News

The BC River Forecast Centre is adding a Flood Watch for:
• Liard River at Upper Crossing
The BC River Forecast Centre is maintaining a Flood Warning for:
• Upper Fraser River at Prince George and upstream
The BC River Forecast Centre is maintaining a Flood Watch for:
• Peace Region
• Northern Rocky Mountains
• Liard River at Lower Crossing
Rivers continue to rise throughout the region. Current conditions as of 6AM, June 7th include:
• Liard River at Lower Crossing (10BE001): 6000 m3/s and rising (2-5 year flow). Additional rises up to 1.0 m are expected by late-today
• Liard River at Upper Crossing (10AA001): 2500 m3/s and rising (5 year flow). The river is expected to peak at up to 3000 m3/s later today
• Sikanni Chief River near Fort Nelson (10CB001): 400 m3/s and dropping
• Pine River at East Pine (07FB001): 1600 m3/s and reaching peak levels (2-to-5 year flow)
• Halfway River near Farrell Creek (07FA006): 1800 m3/s and 4.65 m gauge level (20-year flow). Current near peak level
• Fraser River at Shelley (08KB001): 4075 m3/s and rising (10-year flow)
• Fraser River at South Fort George (08KE018): 9.35 m and rising at 3 cm/hr. The river is forecast to peak at approximately 4.60-4.65m early this afternoon.
Smaller rivers (e.g. Pine River, Halfway River) are at or near their peak levels, and are expected to remain elevated through today and begin receding later tonight. The Liard River (at Upper Crossing and Lower Crossing) is expected to reach peak levels late-today, or into tomorrow. The Upper Fraser River (through Prince George) is expected to peak this afternoon, and begin receding later today and into tomorrow.
Additional rainfall is possible for the region into the weekend, however there is some uncertainty at this time as to the location and amount of rain that is expected locally. If additional heavy rain is forecast to fall in the region, additional rises in river levels may occur.
The River Forecast Centre will continue to monitor conditions and will provide updates as conditions warrant.

A High Streamflow Advisory means that river levels are rising or expected to rise rapidly, but that no major flooding is expected.  Minor flooding in low-lying areas is possible.

A Flood Watch means that river levels are rising and will approach or may exceed bankfull.  Flooding of areas adjacent to affected rivers may occur.

A Flood Warning means that river levels have exceeded bankfull or will exceed bankfull imminently, and that flooding of areas adjacent to the rivers affected will result.

UPDATE: Flood Watch: Northern BC.  Flood Warning: Upper Fraser River. Issued: 08June2012  9:15AM

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Dakelh Territory, Prince George, British Columbia.  Canada. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council (CSTC) is pleased to announce that our former Tribal Chief and esteemed leader Akile Ch’oh (Grand Chief Edward John) has been selected as the new Chair and President of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).  Since 2011 Grand Chief Ed John was appointed as the North American Representative to the UNPFII.

“We are extremely proud and honoured to have our Dakelh people represented at the global table of the UNPFII.  Grand Chief Ed John has worked very hard and diligently to ensure First Nations rights and responsibilities are included in policy-making and restitution of our peoples”, stated Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee.

Tribal Chief David Luggi stated, “Congratulations to Ed John in his recent appointment to the UNPFII.  The CSTC Chiefs, Elders and youth are behind you one hundred percent.”  Chief Luggi said, “Our youth have another Dakelh role model, one who’s made it to the United Nations!  We’re proud of your achievement Ed!”

Today also marks the beginning of the 2-week meeting of the Eleventh Session of the UNPFII at the UN headquarters in New York.  The special theme of this session is focused on the Doctrine of Discovery and its enduring impact on indigenous peoples and their right to redress for past conquests. The other areas of focus include indigenous peoples and their right to food and food sovereignty.

Grand Chief Edward John is a Dene Za (male hereditary Chief) of the Tl’azt’en Nation and member of the Lusilyoo (frog) clan.  He was Tribal Chief of CSTC from 1984 to 1988, and has served multiple terms on the executive of the First Nations Summit representing First Nations from across BC.  Early this year Akile Ch’oh was awarded a National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

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For more info visit:
UNPFII: http://social.un.org/index/IndigenousPeoples.aspx
Watch the opening of the 11th UNPFII
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/05/permanent-forum-on-indigenous-issues-opening-of-the-11th-session-english.html

For further information contact:
Tribal Chief David Luggi: 250-562-6279 ext.226; Cell 250-640-6622
Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee: 250-562-6279 ext.223; Cell 250-640-3256

Dakelh Territory, Prince George, British Columbia.  Canada. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council (CSTC) is pleased to announce that our former Tribal Chief and esteemed leader Akile Ch’oh (Grand Chief Edward John) has been selected as the new Chair and President of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).  Since 2011 Grand Chief Ed John was appointed as the North American Representative to the UNPFII.

The complaint alleges that the government of Canada under-funds child welfare services for on-reserve First Nations children.  Furthermore, they say that the result of this under-funding is that the level of some of the services provided for children on reserve is inadequate, and that similar services available to Canadian children off reserve are not available to First Nations children living on reserves. This is a form of discrimination being supported by the federal government against First Nations children. 

