The name change for Kelly Road Secondary is complicated and controversial.
I followed the rules the school district set out. I provided an email submission. The email requested a place at the April 7 meeting. There is 30 minutes at the beginning of the board meeting to have these submissions read, with five minutes for each presentation. It wasn’t read because the name change wasn’t on the agenda. So I will present it here.
Truth and reconciliation requires truth. As a layman historian, I have spent years studying the history of our region. There is much Lheili ‘Tenneh history in our region that the public does not know, and I hope that in the coming days more of their history is known.
Moving forward, it is important that the truth is told. We should not substitute or act on questionable history when we have accounts that can be verified. We should not discard oral history, but there is a protocol to follow to help ensure accuracy and veracity.
I have found it very difficult to find evidence for the claims that the Hart area was regularly used by the Lheidli ‘Tenneh for berry picking and grizzly bear hunting before white settlers came into the area. What I have found is that from 1350 to 1850, there was an ice age in the northern hemisphere. It was the coldest time in recorded human history. It would have been extremely difficult for people to live in the Upper Fraser watershed. The same is true of the Nechako watershed below the Isle Pierre rapids. The fact that there is no village site remains in this area supports this theory.
Berry picking is not an activity unique to the Lheidli “Tenneh, and would not have occurred in a significant way in the Hart until around the year 1850 because of the ice age. The Giscome portage and the Salmon River short cut weren’t discovered until 1860. If people were in the area before that they would have known about these trails. The Salmon River comes within eight miles of Summit lake.
Before guns were used for hunting, people did not hunt grizzly bears the way it is portrayed in the movies. When people hunted bear,s they would wait until fall. They would watch to see where the bear made its den; bears don’t go directly into a den. They go in and sleep then come back out several times. This is how the hunters could know where the den was. They would wait until the bear was hibernating and kill it while it was sleeping.
When the fur traders arrived, they brought firearms. Muzzle loading guns were not suitable for hunting grizzly bears. You needed to be close because they were not accurate and they lost power quickly. It wasn’t until cartridge-loading rifles were available that grizzlies could be hunted. From 1870 to 1910, bears were slaughtered at such a rate that they nearly became extinct. During the salmon run, bears would come to the rivers. They were an easy kill with a heavy rifle from a boat. They were slaughtered like the buffalo herds of the plains.
In 1912, the B.C. Government stopped all bear hunting in this area. This was one of the causes of poverty at Fort George.
The two stories about berry picking and grizzly bear hunting that were presented were not “oral traditions.” They were just “good old days stories.” In view of the fact of the little ice age happening, the possibility of people surviving a winter in Fort George without steel axes or fabric clothing is remote. There is historical evidence that the Lheidli “Tenneh extensively used the Fort George Canyon area in pre-European times, but none for the Hart area.
I encourage the board to study the historical facts that are known and properly research the oral traditions to gain a better understanding of the true history of the area. We all need better evidence before we can support this name change.
During the COVID-19 crisis, governments are asking citizens to trust and respect them. The City of Prince George changed the name of Fort George Park in one meeting without public input. You are not making it easy to present other points of view.
Trust and respect is necessary for our democracy to work.
Allan Lund
Prince George
