The B.C. government and the Council of the Haida Nation have signed an agreement officially recognizing Haida Gwaii's Aboriginal title, more than two decades after the nation launched a legal action seeking formal recognition.
The province announced last month that it had reached a proposed deal with the Haida, which Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin called a "foundational step in the reconciliation pathway of Haida Nation and B.C."
On April 6, the nation announced that more than 500 Haida citizens had voted 95 per cent in favour of approving the Gaayhllxid/Gíhlagalgang "Rising Tide" Haida Title Lands Agreement.
"This does not mean that the government is granting us anything. We have always held our inherent rights and title to our lands," Tamara Davidson, a Vancouver regional representative for the Council of the Haida Nation, told CBC News on Sunday.
"We were born knowing this is ours." [...]
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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid
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(taken from @/sarahofmagdalene on instagram.)
A NOTE TO THOSE WHO MAY BE PARTICIPATING IN PRO PALESTINE ACTIONS IN VANCOUVER.
Please, even if you don’t live in Vancouver, reblog to spread awareness. The canadian media isn’t covering the protests, let alone the hostility protesters face, so we can only rely on each other to get news like this around!
EDIT: if you have either made this post about whether the punisher would disagree with the above, or you intend to do that, you are now being heavily advised to donate to either unrwa or the pcrf. i don’t care if you can’t spare more than a fucking nickel, donate the nickel. you saw a post about trying to keep anti-genocide protesters safe & reacted like this was fandom discourse, pay up & learn how to fuckin behave.
reblog this version going forward please.
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For years, the people of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation watched over their waters and waited. They had spent nearly two decades working with Canada’s federal government to negotiate protections for Kitasu Bay, an area off the coast of British Columbia that was vulnerable to overfishing.
But the discussions never seemed to go anywhere. First, they broke down over pushback from the fishing industry, then over a planned oil tanker route directly through Kitasoo/Xai’xais waters.
“We were getting really frustrated with the federal government. They kept jumping onboard and then pulling out,” says Douglas Neasloss, the chief councillor and resource stewardship director of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. “Meanwhile, we’d been involved in marine planning for 20 years – and we still had no protected areas.”
Instead, the nation watched as commercial overfishing decimated the fish populations its people had relied on for thousands of years.
Nestled on the west coast of Swindle Island, approximately 500km north of Vancouver, Kitasu Bay is home to a rich array of marine life: urchins and abalone populate the intertidal pools, salmon swim in the streams and halibut take shelter in the deep waters. In March, herring return to spawn in the eelgrass meadows and kelp forests, nourishing humpback whales, eagles, wolves and bears.
“Kitasu Bay is the most important area for the community – that’s where we get all of our food,” Neasloss says. “It’s one of the last areas where you still get a decent spawn of herring.”
So in December 2021, when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans withdrew from discussions once again, the nation decided to act. “My community basically said, ‘We’re tired of waiting. Let’s take it upon ourselves to do something about it,’” Neasloss says.
What they did was unilaterally declare the creation of a new marine protected area (MPA). In June 2022, the nation set aside 33.5 sq km near Laredo Sound as the new Gitdisdzu Lugyeks (Kitasu Bay) MPA – closing the waters of the bay to commercial and sport fishing.
It is a largely unprecedented move. While other marine protected areas in Canada fall under the protection of the federal government through the Oceans Act, Kitasu Bay is the first to be declared under Indigenous law, under the jurisdiction and authority of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation.
Pictured: "In some ways, I hope someone challenges us" … the Kitasoo/Xai’xais stewardship authority.
Although they did not wait for government approval, the Kitasoo did consult extensively: the declaration was accompanied by a draft management plan, finalised in October after three months of consultation with industry and community stakeholders. But the government did not provide feedback during that period, according to Neasloss, beyond an acknowledgment that it had received the plan...
Approximately 95% of British Columbia is unceded: most First Nations in the province of British Columbia never signed treaties giving up ownership of their lands and waters to the crown. This puts them in a unique position to assert their rights and title, according to Neasloss, who hopes other First Nations will be inspired to take a similarly proactive approach to conservation...
Collaboration remains the goal, and Neasloss points to a landmark agreement between the Haida nation and the government in 1988 to partner in conserving the Gwaii Haanas archipelago, despite both parties asserting their sovereignty over it. A similar deal was made in 2010 for the region’s 3,400 sq km Gwaii Haanas national marine conservation area.
“They found a way to work together, which is pretty exciting,” says Neasloss. “And I think there may be more Indigenous protected areas that are overlaid with something else.”
-via The Guardian, 5/3/23
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The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that it says will put in place 20-metre access zones around schools to protect students from disruptive behaviour, including aggressive protests.
Premier David Eby says there has been at least 18 such protests at schools, and the law would stop people from blocking access, attempting to intimidate another person or disrupting school activities, such as banging on classroom windows.
Eby says these are things that shouldn’t need law, but unfortunately, the legislation is necessary.
The premier says most of the protests involved demonstrators angry about the sexual orientation and gender identity education being taught in schools. [...]
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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid
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