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Member Bands

Adams Lake Indian Band
Location
: Main community is on Sahkaltkum Indian Reserve #4, on the Thompson River near Chase. (Seven reserves on 2,885.5 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 728 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Bonaparte Indian Band
Location
: West of Cache Creek, main community on Bonaparte Indian Reserve #3. (9 reserves on 1878.6 hectares)

Number of Band Members: 794 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

High Bar Indian Band
Location: On BC Rail line east of Clinton. (Three reserves on 1,5463 hectares)

Number of Band Members:: 72 (Source: Registered Indian Band Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Kamloops Indian Band
Location
: At the confluence of the North Thompson and South Thompson rivers, at Kamloops. (13,500 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 1,050 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2006 [Last date recorded], Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

 
Neskonlith Indian Band
Location
: Main community is on Neskonlith Indian Reserve #1, on the South Thompson River just below Little Shuswap Lake, near Chase. (Three reserves on 2,786.7 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 591 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Simpew North Thompson Indian Band
Location: Main community is on North Thompson Indian Reserve #1, on the North Thompson River approximately 70 km north of Kamloops. (Five reserves on 1,500.7 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 640 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Skeetchestn Indian Band
Location
: Main community is on Skeetchestn Indian Reserve, near the confluence of the Deadman and Thompson Rivers, approximately 40 km northwest of Kamloops. (Three reserves on 7,969.1 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 484 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band

Location
: Main community is on Whispering Pines Indian Reserve #4, on the North Thompson River 18 km north of Kamloops. (Two reserves on 496.3 hectares.)

Number of Band Members: 130 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

NOTE: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada lists the above First Nations as members of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council (SNTC). SNTC lists seven of the eight First Nations above as member bands – High Bar Indian Band is excluded by SNTC. SNTC lists Little Shuswap, Shuswap and Spallumcheen First Nations as member bands, although these First Nations are not recognized officially by INAC as members of SNTC.

Little Shuswap Indian Band
Location: Main communities are located along the eastern end of the Little Shuswap Lake and along the western and northern end of the Big Shuswap Lake and follow along the Adams River and Little River. (Five reserves on 3,112.7 hectares)

Number of Band Members: 309 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Shuswap Indian Band
Location: Main community is located on the left bank of the Columbia River, one mile north of Invermere. (Two reserves on 1,246.1 hectares)

Number of Band Members: 231 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Spallumcheen Indian Band
Location: Main community is on Enderby Reserve No. 2 at Enderby on the Shuswap River at the mouth of Fortune Creek. (Three reserves on 3,905.2 hectares)

Number of Band Members: 757 (Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Background

Participation
: Government representatives are working to build relationships with the SNTC outside of the British Columbia Treaty Commission six-stage treaty process.

 
Location
: Member bands are located around Chase, Cache Creek, Clinton, Enderby, Kamloops, Barriere and Savona in B.C.'s south-central interior.

Total band members
: 4,489 [INAC SNTC eight member-bands](Source: Registered Indian Population by Sex and Residence, Registered Population as of December 2007, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada)

Discussions

SNTC member bands are not involved in the B.C. treaty process but are engaged with the Province in New Relationship and other discussions associated with land and resource use within asserted traditional territories.

Land and Resource Agreements

  • December 2004 - Little Shuswap Indian Band and the Ministry of Forests (MOF) signed a revenue sharing and salvage harvesting agreement that provides the band with $731,800 in revenue sharing and 79,035 cubic metres of timber over five years in the Kamloops Timber Supply Area. This follows up on a 2003 agreement with SNTC and the Little Shuswap band for a non-replaceable forest licence of 1.035 million cubic metres of fire-damaged timber in the Kamloops Timber Supply Area.
  • December 2004 - MOF announced funding for a partnership initiative between the Simpcw North Thompson Indian Band and the Lower North Thompson Community Forest Society to provide up to 300,000 cubic metres of beetle-kill timber over three years in the Kamloops Timber Supply Area. This timber volume supplements the 20,000 cubic metres that MOF offered to the Lower North Thompson Community Forest Society.
  • March 2005 - Kamloops Indian Band and MOF reached forest and range agreement for $2.5 million in revenue-sharing and 272,700 cubic metres of timber over five years within the Kamloops Timber Supply Area.
  • July 2006 - Little Shuswap Indian Band secured a three-year agreement for access to more than 36,000 cubic metres of beetle-kill timber in the Kamloops Timber Supply Area.
  • July 2006 - Kamloops Indian Band secured a three-year forestry agreement that provides access to nearly 124,000 cubic metres of beetle-wood within the Kamloops Timber Supply Area.
  • November 2006 – Skeetchestn Indian Band a three-year agreement for access to 102,351 cubic metres of beetle wood in the Kamloops Timber Supply Area. The volume augments a forest and range opportunities agreement signed in July which provided the band with $1.2 million in shared revenue and 125,315 cubic metres of timber.
  • December 2006 - Adams Lake Indian Band signed a three-year mountain pine beetle agreement for access to 86,235 cubic metres of beetle wood within the Kamloops Timber Supply Area and a forest and range opportunities agreement for access to an additional 187,545 cubic metres of timber and $1.7 million in shared revenue over five years.
  • November 2007 – The Province, Kamloops Indian Band and City of Kamloops reached a consultation and accommodation agreement regarding ownership of the former Rayleigh Correctional Camp property that will see the city acquire 112 hectares of the 132-hectare Rayleigh property from the Province for $240,000. The Kamloops Indian Band (KIB) would acquire the balance of the lands.

Economic Development Agreements:

  • 2003 - Skeetchestn Indian Band received $500,000 in economic development funding to research the viability of alternative timber harvesting.
  • 2003 - Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band received $30,000 to assess the feasibility and best location for a bridge over the North Thompson River.

Education & Social Initiatives:

  • November 2005 – SNTC, the Province and North Okanagan-Shuswap School District signed the 22nd Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement to support Aboriginal language and culture programs, Aboriginal support service programs, and other localized Aboriginal education programs. The district includes Adams Lake Indian Band, Little Shuswap Indian Band, Neskonlith Indian Band, and Spallumcheen Indian Band, as well as Métis students and urban Aboriginal students.
  • June 2007 - Bonaparte Indian Band, the Village of Cache Creek, First Nations Leadership Council and the Province joined with local officials and special guests to celebrate the premiere of a pilot video, “Bonaparte Indian Band” created for the Telling Our Stories initiative to showcase and celebrate the First Nation’s culture and history leading up to British Columbia’s 150th anniversary celebrations, the 2008 North American Indigenous Games and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
  • November 2007 - Secwepemc Cultural Education Society received $64,350 from the Province as part of the government’s Aboriginal Nursing Strategy to increase the number of Aboriginal nurses in the province.