President’s Message

Hello to all Nuu-chah-nulth. March has been an extremely busy month with meetings and work. It is good to have a vice-president to share the work with and welcome to Les Doiron to that position. In late March the Vatican through the Pope repudiated (did away with) the Doctrine of Discovery. This was in place in the 15th century through some papal bulls.Apapal bull is a public decree or charter issued by the pope for the Catholic Church. It basically allowed colonizers to go and discover new lands and make them their own regardless of First Nations people living on the land and resources. We have always said the lands could not be discovered because we were already there. Canada and other colonizing countries adopted these papal bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery to say they legally took our lands when they arrived on our shores even though it was our Hawiih’s hahoulthee. Canadian courts said that when Canada asserted its title on our lands it became theirs without treaty, cession or war. We have found this for a long time but the legal system of Canada was set on this old doctrine. It meant we have to prove our title in court, that it is our responsibility to show the court why the land is ours. Now the Pope has said this no longer exists, so we must tell the Canadian government to revisit all its laws and policies and change them based on the fact that this doctrine no longer exists.

The Pope did not take full blame for this doctrine and said nations had politicized this doctrine for their own gain. While it took such a long time to do away with this doctrine, the Vatican should have taken full responsibility for this and provide redress for this and get countries like Canada to do the same. I am sure Nuchatlaht’s lawyers are looking at this and may make arguments before the court on this.

The Transportation Safety Board made its finding public on the floatplane/ water taxi accident that happened in Tofino Harbour in October 2021. They found that there needs to be a designated floatplane landing in the harbour, reduced speeds or means for a floatplane to signal their presence. In February the Transportation Safety Board found that speeds needed to be reduced in Tofino Harbour. This was from the floatplane accident I was in when we ended up upside down by the sandbar. The federal government did nothing with these findings and said it is the responsibility of the local authorities to reduce speeds, not up to them. This is clearly passing the buck. The federal government must change their laws so they change the speeds themselves or order the local authority to do so. This will also be the case if the local authority does not make designated landing areas, the risks of more accidents will increase for sure. Tofino should be made a water airport so it can be properly regulated. The safety of our people is a top priority as are NTC employees. There are also other floatplanes in Nuu-chah-nulth territories like Kyuquot and Gold River.

I attended Gathering Wisdom, which is health meeting. The Gathering Wisdom was held for three days.At the centre of it all was a motion to approve a 10-year strategic plan on the health factors. The motion proposed was focused on Directive 7- high level of operations. The motion passed. There was some good information provided doing the three-day forum.

Like all meetings, there wasn’t enough time to hear everyone or have the opportunity to talk.

I also attended the B.C. First Nations Justice Council forum for three days as well. The justice strategy has 24 strategies and 46 actions. There were some awesome panels and speakers on many things, including a First Nations court system, developing a women’s strategy, community safety plans, defining the role of elders and knowledge keepers within the justice council. BCFNJC has five Indigenous justice centres and B.C. gave money for 10 more. The next five will be Vancouver, Surrey, Nanaimo, Victoria and Kelowna.

The NTC Budget was passed for all NTC nations and the eight First Nations who work together on a comprehensive funding agreement. Our health agreement also had to renewed and should be signed off on soon. The government is only providing a 2 per cent increase to certain parts of our funding. It does not keep up with the needs of First Nations or inflation and every year it fluctuates, but never a substantial increase. Last year there was a 1.47 per cent increase.

Council of Ha’wiih had a strategic planning session to deal with the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative. Council of Ha’wiih met with the First Nations Fisheries Council and DFO to hear the direction of PSSI and then started strategic planning on how to be involved in the strategy. They are now wanting to meet on Uu-a thluk Strategic Plan with three sessions and hope you will get involved and help the fisheries department set their priorities and direction. Watch for their proposed meetings.

Canada has been asking for action items for theirAction Plan under their United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesAct that must be completed by June 21, 2023. We did receive the money from the federal government and we had Michelle Corfield do work on the RCMP. Nene had contract areas of health, transportation, climate change, children and families and education. Hugh Braker did proposed changes to the FisheriesAct. Actions are due byApril 30. I also spent a day with the Chiefs of B.C. on a provincial level to determine strategies and priorities. The federal government has now tabled a draft action plan and I will review that and get directors input on the draft and also send that in to the government.

Take care everyone,

Respectfully Cloy-e-iis