Xeni Gwet’in
The Nemiah Valley stands as one of the great, untouched land reserves of the world and is home the Xeni Gwet’in First Nations who are part of the Tsilqot’in Nation. Located 200 kilometres west of Williams Lake, atop the Chilcotin plateau, its remoteness and the dedicated tenacity of the indigenous people who live there have preserved its incredible beauty. In 1989 the Xeni Gwet’in released the Nemiah Declaration, which outlined their beliefs and laws that would dictate life on their traditional, unceded territory. In it, their relationship with nature and their place as stewards of the land were clearly defined as well as the illegality of commercial logging and mining. In 2014, those laws became legal in the eyes of the colonial court system (at least theoretically) when the Tsilqot’in won a precedent-setting Supreme Court case that granted them rights and title to much of their traditional territory. In the word of Chief Jimmy Lulua of the Xeni Gwet’in, “This is no longer BC, this is not Canada. The jurisdiction is ours.”
At about the same time the Nemiah Declaration was released, Taseko Mines began their plans for a proposed mine that would destroy Teztan Biny, or Fish Lake, a sacred place of immense current and historical importance to the Tsilqot’in. Thirty years later, after two rejections by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, the company continues to push forward despite having never gained the respect or support of the indigenous people who govern the land.
These photos were taken to accompany Judith Lavoie’s in-depth piece written for The Narwhal, which you can read here.