We are Sinixt and we are still here.
After the deliberate separation and an unjust declaration of extinction, the Sinixt people return to their ancestral land in Canada to continue practicing and protecting their aboriginal rights.
Older Than The Crown follows the trial of Sinixt tribal member Rick Desautel who in 2010 was charged with hunting as a non-resident and without a proper permit in Canada. Rick harvested an elk on the ancestral land of the Sinixt people in Vallican, British Columbia, Canada. To the Sinixt, hunting on ancestral land is an aboriginal right gifted to them by Creator. It’s a right that has legally been denied to the Sinixt people since 1956 when the Canadian government unjustly declared them extinct in Canada, despite the nearly 3,000 members existing on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State. Now with the Desautel Hunting Case, the Sinixt people have a chance to not only bring light to their unjust extinction by the Canadian government but also to abolish the declaration completely.
Director’s Statement
Older Than The Crown is not just a documentary about the Desautel Hunting Case. For the Sinixt people, it is a proclamation to the system that has deliberately tried to erase us, to weaken our connection to our traditional homelands. We are still here.
The term “Older Than The Crown” is a reminder to the politicians that the Sinixt predate any modern government and that our existence is not a myth. Our voices still echo within this valley. We are the Sinixt of the Arrow Lakes, and we exist beyond your borders. Telling the story of Rick Desautel and his battle with the Canadian government as it unfolded was an incredible experience that I have yet to fully process. I not only got to capture this story as a filmmaker, but I also got to experience this journey as a Sinixt person. My maternal grandfather was Sinixt and lived through some of the atrocities the Sinixt endured, including their removal off their homelands, the flooding of ceremonial sites by the Grand Coulee Dam, and the unjust declaration of extinction in Canada of the Sinixt in 1956. I am sad to say I have lived most of my life knowing more of the tragic history of our Sinixt people than our traditional history. Making this film was a way for me to better understand our history and heal those wounds of generational trauma. To reclaim that history and that pride in being Sinixt in real time is an experience I won’t soon forget. I hope that this film reflects that spirit and is as inspiring to others on their own path to rediscovery.
Derrick LaMere
