Editor:
On May 23 the Valley Taxpayers Alliance submitted the second part of their 10 landfill questions to the CCRD. Question number nine asked whether the onus to raise the $5 million needed for the landfill was on the taxpayers alone, as they represent less than half the population of the valley and therefore less than half of the landfill usage.
Land “ownership” on sovereign Nuxalk territory is a privilege rooted in land theft. Settlers make up less than half of the population yet occupy most of the Valley. Private property signs cover land that is still inherently Nuxalk, having never been ceded or surrendered by Nuxalkmc.
The Crown gave settlers 160 acres each, and their descendants continue to benefit from Nuxalk land that was not the Crown’s to give away.
The greater half of the population referred to are Nuxalkmc whose lineage is unquestioned. We are still here. We never consented to be confined to two small allotments of “Indian reserve” land under federal control without the benefit of “fee simple” land ownership and taxable capital gain. Nuxalkmc occupy the tiniest fraction of the territory.
What would the Alliance’s solution be to what is seen as a problem? Would the Alliance have Nuxalkmc pay taxes on land that was stolen and we are currently being denied access to? Would the Alliance deny CCRD services to Nuxalkmc? The next time landfill closure costs and property tax hikes are criticized, let us all spare a thought for the complex history and context that got us here. Colonialism is ongoing and land ownership exists in Nuxalkulumc because there was a genocide here.
Respectfully,
Umq’umklika
Evangeline (Hanuse) Xanius
