Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

DFO provides $30 million for salmon restoration projects

By Melissa Renwick, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Gold River, BC – In April Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced over $30 million dollars in support for 22 projects under the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF).

The investment from the federal and provincial governments is designed to support monitoring, research and planning to better understand what’s impacting wild salmon populations.

Of the 22 projects, 18 will be led by or conducted in partnership with Indigenous organizations and communities, according to the province. 

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Indigenous Nations, Rivers & Oceans

First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance calls DFO a ‘captured regulator’ of the fish farm industry

(Click here to access other presentations taken from the Committee.)

One hundred and two British Columbian First Nations are calling for fish farms to move onto land. The Klahoose, Tla’amin, Homalco and K’omox First Nations are among them. On May 12, Chief Bob Chamberlain, Chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans that DFO is a captured regulator of the fish farm industry 

Chamberlain began by addressing the committee in his native tongue.

This is a transcript of the rest of his opening presentation.

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Indigenous Nations, Politics

SRD inviting First Nations to Board meetings

How our local government works

The Strathcona Regional District will be inviting all First Nations in the district  to Board meetings. Within the Cortes Currents broadcast area, this should include the Klahoose, Homalco, Tla’amin, We wai Kai, Wei wai Kum and Laichkwiltach First Nations.

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Forests, Indigenous Nations

The Cortes Forestry General Partnership

There are 60 community forests in British Columbia, but only one of them is a general partnership. This can be traced back 23 years, to a MOU in which the Klahoose First Nation and the Cortes Ecoforestry Society agreed to work towards a community forest. Then, in September 2013 the Ministry of Forests issued a Community Forest Agreement to the Cortes Forestry General Partnership (CFGP). 

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Energy, Indigenous Nations, Justice

Letters reveal what energy companies told RCMP before Wet’suwet’en raid

By Matt Simmons, The Narwhal, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

In late April, RCMP officers walked into the Gidimt’en Camp near the confluence of Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek) and Wedzin Kwa (Morice River). Their visits on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in northwest B.C. had been a daily occurrence, with members of the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group showing up at all hours, including in the middle of the night according to locals.

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