History & Culture

History & Culture Menu

The Barricades are Protected and the Treaty is Made, 1906

After nearly starving the winter before due to the rotten nets that the fisheries officers had supplied, the Babine people rebuilt the weir in the summer of 1906.  Late in August fisheries guardians came up the river to try and destroy the barricade.  When they tried to take the barricade apart the Babine women defended it.  They knocked two fisheries officers over in the river and sat on them.  The report said that the women hit two of the officers with clubs to protect the barricade.  

In response to this resistance, the fisheries officers sent back a report that claimed the Babine were in an uprising and requesting that the militia be sent to put them down.  The Oblates of Mary Imaculate missionary, Father Coccola talked to the Babine, and at his urging nine Babine men surrendered and were jailed in September.    Meanwhile, Father Coccola was talking to the federal government to get them to negotiate with the Babine over the barricade dispute.  The government agreed and two chiefs, Chief Tszak Williams and Chief Big George,  with the help of Father Coccola, negotiated the Barricade Treaty.  The treaty had the Babine remove the weirs, but the government had to supply nets, farm equipment, a school, and several other services in exchange for the Babine taking down the weirs. 

Timeline

1812

Daniel Williams Harmon Visits Babine Lake, January 1812

On January 20th, 1812 Daniel Williams Harmon of the North West Company became the first European to record their visit to Babine Lake.

Click Date For More

1822

The Establishment of Fort Kilmaurs, October 1822

In October of 1822 Hudson’s Bay Company Trader William Brown cleared the portage between Stuart and Babine Lakes landed on present day Old Fort as the location for the HBC post in ‘Babine Country’.

Click Date For More

1884

The Balhats are Prohibited, 1884

In 1884 the Indian Act was amended to prevent First Nations people from practicing many elements for their culture.

Click Date For More

1889

The First Indian Agent, 1889

In 1889 the area around the upper Skeena centred on Hazelton was designated the Babine Agency.  Indian Agent R. E. Loring was sent to oversee all of the First Nations people in that area.

Click Date For More

1904

The Barricades are Removed, October 1904

The first round of the several year dispute that led up to the creation of the Lake Babine Barricade treaty happened in October of 1904

Click Date For More

1905

Rotten Nets are Provided, Fall 1905

In the fall of 1905 fisheries officers brought nets for the Babine to use, but they were so rotten they tore rather than holding the fish.

Click Date For More

1906

The Barricades are Protected and the Treaty is Made, 1906

After nearly starving the winter before due to the rotten nets that the fisheries officers had supplied, the Babine people rebuilt the weir in the summer of 1906.

Click Date For More

1957

The Amalgamation of Old Fort and Fort Babine Indian Bands, 1957

Until 1957 Old Fort and Fort Babine were considered separate nations.

Click Date For More

Contact
SPAM Protection What color is grass