First published on 10/05/2014, and last updated on 03/05/2018
By Kim Sander Wright; ICCA Consortium’s Global Coordinator for Coastal, Marine and Island Environments
First Nations in Canada have recently been celebrating the outcome of the Tsilhqot’in Nation vs. British Columbia legal case. This is the first time aboriginal title has been affirmed in Canada including the right for the Tsilhqot’in to designate and govern protected areas as part of land and resource management within their territories. These territories are defined as those which their ancestors regularly and exclusively used when the Crown asserted sovereignty, in 1846, and includes the rights to control the land and decide how it will be used; use the land for traditional and modern purposes; and, reap the benefits of the land and resources. This case also benefits those nations that have not yet proven their title to their territory, as the Province of British Columbia must preserve lands until such time as title is resolved. This could mean that authority can be revoked for unwanted projects should title be affirmed. For this reason, the Supreme Court of Canada encourages the Federal and Provincial Governments and industry to seek consent from First Nations, in order to remove uncertainty.
How other First Nations will manifest this is yet to be seen, but there are many Nations that are actively engaged in both land and marine use planning as a way to show those that would like to do business within their territory what that the Nation’s vision and objectives for the land and water is.
One example is a precedent setting collaboration between 18 coastal First Nations the Provincial Government of British Columbia that is leading the way for the establishment of integrated management plans for 103,000 km² of British Columbia’s coastline. This partnership, called the Marine Planning Partnership (MaPP) is an initiative that includes economic development outcomes as well as the identification of areas for marine protection. For thousands of years these First Nations managed the local ocean resources and derived their livelihoods and culture from coastal ecosystems, but over the past 150 years these ecosystems have become degraded and many are now threatened by overuse, development and climate change. Weak economies and high unemployment are common in these coastal communities as resources are exploited and stripped away. Cultural and social damage resulting from the ecological depletion has taken its toll.
18 member First Nations are represented by:
Coastal First Nations (CFN), as directed by:
•Council of the Haida Nation
•Gitga’at First Nation – Hartley Bay
•Heiltsuk Nation
•Kitasoo/Xai’Xais First Nation
•Metlakatla First Nation – Metlakatla
•Nuxalk Nation
•Old Massett Village Council
•Skidegate Band Council
•Wuikinuxv Nation
North Coast – Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society (NCSFNSS), as directed by:
•Gitga’at First Nation – Hartley Bay
•Gitxaała First Nation – Kitkatla
•Haisla First Nation – Kitamaat Village
•Kitselas First Nation — Kitselas
•Kitsumkalum First Nation – Kitsumkalum
•Metlakatla First Nation – Metlakatla
Nanwakolas Council, as directed by:
•Mamalilikulla Qwe’Qwa’Sot’Em First Nation
•Tlowitsis Nation
•Da’naxda’xw Awaetlatla First Nation
•Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw First Nations
•We Wai Kum First Nation
•Kwiakah First Nation
•K’ómoks First Nation
Current threats include destructive industrial fishing practices, noise and chemical pollution from industrial shipping traffic and the expansion of local ports. More recently, a proposal has been approved by the Canadian Government to build a pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to the British Columbia coastline to load bitumen into tankers for shipment to China. These tankers would move through the narrow fjords and the island archipelagoes of many of these First Nations’ territories. Opposition is strong as spills would be catastrophic to their communities and the local environment.
Over the past decade, ecosystem based management land use plans were developed by these First Nations to put an end to destructive forestry practices and to ensure local economic opportunities for the future. Now, marine use plans are being created by each individual First Nation to complement these terrestrial plans. First Nations have identified historical coastal and maritime archeological sites and ecological features that are under threat whilst also planning for the current and future economic and cultural needs of the communities. Spatial zoning was used to identify areas suited for protection and areas for future marine economic development. Elders and traditional resource harvesters with ecological and cultural knowledge, whose values for the future of the area are a crucial component of ecosystem-based management, were instrumental in the creation of these plans. First Nations ethics and values including: Respect and responsibility; balance and interconnectedness; intergenerational knowledge; and, giving and receiving work with scientific principles to provide direction to the ecosystem based plans. Advisory bodies including those made up of scientific experts, local stakeholders and businesses were also used to ensure the plans were comprehensive and would receive the widest possible support.
These plans were reviewed by the Province of British Columbia and collaboratively revised to create a jointly agreed upon set of plans with spatial zones that can be managed and enforced by the necessary legislative bodies. Over the next six to 12 months implementation agreements and governance plans are being created that will formalize the next steps.
The First Nations on British Columbia’s coast maintain Aboriginal Title and Rights to the land and marine areas in their respective Traditional Territories. They have affirmed through legal cases that they have a Right to maintain and protect the resources within their lands and waters. Many of the 18 individual Nations involved in MaPP have indicated an interest in Indigenous Peoples and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs) as a tool for the increased recognition of those zones they have set aside for their cultural or ecological value. The ICCA Consortium will continue to stay connected and provide resources as necessary to help make this happen. All eyes will be on these First Nations as they take the lead on marine planning and gain recognition to both Right and Title to their territories allowing them to ensure their own marine use plans are respected and upheld by all who use these waters.
This short Film by Greenfire Productions tells the story of the MaPP process :
