THE Ktunaxa First Nation, an indigenous group in south-eastern British Columbia, believes that the grizzly-bear spirit resides in a sacred part of the Purcell mountains that they call Qat’muk. For 25 years they have resisted a scheme to build a ski resort in this wilderness. On December 1st the Ktunaxa will bring their fight to Canada’s Supreme Court. They will argue that their religious freedom takes precedence over the right of mountain-bombing masses to experience the deep powder for which the area is famed.
The case will set a precedent in Canada and reverberate abroad. Sacred sites are an issue in protests against the Dakota oil pipeline in the United States. New Zealand’s government recently conferred the rights of a person on a national park sacred to the Maori people. Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled before on indigenous people’s rights over land use, but never on the basis of their religious beliefs.
The nature of that faith, which assigns sacred value to features of the landscape, poses a puzzle for the courts. The Ktunaxa maintain that skiers will...Continue reading
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