Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Resolution On Caribou Recovery Agreement

UNION OF B.C.
INDIAN CHIEFS
CHIEFS COUNCIL
JUNE 17TH- 19TH, 2019
MUSQUEAM COMMUNITY CENTRE, XʷMƏΘKʷƏY̓ƏM (MUSQUEAM TERRITORY)
Resolution no. 2019-33
RE: Support for Caribou Recovery Agreement and Anti-Racism Investigation
WHEREAS the caribou herds within Treaty 8 territory were once thousands strong;
WHEREAS the Crown fragmented critical caribou habitat and drove populations into decline through the
construction of the WAC Bennett Dam and the Peace Canyon Dam in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then the
Crown has permitted increasing levels of mining, forestry, and other industrial activities that have further
fragmented critical caribou habitat and have driven populations down to emergency levels;
WHEREAS the Courts have confirmed that Treaty 8 guarantees the Indigenous peoples of the Treaty 8
Region the right to continue their traditional way of life without interference, including the right to maintain
their cultural relationship with caribou and to harvest caribou. The Crown also promised Treaty 8 Nations that
the Crown would make laws to protect the wildlife and other resources which the Indigenous peoples of
Treaty 8 rely on;
WHEREAS the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the government of
Canada has adopted without qualification, and has, alongside the government of BC, committed to implement,
affirms:
Article 29: Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment
and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and
implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation
and protection, without discrimination;
WHEREAS provincial government laws, regulations, policies and practices on caribou conservation and
recovery have failed to remedy the emergency and endangered status of caribou herds in BC, with several
caribou populations relied upon by Indigenous communities now extirpated or in danger of extirpation;
WHEREAS in May 2018, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada determined under
the federal Species at Risk Act, there is an ‘imminent threat’ to recovery of Southern Mountain Caribou in BC;
WHEREAS Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations have initiated and led successful emergency caribou
recovery programmes to help save caribou within Treaty 8 territory;
WHEREAS Canada, BC, Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations have initialed a ground-breaking model
partnership agreement with key conservation measures based on scientific and Indigenous knowledge to
support caribou recovery in the region, entitled the Intergovernmental Partnership Agreement for the
Conservation of the Central Group of the Southern Mountain Caribou (“the Partnership Agreement”);
WHEREAS the federal and provincial governments administered a ‘public engagement’ process on the
Partnership Agreement, during which time the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations were and continue to
be subjected to disinformation campaigns and disgusting, vile and repulsive forms of racism in connection
with their leadership on caribou recovery and intent to enter the Partnership Agreement;
WHEREAS the federal and provincial governments have thus far failed to take meaningful steps to
acknowledge, denounce and prevent the spread of conspiracy theories and racist views, despite several
requests made by the First Nations; and
WHEREAS the racist hostility directed towards the Nations and their peoples caused real and lasting harm to
the Nations and to prospects for reconciliation.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council fully supports the Partnership Agreement
between Canada, BC, Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations for caribou conservation and recovery;
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council urges the federal and provincial
governments to immediately approve, sign and begin the implementation of the Partnership Agreement to the
highest of standards, and that appropriate resources be allocated for this vital work;
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council reminds the Province of BC that
they do not possess the authority to extinguish an Aboriginal right through section 92 of the constitution;
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council urges the federal and provincial
governments to work with Indigenous peoples and take the steps necessary to ensure the recovery of all
Southern Mountain Caribou, and demand that other species and ecological communities that are threatened or
endangered in British Columbia; and
THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED the UBCIC Chiefs Council calls on the federal and
provincial governments to initiate an investigation, in consultation with Saulteau, West Moberly, and UBCIC,
into all of the forms of racism and hate speech that arose before, during and after the public engagement
process for the Partnership Agreement, and produce a public report with recommendations to ensure that
future public engagement processes on initiatives involving Indigenous peoples are designed to be anti-racist
and to safeguard human rights.
Moved: Chief Roland Willson, West Moberly First Nation First Nation
Seconded: Chief Byron Louis, Okanagan Indian Band
Disposition: Carried
Date: June 18, 2019
2019-33
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UNION OF B.C.

Resolution no. 2019-33

RE: Support for Caribou Recovery Agreement and Anti-Racism Investigation

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