Striving for a different level of activity
Planning for the future of west coast communities
Trained salmon farm technicians sitting idle
AFN disappointed at latest dismissal of fishing rights
Striving for a different level of activity
By Malcolm McColl
Kitkatla (Gitxaala) First Nation are defining a 21st century role in the Pacific North West. They want a slice of the pie to come from fish farming. Efforts are being made to accommodate the interests of traditional landholders. In October 2006 the Gitxaala First Nation (Kitkatla) met provincial officials on Dolphin Island, 40 km from Prince Rupert, to sign agreements on Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs).
Teresa Ryan meets Norway's Prince Hakan at Stavanger aquaculture forum.
Through the LRMP, the Gitxaala and BC will work together on areas of common concern, including all areas of the environment. "This agreement gives us an active role in how and where business is done in our traditional territories," said Gitxaala First Nations Chief Clifford White.
Teresa Ryan wears many hats, including one as science advisor for Gitxaala, and she is an example of the First Nations potential that is coming to be realized in the new century.
It is time, according to this generation, to exercise formerly held powers and demonstrate the acumen that kept these cultures alive through a litany of abuses in the 20th century. Naturally, for coastal nations, the survival of the nation depends on the waters, access to resources in or from those waters.
Ryan is Tsimshian from a North Coast First Nation townsite, educated in the environmental sciences with a university degree. She said, "In the access to resources and management of resources our ability had been severely diminished. We want access to salmon, forests, and genuine investment opportunities." First Nations are striving for entitlement to the same self-determination as other Canadian and other Tsimshian people.
First Nations are aware that public acceptance is important to their ambitions, and they find that key players in Canadian society are on their side. She said, "Industries are recognizing it. They want Aboriginal rights issues carefully respected, but we still see governments that have not been regulating in favour of First Nations."
She continued, "Resource industries are the backbone of these territories," that were inhabited from time immemorial. "First Nations are looking for the industry to engage in ownership and partnership together, sharing the return on investments, and permitting expansion of First Nation capacity." Teresa cited the example of the Maori in New Zealand who invested 30% into a seafood processing plant and re-invested their profits to increase their investment to higher levels of ownership.
She cited the Maori project has become a successful model for Aboriginal investment, no less than, "Kitasoo," the most southerly Tsimshian village, "which took profits from a kelp harvest and re-invested into fish farming," and hardly lost step with the previous prosperity of commercial fishing. Teresa and others recently visited Norway to examine the various aspects of the marine economy which sustains that northern European nation.
Gitxaala is working with the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (CAHS) and DR Systems Inc. to develop a prototype, environmental modeling tool for resource management decisions. The organization will model use environmental management models that will incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and help prioritize future research needs. Ongoing monitoring by Kitkatla will refine the model over time.
Linda Sams, CEO of the Center For Aquatic Health Sciences said, "Our role in the Gitxaala environmental (LRMP) project utilizes the broad range of expertise provided by BC CAHS and introduces leading edge technology and scenario modeling techniques, while fully integrating First Nations knowledge and personnel."
BC CAHS has established offices and laboratory spaces in the Maritime Heritage Centre in Campbell River, BC. BC CAHS now has a core group of staff handling administration, diagnostic laboratory operations and veterinary services. Through contracts and collaborative funding, BC CAHS is working with First Nations, industry, government and academia.
Planning for the future of west coast communities
By Malcolm McColl
Reg Seaweed, Chief Negotiator for Quatsino First Nation, joined a junket of business and political representatives traveling to Norway to inspect economic development in the north west coast of Europe. Seaweed went on the five-day junket along with a few Vancouver Island district government representatives. Patrick Marshall from Rivercorp and the City of Campbell River was a principle organizer, and a number of municipalities went along to explore northern Europe's coastal-oriented economic development.
For Seaweed it was an opportunity to have a firsthand look at growing fish in the North Sea. "In Norway they are raising halibut, lobster (with less success)," he said, "sea urchin, they are trying different things. The fish are raised in fjords and the locations of the farm sites intersect with the wild fishery. They have worries and concerns that are similar to ours, especially the release of pen-raised Atlantic Salmon."
Seaweed said, "They have to guard against the genetic damage to wild stock because the wild salmon are Atlantics also. They have problems with sea lice." Seaweed noted that Norway's fish farmers live in a close-knit way with both the farm and the marketplace, and see themselves as part of the solution to world-wide protein deficiency in a rapidly expanding world population.
Seaweed said, "It is an important issue to develop food resources," and development can come at a cost, he suggested, fish farms may cause ecological damage like anything concentrated in the environment that way." Some Quatsino residents are working in the fish farm business of raising salmon, "We are not the owners of it the five sites, but they operate in our traditional territory," He said, "Our traditional Quatsino territory is about forty miles by forty miles."
Quatsino is deep inside Quatsino Sound that flows into the west side at the top of Vancouver Island. It is a community of 260 on-reserve, with a total of approximately 400 Band members. They are maritime people who had a strong economy in commercial fishing. The Quatsino people gathered into a central community to obtain access to services like hospitals and schools.
