Arrow Lakes – Community Witness Hearing

Arrow Lakes – Community Witness Hearing November 19th-22nd 9:30 am-4:30 pm @ Head of the Lake Hall

The community witness hearing will be taking place at HOL from November 19th-November 22nd, 2024 from 9:30 am-4:30 pm with the exception of November 19th which will start at 9:00am to allow for an Opening Ceremony.

OKIB community members are welcome to attend the community witness hearing. However, it is a formal process, similar to court, so only community members invited to be witnesses and legal counsel will be speaking.

Background:

Specific Claims Tribunal to seek compensation for the Arrow Lake reserve. We have argued that Canada failed to honour its duties to OKIB by refusing to transfer the Arrow Lakes reserve to OKIB when Arrow Lakes and OKIB asked to be combined into one band in the 1950s.

THE ARROW LAKES RESERVE

In 1952, Annie Joseph was the last remaining member of the Arrow Lakes Indian Band. She had descendants and other relatives in the Okanagan Indian Band, so Annie and OKIB asked Canada to combine the two bands. This would have meant that the Arrow Lakes reserve would have become an OKIB reserve. But Canada refused. When Annie died, Canada declared the Arrow Lakes Indian Band extinct and gave the Arrow Lakes reserve to British Columbia.

The purpose of the community witness hearing is for community members to share their knowledge about the Arrow Lakes reserve and Annie Joseph’s request to combine the Arrow Lakes Band and OKIB. If you have information on these topics, and a member of our team has not yet spoken to you, please contact one of OKIB’s lawyers, Christina Joynt at [email protected] or 416-587-0936.