Canada’s Oldest First Nation’s Newspaper - Serving Nuu-chah-nulth-aht since 1974 Canadian Publications Mail Product Vol. 31 - No. 19 - September 23, 2004 haas^i>sa “ Interesting News ” Sales Agreement No. 40047776
Huu-ay-aht takes province to court By David Wiwchar Southern Region Reporter Port Alberni - The Huu-ay-aht First Nation is suing the provincial government and the Minister of Forests over the Forest and Range Agreement (FRA) Program. The province and Huu-ay-aht had agreed to incorporate components of the Forest Range Agreement into a revised Interim Measures Extension Agreement that would spell out how the two parties would consult with one another and share stumpage revenues from forestry activity within the Hahoulthee of the Huu-ay-aht.
The FRA Program replaced an Interim Measures Agreement signed by Forest Minister Mike deJong and the Huu-ay-aht First Nation that spelled out how the two groups would consult with one another and share stumpage revenues from lands within Huu-ay-aht traditional territories. But the new agreement proposed by the province lacks any consultation process, and according to Chief Councilor Robert Dennis, imposes an unfair agreement on his First Nation they would be powerless to challenge if
Huu-ay-aht Chief Councilor Robert Dennis shows the many areas slated for logging in Huu-ay-aht territory under the new Forest Range Agreement.
Environmentalists, Central Region First Nations and Forestry Company representatives reunite five years after signing the historic Memorandum of Understanding.
Environmentalists and Iisaak sign agreement By Denise August, Central Region Reporter Clayoquot Sound - Five years after an historic agreement signed by First Nations, Environmental Organizations and Iisaak Forest Resources, a Nuuchah-nulth owned forestry company, the parties reunited to review the results. Tla-o-qui-aht Chief Councillor/Beach Keeper, Barney Williams Jr. explained it is his responsibility to welcome people to his traditional territory and did so. He offered a prayer, asking the Creator to walk with those that are
conducting business in Tla-o-qui-aht territory on this day. Facilitator, Mike Hooper, invited delegates to identify what they want accomplish during the meeting. Representatives of the three parties then outlined the agreement, pointing out what has and has not been accomplished in five years. Greenpeace representative Amanda Carr reported that they have contributed financially and otherwise to promote Clayoquot Sound Wildfoods products. She went on to list the various ways
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Last residents of Yuquot ....................................... Page 2 Leaders prepare for negotiations ........................ Page 3 Chinook fishery caps off season .......................... Page 5 Ahousaht raises money for cancer research ...... Page 7 Hupacasath hosts Climate Change Conference Page 8 NEDC Business News ........................................... Page 20
signed. “It wasn’t a negotiation; it was an arbitrary take-it-or-leave-it approach,” said Dennis. “All we’re asking for is fair compensation related to activity. They’ve tripled logging activity in our territory, and the FRA isn’t proportional to infringement,” he said. As Robert Dennis stands in front of a large, green topographical forestry map of Huu-ay-aht’s hahoulthee, most of it is covered in yellow blotches marking proposed cutblocks. Of Huu-ay-aht’s 78,550 hectare traditional territory, only 1000 ha belong to Huu-ay-aht as reserve lands and 95% is considered Crown Land and is part of TFL 44. According to forestry researchers, more than 35 million cubic metres of timber worth $8.75 billion has been harvested from Huu-ay-aht’s hahoulthee from 1940 to 1996, and another 5.4 million cubic metres is slated to be cut over the next five years with a possible value of $1.6 billion. The BC government is offering Huu-ayaht 54 cubic metres, or one cedar tree, and $500 for each of their 570 members, if they sign the FRA. “The Minister of Forests has stated we must accept the FRA Program offer as full economic accommodation of forestry infringements within our territory. MoF continued to take the position that before we received any tenure, we had to sign an agreement accepting it as full accommodation with no further rights of consultation during the agreement, no matter what the amount of logging,” Dennis claims in Huu-ay-aht’s affidavit filed in the BC Supreme Court last week. “The strictly limited pre-set population-
based funding formula ignored the strength of our title claim, our AIP treaty status, and the quantity and value of timber proposed to be logged from our territory, and was not a good faith approach to accommodation,” he stated.
“It wasn’t a negotiation; it was an arbitrary take-it-or-leave-it approach,” said Dennis. “They’ve tripled logging activity in our territory, and the FRA isn’t proportional to infringement,” he said. The request for a judicial inquiry is a lawsuit that asks the court to agree with the assertions made by the plaintiffs (Huu-ay-aht First Nation) that the FRA is unlawful, discriminatory, and contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and then direct the government to conduct good faith negotiations. “We have to fight tooth-and-nail to get a decent cutblock in our territory,” said Dennis. “All the companies have blocks in the Klanawa watershed, except Huuay-aht and Ditidaht. They’re clearcutting in the Klanawa Valley. There’s more activity going on in there than there ever was in Clayoquot Sound, so why aren’t the environmentalists screaming about this?” he said. “Everybody has certainty but us. Other people are achieving certainty on our backs.” According to Dennis, the Huu-ay-aht First Nation has tried to work with the provincial government. Minister of Forests, and area logging companies.
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