British Columbia’s Indigenous Territories by Stage of Treaty Negotiation
We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional
unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, Syilx (Okanagan), and Sinixt Peoples.

Introduction
Indigenous groups in BC are at
various stages of negotiation with
the provincial government to
establish treaty agreements.
There is a significant amount of
overlap between the traditional
territories of many of these
nations and treaty groups. One
objective of this project was to
create a web map that would help
examine these areas.
The project also aimed to identify
if and how geographic location is
affecting or has affected the
treaty negotiations of Indigenous
groups located in British
Columbia. Some Indigenous
groups have withdrawn from the
treaty process, and a visualization
of these groups was created to
help to determine why this is
happening.

Data Sources:
• DataBC
(https://data.gov.bc.ca/)
• BC Treaty Commission
(bctreaty.ca)
Kasha Boyle-Stanley
School of Environment and
Geomatics
Integrated Environmental
Planning
IEP 271
April 10, 2019

Methods:

Results

Limitations

Spatial data of BC’s First Nations participating in the treaty process was ordered from
DataBC. Using ArcGIS, the spatial data was separated into permanent layers representing
Nations at each stage of negotiation. Map products were created to represent each stage of
negotiation.
Areas of overlap were then identified using the “dissolve” and “intersect” tools. A map
was created to visually represent these areas of overlap and a statistical analysis of the
amount of land covered by overlap was completed. A web map was also created to serve as a
visual tool to view areas of overlap between traditional territories.
The map products created were compared to a heat map of population density in British
Columbia in order to extrapolate trends.

The results of a visual analysis drew three main conclusions:
1- Although it may have been beneficial to be proximal to urban centers when finalizing
treaties, this proximity is not, in and of itself, a reason why various Indigenous groups are at
one stage or another in the negotiation process.
2- The traditional territories of Indigenous groups not currently negotiating are all
geographically close to at least one other territory with the same classification. Conclusions as
to the relevance of this are beyond the scope of this project.
3- The area of overlap between traditional territories is 32.1% of the total land mass of the
province and 19.5% of the total traditional territory in British Columbia.

Scope: The treaty system in British Columbia is very complicated and its intricacies are
beyond the scope of this project.
Lack of data: Further analysis would have been possible had temporal data been available for
when Indigenous groups were classified as “not currently negotiating” by the BC Treaty
Commission.
Representation: There are many Indigenous groups that are not officially recognized by the
provincial government and are not represented in this project.
ASSUMPTION: The primary assumption being made in this project is that data provided by
the provincial government is concurrent with Indigenous groups’ claimed traditional
territories.