Recognizes Indigenous title and rights; creates the basis for Crown-Indigenous relations.
David Thompson crosses the Rocky Mountains and establishes "Kootenae House."
Staff and medallion given to Kootenay Peoples from the Crown; now housed at Fort Steele Museum.
The Indian Act becomes federal law.
Amendment to the Indian Act makes the Sundance illegal.
The association petitions Prime Minister Borden on
Indigenous rights; includes Kootenay Chiefs.
Indian Rights Association presses for recognition of rights; Kootenay Chief David participates.
Indian Rights Association dissolves, folds into Allied Tribes of B.C., which includes Kootenay / Ktunaxa.
Canada makes it illegal to advance Aboriginal Title cases through the Indian Act.
Allied Tribes of B.C. dissolves.
144 Chiefs meet to oppose the ‘White Paper’ and assert title.
Kootenay Chiefs attend.
The KIDC is formed by five bands.
It is later renamed Kootenay Indian Area Council (1974), Ktunaxa/Kinbasket Tribal Council (1991),
and Ktunaxa Nation Council (2005).
A caravan travels to Ottawa to lobby for Indigenous rights to be part of the Canadian constitution. Ktunaxa people participate and the caravan later travels to Europe.
The declaration is signed by Kootenay Chiefs and the Kootenay Indian Area Council Coordinator.
Recognizes “existing Aboriginal and treaty rights.”
Leads to hundreds of court cases.
Kootenay Traditional Land and Resource Use Study completed.
ʔakisq̓nuk hosts this event to marks 100 years under the reservation system.
Court rejects Crown claim that Aboriginal title was
extinguished in 1871 when B.C. joined Canada.
The B.C. government passes the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act, DRIPA) into law.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act
becomes federal law in Canada on June 21, 2021.
Ktunaxa First Nations' nasuʔkin and Ktunaxa Nation Council Chair sign
an updated declaration, outlining who we are, our covenants
and territory, our rights and our expectations.
The Ktunaxa Nation Council Lands and Resources Council (with representatives from each Ktunaxa First Nation in Canada) states its intention to revise the land claim declaration into today's language.
Three years of intensive engagement with Ktunaxa Leaders, Elders and ʔaqⱡsmaknik̓ informs a modernized Ktunaxa Land Declaration, which builds upon the work of 1981 Kootenay Land Claim and Declaration authors.
The Ktunaxa Leadership Table approves the updated declaration on April 23, 2025, and signs the declaration on July 16, 2025 during the Ktunaxa Nation Annual General Assembly.
