Editor:
Re: New West councillors ‘dictating our morals’ with Begbie motion, Record letters, May 6
For those unaware of B.C.’s history, the letter by MR Olson might cause more misunderstanding. Based on Olson’s understanding of history, “those (Indigenous) men were sentenced to hang for murdering unarmed, non-hostile road workers” and that “Begbie was following the law in their sentences.”
The historical truth is that whereas the alleged “murders” happened in 1864, B.C. did not become a province until 1871. Although the mainland by then was named a British Crown colony, its land mass was only defined by the 1850 Douglas Treaty, which only covers a mere 358 sq. miles of land in south Vancouver Island. There was also no war against Indigenous nations, which could potentially win the new colony some land. So although Matthew Begbie was appointed in 1858 as the first Chief Justice of the Crown Colony of British Columbia, he had no legal jurisdiction over other sovereign Indigenous nations and certainly not where the alleged “murder” occurred.
In any time when a sovereign nation resists the trespassing and aggression of outsiders into its territory and armed conflict results, it is an act of war and any resulting casualty should not be considered as “murder.” However, after given assurances of friendship and believing they were going to attend peace talks, six Tsilhqot'in chiefs were arrested in 1864, sentenced by Begbie and later hanged.
While Begbie might well have been trained as a British lawyer, he should have known the practice of British law and the tiny colony’s jurisdiction should not be arbitrarily imposed on the sovereign Tsilhqot'in Nation, on whose land Canada still has signed no treaty even today. For anyone to suggest so is alike to saying a judge while a tourist in another country has the jurisdiction to sentence and hang some local person based on his home country’s laws.
So New Westminster city council is not “dictating our morals and erasing our history” but is honouring the truth in our shared history and thus liberating unwary citizens from colonial assumptions. Just like their efforts towards reconciliation with the Chinese community, the mayor and council should be applauded for acknowledging historical mistakes towards Indigenous nations, so that injustices and untruths will not be perpetuated and our next generation will be better for it.
Bill Chu
