The Communist Party of Canada welcomes yesterday’s historic Supreme Court of Canada ruling, which upheld the Tsilhqot’in people’s title over their traditional territories.
This 25-year legal case arose from an attempt to conduct commercial logging on Tsilhqot’in lands without consent from the First Nation, which is among many in British Columbia which never ceded ownership of their territories since the arrival of the European colonisers. In fact, the Tsilhqot’in courageously maintained their rights since the beginnings of the occupation, despite the murder of six of their chiefs by the British colonizers in 1864. We salute the Tsilhqot’in for their generations of struggle and resistance, in the face of enormous obstacles.
As the Supreme Court recognized, the principles in this case have very wide implications for the recognition and affirmation of Aboriginal rights across Canada. Continue reading »