What does TeZtan mean to us? This is a hard question to ask of Tsilhqot’in. Tsilhqot’in have never been with out the land, and they never had to think about it. I myself have to think long and hard to put it into words, about our people’s feelings, about our soul. It is incomprehensible! Tsilhqot’in are left grasping for answers. It is likened to being asked, “What does the earth mean to you?” “ What will your life be like without the earth?” The TeZtan; Yanah Biny, Biny gunchagh, Jidizhay, Dadilin-yex, NabiS, Chilco Lake, Tatlayoko, Yohetta, and Tchaikazan is the earth to the Tsilhqot’ins. The outer space is being explored for evidence of water and other forms of habitation, if it is livable people are looking into a way of living in space. It will be an alternative for us humans to get away from pollution, and at a big hefty price. Guess who will be the first ones up there? Taseko Mines Personal.

Jimmy Bulyan 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

1. Jimmy’s parents Sammy Bulyan and his wife Annie, along with Ts^it’ax and his wife

Nancy had gone to the south of Taseko in the Mountains to get away from the smallpox,

and flu epidemics around 1918. (Our mom Amelia told Doris William and Helena (William) Myers told Linda Myers Smith)

Sammy and Annie used the land and traveled around to camp, fish and hunt in these areas, and that’s how our dad Jimmy got to know the country. People of Xeni used to travel to Lillooet to trade horses; dried fish, dried meat, Tsilthqot’in crafts, to socialize, they acquired arrow-heads through trade with the neighboring tribes, and sometimes to seek a husband or wife. They picked berries and dried them, and they came back with huge bagfuls, and pack-boxes for the horses to pack for the winter. Jimmy knew the surrounding country like all the people before him, like the Esghaydam. He traveled to the coast with other men from Xeni by foot and snowshoe. He traveled to Quesnel, to Ashcroft, and to Lillooet by horseback, which was his preferred mode of travel. Jimmy Bulyan was a good family man; provider, horse trainer, rancher and horse breeder, log-house builder, story teller, trapper, fisher, hunter, big game guide, outdoor survivalist and friend to all. Jimmy was a warm hearted, dedicated hard workingman who also loved life; he was easy-going and easy to laugh. Our dad Jimmy Bulyan’s life was busy and full since he started a family and he ended up with 12 of us. There are hundreds of stories to tell, but I’ll only tell a few. Here are a few stories about Jimmy that was told to me by my mom Amelia. Jimmy was 19 Years old in 1929 when an avalanche came down at the Taylor Windfall mine. Jimmy and Elmer Purjue collected the bones of the victims later on in the summer when the snow melted in the high elevations. Jimmy was always riding around on horseback, or walking and hunting.

On one of his spring rides, he came upon a cow moose that had given birth on a hill. The cow moose had gotten herself in a predicament; the calf had slipped down the hill and into some trees, there the calf stayed, it couldn’t get up or go anywhere, and the cow moose was helpless. Jimmy got off his horse a safe distance away; he walked closer and the cow didn’t seem to mind, So Jimmy got closer, the cow was too worried about her calf. Jimmy got up close to the calf and hauled it away from the trees and to a safe spot, all the while keeping a close eye on the mother in case he had to run behind a tree. The cow didn’t seem to mind and let him handle her calf. This was the day’s accomplishment and a remarkable feeling to help a moose in need.

• Jimmy was out riding one summer day; he came upon a grizzly family, he got off his horse and lay down on the hill overlooking their activities. The sow was eating the green grass and the early summer roots, and the cubs were running up the hill and rolling down the hill, making a big racket as they played. The cubs were making too much noise so the sow grabbed the cubs individually and spanked them. Jimmy was amazed that a grizzly would behave like a human and spank her young. Jimmy was tempted to take one of the cute cubs and sneak away, but he knew how vicious and protective grizzly sows are, so he held himself back. Jimmy came in from shoeing a horse at YuneSit’in, (Stoney); and he was holding his arm. He was in pain, and his wrist was bleeding. Jimmy took his hand off the wound on his wrist and blood was splattering all over the place. Mom said she froze in place and was just standing there; a lady friend was there and she ran, and got some flour. The lady put the flour on Jimmy’s wrist, and this stopped the bleeding. They wrapped his wrist and managed to get someone to take him into town. When Jimmy was shoeing the horse; it kicked out and severed the artery and tendon in his wrist, there was a horseshoe nail sticking out of the hoof. His arm was bent at the elbow for most of his life.

• Jimmy had started learning to tame horses early in his life, people knew that if they needed someone to catch a horse, they only had to ask him. On one of his horse taming ventures, Jimmy got a saddle horn poke in his stomach. He would show us the hernia that he got from this in his later

years. It wasn’t pretty. He paid dearly for not seeing a doctor when it happened. When Jimmy got older he was in a lot of pain; so he finally went and got the hernia fixed. It was already too late, the doctor told him he had cancer and when they cut into him to fix the hernia it made the cancer spread faster. He didn’t last long after this. We still miss him dearly.

• Hunting and trapping: Tsilhqot’ins did not keep to one specific trail or area for hunting or trapping. The trap line covers the area from Fish Creek up to NabiS, and down to the end of Taseko Lake. When hunting or trapping we used the whole area for our needs. Some trapping areas could be given a rest, and go to another place. Some animals preferred only certain areas as habitat; it could be streams and riverbeds for their own hunting needs. Trappers and hunters knew to frequent these areas. Moose, deer, goat, California Big Horn Sheep can be anywhere in this NabiS country. They will not stand out so people can see them and shoot them.

• So, if you want to hunt like the elders or the Esghaydam used to do; go out on the land, hike, or ride a horse. It is more adventurous, and it is wonderful to be out on the land.

Amelia 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

Amelia (Char) William Amelia was born at Redstone in 1916 to Amy (Quilt) Char and George Char. Orphaned at birth, Amelia was adopted by her uncle Seymour and his wife Elizabeth until her great grandmother Tayusdan (Medlin) took her and raised her. Together Tayusdan and Amelia led an idyllic nomadic life; they traveled through the mountains; walking, and leading one old horse to pack their belongings to Lillooet, around Big Creek and back to Fish Lake and surrounding area. They had some food cached in the trees close to home around Fish Lake, and some cached around Big Creek. This is the country that Amelia grew to love. She lovingly told stories about her travels in the mountains, this country was home to her. Amelia’s great grandmother Tayusdan had a relationship with an Esketemc man and had Yellicy and Seymour. Amelia’s grand parents Bigad and his wife Yellicy (Elsie Quilt) their children? lived and moved around Na^bas and Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake), (TeZtan) Big Fish Lake Seymour; great uncle to Amelia and his wife Elizabeth lived up at Tez^tan and Yanah Biny (Little Fish Lake) until he took to the wilderness. Tayusdan and Amelia met up with other Tsilhqot’in on the trails. So, this is the way mom met dad. They got married and moved to Xeni to live. Tayusdan was getting on in years, and she lived with her son Seymour since she was unable to live off the land like she loved. Yellicy, daughter to Tayusdan moved to Stoney to retire, Jimmy would go hunting and get fresh deer meat, and Yellicy would drink the fresh blood she craved. It probably had to do with her spiritual guide the golden eagle (TiSel) A Tsilhqot’in hunter told Yellicy that he bagged an elk and told her he was going to give her some meat. This hunter didn’t keep his word. As a result Yellicy got sick and died. The Medicine people of the old days had strong powers. If they were promised a gift, they waited with anticipation for the gift. If the gift was

