[IPSM] Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Release: First Nations Oppose Central Coast Land Resource Management Plan

[samir]

Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Release: First Nations Oppose Central Coast Land
Resource Management Plan
 
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2006
 
The combined Territories of the Four Tribes make up a significant
portion of the proposed Central Coast Land and Resource Management Plan
(CCLRMP) area and also the Broughton Archipelago is shared exclusively
by the Four Tribes. We have our own distinct relationship and attachment
with our lands and  waters within our territory like many distinct First
Nations in the Province; we are determined to protect our values and
traditional teachings, which sustain our mother earth and our way of
life.
 
We know our situation is different from other First Nations who have
participated in these provincial stakeholder processes. We actually live
in our home country and depend on our environment and enjoy our
resources, as we have for thousands of years and we have not moved from
or been removed  from our homelands despite the isolation, danger,
difficulty of travel, cost  of living and all the other detractions of
today's society. It is this isolation, which has protected us from our
enemies, and restrained the loss of our culture and preserved our
attachment to our lands and resources.
 
The Tsawataineuk First Nation explored the CCLRMP process, it requested
additional funding, above what other First Nations were offered to
participate, because the Tsawataineuk First Nation was the only nation
who was not funded by other processes such as the BC Treaty Commission
process nor did the Tsawataineuk sign a *Forest and Range Agreement,
therefore we did not have the same resources, especially the technical
capacity to meaningfully participate and make informed decisions.
 
There are many First Nations who chose not to participate in the Land
Resource Management Plan (LRMP) process for their own reasons and we
respect that. There are First Nations such as the Statlimc Chiefs
Council who have agreed to their own process, outside the Lillooet LRMP,
based on a government-to-government relationship consistent with the New
Relationship Agreement.
 
Last year our people were compelled to demonstrate and protect a sacred
place called Holden Creek (Wasilas), where our members stopped
International Forest Products from blasting a road through an old growth
cedar stand, as cedar and other resources remains valuable to us, and is
no longer abundant.
 
Our Tribal Council passed a resolution to boycott the 2010 Olympics as a
result of our environmental concerns and the impacts to our marine
resources. These decisions do not come without reason other then the
protection of distinct values to the indigenous.
 
Although the BC Government has realized decades of denial of our Title
and Rights has not worked and has entered into a New Relationship, the
Government must acknowledge the need for a new approach to resolving and
reconciling conflicts over land issues. The unselfish principles of the
New Relationship need to be enacted if there is to be true economic
certainty and a golden decade for all.
 
We have formally asked that the BC Government remove our Territories
from the CCLRMP map and cease all discussions of any areas in our
territory. We expect that this announcement does not refer to our
Territories, as we believe that adequate and meaningful consultation has
not occurred.
 
In November 2005, our Four Tribes sent out an Official Notification in
regard to this process and again we are publicly stating any Land
Resource Management Plan that conflicts, competes, or disregards our own
Land Use Vision without direct consultations and proper protocol is an
infringement of our Title and Rights.
 
We understand an Agreement-In-Principle is not the final agreement, nor
legally binding. We hope that final agreements will be derived in the
spirit and intent of the New Relationship.
 
We have stated our position for two years, prior to the Supreme Court of
Canada's historic Haida and Taku River Tlingit decisions and prior to
the New Relationship. We continue to feel strongly and necessary to keep
old policies in check, such as BC's Consultation Policy, until
transformative change occurs and old policy and attitudes cease desist.
We hope, before 2010, that this will be the case.
 
Gilakasla,
Eric Joseph, TFN Chairman
(250) 974-3013
 
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