WITNESS SAYS FISHING NOT PART OF NATIVE HERITAGE
Story by Michelle Young, Daily News staff (Kamloops, BC)
May 1, 1995
An anthropologist whose testimony in other federal cases has raised
controversy testified in court Monday trade in fish was not an
important part of native life in the Interior.
Sheila Robinson, who has given evidence in cases involving aboriginal
rights and territory since 1986, told the court she didn't believe
natives used fish, or food in general, as a part of their trade.
Robinson was among the witnesses called by Crown counsel Andrew Berna
in the case against Daniel Gaspard.
Gaspard faces charges of possession and selling of salmon under the
Federal Fisheries Act. He admitted to catching 37 salmon at Bridge
River and selling them in downtown Kamloops in August 1993.
The trial began last November, and Judge Ross Simpson expressed his
impatience several times Monday.
"I don't intend to prolong this case endlessly," he said. "I am not
Judge Ito and this is not, as I said last week, the O.J. Simpson
trial."
Marchand said Gaspard is half Bonaparte, half Lillooet. He grew up in
Shuswap territory, to which the Bonaparte band belongs.
The case comes down to which experts to believe -- those who Marchand
called in who said trade in fish was part of native tradition, and
those Berna brought in who disagreed.
Robinson told the court she didn't think there was much trade in basic
subsistence commodities, such as fish, in aboriginal times -- before
European fur trades arrived in B.C.
And she disagreed with one of Marchand's earlier witnesses who said
trade among natives was an annual event. In fact, she said the Shuswap
and Lillooet bands "didn't always have a harmonious relationship.
"There was a lot of inter- and intra-tribal hostility."
Marchand asked Robinson where she was employed, to which she answered:
"I'm being paid today." In recent years, most of her income has come
from federal contracts to testify in court cases, she said.
"Other anthropologists have criticized your views?" asked Marchand.
"Yes, I'm aware of that," she replied.
Marchand then proceeded to read an excerpt from an article in an
anthropology journal about Robinson, which said she relies on
simplistic anthropological theoretical models.
She responded that her opinions have been supported and had said the
article didn't deal with her evidence in the trial which was being
discussed.
Simpson then asked her: "Is it fair to say that a number of your views
haven't had universal acceptance?"
"Yes," she replied.
Marchand asked the court to allow a few defence witnesses to be
recalled in rebuttal, then for submissions.
Instead, Simpson said he had until May 15 to submit his submissions in
writing, and gave the Crown until May 30 to deliver its written
response. He asked that both lawyers keep it short.
"Please don't make your arguments as lengthy as your examinations," he
said.
Simpson said he would file his judgment in the case on June 15.
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