promised and not given, the result was death or the medicine man/woman retaliated with their powers and made the person pay in death or sickness. Amelia loved to make buckskin, she sewed her family’s clothes, she hunted, she laundered clothes by hand on a scrub board, she packed water, she cooked and she baked bread, she loved to fish; dance and socialize. I remember days in the winter when she ice-fished all day. I would drop by to see how many fish she got, and sometimes there was only two. My youngest brother Otis and I used to talk about what a great fishing spot there was down at Taseko River. Amelia got very enthused by our talk and told us to get ready, so we went to Taseko River below the Onion Lake cabin to fish for Dolly Varden and rainbow. It was a long walk for mom, and she caught 1 Dolly Varden for our supper.

• Amelia and Jimmy are still out there around Fish Lake, NabiS, and the meadows; they love the land and probably will never leave it.

Jimmy and Amelia 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

Jimmy and Amelia lived in Xeni for a few years; dad was away most of the time. He worked for the Purjues, chasing and taming horses for Ranchers and Outfitters in and around the Chilcotin. Xeni Gwetin had their own herd of horses; they got together to buy a Thoroughbred stud horse to breed their mustang mares. When dad moved to NabiS, he brought along a Thoroughbred/mustang stud of his own. Amelia had to ride the stud behind the wagon up to NabiS. She hated it; the stud was high-spirited and kept rearing up on its hind legs with her. Through the years living around Fish Lake, Wasp Lake and NabiS, Jimmy accumulated a herd of horses of different colors. He accumulated a few head of cows. He leased hay fields through the Ministry of Forest at Alexis Creek. Jimmy had a good memory; he kept figures of the exact tonnage of hay throughout the summer with out writing things down. It is stated in the Terra Archeology studies done that J9 on the map, that the cabins and corrals are post 1846. There is oral history that Seymour built the cabin, barn and corrals when her first moved to the NabiS area. Families had moved to Little Fish Lake to start a reservation, the first cabins were build around the late 1800-1920s. When I talked to Christine Hance Cooper, she told me that her dad Buffalo Hance had built his cabin a Yanah Biny, (Little Fish Lake) around 1928, and John Baptiste built his a little earlier. Seymour had just started his cabin and the cabin was half done when he took to the wilderness. Things just didn’t work out. There are stories that Jimmy and Amelia had moved to Stoney to live, and Chief Louis Quilt told him, “ Why don’t you move to Yanah Biny and NabiS? Buffalo Hance and Seymour have moved out.” So Jimmy and Amelia got some equipment and supplies through DIA and moved to NabiS and Yanah Biny. Times were hard; but the Tsilhqot’in had purpose and the stamina of athletes in those days. They had long-term endurance, which helped them to work hard; they walked and snow shoed long distances. The Tsilhqot’in

elders of our time used lean-tos, small A- frame log structures and they slept by campfires when they went on long treks along the trap lines. They rode and walked to other territories and back again. Jimmy would saddle up a horse on a whim and go to Tesuniah Lake to visit Johnny Blachford, to Mountain house to visit Eagle Lake Henry. Just getting on a horse and riding off over the mountain to visit and attend a gathering was nothing with these Tsilhqot’in men and ladies. Tsilhqot’in endured and persevered.

Joseph William and his wife Delia 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

Joseph is the eldest son of Jimmy and Amelia. Joseph trapped; hunted, fished, guided hunters, he lived in a tent frame at Wasp Lake (Biny Gunchagh) right into November while guiding hunters, he and Delia loved it. There was snow on the ground, but they didn’t mind the cold

• Joseph and Jimmy trapped in Yohetta Valley, Falls Creek and Taseko. Joseph remembers staying at Fishem Lake in a cabin built by grandfather Sammy Bulyan. Joseph went to lay some traps down, it was getting dusk and he couldn’t find his way back so he lit some big windfalls on fire, and spent the night. In the morning he went walking and came up on the trail close to his night’s camp. Joseph and Jimmy started down the Gun Valley trail by horse and sleigh; they spent the night by a campfire. The snow was very deep, so they could only make it so far. Jimmy had tied up the team horses, but when they got up in the morning the horses were gone. Joseph and Jimmy put on snowshoes and followed the horses. The tracks went across the Taseko, down to Onion Flats, and there Joseph couldn’t go any further, his legs had given out and he sat down and waited. The horses were on their way back to Xeni. As old as he was Jimmy kept on going, he was a very tough man. Not too long afterwards the horses came back running towards me, and I caught them. Etsi Beqiyex (Grandfather’s camp) is up close to the base of NabiS (Anvil Mountain). The area bears Bigad’s name today. Wolf track Lake and the areas close to NabiS (Anvil Mountain) were in continuous use by Bigad, his wife Yellicy and other elders, and the people of YuneSit’in, (Stoney) and Xeni. It was also used by their children; and continued on down through the generations to the new generation of today, for hunting, berry picking, marmot hunts, sometime people gathered to visit and fish, The little lakes between NabiS and Wasp Lake were filled with Rainbow trout. Dad used to go down to Taseko from the winter home at Yanah Biny, (Little Fish Lake), he had set lines he kept checking every other day, and he caught big Dolly Varden, people call them bull trout now.

I was a young man staying at JididZay with mom and dad; I went hunting and came upon a grizzly. The bear was up ahead and standing about 50 yards away. I was aiming my 30-30 rifle at the grizzly; and out of the corner of my left eye, I saw movement, the movement was another grizzly bear, and it was on the charge right in my direction. I was young and I wasn’t afraid of anything. I took careful aim and shot, the grizzly dropped down right at my feet. I quickly put another shell in and aimed and shot the other one. There was as summer when the land flooded and dad couldn’t put up enough hay to feed the cows. Danny William, Sammy Bulyan and George Myers and I helped to herd cows to Sugar Cane Reserve to winter by the Chief’s permission. Our dad Jimmy knew and had many friends; he was never stuck if he needed help. Dad and mom with the younger children stayed at Little Fish Lake for the winter. They had enough hay for the horses that they were using. The older children went to St. Joseph’s Mission.

