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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Bernie Fandrich was born in 1945 in Edmonton, Alberta. He attended UBC and graduated with a B.P.E. and an M.A. He married (Lorna) and they had three children: Braedon, Megan, and Andrew. In 1973, Bernie began river rafting on the Thompson River at Spences Bridge. By 1974, he moved to Lytton, B.C., and incorporated his own rafting company, Kumsheen Raft Adventures, Ltd. Between 1976 and 1983, Fandrich's company entered into three separate leasing arrangements with Peter Quinn, a local native who was believed to be the Locatee of Tukozap Indian Reserve #24, with one of his leases being ratified by the Lytton Indian Band. During time of these leases, Kumsheen Raft Adventures Ltd. was able to use and travel on Indian Reserve lands for his rafting takeouts. In 1983, the Lytton Indian Band, under the new leadership of Ruby Dunstan, began locking up the takeout road, and essentially stranding the Kumsheen passengers at the river. On the strength of his lease with Peter Quinn, Mr. Fandrich was able to obtain a court injunction prohibiting the Lytton Band from interfering with the road. Kumsheen continued to use this takeout road under the terms of lease until its expiration date in Oct. 1983. However, in Sept. 1983, Kumsheen received a letter from the solicitors for the Lytton Indian Band, demanding a back payment of $25,000 for the past use of the takeout and other sites. Kumsheen took the position that it had already paid for the use of the road and would not pay again. During the spring and summer of 1984, Kumsheen developed an alternate takeout site several miles downstream on the Fraser River at Saw Creek. In Aug. 1984, Kumsheen was served with a writ of summons charging the company with trespass for past use of the takeout road at Lytton. The company also received a writ of summons from the Skuppah Indian Band charging trespass on the Saw Creek site, a writ of summons from Robert Norris stating Kumsheen was illegally using a railroad crossing that belonged to Mr. Norris, as well as several letters from a lawyer representing a Lytton Band member who stated that Kumsheen was disrupting the Indian fishing results near the Saw Creek site. In the fall of 1984, Kumsheen Adventures and the Lytton Indian Band went to court. Mr. Fandrich was determined to prove that takeout sites were part of the old public road, not reserve land. Kumsheen won the court case, the Bands appealed and won their appeal, and Kumsheen Raft Adventures was forced to pay them out.