Tag Archives: shíshálh Nation

Food, Indigenous Nations

Indigenous food gathering nourishes culture and climate resiliency

Editor’s Note: Some First Nations members from within our listening area may have been among the hundreds of participants, ‘from both coasts and the length of the island,’ who took part in the Island Indigenous Food Gathering. The Homalco, Klahoose, K’omoks and Tla’amin are all Northern Coast Salish Nations. The We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum are Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations.

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

First Nations from across Vancouver Island celebrated and strengthened traditional food sovereignty in a bid to deepen Indigenous communities’ response to climate change and other emergencies.

The recent Island Indigenous Food Gathering near Port Alberni, B.C. , involved hundreds of members from the Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations from both coasts and the length of the island, said organizer Nitanis Desjarlais.

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Tourism

Listening from above: A new way to take in the Sunshine Coast

Editor’s note: a new tourism venue in one of our neighbouring communities.

By Jordan Copp, Coast Reporter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A chance to take in some of the Sunshine Coast’s most stunning scenery while learning about its cultural history is taking flight.

A new audio tour highlights the Sechelt Peninsula, departing from Porpoise Bay, following Sechelt Inlet into Hotham Sound and down Agamemnon Channel past Pender Harbour.

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Rivers & Oceans

‘Writing on the wall’ for West Coast fish farms, conservationists say

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Open net-pen fish farming on the Pacific coast took a one-two punch after operations closures were announced in both B.C. and Washington state this week. 

The shíshálh Nation said Wednesday that aquaculture giant Grieg Seafood is removing salmon farms from the nation’s waters along B.C.’s Sunshine Coast by February 2023. Meanwhile, on Monday, Washington state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said it’s not renewing Atlantic Canada’s Cooke Seafood’s last two open-net pen leases in Puget Sound and farm operations will end by Dec. 14. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

The First Nations calling for a renewal of fish farm licenses

Editor’s note: The licenses for 79 fish farms will come up for renewal by the end of June, 2022. If the Department of Fisheries fails to reissue them, there will only be seven farms left in the province. These are all in the Broughton Archipelago and their licenses come up for renewal in 2023. 

On March 21, a group of what was supposedly 17 First Nations supporting the fish farming industry put out a press release. Cortes Currents is not on the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship email list, and at that point had not heard of the group. We subsequently asked Dallas Smith, spokesperson for this coalition, for an interview. When he did not reply, Cortes Currents published a write-up largely based on that original press release. Within hours of posting a link through social media, someone directed Cortes Currents to independent biologist Alexandra Morton’s Facebook page where there was evidence that this group of 17 was at best 12 and more likely 11 First Nations. Since then, the list has grown smaller. 

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Forests

The Month Long Siege Of Chapman Creek Continues

By Roy L Hales

This isn’t the first time that there has been disputes over logging in the Chapman Creek Watershed. In response to complaints from the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), in 2014 the ‘Managed Forest Council hired Madrone Environmental Services to ascertain the cause of “increased turbidity” in the water supply (which services up to 30,000 households). Geoscientist Gordon Butt pointed to logging after the “onset of the fall rains” and concluded, “Although there has been no clear contravention of the regulations, it is clear to me that industry standards for protecting water quality have not been met in CH1. The short-comings are substantially more serious given the fact that this logging has been carried out in a highly sensitive watershed supplying a large population.” [1] When AJB Investments resumed logging operations in late January of this year, Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) responded with a blockade. The latest attempt at negotiation has just broken down and the month long siege of Chapman Creek continues.

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