Mary-Jane William 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

• I am the eldest daughter of the late Jimmy Bulyan and Amelia.

• We lived in Xeni and Jimmy our dad put up the hay for his parents, his younger brothers were away to Quesnel, Anaheim Lake and to the States most of the time, probably making money and getting to know the country.

• Jimmy, William Setah, Eddie Quilt, and other men of Xeni Gwet’in went trapping over across the Chilco Lake in the Coast Mountains. When they came back, they went to town to sell their furs. Jimmy our dad came back with goodies. He brought candy, apples, oranges and groceries.

• Dad got itchy feet and wanted to get his own place, our grandfather’s meadows weren’t enough to supply everybody so grandfather Sammy gave the meadows to dad’s younger brothers and brothers in law in Xeni, so we had to move and look elsewhere to settle.

• Dad and mom used to visit Seymour and his wife Elizabeth at Yanah Biny (Little Fish lake) when Joseph was just a baby. So, dad was willing to move up there when the time came, 12 years later. We moved to NabiS, Yanah Biny and the meadows in 1947-1948. I went to the St. Joseph’s Mission not too long after.

• Our family camped at Taseko River by Island Cross when we first went across the Taseko to move to Yanah Biny and NabiS. The horses swam back across the Taseko. Dad had to go back to get them, he held some big rocks in his hand and up over his shoulder, and he walked across the river to get the horses.

• Our dad wasn’t around that much, mom and the kids had to water and feed the cattle and green broke horses when dad was gone.

• Times were hard when we first moved to the meadows. It rained all summer one year; the hay meadows were flooded and they looked like lakes. Dad managed to put up a little bit of hay with salt to preserve it.

• During the times when we couldn’t put up hay, dad took the family

up to Etsi Beqiyex (grandfathers camp) we moved up between Wolf Track Lake and NabiS. Dad moved us up there by horse and packhorses. Joseph was ahead of me on his horse, he would grab a branch and swish it in my face or try to knock me off with a branch. We were making so much noise dad yelled at us to be quiet. Dad shot a few ground hogs, and we put salt on the hides and put them on the branches to dry. Mom dried the deer and ground hog meat. Mom made a big beautiful blanket out of the ground hog hides. Dad and mom went to Anaham Reserve to visit some people that fall, and there was an elderly lady diyan who asked for the blanket. Mom couldn’t say no, if you said no to a diyan, they put a curse on you and you could get sick or die. That fall dad had Joseph with the help of some people chase the cows to Sugarcane Reserve to winter. Joseph, Lucy and I helped to chase the cows back home that spring. Lucy and I had a wind burned face; our eyeballs and teeth were flashing white. Joseph had a cowboy hat so he was OK.

• Sometimes dad got a bear, we salted and dried the meat for the winter. The elders of that time loved the meat. When we were kids we loved the bear grease mixed with dried Saskatoon berries or raisins.

• Dad hunted deer, and ground hogs and mom dried the meat. Mom and I picked some crowberries to eat; the whole side hill was black with it at NabiS.

• There was 6ft. of snow that winter around NabiS. Dad used a team of horses and sleigh to run through the snow again and again to make trails to the haystack. The house we lived in had snow as high as the house. We buried moose and deer meat by the side of the house.

• We milked cows all winter to help sustain the children. Dad used to train the cows to milk and I took over. The cow had a little calf. I told my 5-year-old brother Adam to go around and chase the calf back towards the cow and me so the milk would come better. Adam went around the calf, and the calf bawled and charged him; both Adam and the calf were so tiny.

Adam ran and dived through the fence. I was struggling so hard not to laugh, and I said,” The calf thinks you’re a dog.”

• I was 16 years old when everyone got sick. We had moved to Hudson’s cabin to wait and spring was coming on. Dad had gone to Williams Lake to get some pellets for the horses and cows. Dad got sick with the flu coming back from town; he let the horses go to find their own way back home.

• I had to cook for everyone. Dad had a moose hanging, which was still frozen; I made soup and broth to feed them all. Mom was sick too so I looked after the little ones. Dad was looking after the traps on the trap-line when he was able to.

• Green pus was coming out of the children’s nose, and I had to clean them up and feed them.

• Dad had acquired the trap-line from Jim Bristow during he and mom’s travels in 1938; he exchanged a sleigh and horse for the trap-line.

• John Baptiste our great uncle lived up at the meadows during the summer, John had cows to feed, so he helped dad put up hay. We all shared the food that we had; it was such a long trip into town. John used to trap on the trap-line too. Dad got hay permits through the Alexis Creek Forestry, it cost dad about $300.00 per season.

• We used to go back and forth to Beece Creek to hay. I remember a time when we were trying to help dad park the wagon. He was hanging on to the wagon tongue and digging his heels in the best he could; and we were small kids at the time, we were trying very hard to hold on to the back of the wagon, but we couldn’t hold on, so the wagon went from our hands. The wagon looked like it just flew down the hill with dad up front holding the wagon tongue. He managed to stop it somehow.

• I was 13 years old when dad built the winter cabin, and Jim Bristow

came around to help put the roof on. He got his hand trapped underneath a log and he was groaning so loud. Jim was always in a predicament of one kind or another.

• Sometimes Jim Bristow would come around to visit. Mom had some fresh fried bread and Jim would eat it all with a big can of jam to go with it. He was a bachelor, so this was a treat for him. At sixteen years of age; I made bread, and when I saw Jim coming, I would hide the bread and jam, dad would get mad at me and I had to get the bread out again.

• We stayed at Taseko Lake when dad was guiding a hunter for Billy Woods. Jim Bristow came by; he gave me a seagull and said, ”Here’s a duck.” I said, “ That’s not a duck.” And threw it away. He had a big smile on his face, he was always smiling, and always in a good mood. Any time my older brothers saw him coming they would say, “Mary-Jane here comes your boyfriend.” I would get so angry with them.

• Jim Bristow never bathed. The hunter’s wives used to feel so sorry for him, and they brought food to his cabin, they came into his shack and the stink was so bad they had to run outside.

• Jim used to walk around in a stiff legged walk, sometimes he fell and he fell like a log. Mom got mad at us kids for laughing at him.

• Dad was working for Ranchers in and around Big Creek; Lillooet, and the Chilcotin country; he knew most of the Ranchers and people. Dad even went all the way to Lillooet to look for his horse; he found it, caught it and brought it back.

• When dad was taming horses, he talked to them and roped them, he petted and talked to them and they stood still. Mom said, “He has the spirit horse power that’s why.” Dad had powers of three horses; there was a white, chestnut and a black horse.

• Dad was gone all the time; probably making money, I didn’t keep

track of him. He had stories to tell when he came home. He would drop us off at the Big Onion Lake, he saddled up his horse and packhorse and away he would go. He was gone for months at a time. It’s a good thing mom was a good hunter.

