Stó:lō refuse to Cancel Ceremony in Face of Government/RCMP Objections

The Department of Indian Affairs is pressuring the RCMP to lay charges against leaders of the Sto:lo Tribal Council (STC) for criminal trespass on an unoccupied Indian reserve in the Fraser Canyon.

On Sunday October 26th the STC sponsored a memorial ceremony near a small cemetery on the unoccupied Eayem reserve located 2.5 miles north of Yale, B.C. The service was held to replace a memorial plaque recently removed from the site.

At the time of the construction of the CP Rail line through the Fraser Canyon in the late 19th Century, Sto:lo remains were dug up and then reburied in the Eayem Cemetery. And in 1938, the Sto:lo placed the original plaque at the gravesite.

The Yale Indian Band objected to the October 26th observance and took a backhoe into the cemetery. By the Yale Indian Band’s own admission, they went to the gravesite on October 25th and tore down the cemetery fence, dug up the pedestal upon which the memorial plaque was mounted and threw it down a nearby embankment. The wood and wire fence was thrown into a pile and set ablaze.

The Chief of the Yale Indian Band, Robert (Bob) Hope, with the support of the Department of Indian Affairs, is demanding that the RCMP charge STC leaders with criminal trespass stemming from

last weekend’s ceremony and that further charges be brought for a follow-up ceremony planned for 3 PM today at the Eayem Cemetery.

The RCMP sent e-mail notes to the STC asking them to stand down today’s rites. The STC has refused the RCMP request and will go ahead with today’s 3 PM observance.

The STC says they won’t be intimidated by the RCMP nor will they allow their rights to be infringed by either by government or Chief Robert Hope. And they say they won’t allow themselves to be persecuted for their spiritual practices like their grandparents were in the early 20th Century.

The Yale Indian Band Council claims not to be Sto:lo, but they identify themselves as the “Tait” in their Statement of Claim at the BC Treaty Commission website. Reputable anthropological literature includes the Tait as one of nearly a dozen Sto:lo tribes.

For more information, please contact

Grand Chief Doug Kelly
of the STC at:
1- 604-798-1436(cell)

Tribal Chief Tyrone McNeil at:
1- 604-798-1509 or

Grand Chief Clarence Pennier at:
1- 604-798-2432 or

Ernie Crey, STC advisor, at:
1 604-798-4435.