T’exelcemc (Williams Lake Indian Band)
The T’exelcemc (Williams Lake Band people) are members of the Secwepemc Nation (Shuswap people). Secwepemc lands extend from Shuswap Lake in the south, to Quesnel Lake in the north, and from Columbia-Kootenay Range in the east to Alexis Creek Area in the west. Northern Secwepemc culture stretches at least 10000 years in the Cariboo Region. The T’exelcemc community of Sugarcane is just 15 minutes East of Williams Lake and has a total of 732 members, of which 234 live on reserve. Community members include teachers, lawyers, social workers, artists, loggers, ranchers and entrepreneurs. Many members operate home businesses. Some sell arts and crafts (leatherwork, basketry, and beadwork), while others offer catering (including providing traditional foods such as bannock, wind-dried salmon, deer meat, canned preserves and berry desserts). There are also private entrepreneurs in the community, including ranchers, farriers, trades people, administrators, silviculture technicians and logging contractors and casket makers.
Band operations cover the whole range of administrative areas, including social and economic development, education, natural resources, land management and treaty negotiations. Specific recent events have produced a number of new opportunities for the community. In 2014, band members voted 85% in favour of transitioning to First Nations Land Management, a form of self-governance that offers First Nations the ability to develop tools of governance over their lands and resources such as developing land codes, developing and enforcing laws, and clarifying the legal status of Bands and Band Councils. Importantly, this moves the band out from under the Indian Act, allowing them more flexibility in terms of land use planning and resource management. While this transition may lead to large economic benefits, there is a lot of work to be done in developing a land code with the full involvement of the community. The administration is involved in rapid development of a large number of projects on almost every front.
Last year, a group of students worked with the T’exelcemc Land Department to gather background information required for develop of management strategies for hayfields on the reserve. This year, our partners would particularly like to collaborate on one of the pressing economic development or resource management projects they are currently involved in. This may include:
- A project to four-lane Highway 97 through the Willliams Lake Indian Band Reserve
- Residential and commercial development at Coyote Rock
- Ongoing work around the 2014 Mount Polley mine spill
- Land use planning and laws under the land code
- A number of initiatives under forestry, mining and fisheries
Links
- Secwepemc First Nations history
- Award winning children’s book by Band member Willie Sellars
- A Vote for First Nations Land Management