• Sometimes dad used to hang out with Lena Ahkow’s son Larry Ahkow, and Joe Elkins, these guys came to visit once in a while.

• I went hunting in the willows looking for game, and I saw a doe and a yearling fawn. I didn’t get a chance to shoot. I came back to camp and mom had half a dozen grouse. Sometimes we got fish to eat too.

• We had neighbors living at the meadows up towards Na^bas (Anvil Mountain.) Elmer Solsberry, his wife Marcella and their three children had a homestead and a one-room cabin. Elmer made moonshine for sipping. They had a milk cow and a pig. Marcella wasn’t satisfied to live out there it was too remote. She packed up and left with Taylor, one of the neighbors from down the road. She left the children with mom to look after.

• Elmer left to follow his wife; he picked up his children on the way. He got dad to haul some of the household goods back to Taylor’s cabin. He left the milk cow and the pig for our family. The pig was a pet for Joseph and Billy; at least they had some kind of friend. Joseph and Billy had built the pig it’s own little house. We started to leave to go down the trail to Onion Lake cabin in the spring; and the pig had grown big by this time, and he wouldn’t follow the wagon along with the milk cow. So, dad had to shoot it, and they loaded it on the wagon so it would be eaten later.

• We were raised in the bush; we were just like wild animals, no wonder the grizzly bears and other wild animals left us alone, they thought we were one of their own. There was a white man going around getting some soil samples at the meadows. He wanted to know if anything could grow here. He said, “Aren’t you scared to live here? Only wild grass grows here.” I said, “I live here, I am used to it.”

Medicine and Berries: There were plenty of medicine plants and berries around. We used the black lichen from the trees: we would rub it into our palm, and then rub it into our hair, so our hair stayed black. Balsam (ts’ex) or spruce (thu-chen): It is bled in the spring when it has bubbles under the bark with lots of fluid pitch (cambium), boil and drink for stomach upsets, it is also used for asthma.

• Indian Hellebore: (qilhdish) a little bit of this in your mouth for sickness. You could boil the root and make poultices, or astringent for horse back sores and aches. Jimmy our dad used it to clean his rifles, so bad luck would go away, and to stop the rifles from bruising the animals. Dark Willow, scrub birch, dwarf birch: (k’ezen) the branches are used for poor man’s tea, also boil and use for stomach ailments. Red Willow, alder (ch’es)(ch’in deldel) (qwenqes): boil and drink, good for Diarrhea, bath in it for body sores. Juniper and Aspen: boil and drink, for stomach and urinary track ailments. Fireweed root (GunS): You boil this and it is good for the flu and colds Juniper: use for smudging rifles, bow and arrows to rid it of bad luck brought on by women during their time of month, and when nimeih people, (mothers of twins, twins and people that have carried the dead) touch weapons they leave a powerful imprint on the weapons that keeps the game away. For smudging traps before putting them on the trap line to rid them of human odor and good luck, for smudging hunters to bring them luck, Labrador Tea, trapper’s tea, Indian tea (bedzish-yedeyan, which means “Elk food”) made a flavorful tea. These are just a few of our medicine I’ve listed; and which are important to us. I am not able to get out and gather them myself anymore, my daughter Barbara knows all about the traditional medicine, so I get it from her. She

was here with her cousin last year for my son’s funeral, and they collected some, enough to do for the winter.

• Blueberries, strawberries, soapberries, kinnikinnick, Saskatoon, raspberries, kinikkinnik and crowberries were plenty in and around the Wasp Lake and NabiS area. We picked them, ate some and dried them for winter use. The nuWish (soap berries) we boiled, we spread them on straw, dried them in between and kept adding it on till it made a nice dried block. In the winter we soaked a piece of it in water and whipped it up, added sugar and we ate it like ice cream. Roots; Saskatoon branches for Baby baskets and berry baskets.

• Balsam and spruce are good for baby baskets as well. They are flexible

• Moose-hide: dad made his own ropes and halters; he used 4 strands of moose hide strips to braid the ropes.

Cotton Wood; for making dug out canoes.

• The Tsilhqot’in did their own doctoring; dad delivered all the babies, I was 5 years old when I cut my finger, and Johnny Setah wrapped my hand.

• My brother Billy had hurt his kneecap; it was swollen and big. Dad took a razor blade and heated it up, he told us to leave. He cut Billy’s swollen knee, blood and pus came out and filled the basin. Dad bathed it and wrapped it up. Rituals; There were some rituals we had to follow, When the guys voices were changing they weren’t allowed to eat too much, so that they wouldn’t get a big belly when they got older. For the women: at that time of the month they had to have their own cups and plates, they were not allowed to eat fresh game, or fish. We were not allowed to step over any one, walk around diyans, because they could both get very ill, don’t walk around hunters, or to touch the hunting gear. Early in the morning the guys and girls were required to jump and swim in the lake.

I was roasting some dry meat for myself one day, and Joseph stole it. “You’re going to turn into a woman!” I yelled at him. Dad got mad at him. Even when the meat is dry, cook it, and the same goes for fish. Ceremonies; people used to go to Tez^tan for ceremonies:

• This is an oral history from mom and dad; people from miles around used to get together at TeZtan, for fishing, visiting, building sweathouses, sweats. When people got together, they shared whatever food they had. They fished and shared the fish that they caught. People got together to tell stories; sing and dance, it was the way to socialize, this was their way before and after European contact. Most of the Tsilhqot’ins of that time made and had their own songs; which still exist today, thanks to the modern recorders.

• There were a few diyans in those days. No body dared offend the diyans, even today. If anybody came to visit, mom would cook; she didn’t want anyone to feel slighted. Mom was also a nice lady by nature, so it also made her feel good to cook for everybody and share what she had. So, whenever you get company, you should be courteous and feed them.

• Mom’s grandfather Bigad used to put cougar paws in the fire, heated and singed it, and spanked his young children with it. It made the baby grow up to be independent, strong and mean. I remember that some of his children grew up and had tempers like grizzly bears.

• Jimmy my dad was going to do that to me and I ran away from him. I remember that we got a hold of the cougar paw and threw it in the fire and burned it.

• Mom and dad wanted me to have a traditional marriage too, and I refused. Some men offered horses for women, I did not believe in these traditions.

• Dad put up a garden by the Hudson Cabin at Taseko Lake. He

planted turnips, carrots, onions, lettuce, reddish, and beets. He left it and came back to irrigate and check on it once in a while. In the fall the hunters had helped themselves to some onions. He made his own plows and harrows for the garden.

• When we had the time, we rode into the mountains around Red Mountain and Beece Creek for bear tooth, wild potatoes and other edible roots to pick and dry.

• Dad took Joseph, Minnie and I hunting for a Mountain goat up by the Taseko Mountains. He shot a goat; on the way back we made camp. We packed light; all we had was bannock, dry meat and fish for lunch and supper. We used horse blankets and slept by the campfire.

