A Community to Community (C2C) forum was held in Valemount in April, bringing the Simpcw First Nation together with mayors and regional directors from the North Thompson and Robson valleys under the banner of “walking together.”
The gathering took place on April 8 and 9, and featured discussions on understanding Aboriginal Title, tourism collaboration, emergency consultation, walking together and taking action, according to the event’s agenda.
In the days following the forum, local politicians such as District of Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell and Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) director Usoff Tsao, posted enthusiastically about the gathering. Blackwell said he left feeling inspired and hopeful, and Tsao overviewed some of the remarks made by Simpcw Kúkwpi7 (Chief) George Lampreau.
“No one is trying to run ahead of anyone else and no one will be left behind; we are all walking together and making progress together on the same path,” Tsao said.
Elected officials attended from Chu Chua, the TNRD, the District of Barriere, the District of Clearwater, the Village of McBride, the Village of Valemount and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George.
Lampreau spoke with the Clearwater Times about the forum and shared some thoughts on the event and the subjects addressed.
“It was pretty much the whole North Thompson and Robson valleys coming together to meet,” he said.
‘All of our voices are heard’
The chief explained that C2C meetings have been happening for a few years, and are downstream of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) signed with Valemount, Barriere, and Clearwater. He noted that an MOU with McBride is “coming online.
“The MOUs are just how we’re going to work together and represent the North Thompson and Robson Valley in dealing with each other’s issues and concerns, from the municipalities and from Simpcw First Nation, and just supporting one another, and making sure that all of our voices are heard,” Lampreau said.
The meeting was defined by and held within the boundaries of Simpcw territory, Simpcwúl̓ecw, which Lampreau said spans five million hectares. He said the forum was a unique situation that doesn’t happen across the province with other nations, and noted the number of municipalities they have “working together over common concerns and goals we want for the valley.”
“The walking together is defining how we work together,” he said.
Lampreau gave an example of working together from 2024, when evacuees from the Jasper wildfire crisis sheltered in Valemount. The chief said the community “opened their arms” and took in up to 20,000 evacuees. When funding from the Province didn’t come, Lampreau and Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson went to Victoria to advocate for funding together.
“It was a real shock to government when a mayor walked in with a chief supporting him on his issues, not mine.”
He said that’s what the C2C forum was all about, speaking on behalf of each other’s issues.
“If I have one, I call the mayors for support. If they have an issue, they call me for support. Because their voices as mayors only go as far as their municipal boundaries. And if there are concerns outside of there and they’re within Simpcw’s territories, then we’ll have the discussion and move forward with taking care of those concerns.”
Lampreau said they do a lot of work through the North Thompson and Robson valleys, and said he wants to make sure that when they’re in Valemount, for example, they have enough doctors, nurses and RCMP officers to keep them safe.
“Then, if they don’t, we can go have those discussions with the province on how we get those positions filled so that, even when we’re not in there, the community members around the areas are all taken care of.”
The Simpcw chief spoke about what he thinks “true reconciliation is about.” He said with the smaller municipalities, it’s about on-the-ground politics, and about what really affects both the Simpcw and neighbouring communities.
“To me, this is what reconciliation looks like, is working together to deal with our common issues, concerns, and how we move forward in addressing those.”
He noted, however, that when it comes to the provincial government, he’s still trying to figure out what they need to reconcile with them.
“You know, reconciliation is two sides coming together to make the past wrongs right. And I’m still wondering what we’ve done wrong to the provincial government that we need to reconcile,” he said.
Aboriginal Title and reconciliation in B.C.
One of the topics discussed at the C2C forum was Aboriginal Title. Lampreau said the main concern comes from recent court cases surrounding the Cowichan decision and concerns over private property rights.
READ MORE: Private property and reconciliation: What the Cowichan Tribes ruling could mean for B.C.
