Cowichan Tribes Land & Marine Use Plan Working Update - May 2024

LAND & MARINE USE PLAN WORKING UPDATE FOR QUW’UTSUN MUSTIMUHW MAY 2024

The Hul’q’umi’num’ Dictionary definition of Tumuhw [√tumuhw] is earth, ground and includes land, marine, air, and water.

It is also defined under the Qu’wutsun Tumuhw (2019) (Land Code) as any portion of a reserve that is subject to this Quw’utsun Tumuhw under Section 5 of the Quw’utsun Tumuhw.

The scope of the project includes Quw'utsun Territory and enforcement on Reserve lands.

TUMUHW

TUMUHW GUIDES US This document recognizes that the Quw’utsun Tumuhw (Land Code) and the Financial Administration Law are the primary laws governing Cowichan Tribes.

WHAT’S HAPPENING? Lulumexun obtained funding to complete this work in 2019 following the ratification of the Quw’utsun Tumuhw through the First Nations Land Management Resource Center.

The Land and Marine Use Plan will be, governed by the 2019 Quw’utsun Tumuhw, will serve as a guiding, long-term document for the Chief and Council, mustimuhw, and staff.

Its purpose is to provide a consistent, interdepartmental framework for policies and plans related to land use in Quw’utsun territory.

BASED ON PAST & PRESENT WORKS COWICHAN TRIBES, COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY PLAN (2014) STRATEGIC PLAN AND LAND CODE (2019) PAST STUDIES, PLANS, AND RELEVANT DOCUMENTS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT - OPEN HOUSES & COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY LAND USE PLAN STAFF ADVISORY TEAM MEETINGS MUSTIMUHW COMMITTEE MEETINGS DISCUSSIONS WITH ELDERS AND YOUTH QUW’UTSUN SNUW’UY’ULH TEACHINGS

nuts’amaat shqwaluwun

“People working together with one mind respectfully”

Yath ch ‘o’ lhq’il’ “Be positive”

DRAFT DIRECTIONS & POLICIES

LAND USE CONSIDERATIONSTRADITIONAL USES

LAND USE CONSIDERATIONSHAZARD LANDS IE) FLOODPLAIN, STEEP SLOPES

KEY THOUGHTS ON THIS PATH

OUR HEALING JOURNEY RECOGNIZES THE LOSS OF OUR MANY TRADITIONAL VILLAGES AND CULTURAL CONNECTION TO TUMUHW BROUGHT ABOUT BY COLONIZATION AND THE CREATION OF 9 RESERVES

TO HEAL, WE WILL PLAN AHEAD AND EMBRACE A FUTURE WHERE OUR CHILDREN WILL PROTECT TUMUHW AND OUR TERRITORY

12 WAYS WE STAND TOGETHER

12 WAYS WE STAND TOGETHER 1. Be Transparent & 12. Reconnect Celebrate to Tumuhw 2. Plan for 11. Preserve Success Land & Marine our Language & Emergency Traditions Response

3. Secure Land & Marine Food Systems

10. Decolonize

Our Land

4. Build our Nation for Future Generations 5. Invest in Safety and Compassion

9. Protect Land, Air & Water Ecosystems

6. Our Villages are Efficient & Complete

7. Improve Our Health & Wellbeing

8. Plan for Climate Change

1.

BE TRANSPARENT & CELEBRATE SUCCESS 1. Support the well-being of elders, who are cared for and respected si’emstuhw 2. Adopt a Constitution and planning tools to help make informed land use decisions 3. Collaborate with other jurisdictions to support our goals 4. Apply for United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIPA) funding 5. Ensure use of Tumuhw is consistent with snuwyulh and instills community pride 6. Seek transparency and accountability from our leadership (i.e. providing open meetings & and minutes) 7. Invest settlement dollars in projects that provide for future generations ie) Trusts, IPCAs, and carbon offset credits Be honest and truthful in all that you do and say.

Lhq’il ch ‘u kwthun’ sulunthut ‘’ tun’sqwal

2.

