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26-665: On March 11, 2019, the Province of British Columbia, working with the Tŝilhqot’in National Government , officially changed the name of the lake from Chilko Lake to Tŝilhqox Biny. The inland equivalent of the many fjords which line the British Columbia Coast on the other side of the Coast Mountains, Tŝilhqox Biny's glacial valley opens not out onto the ocean, but onto a broad lava plateau that lies inland from

52-684: A fur-trading company from Montreal called the North West Company had established posts in the Carrier (Dene) territory just north of the Tsilhqotʼ;in. They began trading directly and through Carrier intermediaries. In 1821, what was then the Hudson's Bay Company established a fur trade post at Fort Alexandria on the Fraser River , at the eastern limit of Tsilhqotʼin territory. This became

78-811: A series of dams down the Homathko River , have been scrapped because of the provincial park status enjoyed by Chilko and Taseko Lakes. The area between Tatlayoko and Tŝilhqox Biny is not protected, however, and plans for the dams and power plants in the canyon the Homathko River are still possible. One, the largest, would be built immediately atop the site of the first "battle" of the Chilcotin War, marked on government maps as "Murderer's Bar". Tsilhqot%27in National Government The Tsilhqotʼin National Government (TNG),

104-587: A so-called "formal" education. The program continued for the next six decades until a point when Indigenous children were allowed into the public school system. Ninety years after the start of the residential school program, the mission school closed circa 1981. Throughout that period, Indian agents were empowered to remove children from homes to attend St. Joseph's Mission School in Williams Lake, British Columbia . This led some to attempt to hide their children by sneaking out to hunting grounds or fields. Children fled

130-466: A subject of preservationist vs resource industry controversy, though not as high profile as other regions of the province. In the 1950s, Tŝilhqox Biny and River were passed over as a potential hydropower resource for Alcan due to the salmon presence. Projected hydroelectric plans to divert the Taseko Lakes into Tŝilhqox Biny, and the combined Chilko and Taseko flows into Tatlayoko Lake and via

156-415: A threat. In contrast to the 160 to 640 acres per family set aside in other treaties at the time in the prairies, the federal government opted for 80 acres per indigenous family to be set aside in reserve, while the provincial government was keen on 10 acres per family. Catholic Missionaries were sent to convert First Nations children to Christianity. By 1891, the first group of students were sent to receive

182-952: Is the Nemiah Valley , and the Xeni-Gwetʼin . Aside from the indigenous communities, there are only two small unincorporated towns in the whole region: Alexis Creek and Anahim Lake , the largest, with 522 people. Numerically, at least, the Tsilhqotʼin still dominate the Chilcotin plateau. Tsilhqotʼin First Nations belong to two tribal councils : Carrier-Chilcotin Tribal Council (two Carrier/Dakelh bands, one Tsilhqotʼin band, and one mixed Carrier/Dakelh-Tsilhqotʼin band) Tsilhqotʼin National Government (all Tsilhqotʼin bands without

208-596: Is the official First Nations government ( tribal council ) serving the Tsilhqotʼin Nation. Their office is located in Williams Lake, British Columbia , Canada . The member communities represented by TNG are ʔEsdilagh , Tsi Del Del , Yunesitʼin , Tlʼetinqox , Xeni Gwetʼin , and Tlʼesqox . Tlʼesqox also belongs to the Carrier-Chilcotin Tribal Council , as does Ulkatcho - a community with both Dakelh (Carrier) & Tsilhqotʼin heritage. TNG

234-505: The Chilko River , which means "red ochre river," from tŝi(lh) "rock" + -qu "river" + -t'in "people". Tsilhqot'in people also use another word to refer to themselves: Nenqayni , from: nen "land" + -qay "surface" + -ni "person/people", and their country is called Tŝilhqotʼin Nen . For more information about the 2014 landmark court case that established Indigenous land title for

260-473: The salmon runs placed more dependence on agricultural produce such as grains, hay, and vegetables. Activities migrated to cutting hay, constructing irrigation ditches, and practicing animal husbandry . Settlers however assumed water rights , making agriculture ever more fragile. Indigenous peoples were huddled in on small acreages, such as in Canoe Creek , 20 acres for 150 indigenous people. Starvation became

286-653: The Chilcotin-Fraser drainage, however, but is part of the Homathko River drainage to Bute Inlet . The area spanning the head of Tŝilhqox Biny and Taseko Lake basins and the two valleys between the two lakes has been preserved as the Tsʼilʔos Provincial Park , which is co-administered by the Parks Branch of the provincial government and by the Xeni Gwet'in , who are the residents of Nemaia Valley and one of

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312-542: The Tsilhqotʼin may have protected them from the first of the smallpox epidemics , which spread up from Mexico in the 1770s. They may have been spared the smallpox epidemic of 1800 and the measles of the 1840s. Furniss in The Burden of History states that "there is no direct evidence that these smallpox epidemics reached the central interior of British Columbia or the Secwepemc, Carrier, or Tsilhqotʼin". However, in