• We used to go to Xeni to for holidays, Easter, and X-mas. Mom and dad went by wagon or sleigh. Joseph and Billy used young green broke horses and gave me an old horse to ride. They would gallop their horses up ahead, over the hill and out of site. The home brew they carried on ropes, on their saddles would be banging and flapping away as they rode away. I would finally come along and they would be way up on top of the hill laughing at me. I do not like the thought of loosing the land that dad and mom lived in and worked so hard to make it livable.

Doris William

Jimmy and Amelia used to visit Seymour at Little Fish Lake when Joseph was just a baby. Mom and dad used to spend the summer in the mountains, and Seymour told them to move up there. We moved up to Yanah Biny in 1948. The wild animals my family and I saw growing up at na^bas. The animals that were in abundance in and around Little Fish Lake were wolfs; coyotes, fox, muskrats, beaver, lynx, fisher, otter, moose, deer, wolverine, squirrels and weasels. The family trapped and ate Lynx; beaver, cougar, muskrat, rabbit, ptarmigan to supplement our supply of meat; dried roots, dried berries and basic dry goods. We used to trap down Taseko Lake, Taseko River, Onion Lakes, Chita meadows, and back to Fish Lake and surrounding area. Some times Doris would take over looking after the traps. The men would be gone for a week. Here are a few animal stories: Talking Owl: My mom Amelia and sisters Mary Jane, Minnie and I would sit by the campfire and an owl would talk to us in chilcotin. The owl would say something unmentionable and Mary Jane would holler and insult it right back, she took a 22 and shot at it, and the owl started to laugh and flew away. They would even hear the owl say nelhtes tadejagh (your cousin has died). Mom said the owl sure did talk! Mary mentioned it to Lizzie George, and she said, “Birds don’t talk like, it must’ve been a person”. The raven also talks: Dad with the help of Billy was looking for his green-broke horse and a raven flew above them and said, " NabiS qwelqwel." (They galloped to NabiS). They thought about what the raven said and decided to go to

Na^bas and look for the horse, sure enough they found the horse, thanks to the raven. Snaring Rabbits: Across the Yanah Biny Lake were lots of rabbits. Jimmy my dad would set up the snares across the lake hoping to catch a few rabbits. I would put on snowshoes, check the snares and collect the rabbits that had been caught. An owl would also help itself and steal some of the snared rabbits. The coyote sending a message: My mom Amelia was horseback riding one day when a coyote followed her like a pet dog. Amelia knew it was not right, so she started to run her horse towards the coyote and chase it back to the bush. It did not seem to help. The coyote kept coming back. Amelia said it was a bad sign that some family or relative is going to die and the coyote is giving a message. Even when a coyote barks it means the same thing. Family Pet Fox: My brother Billy trapped a fox in NabiS and it looked like a small dog. Jimmy decided to keep the fox for a family pet. We fed the fox fresh meat and water to drink, and we’d tie the fox up so it didn’t run away. The fox was getting used to being a pet so we would untie the fox and let it run around. The fox started to dislike the males of the family and would growl and try to bite Jimmy, Joseph and Billy’s hand. The fox took a great liking to the females of my family my two sisters Mary Jane, Minnie and I. We girls would play in the bush and the fox would follow us and watch us play. Finally my dad Jimmy decided it was time to let the fox go back into the wild before the fox grew up big and could become harmful. Minnie and I walked the fox far away into the forest to release it and we walked home. The fox ended up coming home. We tried walking the fox back two more times and the fox still

came back. On the fourth try we succeeded and the fox did not come back. I felt very sad and missed the fox. Cranes: Anytime cranes would come near the camp they were also delivering a bad message; that someone we knew would pass away. And to this day they deliver the same message when they are seen. Trapping animals Jimmy would trap animals and sell the hide to an Asian man at Alexis Creek to provide for his family. Lynx and wolf hides would sell for $200.00; $300.00, $500.00 and $700.00 Beaver hides would sell for $60.00 and $30.00 Fishers sell for $25.00 and $30.00 Muskrats sell for $6.00 and under Squirrels sell for $5.00 and under Weasels sell for $2.00 and under Fishing:

The family fished at TeZtan every summer and fall with fishing rods. Minnie, Mary Jane and I used to take Adam and Norman fishing when they were old enough to sit behind on the horse. In those days the lake shoreline used to swarm with fish. Marvin made rafts; he and his wife Ernestine used to put homemade fishnets in and get a few fish to dry for the winter. My mom Amelia and I would dry enough fish to last all winter. Our family fished with gill nets to catch Spring Salmon at Taseko River.

The men would put a boat in and drag the gill net behind, and across to the other side. The men caught enough fish and the women prepared it to dry for the winter. Jimmy; Marvin, Andy and Otto George used to take their horses into the middle of Taseko River, gaff Spring salmon and drag them back to shore. The harvesting of salmon was a fun time for us. Hunting: Our families would walk/hike or ride horseback to hunt. Sometimes the moose would come over to the tent; Marvin and Otis both got an opportunity at different times to shoot one up close to camp. I also remember Jimmy shooting two deer by one of the haystacks. Men gutted the game when they shot them; the women butchered and dried the meat. Our family never had to buy meat. They lived off wild meat all year long. Tough Ranching days: When Jimmy and his family first came to the Na^bas area, they lived around Onion Lakes in the spring. The family was camped by Island Cross at the Taseko River on one of the first dehorning and steer calf cutting days at the new home range. Jimmy let the cows go so the cows rushed out running and they started across the rotten ice, and when dad went to look a day or so later there were six dead cows in the river. It was a sad day. Minnie and I were small children when dad had us help him lift the logs up with a rope pulley when he was finishing up Seymour’s cabin, I remember Minnie and I were swinging on the pulley trying to help lift. The older children were away at school so dad didn’t have much help. Dad also got me to help him chase horses up in the Last Man Lake area; I was only 8 years old. He was riding a green broke horse, and I was riding mom’s horse Little Red, (deldel tsel). We proceeded to chase the horses, and I couldn’t ride and chase the horses very well, and dad’s green horse wouldn’t perform like he wanted. So, dad left me by a corral, he left me with his 30-06 rifle in