PLAN FOR LAND & MARINE EMERGENCY RESPONSE

1. We are the Indigenous voice for ensuring protection of traditional foods, cultural resources, and freshwater for emergency response in Quw'utsun Territory .

2. Develop a legal framework with other jurisdictions to define operations and funding needs to ensure environmental protection during emergencies.

3. Our Tumuhw Environmental Emergency Response team is well-equipped with quality, insured equipment, trained staff, and the capacity to be first responders to environmental emergencies 4. Cowichan members and staff respect and appreciate our Emergency Response Program for both life safety and environmental protection.

5. Partner with other agencies to coordinate a regional vision and approach for climate resilience that equally supports traditional rights and life safety for future generations.

Live in Harmony with Nature

To’mukw’ ‘i’ ‘u tumuhw ’i’ ‘o’ la’lumutul tst

3.

SECURE LAND & MARINE FOOD SYSTEMS 1. Our lands will feed our membership for future generations 2. Our food security programs will provide technology, employment, and long-term opportunities for mustimuhw 3. We are producing food, building food security, and choosing our traditional ways in our modern world.

4. Invest in our schools and programs to teach traditional and modern ways of securing food.

5. Ensure best practices with land and marine species management, processing, storage, and distribution.

6. Strive for no net loss of traditional food within Cowichan Territory 7. Employ land-use planning tools to protect our rights and traditional food systems.

Everything in nature is part of our family. We are all relatives.

Hiiye'yutul tst 'u to' mukw stem 'i'u tun'a tumuhw

4.

BUILD OUR NATION FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS 1. Create more business and employment opportunities for youth, elders, and those seeking new careers.

2. Partner with those who further our sustainable use of Tumuhw 3. Explore economic development models based on blue/green economies that are sustainable 4. Develop creative financial and investment policies that ensure the sustainable use of Tumuhw including A-to-A leasing, carbon-offset credits, creative mortgages, and other incentives.

5. Provide members with financial education and financial literacy support 6. Developments on Tumuhw meet the requirements of a sustainable development checklist 7. When developing tumuhw ensure that projects provide revenue streams for future generations ie) Trusts, IPCAs, and carbon offset credits Take responsibility for your actions

Ha ch ts-tamut ‘i’ nuwus ch ‘o’ tl’ul’lim’t

5. INVEST IN SAFETY AND COMPASSION 1. Develop laws to enforce land and marine use infractions.

2. Require a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) lens with all new developments and address all high-risk crime areas immediately 3. Seek regular community input from members on safety issues, well-being, and overall risk to Cowichan Tribes 4. Support sports, cultural programs, and other confidence and leadership-building opportunities.

5. Increase support for our enforcement teams including capacity for land and marine guardians 6. Adopt an organization-wide Code of Conduct and develop programs that ensure a safe and supportive community free from violence, bullying, harassment, and toxic relationships.

7. Work together to protect each other, and keep our community and natural resources safe

Tl’i’ to’ mukw’ mustimuhw Each person is important

6.

OUR VILLAGES ARE EFFICIENT AND COMPLETE

1. Plan and build complete villages, that are affordable, energy-efficient, and sustainable for future generations 2. Adopt consistent processes, laws, and conditions of development approval that protect tumuhw 3. Our housing is efficient, adequate, and respectful for members at different stages of life.

4. Our land use designations help to improve quality of life, community safety, housing, and environmental protection, guiding how and where community and private lands are developed.

5. Our cultural and natural resources are secure, enhanced, and remediated during development 6. We obtain benefits for our community with new development applications or when lease interests are approved.

7. Community engagement, snuw‘uy’ulh, and or ratification will inform Council decisions on land use.

8. Plan our villages for, and with our children and elders.

Take care of the earth and take only what you need

Hwial'asmut tu tumuhw

7. IMPROVE OUR HEALTH & WELLBEING 1. Focus on our core issues related to mental health, addictions, and homelessness.

2. Mental healthis associated with our connection to Tumuhw -noting land, air and water.

3. Create revenue streams that are dedicated to our health and well-being 4. Ensure that we can “age in place” 5. Support land use and programs that allow all ages to flourish at home, work, play, and spiritual environments 6. Promote walking, cycling, and alternative modes of transit for healthy, low-cost mobility that reduces stress and improves members' quality of life 7. Prioritize our basic health needs including healthy homes, transport, access to services, facilities, programs, and resources.

