‘We kicked the door down’: Nations mark watershed moment for Columbia River Treaty

First Nations leaders say wild salmon, ecological health and Indigenous rights must be at the forefront of efforts to update a 60-year-old international deal governing the waters of the Columbia River.

In 1964, “Canada” and the “United States” ratified the Columbia River Treaty without Indigenous involvement or consent. It now affects more than 470 dams along the 2,000-kilometre cross-border waterway and its tributaries, according to the Columbia Basin Trust.

But this time around, the Ktunaxa, Secwépemc and syilx Okanagan Nations have won seats at the negotiating table, as colonial governments work to modernize the treaty.

For the past six years, the three nations have helped inform the “Canadian” and “B.C.” governments’ position on an agreement in principle (AIP) announced last month — including provisions to support salmon and ecological health.  

The original 1964 treaty was the largest territorial infringement to the syilx Okanagan Nation since contact, said Jay Johnson, chief negotiator and senior policy advisor to the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA)’s Chiefs Executive Council.

“Your voice wasn’t heard — it was ignored,” he told ONA members during their annual general assembly on July 24 in sw̓iw̓s (Osoyoos). “The ecosystem was ignored. Salmon were ignored — dams blocked salmon passage.

“Three dams were built in Canada that flooded out hundreds of thousands of hectares, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of species. It inundated sacred sites and burial sites, and commenced a lot of damage.”

The inclusion of syilx Okanagan, Secwépemc, and Ktunaxa Nations in the push to re-negotiate the pact didn’t come easily, however.

“It’s based on consent,” Johnson said, “and building and standing on the shoulders of the ancestors — and all the hard work that they’ve done over the years — to blaze that trail to be where we are today.”

It took years of pushing to have Indigenous voices, values and laws recognized.

“The Secwépemc, along with the Ktunaxa and syilx Okanagan, are steadfast in protecting Indigenous title and rights, our cultural values and improving ecological health in the negotiations,” said Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, in a statement July 11. 

“With good faith, commitment and adherence to a ‘one river’ approach by all, we believe we will conclude a modernized Columbia River Treaty in a manner that advances reconciliation.”

Katrine Conroy, the provincial minister dealing with the treaty, added that modernizing the deal is “a once-in-a-generation chance to look beyond the original goals of power generation and flood-risk management.

“We said all along that we would not agree to an updated treaty unless it led to improvements in the B.C. basin and reduced impacts to the region’s ecosystems and communities,” she said.

“As a lifelong basin resident, I’m proud to say this agreement-in-principle is a key step forward towards a modernized treaty that achieves those goals, reflecting the voices of basin communities and Indigenous nations.”

The original Columbia River Treaty had two main goals: to prevent flooding in cities downriver, and to provide reliable hydroelectric power from dams along the cross-border waterway.

Today, those dams number more than 470, offering not only electricity, but also flood control and irrigation. Nineteen of the hydroelectric dams are in “British Columbia,” nearly seven per cent of the total, the rest are south of the border.

“This agreement-in-principle is the result of extensive engagement, notably with Indigenous and local communities, to ensure that all interests are heard, represented, and addressed,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a July 11 statement. “The agreement-in-principle is a major milestone that will enable us to now update the Treaty, ensuring continued flood risk management and co-operation on hydropower.”

But the pact was signed without input or acknowledgement of Indigenous nations whose title and harvesting rights were significantly impacted. 

“We still have lots of work to do with Canada and B.C. to start addressing the past and ongoing impacts to our lands, waters and people,” said Chief Keith Crow, of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, the project’s lead for syilx Okanagan’s council.

“But I now have real hope that one day, as a result of our efforts, I will see my grandchildren and other future generations exercising their rights harvesting n̓ty̓tyix (salmon) in the nxw̌ ntkwitkw (Upper Columbia region).”

Johnson said the nation is conducting much cultural and scientific work around water management regimes on a river that’s vital to syilx Okanagan people.

“We fought really hard to ensure that the water flows — and how we manage the water — is going to be effective for salmon, that we’re going to have access to the tributaries, (and) that the ecosystem values beyond salmon are also considered,” he said.

There have been 19 rounds of negotiations to update the 60-year-old treaty since talks began in 2018. When initial discussions started, Johnson said that ONA had to fight for an observer seat at the table, after being told that they wouldn’t be permitted to be witnesses in the discussion room between the two countries.

“The chiefs said, ‘We’re not doing that — we’re in the room, we’re listening, we’re hearing, you’re talking about our lands, our rights,’” Johnson said, adding that leaders demanded to know “first-hand” what the two states were saying to each other behind closed doors.

‘Transboundary collaboration’ needed to bring back salmon

Prior to colonization, the Columbia River was among the greatest salmon-producing river systems in the world.

Before the 1840s, between 10 million and 16 million salmon and steelhead would return to the river to spawn every year, according to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

But as more settlers flooded the region later that century, they began to overfish the waterway and its tributaries, and built dams and channels — destroying salmon-spawning habitats in the process. Salmon stocks rapidly plummeted.

For the past 80 years, salmon populations have struggled to return to the upper Columbia River system. But recently, multi-generational Indigenous efforts to restore salmon populations are making waves.

More than 633,000 of the species returned to the mouth of the Columbia in 2022, according to the ONA — three-quarters of them sockeye salmon — the largest return since recording began in 1938. 

But that is just a fraction of what was once estimated to be a run of up to 16 million salmon a year, according to the Washington and Oregon Fisheries and Wildlife departments.

Five years ago, the three nations signed a three-year agreement with the provincial and federal governments to partner on a plan to reintroduce salmon into the upper Columbia River region.

The outcome: the Columbia River Salmon Reintroduction Initiative, a long-term plan to restore fish stocks for Indigenous food, social and ceremonial needs. Its aim is to benefit community members in the region, and ecosystems as a whole.

Kukpi7 Casimir said such a “transboundary collaboration” is needed to bring salmon back to the whole river system.

Ktunaxa Nation Chair Kathryn Teneese said Indigenous leaders at the table worked hard to include cultural values, stream flows and salmon restoration as the treaty is updated.

“We are committed to continuing that work as a new treaty is drafted,” she said when the AIP was signed last month. “The Ktunaxa Nation has communities on both sides of the border and we share a sacred duty to protect ‘ʔa·kxam̓is q̓api qapsin’ (all living things).”

But it could take up to two years to convert the AIP into a modernized treaty, estimates the ONA’s legal team. 

Johnson said that the initial agreement has already inspired Indigenous Peoples worldwide, demonstrating Indigenous voices saying “no” to colonial states’ projects.

He said the nations now sitting at the Columbia River Treaty table can feel proud they “blazed a trail” — insisting the nations’ voices are represented in international agreements “for the first time in contemporary history between modern states,” he told attendees at the ONA annual meeting.

“That’s never happened before, until we kicked the door down on the (Columbia River Treaty) to ensure that you are a part of those negotiating processes.”