Kelly Lake, British Columbia

This article is for the community in the Peace River District of British Columbia. For the lake near Clinton, British Columbia, see Downing Provincial Park.

Kelly Lake is community in the Peace River Country of northeastern British Columbia, Canada, located just west of the border with the province of Alberta.[1]

Controversy

The Kelly Lake Cree Nation (KLCN), the Kelly Lake First Nation (KLFN), and the Apetokosan Nation (Kelley Lake Métis Settlement Society) are three different groups claiming to speak for the Aboriginal community of the area. None are recognized by the Canadian government as Aboriginal peoples, though they have been part of land claims in the courts[2] and are recognized as stakeholders in the Northern Gateway Pipeline region by Enbridge.[3] The BC Assembly of First Nations endorsed the claims of the local people as a First Nation in 2008, supporting the claim that the people of Kelly Lake were wrongly missed during the enumeration of peoples living within the Treaty 8 area.[4] In the 1999 court documents, both the KLCN and KLFN are described as a group of "Beaver, Cree, and Iroquois people".[2] The chief of the KLCN has claimed indigenous rights because of the group's Dunne-za and Nehiyaw ancestry when speaking to a joint review panel on BC Hydro's Site C dam project. He also claimed that the people's traditional territory extends in Alberta.[5][6] Currently there are less than 100 people living in the small community as there are only 33 houses, a church and an old school that has been transformed into a Community Centre. The closest town is 40 miles away so people have to have vehicles if they want to work. The kids take a school bus to Hythe Regional for the younger ones and then to Beaverlodge Regional High for grades 10-12. The Community Centre is open 4 days a week for the younger members to go and play in a gymnasium or do arts and crafts.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BC Geographical Names". apps.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 http://reports.fja-cmf.gc.ca/eng/1999/1999fc23825.html
  3. ↑ https://www.northerngateway.ca/assets/pdf/application/Volume%205A%20-%20Appendix%20C%20-%20BC%20Aboriginal%20Groups%20-%20Figures%20C-5%20through%20C-8.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.bcafn.ca/pdf/Resolution-2008-33.pdf
  5. ↑ http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/52060/index.do?r=AAAAAQAhS2VsbHkgbGFrZSBDcmVlIG5hdGlvbiBsYW5kIGNsYWltAAAAAAE
  6. ↑ http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents/p63919/97889E.pdf

Coordinates: 55°15′00″N 120°02′00″W / 55.25000°N 120.03333°W / 55.25000; -120.03333

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