The new Liberal government has promised to implement the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples just over a year after Stephen Harper raised objections to it.
The collapse of major salmon runs in B.C. this fall and the controversial expansion of fish farming on the West Coast have prompted First Nations to request “an urgent meeting” with newly appointed federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo.
Chief Bob Chamberlin, chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, said the disappearance of millions of pink salmon headed for the Fraser and the collapse of the Adams River sockeye run underscore the need for immediate government action.
With the world focusing on climate change leading up to the COP21 United Nations gathering in Paris at the end of November, some Indigenous elders in Canada say it’s an issue that they’ve been witnessing unfold for decades.
Francois Paulette from Smith Landing First Nation in the Northwest Territories (NWT) has been speaking out about changes to the landscape in his home territory.
“The north is a very sensitive, delicate place with impacts from pollution to the air and water,” said Paulette.
A MEMBER of a local environmental group hopes the new federal Liberal government pays attention to a letter it sent calling for the rejection of a planned LNG export plant on Lelu Island near Prince Rupert.
“I am feeling very optimistic about that,” says Christie Brown of Northwest Watch of the switch in Ottawa from the previous Conservative government. “It's exciting to have a new party in power.”
Council of the Haida Nation seeks plan to protect oceans
The 2015 House of Assembly, the legislative body of the Haida Nation, passed a resolution expressing opposition to British Columbia’s LNG agenda and demanding that the mass export of any fossil fuel through its territory be prohibited.
Council of the Haida Nation seeks plan to protect oceans
The 2015 House of Assembly, the legislative body of the Haida Nation, passed a resolution expressing opposition to British Columbia’s LNG agenda and demanding that the mass export of any fossil fuel through its territory be prohibited.
A two-month-old letter from a First Nation that said granting an environmental assessment certificate to Woodfibre LNG would be a "legal error" was finally published after the BC Liberal government gave approval in principle to the project on Oct. 26. But it's unclear whether the First Nation's concerns were ever addressed.
The Aug. 18 letter from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's chief negotiator to Environment Minister Mary Polak and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman urged the government not to issue the certificate before undertaking additional studies and assessment work.
SQUAMISH NATION COMMENTS ON PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT'S EA APPROVAL OF WOODFIBRE LNG PROPOSAL
NORTH VANCOUVER — After careful review of provincial government decision Monday to issue an environmental assessment certificate for Woodfibre LNG’s proposed $1.6-billion gas export facility, the Squamish Nation (SN) today says it is looking forward to further discussions with the provincial government — on a government-to-government basis.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A local First Nation is bringing Kinder Morgan and the National Energy Board to the federal court of appeal, as it argues it was not appropriately consulted about the proposed twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation hopes to force a restart of the environmental assessment process for that project.
The Supreme Court of Canada Thursday denied Rio Tinto Alcan’s appeal of a lower court decision allowing two north-central B.C. First Nations to sue the company over its diversion of water from the Nechako River since the 1950s.
The Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations first filed the lawsuit in October 2011, claiming the 1987 and 1997 Settlement Agreements entered into by Alcan and B.C. and Canada are not defences against the claims of the bands, based on constitutional grounds.