338-687: The Tsilhqot'in people who live here, the Xeni Gwet'in, are said to include descendants of Klatsassin , the main leader of the war. The vicinity of the lake is also the habitat of some of the last holdouts of the Chilcotin Country's once-numerous herds of wild horses , especially in the plateau-terrain area known as the Brittany Triangle area between the Chilko and Taseko Rivers , which is currently (2005)

364-625: The Tsilhqotʼin Nation and demanded that colonial provinces engage in meaningful and prior consultation before engaging in extractive industries on Tsilhqot'in lands, see Tsilhqotʼin Nation v British Columbia . The Tŝilhqotʼin Nation before contact with Europeans were a strong warrior nation with political influences from the Similkameen region in southern British Columbia , the Pacific coast in

390-475: The component bands of the Tsilhqot'in (Chilcotin) people ; Nemaia is the more northerly of the two east–west valleys, the southerly one is Yohetta Valley . Tsi'lʔos is the Tsilhqot'in name for Mount Tatlow 3,063 m (10,049 ft), which stands in the ranges between Chilko and Taseko Lakes. Higher still are the mountains at the head of Tŝilhqox Biny, crowned by 3,182 m (10,440 ft) Monmouth Mountain , and to

416-488: The epidemic of 1836–38, the disease spread to Ootsa Lake and killed an entire Carrier band. Oral history of the bands has continued to recount the effects of the many deaths in these epidemics. By the 1860s, miners panned along the Fraser, Quesnel , and Horsefly rivers and their tributaries. Various business operators and merchants followed the miners and business was booming. Farmers and ranchers developed land to provision

442-514: The highest section of the main range. The mountains at the head of the lake are among the highest in the province, and two broad, deep glacial valleys connect east to the smaller Taseko Lakes , which drains northwards parallel to the Chilko River , both of them converging with the Chilcotin River which is a tributary of the Fraser . Tatlayoko Lake , to the west across another range, is not part of

468-482: The mining towns that developed around the merchants. This led to competition for resources between the Chilcotin and Europeans, leading to a stream of events known as the Chilcotin War . Governor James Douglas supported a system of reserves and indoctrination to "civilized" practices such as subsistence agriculture up until his retirement in 1864. Joseph Trutch , the chief commissioner of lands and works, abandoned

494-535: The mixed Carrier/Dakelh-Tsilhqotʼin band) Despite its small population and isolation, the region has produced an impressive collection of literature mixing naturalism with Indigenous and settler cultures. The area is accessed by Highway 20 , which runs from the City of Williams Lake to the port town of Bella Coola . Highway 20 westbound from Williams Lake crosses the Fraser River at Sheep Creek - thereby entering Tsilhqotʼin traditional territory. The highway passes over

520-445: The reserve policy, and set Indian policy as their having no rights to the land. By 1866, BC colonial rule required indigenous peoples to request permission from the governor to use lands. Newspapers supported the preempting of indigenous lands, seeing settlers ploughing indigenous burial grounds. Indigenous peoples who requested redress from a justice of the peace were refused. In the 1870s, the loss of hunting territories, and crashes of

546-649: The river", / tʃ ɪ l ˈ k oʊ t ɪ n / chil- KOH -tin ; also spelled Tsilhqutʼin, Tŝinlhqotʼin, Chilkhodin, Tsilkótin, Tsilkotin ) are a North American tribal government of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that live in what is now known as British Columbia , Canada. They are the most southern of the Athabaskan-speaking Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. Their name, Tŝilhqotʼin, makes reference to

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572-548: The schools, and within the first 30 years, three investigations on the physical abuse and malnutrition were conducted. Voting rights in Canadian federal elections were denied until 1960, and in provincial elections until 1949. Today, some 5,000 Tsilhqotʼin people live in Alexandria , north of Williams Lake , and in a string of five communities accessible from Williams Lake on Highway 20 (from east to west), and south from Highway 20

598-401: The southwest of the lake, between the two arms, is Mount Good Hope 3,242 m (10,636 ft), with the range rising west from there towards Mount Queen Bess 3,298 m (10,820 ft), to the south of Tatlayoko Lake and higher still beyond to Mount Waddington . The area around Tŝilhqox Biny was where some of the backwoods maneuverings and sit-outs of the Chilcotin War of 1864 took place, and

624-524: The tribal people's major source for European goods. Contact with Europeans and First Nations intermediaries led to the introduction of Eurasian diseases, which were endemic among the Europeans. As they had long been exposed, some had developed acquired immunity , but the First Nations peoples were devastated by epidemics of these new diseases. Infectious disease outbreaks with high fatalities for Tsilhqotʼin populations: The geographically isolated position of

650-461: The west, and the Rocky Mountains in the east. They were part of an extensive trade network centred around the control and distribution of obsidian , the material of choice for arrowheads and other stone tools. The Tsilhqotʼin first encountered European trading goods in the 1780s and 1790s when British and American ships arrived along the northwest coast seeking sea otter pelts. By 1808,

676-560: Was established in 1989. [REDACTED] This article relating to the Indigenous peoples of North America is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Canadian politics –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This British Columbia -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tsilhqot%CA%BCin The Tsilhqotʼ;in or Chilcotin ("People of

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