case a grizzly came by, and I didn’t want to think about that. He took Little Red, and made me stand at a place where I could wave a branch at the horses, and together we could chase them in. He came back chasing the horses, into the corral, and we got the horses he wanted. Tayusdan and Amelia used to camp and hunt ground hogs in the mountains; this also helped them escape the smallpox, and the flu epidemics. They had a small horse that they used to pack their belongings. Tayusdan made frequent stops because she felt sorry for the horse. The berries that we picked around Na^bas; Biny-guun-cha, and above the lodge at Taseko were Indian tea, strawberries, blueberries, and some across the creek between NabiS and Biny gunchagh Don’t say no to Medicine people: Down towards Lillooet there is a place where people pick Saskatoon berries; it’s called Dig Gulin. A Tsilhqot’in woman was boiling some Saskatoon berries when a diyan lady from Stoney, Mesesbin showed up. The lady cooking the berries turned her back on Mesesbin. So Mesesbin put a curse on her; later on when the lady ate her berries, she choked on it and died. She is buried there where Dig Gulin is. Jimmy Bulyan our dad told us stories around the campfires, and this is one of them. Back in the days of the Tsilhqot’in war; a man came running and told a diyan man,”Na-nat-thien-bay.” meaning, “ people are coming to war” The Tsilhqot’in diyan warrior reached back behind his neck and grabbed a bird and let it fly over the enemy medows, the enemy started dropping dead to the ground. Another story Jimmy told us is about Nazun Ts’elhtsin. When Nazun Ts’elhtsin knew that the enemy MacLean was coming down a certain trail; the warriors knew that he wore an armor that covered his body and head. So, Nazun Ts’elhtsin got ready for the enemy. He peeled bark off a Jack pine from the base of the tree all the way up as far as he could hide

in the tree. When MacLean came he stopped, and looked up, that’s when Nazun Ts’elhtsin with his bow and arrow got him in the eye. That was the end of MacLean, and the hunt for the warriors started. Death of a baby at Taseko Lake, Our great uncle Eddie Quilt and his wife Eliza lost a baby at Taseko Lake. The baby had eaten poison that trappers had left out for wolves and coyotes. They left to take the baby back to Stoney for burial.

Theresa William Stump

First Generation essay by Sherry Stump, and story told by Theresa William Stump. Grandparents: Jimmy William and Amelia (Char) William.

The first generations are my grandparents from my mother’s side of the family. Theresa provided me with the oral history of her parents. Jimmy William and Amelia (Char) William through a personal interview. Jimmy William, a member of the Nemiah Band, can be described as a person of gentle nature. During this generation, in the 1900’s, Tsilhqot’ins were incorporating the European settlers way of life through ranching. The only means of transportation were horses or by team and wagon. Jimmy had many traits; he endured hard labour through building log homes, woodworking, ranching and hunting. He had a passion for horses and learned to break wild horses while working at the Purjue Ranch, since he only spoke the traditional Chilcotin language Ranching became a way of life for Jimmy and his family. Jimmy started ranching and owned over 50 cattle. He settled in around Taseko Lake and Nemiah, built his own log home by Onion Lake, where he raised his 12 children with his wife. Ranching involved a lot of hard work with caring for the cattle, rounding, branding, haying and fencing. In addition to his ranching, Jimmy worked with nearby ranches with haying and fencing contracts. My mother recalls her father being away before sun up and arriving home at sun down after a hard day’s work during the haying season. She remembers bringing tea and freshly baked cookies to her father after a long day’s work at the ranch. As they rode home, he would be singing his yodeling songs. Jimmy was also and avid storyteller, telling tales to his children around the campfire.

• Amelia (Char) William was adopted and raised by people from the Stone Band. Amelia was the caretaker, raising and teaching her children the Tsilhqot’in tradition. She was described as a gentle and kind person. Amelia kept herself busy by preparing moose and deer meat for drying, tanning and drying moose hides. Once the hides were dry, Amelia would make moccasins and gloves for her family. She also picked the following berries; blueberries, strawberries, and soapberries, which are also known as

Indian ice cream, once whipped. Chilco Lake is located in Nemiah Valley, which provided salmon, one of their main food sources. Amelia made her fish nets, which were used to catch salmon. The salmon were prepared for drying. Amelia also enjoyed ice fishing during the winters.

• My mother recalls their lifestyle being formed around ranching; they camped out during the summer months and lived in a cabin during the winters. She stated that their life was simple, her parents, Jimmy and Amelia provided them with all they needed, food, shelter and clothing. Theresa’s Story and Concerns: Regarding: Taseko Mine Project. Taseko Mines Limited is proposing an open-pit gold and copper mine in the Tsilhqot’in Territory to destroy Fish Lake. Draining the lake just for the gold and copper is just GREED. For money, and destroying a wilderness, which will never be replaced ever.

• There is a lot of history there. First, with my dad, the late Jimmy William, who had a ranch there where I grew up not far from Fish Lake. There was Jimmy’s meadows where my dad cut and stacked hay for his cattle and horses for winter.

• July and August was spent in the fields with my brothers and sisters. We stacked hay with team horses, and pulled sleds loaded with hay. Sundays we didn’t work and dad took the day off too, we saddled up our horses to pick strawberries, soapberries, blueberries, and blackberries so mom could can and store them for the winter. We would take a trip down to Taseko River with the whole family. We camped by the river; dad and my brothers rowed the boat and towed a fish net behind the boat to catch Spring Salmon. I remember days when we went riding, just to ride around the country. One day Joanne and I went to Biny gunchagh (Wasp Lake), I remember seeing fish swimming around close to shore, they were easy to see in the clear water.

• Deer, moose, wild chicken are in abundance in the summer time.

Life out there was wholesome those years. When mom and dad left to go to NabiS and Yanah Biny. They left me with my grandparents Sammy and Annie Bulyan, and I was only about 2 years old. I remember my aunt Lucy would take me for a horseback ride to Chaunigan Lake. Lucy would reprimand me when I leaned sideways from behind her and tried to look ahead. We saw some wild horses on that trip. A time came when dad took me back; dad took me back across the cable cross, he said I glommed on to his legs so hard it was hard to get me loose. I didn’t want to be left behind again.

• In the early years, I remember being about age 3 or 4. I was looking out of a window in the spring time at the birds feeding on rice that mom had put out for them on the ground. A hawk flew by and grabbed a bird, and surprised me. This was the time mom and dad was settling down at Onion Lake in a one-room cabin. The remains of the cabin can still be seen today. I remember writing this story when I was in grade 6 and I was a young girl. It was handed down orally through the generations, my dad Jimmy Bulyan told this story at the campfire at night after work. The legend of Last Man Lake: Long ago tribes of Indians from the North, East and South used to war on the people of the Chilcotin. Once the men of the Chilcotin were working near a lake when a tribe of enemy Indians broke upon them and killed all the men except one man. This one man managed to escape by jumping in the lake and swimming across. He then ran all the way back to his people and told them of the tragedy. The Chilcotin men gathered together and went out to meet the attackers. They killed many enemy warriors and drove the rest back to their own country. After that the lake was called after the man who swam across it ---Last Man Lake.

