CRT agreements are significant to Ktunaxa
June 13, 2023: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ʔa·kisk̓aqǂiʔit / Cranbrook, B.C.:
Through the three separate interim agreements, signed on June 8, 2023, the Ktunaxa Nation, Secwépemc Nation and Syilx Okanagan Nation will each receive five per cent of the revenue generated through the sale of Canada’s share of downstream power benefits under the Columbia River Treaty. (The downstream power benefits are otherwise known as the ‘Canadian Entitlement.’)
“The interim agreements are significant for us,” said Kathryn Teneese, Chair of Ktunaxa Nation Council. “They acknowledge historical impacts to Ktunaxa rights and title, and are a step on the path of reconciliation.”
Since 2018, Canada and the United States have been engaged in negotiations to modernize the treaty. The Ktunaxa, Secwépemc and Syilx Okanagan Nations have been an essential part of the Canadian negotiating team, alongside the governments of Canada and B.C.
The four First Nations as represented by the Ktunaxa Nation Council are ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation, ʔaq̓am, Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it, and Yaqan Nuʔkiy.
“Ktunaxa Nation Council, on behalf of our four member First Nations, will continue with the broader collaborative work on Columbia River Treaty renewal with our partners–Secwépemc and Syilx Okanagan Nations, plus B.C. and Canada,” Teneese said. “Ktunaxa perspectives are vital to this treaty process, and we value being at the table.”
The Columbia River Treaty was ratified in 1964 by the U.S. and Canada to provide flood control and generate additional hydro power, but was negotiated without considering the impacts it would have on the rights, culture, economies and ways of life of the Indigenous Nations
Troy Hunter, who is Strategic Initiative Coordinator at Ktunaxa Nation Council, said, “We did not get here today without the many efforts of our ancestors and of those who brought Aboriginal rights and title cases before the courts.”
The late Ktunaxa elder Wilfred Jacobs said the word ‘Kootenay’ is a Ktunaxa word pronounced Kuǂni, and it means to travel by water.
“These agreements are a beginning, but the course we have embarked upon, as we travel together each steering our own yaqsuʔmiǂ, (canoes), is now part of our story,” said Hunter.
Negotiations will continue between the partners towards a long-term agreement to help address environmental, cultural and economic impacts caused by the operations of the Columbia River Treaty Treaty as well as work with the United States to renew the CRT itself.
The Nations have also led efforts to enhance ecosystem function and investigate the feasibility of restoring salmon to the B.C. portion of the Columbia Basin through the treaty-modernization negotiations.
Ktunaxa Citizens’ Excellence Awards, 2023 Nomination Forms
Nominations are open for the Ktunaxa Citizens’ Excellence Awards.
Date for nomination extended to July 5, 2023!
Awards will be presented at the 2023 Annual General Assembly,
July 26 & 27, 2023 • Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡiʔit
Award Ktunaxa Excellence in:
• Sports
• Education
• Arts & Entertainment
• Health
• Cultural Knowledge & Language
• Entrepreneurial / Business
• Lifetime Achievement
(Awards are to honour those who are physically here with us today.
At the 2022 Ktunaxanin̓tik Gathering held in ʔakisq̓nuk,
they recognized those who have passed on, new Ktunaxa babies born, and graduates.
KNC will incorporate this practice into AGAs going forward, starting this year.)
When will the awards be presented?
At the Annual General Assembly in July 26 & 27, 2023 at Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡiʾit
Who can nominate?
Any individual, community group or recognized entity (Band Council, Aboriginal business, etc.)
Who can you nominate?
Any Ktunaxa Citizen or Ktunaxa Citizens’ Group.
Who selects recipients?
The Ktunaxa Citizens Excellence Awards Committee (KCEA).
Please see below for information about volunteering for this fun, Ktunaxa-only committee!
What’s in a nomination?
Please see the nomination form below. It may take a few moments to load.
It is a “fillable” PDF, so you can open it in Acrobat Reader and you can then type in your responses, save it, and email it to caylee.toma@ktunaxa.org.
Or, you can print it out to fill it in and deliver it to the address below.
Or even fax it… number below.
Complete 2023 Ktunaxa Citizens’ Excellence Awards nomination form, with the following details:
• Name of the person or group you are nominating,
• A description of their contributions
or how they have excelled in their field,
• What the person’s or group’s involvement has meant,
• A short description of successes achieved,
• One paragraph describing the nominator’s relationship to the nominee.
How to send in nominations?
Due by Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Mail, fax or email to:
Ktunaxa Nation Council
7825 Mission Road
Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 7E5
Attn: Ktunaxa Citizens’ Excellence Awards
Caylee Toma
Email: caylee.toma@ktunaxa.org
Fax: 250-489-2438
Nomination forms are just below… it may take a few moments for the forms to load.
Date for nomination extended to July 5, 2023!
