Tag Archives: DRIPA

Indigenous Nations, Industry

Mining companies are snapping up claims to develop Indigenous land. But what happens when a nation doesn’t consent?

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By Matteo Cimellaro, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Reconciliation isn’t the only thing threatened when mining exploration companies fail to get consent from Indigenous nations, says one ethical investor.

Provinces — and the junior mining companies that obtain exploration permits connected to a nation’s ancestral territories — ignore consultation with Indigenous Peoples at their own peril, as the oversight can set the stage for future conflict, court challenges and delays, hampering any future economic development before it begins.

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Indigenous Nations, Industry

First Nation launches court challenge testing B.C.’s legal commitment to recognizing Indigenous rights

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By Matteo Cimellaro, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An online form and $58.75.

That is what it takes to claim a mining stake in the traditional territory of the Gitxaała Nation, according to a written submission to the B.C. Supreme Court. At no point in the process does the mining claim, accessed through a provincial portal, ask the individual or company applying for it to consult with the nation. 

For this reason, the Gitxaała Nation is challenging B.C.’s Mineral Tenure Act in a case that will test whether the province’s legal commitment to recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples has the teeth to change laws. 

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Energy, Indigenous Nations

Blueberry River First Nations beat B.C. in court. Now everything’s changing

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Apart from a little pocket of land on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Blueberry River First Nations territory is an industrial wasteland. At a walking pace, it only takes about three minutes to stumble onto some kind of development. It’s a land of pipelines, clearcuts and gas rigs. But things are about to change.

After winning a hard-fought case before the B.C. Supreme Court in 2021, the Treaty 8 nation reached a final agreement with the province on Jan. 18. The agreement charts a path forward from a past where the province excluded the community from resource decisions and infringed on the nation’s constitutionally protected rights. Two days later, B.C. signed agreements with four neighbouring nations: Doig River, Halfway River, Saulteau and Fort Nelson. Collectively, the agreements represent a way out of conflict and a shared goal to heal the land. 

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Indigenous Nations, Politics, Rivers & Oceans

Land and water in B.C. have a new ministry. We spoke with its leader

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Josie Osborne seems careful with her words as she talks about her new job. The former mayor of Tofino, turned MLA,  is heading up the new B.C. Ministry of Land, Water and Resource  Stewardship and is the minister responsible for fisheries. But through  her political composure are glimpses of a lifestyle associated with the  little west coast community on Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory —  she lives on ten acres with her husband, dog, three goats and chickens  and works out of a brightly coloured tiny house office. 

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Forests

Without deferrals, these five timber companies could decide the fate of B.C.’s old-growth forests

Editor’s Note: Island Timberlands, which owns just under 9% of Cortes Island, primarily operates in southern Vancouver Island. It has smaller logging areas in northern Vancouver Island, Read Island, the Sunshine Coast and Haida Gwaii. Mosaic Forest Management oversees its logging operations, as well those of another Vancouver Island company: TimberWest. They are included among the ‘other companies’ in the chart below.

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Five big timber companies hold the future of nearly half of British Columbia’s at-risk old-growth forests in their hands, according to a new report.

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