Tag Archives: Chief David Knox

Indigenous Nations, Politics

Elected and Former Politicians Calling For Aaron Gunn To Step Down

A growing number of elected and former politicians in the North Island Powell River riding are calling upon the Conservative Party to withdraw their endorsement of Aaron Gunn, and demand he withdraw his candidacy. There were already 19 names in the joint letter when Cortes Currents contacted the two women spearheading this campaign and another 6 were added before this post was finished.

 “This has all happened within the last 48 hours. (Bob Chamberlain) a former Vice President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs sent out the first call  for Gunn to be removed. After that many other chiefs supported the call for him to step down,” explained Arzeena Hamir,  a former Regional Director of Area B  in the Comox Valley Regional District.

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

The Ugly Side of “Beautiful Fish”

Traditional territory of both the Tlowitsis First Nation (who support fish farming) and Ma’a̱mtagila Nation (who are against it)

By Desiree Mannila, originally published on the Watershed Sentinel

A proposal for five new fish farms off the north coast of Vancouver Island has sparked disappointment for ocean protectors who achieved the phase-out of seventeen fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago in 2019. The farms are being proposed by John Smith from Tlowitsis First Nation, in partnership with Grieg Seafood. Smith is attempting to rezone the Chatham Chanel to allow these farms.

The proposal is in direct opposition to the work that wild fish advocates have done to remove the farms from their territories. Decades of work has resulted in the federal government committing to creating a phase out plan by 2025, as well as a promise from the Government of British Columbia to establish rigorous new rules for renewals of salmon farm tenures in BC waters past 2022. The proposal is a shock to the 102 Indigenous communities that signed a petition in 2019 demanding farms be removed from their territories.

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