reaction - led to bans on the most important cultural expressions, excluded all native inhabitants from the right to vote and escalated to the point of the forced removal of everyone Children in boarding-type schools for which the Canadian government apologized in 2008. During this phase the population collapsed, most languages were lost and migration to the cities increased so much that the vast majority of the Coast Salish now live there. The situation only changed with the changed legal situation, which the tribal representatives were able to enforce before the highest courts. Thanks to more open borders and the increasing prosperity of some tribes, but above all the growing awareness of the common cultural values, there was a partial revival of the community of the Salish groups. Many groups are still fighting for tribal recognition as a prerequisite to even entering into negotiations for their sovereignty and land. Tribal associations are pooling their efforts, borders are being marked and sovereignty rights are being successively granted. While attempts were made in the USA for several decades to break up tribal lands into parcels and privatize them, the majority of Canadian reservations remained tribal property. British Columbia has been trying to implement this privatization in exchange for enlarged reservations since 1993 (BC Treaty Process), but only a few contracts have been concluded so far. Since 2007 it has been unclear whether this so-called BC Treaty Process can and should be continued. Early history The early history of the Coastal Salish and their predecessor cultures can only be grasped archaeologically and later by oral tradition. Approximately 400 construction permits are issued annually for around 23,000 archaeological sites in British Columbia. This often leads to conflicts, because the majority of the sources on Salish history are - often not easily recognizable - underground or in shell mounds (shell middens), some of which are several meters high. It was not until 1995 that a tribe in British Columbia, the Nanoose, was able to gain a say in the management of archaeological sites. Despite research that was initially hardly funded, the results of the last few decades are remarkable. The situation is similar in Washington. In 2003, an archaeological report stated that there were 14,000 archaeological sites ranging from entire villages to trees that have been modified for cultural reasons (Culturally Modified Trees). In the early phase of human settlement, the landscape was still undergoing