Winter sports against Territorial Rights

Who is still traveling to the Alps on totally overcrowded ski runs? Even the former snow paradise Aspen in Colorado is not trendy anymore. The future of winter sports lies in the untouched valleys of British Columbia and can be used at best with Heliskiing. That’s what the travel agencies tell at least, such as DerTour, Tui, Marlboro Tours, Sturmböck Club and the ADAC Magazine Ski 2001 thinks so too. These companies offer tours to the ski resorts Whistler and Sun Peaks in British Columbia at the west coast of Canada. You can also book Heliskiing there. Instead of standing in line at the ski lifts, the participants of these tours fly with the helicopter to the respective region, and this several times a day. Special attractions: powder snow, untraveled ski runs, untouched peaks, small travel groups…“Not even flying is nicer“, says the ADAC Magazine as far as the powder snow adventure is concerned.

For the Indians who live there, the Secwepemc, Nlak’-pamux, Okanagan, St’at’imc and Southern Carrier this is, however, no reason to be happy, because huge vacation resorts like Sun Peaks and Whistler are being built within their territories. The helicopters are fulminating across their valleys, in which they have been fishing and hunting so far and which have a great spiritual significance for them. Normally these territories, on which ski facilities are being built now, are not supposed to be used without the acceptance of the Indians. They belong to the 48 First Nations of Canada. Since the First Nations of British Columbia had neither been defeated militarily nor dispossessed they consider themselves as the only true owners of their territories. This also has been confirmed by the British Crown. The Supreme Court of Canada has awarded the land as „Aboriginal Title“ in the Delgamuukv-Decision. But the federal and the provincial governments do not tolerate this decision, they consider the land as government property. Therefore they give licenses and the permission to make the land accessible, without involving the Indians in those plans.

About 22,3 million tourists come to skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling to British Columbia. They support the economy with billions of Canadian Dollars. But the travel agencies still want to expand and announce new investments with regard to extensions, in order to apply for the Winter Olympics 2010. In a final step the provincial government of British Columbia has granted the Cayoosh Creek Ski Resort, which is supposed to be built into the last untouched valley of St’at’imc Nation.

The Elders of the Secwepemc could prove the consequences of the winter sport resort Sun Peaks near Kamloops:

The water table has fallen and numerous plants and animals disappeared. Other animals have been expelled from their territories and are endangered. The rivers became muddy, so the salmon cannot spawn there any longer. For the environment in Canada the construction of ski resorts has even more severely effects than in the Alps. In contrast to British Columbia the valleys in Europe have been already made accessible and the hills partly deforested. In Canada ski resorts are being built especially in untouched valleys, which are in this way populated for the first time. So far these valleys have been places of refuge for endangered animal species like the Grizzly Bear and have been used traditionally by the Indians.

In order to protest against the extension of winter sports the Secwepemc have built camps, in which members of the communities live permanently and refer to their ancestral territorial rights. Their protests are peaceful and are being supported by all family members.

{bild1}In these camps the natives are not only protesting against the ski resorts, but also draw the attention to the option of ecotourism, because as soon as their territorial rights are being granted, they are indeed ready to show the tourists the beauty of the landscape in their territories, by respecting the nature, and to convey their traditional knowledge to them. They have built Indian winter houses and cellars, in which they stock their supplies and they are fishing and hunting in accordance with the traditional calendar. The elders give all these capabilities to their children, as well as songs and stories. They would be ready to help to appreciate, also a limited number of tourists in the camps, their knowledge and their culture and show them how you can use the land without exploiting it.

The operator of the ski resorts as well as the provincial government try to stop the protests so they do not suffer economic losses. But since the Indians keep on protesting, the provincial government tries to clear the camps with the aid of the police. So the camp has been searched through, because supposedly they saw dangerous looking men with guns. The police arrested the Indians, which they soon had to release for want of evidence. Guns had not been found. Evidently this is a good reason to appeal to international support, so the camps can persist and the Indians will not be replaced by tourism.

These protests already have attracted attention internationally. During a Europe tour, organized by the Austrian Society of Threatened Peoples, Chief Arthur Manuel, chairman of the Secwepemc-Nation and of the Interior Alliance, paid a visit to a multitude of parliamentarians of different countries as well as to supporters and environmental organizations. He appealed to the tourists: „The vacationists have to analyze for what price ski resorts are being made accessible in Canada. Ski pleasure at the expense of human rights and nature cannot be the goal of tourism.“

The GfbV-International has started a campaign, which includes the Europe tour of Chief Manuel. Further visits are planned. The campaign is directed at the disrespect of the court decision and appeals to the committee of the Olympic Games not to award the Winter Olympics to British Columbia as long as the rights of the Indians are not preserved.

Moreover, we want to protest against the expansion of winter sports. We appeal to the German travel agencies not to offer tours to vacation facilities, that are located on the land of the Indians, and not to advertise for them. We would like to ask you therefore, to write protest letters to the travel agencies in which you emphasize, that you do not agree with vacation facilities built on the territories of the Indians without having their permission. Travel agencies shall remove this type of tours from their offer.