Norman William 3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

The grizzly bears use the creek between Big Fish Lake and Little Fish Lake, it is their trail, and they also get fish from the creeks in the spring. There is an old Sleigh trail that dad used, and there are grizzly bear claw marks all over. Adam and I were riding around Vic’s Mountain when Adam proceeded to punch at Mount Tatlow; he wanted to test out the belief that if you point or punch at the mountain it will cause bad luck or bad weather. That winter we got 5 feet of snow, and we didn’t get enough hay for the cows and horses. Roger Iverson got a cat operator, a contractor from Nemiah to dig us out so we could move down to Onion Lake cabin. The pile of snow that the cat operator piled was higher than our horses. We had to buy hay from Roger Iverson to feed our cattle and horses. Spirits of our ancestors are still on the land, sometimes you can hear rifle shots at the Yanah Biny settlement cabins, and there is nobody around.

Alice William

I am the youngest daughter to Jimmy and Amelia Bulyan.

• I do agree that we need jobs here in the Chilcotin, and a healthy economy, but I do not agree with Taseko Mines, who will turn the pristine wilderness into a cesspool.

• I was enjoying life at home with mom and dad, but eventually I had to go to School; dad got a radio message that he should send me to school, and there was a Doctor that used to make his rounds around Stoney, I don’t remember his name, he asked dad “ When are you going to send Alice to School?” I must’ve been about six years old, dad said, “ I don’t really want to send her away”. My sister Doris cut my long hair and gave me a very short, curly perm. My brothers and sisters said that all the kids at the Mission were getting their hair cut short, and that was the rule. That same fall my brothers and sisters came back for a visit, and I went back with them.

• I remember feeling lost; it was strange being by myself among strangers. Mom had dressed me up with a long dress; long stockings above my knees held there with a band, and sturdy black shoes. A lady supervisor beckoned me to come over; she smiled at me, put me on her knee and took my stockings off. I must’ve looked like a little old lady. I met and got to know some of my cousins; so that I soon forgot about missing home and feeling lost. We all went through this same cycle of going home; coming back to the Mission, some times even staying through the holidays at the St. Josephs Mission.

• Our family lived too far in a remote area to come pick us up, especially by wagon through three to five feet of snow. One time mom and dad were camping out at Twin Lakes Lodge, and dad was working as a log house builder, and he and other friends and relatives were building the main lodge. Dad hired a plane to pick us up in Williams Lake. Life was always full of adventure, especially when you are a kid. I got to travel in a plane with my cousins whose families were also camped in the area.

• I remember working hard when I was about eight years old; dad

had all of us out in the fields working. Mom stayed home to do laundry for dad and my brothers, the girls had to do their own laundry. She also looked after the dry meat rack; she also cooked and baked for her big family.

• Amelia earned a reprieve from all the years that she worked hard along side dad. We helped by washing dishes for mom, picked berries, and fished for our meal. We all grew up working hard, we didn’t know any other way of life. We didn’t think to question why. Dad moved us baggage and all by wagon to another meadow that needed to be mowed and harvested. My older brothers and sisters rode horses, it was like a real life traveling circus. We made our rounds and camped at all the meadows. Any one that rode horses had to care for them, if they didn’t I heard dad yelling at my brother and sisters to water their horses ” How would you like to be a horse staked out there dying of thirst?”

• We harvested hay all summer until fall, and then mom and dad went into town to shop for a winter’s supply of groceries, which had to last until May. The trip into town was also a goodbye to my older brothers and sisters; they went back to the St. Josephs Mission. We all missed them terribly. It sounds like it was mostly work that we did, but there were fun times too.

• We took a breather when dad and our older brothers were mowing hay at another meadow. We had time to hike into the mountains; go horseback riding, boating and fishing. Now that I look back to that time dad was always working.

• One day My older sisters and I were fishing at Yanah Biny, (Little Fish Lake), we were all standing on this little log raft enjoying ourselves and fishing. We heard a stampede of horses, we looked up on the hill and into the trees, and we waited to see if some horses or riders were going to show up. The sound was coming from the area around the cabins. We didn’t see anyone. So, we think the spirits of the Tsilhqot’ins who have passed on are letting us know they are still on the land.

• Dad took my sister Joanne and I for an enjoyable horse back trip up

to NabiS, (Anvil Mountain.) Dad left us once we got up to the top of the mountain; he took his horse and rifle to go hunting, and we stayed to pick Pinion Pine cones. We were climbing trees trying to knock the cones off the branches; we were yelling and screaming and laughing, and having such a fun time. Dad got back, and he said, ”You kids are making so much noise I didn’t see any deer.” He took his 22 rifle and shot enough cones out of the trees to fill our bags up. Pinion Pine Cones have seeds that are like little pine nuts; you can roast them in the hot coals and eat them. We saddled up and headed back down towards home. We got down to the bottom of the mountain and my sister and I saw some deer through the trees; dad got off his horse, aimed and shot the deer. It was dark going back to camp at Biny-Gunchagh, (Wasp Lake). All I could see was the white end of my sister’s horse, and I made sure I didn’t loose sight of it.

• Wild game and fish were our stable diet. We supplemented our diet with wild greens, berries, roots from the area, and we collected medicine when we ran short, mom had some that were dried and some that she used fresh. We didn’t eat our cows unless there was nothing else to eat, and only in the winter.

• Dad had to work to supplement his ranching income; he had a big family to feed and clothe. Besides ranching he worked as log builder, big game guide, wrangler and fence builder.

• There were days when we took outings and walked to NabiS for the day. It was a long walk, and we enjoyed it. We also rode horse back to TeZtan and fished the whole day. We came back with a burlap sack full of fish. Mom enjoyed preparing fish and meat to dry, my older sisters helped.

• I remember when I was three or four, I used to play in the cold Beece Creek at White Water Lodge despite my family giving me lectures. Dad told us to capture some Frys; and put them in tubs. Dad took these tubs of Frys, and dumped them in JididZay Biny, (Big Onion Lake). Please do not confuse and compare the method of transplanting of fish that Jimmy used at the same scale that Taseko Mines will be doing.

If we were breaking the law back then I didn’t know about it, I was too young.

• A few years later; A friend, Andy Olson flew his plane over JididZay and saw something big swimming around in the lake. He mentioned this to Johnny and Dixie Murdock, and they mentioned it to mom and dad. So, dad put a net in JididZay and caught some big Dolly Varden, and Rainbows. This was the start of a good fishing spot. It was mentioned in the BC Fishing magazine as a good fishing lake.

• My aunt Susan Char was telling me that she took a photo of a big Rainbow trout that she caught at JididZay. She and her husband had the biggest cooler, they put the trout in it, and the trout’s head and tail were sticking up from the sides. One of aunt Susan’s children has this photo.

