By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
‘Na̱mg̱is Chief Ho’miskanis, Don Svanvik, is on the phone when I walk off the little ferry in Alert Bay, B.C.
“Standing water and wood is never good,” he says to the person on the other end. “I can come by after I drop my truck off, maybe tomorrow.”
Continue reading Life on ‘Na̱mg̱is territory, at the edge of the ocean
By Shannon Waters & Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporters
In 2019, B.C. unanimously passed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. It was celebrated as a major step toward working with First Nations in a better, more equal way.
But a court ruling earlier this month seems to be contributing to a change of heart for Premier David Eby. On Dec. 5, the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled the government’s obligations under the Declaration Act are legally enforceable. Eby is now arguing judges shouldn’t be setting the province’s reconciliation agenda. And he says he is willing to change the law to make sure they can’t.
Continue reading ‘Extremely offensive’: B.C. premier’s plans to change Indigenous Rights law met with frustrationMatt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
The truck slowly pulled alongside as I idled at the side of a remote dirt road in northern B.C. No cell service, the nearest town half an hour away. I’d pulled off to let industrial traffic heading the other direction pass. It was 2022 and I was on my way to meet with Indigenous land defenders embroiled in a years-long fight against a major pipeline being built through Wet’suwet’en lands and waters without the permission of Hereditary Chiefs.
Continue reading The day pipeline security followed me — and what I learned later about Canada’s spy agency
Matt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
For the past few months, the buzz in the small coastal community of Kitimat, B.C., has been all about the flares.
LNG Canada, the newly completed gas liquefaction and export plant, began firing up its smokestack last fall, lighting the skies with a flame that got as tall as 90 metres at one point. That’s roughly the equivalent of four 18-wheeler trucks, stacked end-to-end on top of each other. It could be seen from more than 50 kilometres away.
Continue reading B.C. town ‘built by industry’ adjusts to life with LNGMatt Simmons – The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
The British Columbia government gave a green light to an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline on Thursday, paving the way for construction to start this summer — and setting the stage for what one First Nations leader warns could be a “long, hot summer” of conflict.
Continue reading ‘A long, hot summer’: B.C.’s approval of PRGT pipeline sets stage for conflict, First Nations leader says
