in leaders, elders and youth, we can build a new relationship – based on respect, recognition of rights, collaboration and partnership – and realize a better future for the Tŝilhqot’in peoples, for all of Canada, and for the generations that will follow.”
New Westminster Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said “it was a real honour” to be invited to attend the ceremony that took place in a remote part of the Nemiah Valley. Puchmayr has spearheaded efforts to create a sister community relationship between the City of New Westminster and the Tl-etinqox government.
“This was a long, long wait,” he said. “I think this was needed to go forward. They have lived for generations with the stories of how unjust their people were treated. I think this will turn the page.”
The apology to the Tŝilhqot’in peoples follows a 2014 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that agreed the Tŝilhqot’in peoples had aboriginal title to a large area of their traditional territory, marking the first time in Canada that aboriginal title had been confirmed, outside of an Indian reserve.
“As Tŝilhqot’in representatives, we are honoured to be hosting the prime minister on our declared Aboriginal title lands. This event is about healing,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, tribal chairman of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation. “It will be a day marked in the history books for the Tŝilhqot’in Nation and all of Canada. On March 26, 2018, we were in the prime minister’s government house. Yesterday – for the first time in Canadian history – the prime minister was in our government house.”
At the request of the Tŝilhqot’in Nation, Trudeau rode a black horse into the ceremony, which took place in a picturesque valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
“Commanding war Chief Klatsassine had a large black horse when he and the four of the five chiefs were tricked into surrender,” Puchmayr said in an email to the Record. “After the hanging of Klatsassine in Quesnel, the horse escaped, travelling hundreds of kilometres and swimming across two rivers to return to Klatsassine's village.”