Ben Robinson is the General Manager of Kitasoo Seafoods Ltd. that operates farms in partnership with Marine Harvest. "We went on a fact-finding mission to Trondheim, myself and Larry Greba," said Robinson. "It was very informative with presentations from all over the world."
Robinson said, "One thing that we found of interest was that which I wanted to see, because the goal we have set is to utilize of the whole carcass of farm salmon that is available to use for production of oil and fish meal. We are looking at how to expand use of the whole salmon. We need to invest in machinery that can use the byproduct to be put into meal and pull out the oil."
Robinson said Kitasoo has identified a market in the pharmacuetical industry, and production of meal for fish feed. He suggested the process would be better suited for handling in Port Hardy, "by sending the offal by barge." Currently Kitasoo's production facilities are employed in processing Sea Cucumber for their Asian customers, and other fisheries are underway with products in process for China. As well, "Right up till Christmas we will be doing Farm Product."
Patrick Marshall is Rivercorp General Manager for the District of Campbell River. "We traveled on a one-time trade and investment tour to Stavanger, Norway, during the last week of September 2006. Also, in Trondheim I took municipal leaders to AquaVision prospecting for new business."
Marshall said the travelers included mayors from Prince Rupert to Sechelt. "Aquaculture was one of several industries that we looked at, including oil and gas, sea food, manufacturing, rural transportation and education.
Norwegians are similarly engaged with the ocean."
Alistair Haughton is general manager of Mainstream Canada in Tofino, BC, an international company that farms salmon on the west side of Vancouver Island. They operate in traditional waters of Ahousaht First Nation, a Nuu Chah Nulth community. Mainstream has established a welcome presence where people are clamoring for jobs and where none could be found. Community interaction with these distinct societies has become integral to the business strategy for fish farm majors like Mainstream and others.
Haughton said, "Youth hunt for things to do, and find nothing. It is problematic time and time again, and these negative issues from having nothing to do can be headed off, problems in communities can be prevented."
About 1,400 people live in the town site of Ahousaht, which is located a fast moving 45-minute seabus ride from Tofino. The town is tightly nestled around a closed harbour that is surely one of the most picturesque places on earth. Mainstream has projects underway that directly affect the daily life in Ahousaht. Haughton said, "We have a lot going on. There's an education-oriented initiative to take youth from the school district and employ them at the site level of our operations," watching over pens containing hundreds of thousands of fish, salmon in various stages of development.
The plan is to expose kids to opportunity, let them experience possible career paths that will provide work in Ahousaht. Mainstream has another plan for the community. They are planning to construct a $2.8 million netloft in Ahousaht, and an ultra-modern four-plex hatchery that will enhance chinook and coho numbers, plus a trout group, and the last pool will be for marketable size fish.
"We want this hatchery to provide educational access for a wider audience." Mainstream is accessible to the community. "It's big enough community to sustain infrastructure developments the likes of those planned by Mainstream. Haughton said, "It has a huge population explosion underway and people will be present with skills, all kinds of trades included."
Trained salmon farm technicians sitting idle
By Malcolm McColl
The Gitxaala (Kitkatla) First Nation is confronted by a failure outside its own control, the most frustrating kind. The BC government has failed to issue aquaculture licenses because a neighbour, Gitksan (located 300 km inland from Gitxaala (Kitkatla) is opposed to the issuance of said licenses. The province's failure to license Gitxaala's (Kitkatla) fish farms raises enormous questions about the veracity of expensive treaty negotiations.
What they ask in Gitxaala is: Why spend millions of dollars in treaty negotiations that are meaningless to the other side? In light of their precarious position, Gitxaala Chief and Council are seeking a legal opinion on the substance to the so-called “rights and title” they have been negotiating, in good faith, while spiraling into debt.
Gitxaala is dealing with double-standard, first in the government's refusal to issue licenses under Gitxaala's 30 year Salmon Farm Agreement with Panfish Canada, while continuing to allow the operations of 80 licensed salmon farm sites south of Gitxaala. The salmon farm industry in B.C. produces the largest agricultural "crop" at close $600 million a year, mostly for U.S. sales. About 4,000 people are employed between Kitasoo and the northern half of Vancouver Island.
Gitxaala asks why conclude a treaty that fails to protect the right to work and build economic capacity? Does Gitxaala Nation have the right to enter business agreements with multinational corporations and establish businesses in its own territory? How is it possible that Panfish is permitted to invest in other areas of B.C. and generate millions of dollars for the economy, yet no permits will be issued for partnership with Gitxaala? Is Treaty just a façade?
Gitxaala First Nation has the oldest archaeological evidence in the northwest coast of B.C., dating their main village site over ten thousand years. Gitxaala has been involved in Treaty negotiations with the Federal and Provincial Governments for many decades and this process has caused the Nation to accumulate a debt in the millions of dollars. (Treaty was being negotiated through the Tribal Council with other coast Tsimshian Nations.)
Gitxaala village is located on Dolphin Island, 40 km south of Prince Rupert. The traditional territory claimed by Gitxaala Nation is a vast stretch of the coast from the south end of Stephens Island in the north to almost 150 kilometers south, from the middle of Hecate Straits in the west to Lowe Inlet and the east side of Grenville Channel to the east. The area consists of large coastal islands and massive bodies of salt water.