Take care of your health

Hwial'asmut ch tun' s-ye'lh

1. We will be carbon neutral by 2050.

2. Our climate-resilient villages protect Tumuhw, secure water, and traditional food systems.

3. We provide options for those who live in the floodplain to relocate.

4. We plan ahead for climate resilience every day versus being reactive when disaster strikes.

5. We teach our pre-colonial ways of resilience.

6. Our future growth includes education, a climatefocused asset management system, investment in energy-efficient infrastructure, mobility options, and avoiding sprawl.

7. We encourage our families to retrofit their homes and properties to be more climate-resilient and energyefficient.

8. We will develop a regional vision and strategy for climate adaptation with our neighboring jurisdictions.

9. Conduct baseline assessments, monitoring, and evaluation of cumulative effects and impacts on Tumuhw.

10. Provide incentives and require all future Cowichan Tribes businesses to be carbon neutral.

8. PLAN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Live in Harmony with Nature

To’mukw’ ‘i’ ‘u tumuhw ’i’ ‘o’ la’lumutul tst

9.

PROTECT AIR, LAND & WATER ECOSYSTEMS

1. An environmental lens is continually used to manage and protect our aquifers, watersheds, rivers, floodplains, and natural resources.

2. We will invest in and implement policies, laws, and enforcement tools to protect our land and marine resources for future generations 3. Ensure community engagement, and elder feedback when evaluating impacts from land and marine use.

4. Plan with timelines and the seasons in mind.

5. Ensure staff and decision-makers are educated, qualified, and well-informed to ensure effective decision-making 6. Invest in capacity, and education for ongoing ecosystem data collection, cumulative effects monitoring, and habitat enhancement programs 7. Establish programs today that share essential knowledge, and training for future generations

Take care of the earth- all things are connected

Hwial’asmut tu tumuhw

10.

DECOLONIZE OUR LAND 1. Revive our villages, ensuring our traditional ways are employed when we develop and manage our lands 2. Support village healing, by providing familialbased advisory powers and a revenue stream to plan and develop village areas harmoniously 3. Develop policy and a set of criteria for transparent and priority land acquisitions including the following; 1) located out of the floodplain unless environmentally or culturally significant; 2) connected to reserve areas; and 3) serving community housing, facilities, or services.

4) economic development projects must be supported by the community.

4. Develop a policy or law for Unalloted Band Land use, sale, or lease 5. Embrace and plan for members coming back to live on reserve Respect the rights of one another.

TTl’tul’atul’tst

11. PRESERVE OUR LANGUAGE & TRADITIONS 1. Be accountable to snuwy’ulh 2. Respect familial perspectives and embrace those who have knowledge.

3. Our land use protects traditional use areas, significant ecosystems, access points, and key travel routes 4. Explore how pre-contact ways can be applied today 5. Invest in tools, technology, equipment to build our data collections and education 6. Re-establish our villages around cultural, spiritual, physical, and social perspectives.

7. Share our culture and language to protect it.

Honour the elders

Stsielhstuhw tu S-ul'hween

12.

RECONNECT TO TUMUHW 1. Strengthen our connection to Tumuhw 2. Look forward a minimum of 100 years 3. Consider future generations for land use.

4. Manage Tumuhw from the core of the earth up to the sky 5. Support inter-jurisdictional partnerships that Support our reconnection, our values and our goals

Live in harmony with nature

To’mukw’ ‘i’ ‘u tun’u tumuhw ‘i’ ‘o’ la’lum’utul tst

NEXT STEPS THESE ARE WORKING POLICY DIRECTIONS THAT WILL FORM THE UPCOMING DRAFT PLAN