Call for Caterer Annual General Assembly
First Nations, Tribes Confounded by Canada’s Resistance to Obvious Solution on the Kootenai Watershed Pollution Crisis
Indigenous leaders from both sides of the border call for immediate IJC reference
Trudeau risks century-old treaty to appease British Columbia
For Immediate Release
May 11, 2023
Representatives from the transboundary Ktunaxa Nation call on Canada to set aside delay tactics and immediately honor the Nation’s outstanding request to refer ongoing and legacy mining pollution in the Kootenai/ay watershed to the International Joint Commission (IJC). Despite Prime Minister Trudeau’s stated commitment to address the Kootenai/ay pollution issue through an agreement in principle with the U.S. by this summer, Canada continues to stonewall an IJC reference. This resistance to the clear process established under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to address transboundary water pollution issues exactly like that in the Kootenai/ay remains confounding.
The transboundary Ktunaxa Nation’s renewed request follows bilateral talks between Canada and the United States two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., where Ktunaxa representatives traveled across the country to deliver a clear, continued, and united message to both
the Canadian and U.S. officials, that the solution in the Kootenai/ay watershed must include an IJC reference. Trudeau stated cryptically the day after these talks that “processes … are being followed right now that have a better chance of getting to a resolution” than a reference.
“We are completely baffled by Prime Minister Trudeau’s remarks,” says Chairman Tom McDonald of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, one of the six governments of the Ktunaxa Nation.
“Canada and the U.S. created the IJC over a hundred years ago, under the Boundary Waters Treaty, to address transboundary water issues exactly like this one. There is no legitimate reason to avoid the tried and tested IJC process—it is transparent, inclusive, accountable, and enforceable. We welcome further efforts in addition to the IJC, but we are skeptical that Canada’s insistence on an alternative is a delay tactic designed to produce a watered-down IJC process.”
The Kootenai/ay watershed is a massive river system that flows through the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Nation, from British Columbia downstream into Montana, Idaho, and back into British Columbia. For decades, open-pit coal mining in British Columbia has contaminated these waters with increasing levels of selenium, resulting in violation of the Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the United States.
For over a decade, the Ktunaxa Nation has called for a transparent and credible process to address legacy, ongoing, and increasing pollution in the Kootenai/ay watershed through an IJC reference. This request is supported by the United States and all of the sitting Commissioners of the IJC.
In a recent demonstration of solidarity, last month, numerous First Nations and Tribes across what is now known as British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska, also voiced their support for the reference in a letter to Canadian leaders.
Canada and the United States were expected to commit to the IJC reference a year ago, but at the eleventh hour, Global Affairs Canada walked away.
Freedom of Information documents later revealed that Canada’s last-minute reversal followed intense interference by the Province of British Columbia and the mining industry to defeat the joint reference and override Canada’s obligations and commitments to the Boundary Waters Treaty and Indigenous peoples. Following this shocking turn, the Biden-Harris Administration reaffirmed its support for a joint reference and its commitment to respecting Tribal priorities and sovereignty.
In March of this year, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden committed to “reach an agreement in principle by this summer to reduce and mitigate the impacts of water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai watershed in partnership with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples, in order to protect the people and species that depend on this vital river system.”
It remains unclear whether this soft commitment will result in an IJC reference and a substantive plan to address the pollution crisis, or whether it will be just another empty promise.
Trudeau’s recent remarks on Canada’s unwillingness to seriously engage with the transboundary Ktunaxa Nation’s decade-long request for an IJC reference certainly puts Canada’s commitment to “partnership with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples” into question.
“Canada must stop allowing British Columbia to stonewall the IJC reference, especially as more and more information comes to light about the close relationship between B.C. and the mining industry,” says Vice Chairman Gary Aitken Jr. from the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, another Ktunaxa government.
“In refusing to engage the IJC, Canada is allowing the B.C. provincial government and mining industry to effectively nullify the 114 year-old treaty. Meanwhile, our rivers are dying.”
“We’ve been clear that the path forward for the Kootenay must include an IJC reference. The independent, credible, and scientific process the IJC provides will give us certainty on understanding the complex system and its stressors. The transparency and unbiased process should serve to motivate and drive the parallel action that is needed at the international and federal level,” says Ktunaxa Nation Chair Kathryn Teneese.
“The duty of honoring the crown rests with Canada. That duty comes with legal responsibilities that are currently being overlooked. It is time for Canada to meet its obligations under the Canadian Constitution, Boundary Waters Treaty, and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by recognizing Ktunaxa jurisdiction and working with our governments to ensure that the Kootenay watershed is restored and protected for generations to come.”
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Joint News Release from
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Kootenai Tribe of Idaho
Ktunaxa Nation Council
Press Contacts
Gwen Lankford, Executive Communications Team, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
gwen.lankford@cskt.org
Trish Barnes, Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator, Ktunaxa Nation Council
Contact via info@ktunaxa.org
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