What stops the fish farm industry from growing fish in the favourable conditions found at Gitxaala? Panfish Canada, the largest salmon farm company in the world, executed an agreement that would have caused them to invest over $78 million to develop and operate ten sites in Gitxaala territory over 30 years. The agreement would have provided the training and full time year round employment for over 100 Gitxaala members, and close to $3.5 million in annual wages.
At one time the village of Gitxaala was home port to over 60 commercial gillnetters and seigners. Commercial fishing directly employed over 100 Gitxaala band members plus other jobs were found in processing plants around the mouth of the Skeena River. Depleting herring stocks and wild salmon stocks were evident coast wide in the 1980s and many commercial fishing areas within Gitxaala traditional territory were permanently closed. Today, there are less than five licensed commercial fishing vessels in the village.
In 2001 the Gitxaala Chief and Council, elders and house leaders commenced exploration of the salmon aquaculture industry. Of course they looked at the adjacent Tsimshian community of Kitasoo and performed due diligence and research, reading reports about the industry, both negative and positive. While reports from environmental groups continuously attacked the industry as harmful to wild salmon and the environment, reports from government agencies and other credible scientists continuously stated this was not proven.
In 2002, Gitxaala Chief and Council executed a 30 year Salmon Farm Agreement with Panfish Canada for up to ten sites within Gitxaala traditional territory, providing jobs, investment, and environmental control including the right to shut down any farm that harmed the environment. Gitxaala, in partnership with Panfish Canada and HRDC entered into a training contract with North Island College to deliver full time training right within the village at Gitxaala. The ten month course awarded a Salmon Farm Technician diploma, and two years of training graduated twenty (20) Gitxaala band members.
Panfish Canada provided a guarantee of full time employment for all successful graduates, and were anticipating the first three sites to be approved and operational by 2003/04. The first class of graduates were immediately put to work in Port Hardy, but had to commute by BC Ferries, a 20 hour trip each way, to go to and from work every two weeks.
Approval for the first three sites never came. Instead attacks came from all sides against the Kitkatla initiative, from environmental groups, other Tsimshian Nations, and the Gitksan Nation. The attacks were concentrated overseas in Norway. Panfish was told that they were not welcome in B.C.. Kitkatla faced further confrontation brought on by the provincial government creation called the Special Committee for Sustainable Aquaculture that is traveling around the province inviting the general public to voice their opinions and concerns over the expansion of the salmon farm industry in B.C.. In public meetings around B.C., other First Nations have been verbally threatening Kitkatla and Panfish if they proceed with the farm development.
As Gitxaala Nation was negotiating "rights and title" to its traditional territories under Treaty, and spiraling into debt, Gitxaala Chief and Council believed that they had the right to enter into business partnerships within their traditional territory. They believed that they and Gitxaala members had rights to participate in the economy, to train and employ members and to prepare to make money.
Gitxaala within their territory have witnessed the demise of wild salmon stocks into the Skeena and Naas Rivers. The wild sockeye, pink, chum, coho and chinook are a shadow of what they once were. The herring stocks are in crisis. There are no salmon farms operating in any of the migratory paths to these rivers. The collapse of these stocks have nothing to do with salmon farms. They have simply been over-fished.
The trained band members of Gitxaala want to work, and be afforded the most basic rights within their traditional territory. The community is remote and opportunities are scarce for the 500 Gitxaala band members living on reserve. Seasonal unemployment exceeds 80% for most months. Chief Clifford White and the members of Band Council want to see an end to the 'double standards' being played out on their lives.
AFN disappointed at latest dismissal of fishing rights
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine is deeply disappointed by Prime Minister Harper's continued dismissal of First Nations rights to fish. The Prime Minister's comments in Vancouver recently to, "move away from a racially segregated fisheries" serves only to perpetuate continued feelings of frustration and betrayal among First Nations communities. Although the Prime Minister says that the rights of Aboriginal people to a ceremonial fishery will be respected, the main issue of access to the commercial fishery has not been adequate for First Nations.
"It is not a matter of race, but a matter of rights," said the National Chief. "Case law has confirmed that First Nations have an existing right to engage in a fishery for food, social and ceremonial purposes, in addition to a treaty right to fish."
"First Nations expect to be consulted prior to any decision making on policy changes that are made by the federal government with respect to fisheries" stated the National Chief.
"Our Aboriginal and treaty rights to fish are affirmed and constitutionally protected," said New Brunswick/PEI Regional Chief Leonard Tomah in response to Harper's comments on First Nations receiving a decent share of the commercial fishery through treaties and other arrangements. "With respect to the federal governments' plan to merge BC's native and non-native commercial salmon fisheries, our interests lie in improving the social, cultural, and economic well-being of our communities, we fish for our people."
Regional Chief Tomah further stated: "It is time to have our treaty rights recognized by Prime Minister Harper and his government, as they have been by the Supreme Court of Canada."
The National Chief is urging that the government meet with the BC First Nation Leadership to discuss the state of the Aboriginal fisheries and resolve these outstanding issues.