“We’ve been very clear in our position at Simpcw, (which) is that we don’t have any interest or intention of taking people’s private property,” Lampreau said. “We want to be part of managing Crown lands and what’s out there, and do a better job. Because for years, industries have had their way with government, in pushing those standards down to what’s acceptable for them, and it may not be acceptable. And we know there’s a lot of them that aren’t acceptable for Simpcw.”
He said they have developed their own territorial stewardship plan for industry and have developed their own environmental assessment plan, so they can be part of decision-making. This will ensure that not only Simpcw’s interests are addressed through the various processes, but those of regional municipalities as well.
READ MORE: Simpcw, B.C. begin discussions on assessment agreement for Yellowhead Copper Mine
“What happens on the land affects all of us, and if we have a bigger say than the municipalities and they have concerns, we can be the voice that takes care of all of our issues and concerns throughout the valley,” Lampreau said.
Speaking about DRIPA, UNDRIP, and Aboriginal Rights and Title, the Simpcw chief said that government needs to do a better job educating the general public on why they have to happen. He said the land issue in B.C. is 170 years in the making, and government after government has never settled it. He added people don’t understand why they have to work with First Nations, citing the overall lack of signed treaties in B.C.
“This is finishing off confederation,” Lampreau said. “This is something that should have happened a long time ago, and we as nations have been working hard for years trying to bring the certainty the government keeps talking about. And you know, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just talk. Because we’ve bent over backwards trying to make certainty happen, yet we’re the ones whose rights keep getting diminished every time they hit an issue or have a concern that doesn’t suit their need or their narrative.”
The chief said they’re like a “square peg being forced into the round hole of government policy and procedure,” and they’re the ones who have their “sides shaved off” to fit into processes.
Lampreau said they always refer back to the 1910 Memorial to Sir Wilfrid Laurier from the chiefs of the Shuswap, which spoke about sharing the resources of the land, half-half, saying they would help each other be “great and good.”
“Unfortunately, the great and good part went to the province, and we as nations are still struggling trying to get our fair share of the economics that are coming off of this province, so that we can take care of our business, fund our own initiatives,” Lampreau said.
He also addressed notions about First Nations and money, saying the money they make and receive stays in the province.
“We spend local, we buy local, we don’t go invest in China, the U.S. or other areas. The monies we have stay directly in this province, and we contribute in a lot of ways that people don’t understand or even consider.”
Continued relationship building
The topic of tourism was spoken about at the C2C meeting as a subject of shared mutual interest.
“I think the big one for all of us is tourism in this province,” Lampreau said.
“It’s the number one money-making generator for industry right now. And for us at Simpcw, we’ve been focused on natural resources, and we see the need to diversify. So now, we’re working on two Indigenous circle routes for Indigenous tourism.”
He said they’re going to work with what already exists and try to build up tourism to draw more people to the valley, teach Simpcw history, and work with local communities to get support on projects throughout the territory.
As for other subjects addressed at the C2C meeting, Lampreau said “just the continued relationship building.”
“It’s so important, and that’s one thing at Simpcw we’ve taken very seriously over the years,” he said.
Lampreau explained that the relationship-building attitude was ingrained in him when he first got involved in politics 15 to 20 years ago.
“When I first started, our former chief, Nathan Matthew, always said, ‘We need to be good neighbours.’ And that kind of set the stage for where we are now, is being good neighbours and building those relationships so that we can work together for our common concerns.”
The Simpcw chief said he was really impressed and really happy that the mayors and municipal councils want to work with them as well, adding it made the process of walking together easier. He said it’s nice when they all come together, sit and talk, deal with issues and concerns, and put out information to combat misconceptions.
He mentioned a town hall in Barriere in recent months that addressed land concerns, in which questions were taken from the public.
“And one of them was, ‘Are you going to take our houses?’ And we just said no, that’s not our interest.”
Lampreau mentioned another town hall in the works for Valemount.
“We all want to be good neighbours, good friends and good business partners. And that’s what it’s about for us, is ensuring that we’re going to benefit, but those living in our territory are going to benefit as well.”