B.C. fish farms will require Indigenous consent

Members of the Kwakwaka’wakw occupy a fish farm in August 2017.

by Justine Hunter, Globe & Mail, June 19, 2018

The B.C. government is poised to give an effective veto to First Nations over fish farm tenures in their territories, a historic concession that reaches beyond the traditional court-ordered requirement that Indigenous groups be consulted and accommodated on resource decisions on their lands.

Activist disappointed by DFO’s response to sea lion cull near Tofino

Clayoquot Action visited Norway last year where from left. Clayoquot Action co-founder Dan Lewis joined Qwyatseek and John Rampanen [from Nuu-Chah-Nulth] , Tore Bongo, Beaska Niilas, and Kurt Oddekalv to deliver a petition against salmon farming. / Clayoquot Action

By Andrew Bailey, Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News, April 13, 2016

Clayoquot Action co-founder Dan Lewis hopes a sea lion cull conducted at a local salmon farm has opened the West Coast’s eyes to the havoc he believes the salmon farm industry is wreaking on the region.

“I think the writing’s on the wall for this industry,” Lewis said.

“I’ve seen it happen before with logging. There is a shift that comes at some point where people realize this really is a problem, and it’s not going to go away unless we make it go away, and I think fish farming is right at the cusp of that right now.”

Noisy ‘welcome’ for Imperial Metals shareholders

Photos by Murray Bush, Flux Photos.

by Murray Bush/flux photo, Vancouver Media Coop, May 2015

OAST SALISH TERRITORY –  Imperial Metals, the mining company responsible for the Mount Polley Mine tailings disaster, held its Annual General Meeting in downtown Vancouver today.

The meeting had to be held behind police lines to keep shareholders from hearing directly from opponents of their mining plans – environmentalists, community members, activists and peoples of the Secwepemc, Tahltan, Wet’suwet’en, Ahousaht, and Tla-o-qui-aht nations.

“I thought I was going to die.” School girl who was lost on West Coast mountain tells her story

Leanne John, the 15 year old girl who became lost during a school field trip, is flanked by loving and relieved parents Gloria and George John. The spoke to Ha-Shilth-Sa about their ordeal on March 11. Photo by Denise Titian

By Denise Titian, Ha-Shilth-Sa, March 12, 2015

Ahousaht — Leanne John, 15, was taking part in a school field trip in the rugged and remote Bedwell Valley when she went missing March 3 during a hike up the mountain. The Maaqtusiis school student spent a night alone on the frozen mountainside. This is her story.

A group of about 20 school kids from Ahousaht went to Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in Bedwell Sound. It is the off-season for the resort and the school was using the base camp for their field trip.

Leanne, a Grade 9 student, was part of a group made up of students from grades 8 to 11. They were to spend four days in Bedwell Sound to learn cultural teachings from staff working at Ahousaht’s Holistic Centre.

Nuu-chah-nulth Lose Bid to Stop Commercial Fishing of Dwindling Herring Stocks

Herring caught by commercial fishing boat.

David Wiwchar, Indian Country Today, March 3, 2015

A plan to stop the commercial herring fishery off the west coast of Vancouver Island this year has failed.

Five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations had appealed to a federal court to stop the fishery because they believe the stocks are in danger of collapse. Nuu-chah-nulth biologists, elders and commercial fishermen told the court that herring stocks have been low for the past decade, and requests for a fishing moratorium made to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has fallen on deaf ears.

First Nations fight feds over decision to open herring-roe fisheries

Herring caught by commercial fishing boat.

By Jennifer Saltman, The Province, February 24, 2015

Three coastal B.C. First Nations are once again fighting the federal government’s decision to open herring roe fisheries in their areas, arguing fish stocks have not recovered enough to permit commercial fishing.

It’s the second year in a row the Nuu-chah-nulth, Heiltsuk and Haida have voiced their opposition to commercial fishing of spawning herring and roe collected on kelp.

“It’s unfortunate that we have this again — the fight with the department and the fight with industry,” said Dr. Don Hall, fisheries program manager for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

The Nuu-chah-nulth are heading to federal court on Thursday to seek an injunction to stop the fishery from opening on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In early March, the Haida Nation will also apply for an injunction to stop herring fishing around Haida Gwaii.

Tseshaht grassroots enact road closure to force BC Timber Sales to the table

Members of the Tseshaht build fire at logging blockade, Oct 2, 2014.

By Debora Steel, Hashilthsa.com,  Oct 2, 2014

At 3 a.m. this morning, a convoy of vehicles left the Tseshaht Administration Building and made its way along a rough logging road to the end of Sproat Lake. By 3:30 a.m., the group had arrived at the junction of Gracie Main and Sterling Main and positioned the vehicles to block any traffic at the site.

About a dozen Tseshaht members quickly went to work, building a fire and setting up a canopy for shelter. The early morning sky sparkled with stars. A tape of traditional Nuu-chah-nulth songs playing in the background had people singing while they worked.

They gathered around the fire, called together by Anne Robinson, holding an eagle feather in her hand. She sang a prayer song and invited each person to say what had brought them to the peaceful protest and road closure that morning.

Imperial Metals AGM disrupted in Vancouver (Coast Salish Territories)

BC Blackout, May 31, 2013

Photo by Murray Bush (flux photo).

The annual general meeting of Imperial Metals in downtown Vancouver on May 29, 2013, was visited by Indigenous resisters of its proposed mining projects on un-ceded land in so-called British Columbia.

They successfully got past police into the building where the meeting was being held (Terminal City Club) to declare their messages to Imperial’s brass and investors with megaphones, before being roughed up and removed by the VPD pigs who worked as one with the building’s corporate rent-a-cops as per usual.

B.C. government regrets 1869 hanging of 2 Hesquiaht men

Hesquiaht First Nation members were accused of murdering shipwreck survivors

CBC News, Nov 17, 2012

Hesquiaht member with masked dancers during reconciliation feast.

The British Columbia government has expressed regret to the family of a First Nations man who was wrongfully hanged on a Vancouver Island beach nearly 150 years ago.