Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Fire, Indigenous Nations

Apartment Fire at Klahoose Health Centre

By Steve Brown, Chief, Klahoose First Nation

At approximately 9:00 PM on Wednesday, November 23, a fire broke out in our community which destroyed at least three units behind the Health Centre. A neighbour heard the fire alarm, called 9-1-1, and the Cortes Fire Department arrived shortly after. Thankfully, everyone involved escaped safely and is okay. The fire was extinguished, and staff are currently assessing damage, working to repair what can be fixed, and supporting members in need.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations

‘You will be arrested’: Coastal GasLink security denies Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief access to monitor project construction

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Under an early November snowfall, a tense standoff slowly unfolded between Coastal GasLink security workers, RCMP and Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks.

“If you pass this gate, sir, my understanding is that you will be arrested by the RCMP,” a pipeline security guard told the Chief and his supporters. He was standing in front of a yellow gate across the access road to where the company is drilling under Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) about two kilometres away.

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Less than one kilometre from a Wet’suwet’en camp and village site, where cabins, tiny homes and a feast hall provide space for ceremony, cultural practices and opportunities to reconnect with the land, is a vast muddy clearing, guarded by private security workers. 

Here, the path of the Coastal GasLink pipeline crosses Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek), a tributary of Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). This work requires digging a trench right through the creek to bury the pipe under it.

Ts’elkay Kwe is a known spawning channel for steelhead trout trout and other species, including coho salmon, according to a 2007 land-use plan. But steelhead and salmon throughout the watershed are in decline, in part due to widespread clearcut logging and climate change.

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Indigenous Nations

North Vancouver school given traditional, Tsleil-Waututh name

By Mina Kerr-Lazenby, North Shore News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Seycove Secondary, a high school in North Vancouver’s Deep Cove neighbourhood, has been gifted a new name of Seycove at sə́yəmətən by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. 

Pronounced say-əm-me-ton, the name translates to ‘a good place of water’ in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and is the name of the original Indigenous village at Strathcona.

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Indigenous Nations

Centuries later, the Doctrine of Discovery takes the spotlight

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Christopher Columbus, John Cabbot, and Jacques Cartier are just some of the names known for landing on North American soil as early explorers. Many of these explorers are known for their great discoveries. However, it is widely known that before European explorers, First Nations lived on the lands.

The complex legal history of Canada’s origins, and the Indigenous-Crown relationship, began with a series of Papal Bulls from the Pope of the Catholic Church. Presently, the weight that the Doctrine of Discovery has in Canada’s systems is being argued.

On September 9th the First Nation Leadership Council (FNLC) published a statement saying they believe renunciation of the Doctrine of Discovery should be King Charles III’s first official act. His coronations is set for May 6, 2023.

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