Gustafsen Lake Standoff
The Gustafsen Lake Standoff has been described as the largest paramilitary operation in Canadian history
The standoff was the boiling point over the use of First Nation’s land by non-First Nation’s people. It began in 1995. The land itself that, according to the Canadian Government belonged to ranch owner Lyle James.
The problem stemmed from the fact that the land traditionally belonged to the Shuswap people, and no treaty had ever been signed over the use of their lands. So we have two groups claiming to own the land at Gustafsen Lake.
It seems at first, things seemed to go smoothly. In 1989, Faith Keeper Percy Rosette and other Shuswap elders had a vision of the site and spoke with ranch owner Lyle James about holding a religious ceremony there.
Lyle agreed to let them use the land for the ceremony for 4 years as long as they didn’t set up any permanent structures, but in 1994 Lyle discovered that Percy and his wife had taken permanent residence at the site.
In 1995, Shuswap and other First Nations people came to Gustafsen Lake for the 6th Sundance. Except the relationship between the First Nations people and the ranch owner soured when Lyle found out that the Sundancers had erected a fence to keep James’s cattle from defecating…