First Nations left out of forestry policy

Some fear cultural and economic rights could be broken if the province pushes through forestry modernization

By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor

Despite a pledge from the premier that Indigenous people will see an expanded role in forestry, a group of First Nations are feeling left out of the consultation process as the province seeks to modernize the sector. Modernizing Forest Policy in B.C., a government document released last spring, admits that the province’s forestry framework that was implemented nearly 20 years ago is out of date. The paper notes that B.C.’s timber supply is decreasing, particularly among older trees. “A renewed old-growth strategy will balance the need to support and protect workers with the need for additional deferrals of old-growth to protect species at risk, key species habitat and enhancing biodiversity,” reads the document. “B.C.’s fi bre supply will likely see more reductions as a result.” When the intention paper was released on June 1, Premier John Horgan stressed the need for First Nations to have a larger role in forestry, which would entail doubling the tenure they hold. “Current forestry policies – put in place two decades ago – don’t adequately address today’s challenges,” stated Horgan in June. “They have limited our options to adapt to the impacts of climate change, protect old growth, share the benefi ts fairly with local communities or move forward on reconciliation.” But concerns have since arisen that the province is pushing the policy development through, giving First Nations little opportunity to have a say in what happens in their territories. On Sept. 8 the First Nations Forestry Council sent a letter to the premier, expressing frustration on the consultation process, which is meant to inform the province’s next framework to guide forestry management. The letter says the government’s intention paper was developed by ministry staff , with no input from First Nations. This letter was endorsed by 20 First Nations and Indigenous organizations, including the Nuchatlaht Tribe. “The engagement process is fl awed and does not support meaningful consultation. First Nations are rights holders not stakeholders,” reads the forestry council letter. “The process is being expedited during a time of crisis due to wildfi res.” This summer the Huu-ay-aht asked the province to extend the consultation period, which is needed for the First Nation to prepare adequate input into future forestry policy. “It was asking a lot of things that required a considerable amount of time to review,” said Chief Councillor Robert Dennis Sr. of the consultation process. “All of the things they are proposing defi nitely do infringe on our treaty rights, defi nitely infringe on our aboriginal rights. Those are things we want to address and look at.” This infringement could happen if the government dictates how old growth is managed without the guidance of First Nations leaders, explained Dennis. He looks to the possible infl uence of ongoing protests near Port Renfrew, where over 1,000 people have been arrested since police began enforcing a court in junction in mid May. Since August the Rainforest Flying Squad has manned blockades in the area to prevent forestry access into the Fairy Creek Watershed, which is in Pacheedaht territory. “Say, for example, the province decides to respect the protest movement and halt all old growth logging,” said Dennis. “Well, that means right off the bat that our rights to harvest an old growth cedar to build a canoe will be infringed upon. If they decide to halt all old growth logging, it will infringe on economic right to make a living within our territory.” “[John Horgan] supports Pacheedaht in their right to determine how their forests should be managed in terms of the modernization review,” added Dennis. “I’m hoping he takes that forward to apply to all First Nations in B.C.” In recent years the Huu-ay-aht have been taking a growing stake in forestry south of Port Alberni, including gaining an expanded tenure over a large section of Crown land that covers much of their traditional territory. Accounting for 60 to 80 per cent of revenue each year, forestry is by far the largest generator in the Huuay-aht Group of Businesses. “I see tourism as a critical component, but I don’t see tourism as being the staple,” said Dennis. “With the road upgrade coming in, we might see a shift a few years from now, but in the meantime we’ve got to focus on what our potential is.” Meanwhile, the province is tasked with implementing recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel Report, which was released a year ago to guide how British Columbia’s ancient trees are managed in the future. In the report veteran foresters Al Gorley and Garry Merkel write that First Nations are destined to be “key players” in how old growth is managed, noting a transition among the public from a human-centric view of using old trees to a now widely held belief that old growth has critical value to all living things. Consulting its citizens on old growth has been part of community engagement sessions the Huu-ay-aht recently held in Pachena Bay, Port Alberni and Vancouver, said Dennis. This is to prepare an integrated resource management plan, a two-year process that the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht are also undertaking. “It’s actually going to be two years before we get the information we need to respond to such a complex issue,” said Dennis. “We also met with our elders, and there were no concerns expressed about old growth.” “We’re fi ne with responding to what our citizens want, but we’re not okay with outside people telling us how to manage our forests,” he added.

Photo supplied by Huu-ay-aht First Nation The Sarita Log Sort, purchased in 2017, is part of the Huu-ay-aht’s pursuit of opportunity through forestry in its territory. The First Nation and others fear that a process has left them out of the province’s update to how forests are managed.

Book focusses on Nuu-chah-nulth food and culture

By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter

Seattle, WA – A Tseshaht scholar living and working in Seattle, WA, is about to publish her second book focusing on Indigenous culture and food sovereignty. Dr. Charlotte Coté will be releasing A Drum in One Hand, A Sockeye in the Other in January 2022. Her book explores Nuu-chah-nulth food practices, both in precontact time and in a more contemporary context. “Charlotte Coté shares contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth practices of traditional food revitalization in the context of broader eff orts to re-Indigenize contemporary diets on the Northwest Coast,” states the publisher’s press release. “Coté off ers evocative stories of her Tseshaht community’s and her own work to revitalize relationships to haʔum (traditional food) as a way to nurture health and wellness.” Precontact Nuu-chah-nulth diets consisted mostly of fi sh, whale or fi sh oil, berries, and roots. It was low in carbohydrates and high in healthy fats. A more westernized diet with its processed food has had adverse eff ects on Indigenous peoples, who suff er higher incidences of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. In her introduction Dr. Coté questions the eff ects of colonialism on the health of Indigenous peoples across the continent. Besides living in overcrowded conditions that are conducive to the spread of viruses like COVID-19, she contends that the foods we eat are weakening our immune system. “As leading medical scholars, doctors, and food advocates point out: ‘Among the most signifi cant risk factors for hospitalization and death in COVID-19 are the presence of diet-related chronic diseases such as hypertension’,” writes Coté. A Drum in One Hand, A Sockeye in the Other examines local foods that were once plentiful to Nuu-chah-nulth-aht. She starts out with childhood memories of growing up with grandparents and extended family harvesting fi sh and berries in the Alberni Valley. Cote recalls berry picking trips on mountain logging roads during the 1970s. In one story she tells of seeing her grandmother pick wild blackberries near a stump with a black bear feasting on berries on the other side of the stump. The book tells of the Somass River and its life-giving salmon to the Tseshaht. The harvest of sockeye not only allowed the Tseshaht to build winter food stocks with a source of healthy protein, but also played an important role in a social context. Family groups came together to harvest, prepare and preserve the food. Elders in the family would pass down generations of knowledge and skills to younger people. “Cuumaʕas and miʕaat (Somass River and sockeye salmon) are central to the sacred food practices that have been a crucial part of the Indigenous community’s eff orts to enact food sovereignty, decolonize their diet, and preserve their ancestral knowledge,” reads the publisher’s press release. Food Sovereignty is defi ned by La Via Campesina on the Food Secure Canada website in this way, “(it) is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to defi ne their own food and agriculture systems.” “As Indigenous peoples continue to face food insecurity due to ongoing inequality, environmental degradation and the Westernization of traditional diets, Cote foregrounds healing and cultural sustenance via everyday enactments of food sovereignty: berry picking, salmon fi shing, and building a community garden on reclaimed residential school grounds, “ says the publisher.