• When I was 7 years old, we used to catch small Rainbow trout at Yanah Biny, (Little Fish Lake). Instead of throwing them back into the water, dad wanted us to put them into tubs. He put them in a wagon and dumped them into Biny-gunchagh, (Wasp Lake). The creek that runs from Wasp Lake to Yanah Biny used to be full at one time, and was good for spawning trout. There is a possibility that fish are there; I know that loons were nesting there in the summer of 2009.

• I remember when I was 5, my brothers Joseph and Marvin were going hunting for California Big Horn Sheep. I told mom I wanted to go with them, mom said no, and I cried and cried. So, mom finally said I could go. I could just see what Joseph was thinking, “Spoiled brat”. We all got dressed in warm clothes, and Joseph borrowed a motorboat. We went down the Taseko Lake, there was a cliff overlooking the lake, and I saw some animal looking down at us as we went by, later on I figured it looked like a sheep. Joseph put the boat to shore past the cliff. I got out and the cliff was way…ay up there, Joseph said, “That’s where you’re going.” I didn’t believe him, he was always teasing. Poor Marvin was elected my babysitter. He was holding my hand and we were walking along on top of the mountain, and out of nowhere this body of a sheep rolled down the mountain towards

us. I was happy Marvin was there. Joseph was laughing as he came down afterwards. To this day I don’t know why they didn’t leave me up there.

• I was about 4 years old when dad was taming a new horse, it was black and brown. He had just gone back outside after he had a talk to mom, he was debating what to call the horse. I was sitting in a chair looking out at the horse through the window; and I said, ”He should call the horse Donkey”. mom had a big grin on her face, and she said, “Why don’t you run outside, catch up to your dad and tell him.” I got dressed, ran outside and caught up to him. “Dad, call him Donkey.” Dad looked at me and didn’t say a word, and he proceeded to work with the horse. This horse became dad’s prize horse by the name of Terrified.

• A few years down the road, I was about eleven years old; and dad was working at Twin Lakes and someone gave him a brown horse. He said “This is Alice’s horse” Everyone was excited and they asked, “What are you going to call your horse?” Dad said, “His name is Donkey.” Everybody laughed, and mom said, “You could call him Brown-jug, your dad had a horse with that name.” So, Brown-jug it is. He was Donkey as far as dad was concerned.

• After dad passed away, I went with my brother Marvin and his wife Ernestine to fish up by Wolftrack Lake. The water was so low; it was a foot and a half to two feet deep. Marvin had made a log raft and it was touching bottom in some areas on the pond. I used to wonder, “How do the fish survive the winter?” There must be caverns that fish stay in or the fish bog down in the mud and freeze and thaw out in the spring. The winters used to get very cold, and the snowfall was five feet deep or more, and the fish still survived. I will be moving back up to the NabiS, Yanah Biny, Biny gunchagh, and the TeZtan area with my husband. We will be using the trap-line. We will eventually get a few head of cattle and horses. We are getting into the Ecotourism business. We do not presume to compete at the same level of development as Taseko Mines, but tourism is a getting to be a huge market. Tourism is the number one industry today, and Technology was second

when I took the business-planning course through CFDC in William’s Lake. My business plan got accepted. After all the years of working for other outfitters, we have decided to start our own business. I will leave very little impact on the land. I will employ first nations and train first nations youth. I will have culturally informative classes, which will entail botany, and I will strive to keep the Tsilhqot’ins traditions intact. Green is the number one selling commodity worldwide, and it is a huge market.

• Our people were segregated from the white society back in the 1900s – 60s. The Tsilhqot’in were herded onto reservations; we were told to stay on this reserve and not leave. The Tsilhqot’in were not allowed to go to their schools, or their restaurants. Tsilhqot’in were not allowed to own land or businesses, and if they did like Eagle Lake Henry did, they had to disown their native status and heritage. This crime against our people; this segregation has held us back from creating ranches, and going into businesses and getting a good education. Segregation of our people did not allow for change. Tsilhqot’in were made to feel inferior. We are still having a hard time dealing with this stigma. Tsilhqot’ins had to work for other people, and sometimes there was only enough money to provide clothes, guns, shells, food and feed for animals. I remember dad, (Jimmy Bulyan) couldn’t get a much prized item in those days; the cowboy hat, until much later on in his life. Family came first for Jimmy.

• We Tsilhqot’ins are ready to move forward now. There are a few of us here in Xeni and Yunesit’in who want to go out to TeZtan and NabiS to start businesses. Jimmy Lulua is looking after recreation for the youth in Xeni, he wants to build a camp at TeZtan for them.

• The Government owes us this time to move ahead, and say NO to Taseko Mines Ltd. We need at least 20 years to start and advance with our businesses. It takes that long to start from the ground up and be successful in the tourism industry. All good examples of successful businesses are Tesuniah Lake Lodge; they have a guiding business in fishing, hunting and tourism. This family owned business was started by Bob and his wife Muriel Brebner in 1951. Tsylos Park Lodge is another family owned business that started early, and provides hunts, fishing, and tourism.

People did live on this land and there is proof. Tom and I have a collection of arrowheads; hide scrapers, and stone tools. Some were found at the Taseko Lake crossing, and not so far from Tez^tan. Da-dinh-ly-yah was used as a crossing for the Tsilhqot’ins. Our mom and dad Jimmy used it all their lives; and the generations before, and back through the years before the Esghaydam. Environmental Impact:

• This land of pristine wilderness will be gone. There are red listed and blue listed falcons at risk in the area. There are blue listed Great Blue Herons and fishers that call all the waterways in this country home. Where are they going to go? The European countries are running out of pristine wilderness, and coming to our country to see this area. It is inconceivable to them that we Canadians would destroy what nature we have left.

• H20, (water) is the number one ingredient in the universe that keeps all living cells alive; without it the world is at an end.

• If the Federal Government goes through with this approval of the mines here in BC and the whole of Canada, does that that mean we have to acclimatize and adapt to all the chemicals that the mine industry puts out there? Maybe some time in the future about 100 years, we will follow the Charles Darwin principle, survival of the fittest and adapt to all the contaminants of the earth, we will not be susceptible to cancer, diabetes or all other sicknesses.

• There are a few small plots of graves around Xeni and YuneSit’in. When the small pox and the flu epidemics came through, a few hundred people perished. As anybody can see, these graves do not hold all of the

people. Some of them are still out there on the land in unmarked graves. So, if the mine goes through they will be digging up some of our people. Our family knows of at least 2 graves up around the Bullion meadows.

• We Tsilhqot’in are not GREEDY. We do not want the gold. We just want clean air, clean mountain streams, clean rivers, clean lakes and our land intact.

• We have been pushed and shoved so far since the time of the Tsilhqot’in warriors, they gave their lives for their families, they gave their lives for this land, which we are fighting for yet again, and we cannot tolerate any more. I thank the panel members for listening to this lengthy narration. And, I wish you all good health. Alice M.William

3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM

3/31/2010 2:24:00 AM