Tribal Chief David Luggi stated, “Clearly, Judge Mactavish made a correct ruling and First Nations have a legitimate case in that the Government of Canada is not living up to their fiduciary duty.” Luggi added, “This case is so important for our children’s future, especially considering the fact that there are more children in child welfare care than there were in the height of residential schools tragedy.”

Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee stated, “First Nations have always been inadequately funded for on-reserve services and this has resulted in third world living conditions for our people.” Teegee concluded, “We congratulate FNCFCS executive director Cindy Blackstock on this important victory for our children and we hope that this is a new beginning for our at risk children on reserves.”

Luggi stated, “Our children are the most important resource for the survival of our culture and heritage.  This ruling will give us our day in court and prove that the Canadian federal government discriminates against our people.”

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For more information contact:
Tribal Chief David Luggi, office (250) 562-6279 ext. 222, cell (250) 640-6622
Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee, office (250) 562-6279 ext. 223, cell (250) 640-3256

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By Cooper Langford, National Post
April 10, 2012 4:02 AM
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Home+Native+Land/6434765/story.html

In many respects, the city of Kitimat is an iconic Canadian community. Situated in a wide, flat valley at the head of the Douglas Channel in northwestern B.C., it has, for the past 60 years, been home to one of the world’s great hydroelectric and aluminum smelting projects. A technological marvel when it was built by the Aluminum Company of Canada during the industrial boom that followed the Second World War, the project brought the modern world to a resource-rich wilderness and became the foundation of a prosperous frontier city.
More recent history, however, has been less kind to the Kitimat region. Technological advances mean the smelter, now owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto, no longer employs as many people as it once did. The businesses — methane, ammonia and paper — that followed it into the deep reaches of the province are no more. Kitimat is a community looking to re-stake its claim on the future. And there is a new prospect on the horizon: Calgary-based Enbridge has identified the community as the terminus for its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project to ship bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific coast and, potentially, new markets in Asia.

Northern Gateway — if it goes ahead — will be a groundbreaking project in its own right, a 21st century statement of Canada’s role as a global energy supplier. But getting to that point is far from certain. Whatever technological and business innovation it may represent, the pipeline has become the centre of an iconic debate. When the federal panel reviewing Northern Gateway opened its hearings this past January in Kitimat Village, home to the local Haisla First Nation, among the first voices it heard were from local hereditary chiefs who, one by one, rose to speak in opposition to the project. “If there is a spill, all that we enjoy from the land and the sea will be destroyed,” said Chief Clifford Smith, echoing a widely held sentiment. “Let us put our strength together and stand as one, and say ‘no’ to Enbridge.”

The chiefs were not alone in their views. Enbridge is facing similar opposition from First Nation communities all along the proposed 1,170-kilometre pipeline route. And tempting though it may be to view the protests and threats of lawsuit through the narrative of aboriginal opposition to resource projects, that would be wrong. That lens no longer applies to the investment and economic development processes across most of Canada. Countrywide, aboriginal communities have been taking ever-more substantial leadership roles in business development and maturing as serious economic players. Investment and partnership have been cornerstones of progress.

For proof, look no further than a few kilometres further down the Douglas Channel where the Haisla First Nation is actively involved in two other energy projects on their home territory. The first — and largest — is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project led by Apache Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of the Houston-based global energy powerhouse Apache Corp. It will see the construction of a liquefaction plant, storage facility and marine on-loading facility that will ship some five million metric tonnes of LNG annually on startup, which is expected in 2015. The band has already benefited to the tune of $50 million by selling their option for an equity stake in the project. Further employment and business provisions in the agreement between the Haisla and Apache Canada, as well as lease payments for use of traditional lands, will ensure benefits accrue for many years to come.

Even more intriguing is the Haisla’s second project: a smaller LNG project that it is building in a 50-50 joint venture with Houston-based LNG Partners. Working under the name BC LNG Partnership, the joint venture received an export licence from the National Energy Board in February and shipments should begin in the not-too-distant future.  As myth-busting stories about aboriginal attitudes toward business go, the Haisla’s participation in LNG developments in northwestern B.C. is pretty good. After all, the demonstrated investment and cooperation hardly smack of anti-business attitudes. The stories might even generate more widespread coverage but for a simple fact: they are not especially unique.

In southwestern British Columbia, for example, the economic development arm of the Osoyoos Indian Band has been building a line of recreational businesses based on its traditional territory in one of Canada’s most unique desert regions. Among its holdings are a golf course, a resort and spa and an international award-winning winery.
In the Far North, the Yellowknives Dene have created a portfolio of companies around aviation, contract mining services, logistics and environmental services, focused in part on the territory’s diamond mining industry. Meanwhile, in Labrador, the Inuit-owned Nunatsiavut Group of companies is active in transportation with a 51% stake in Air Labrador Ltd. and a wholly owned shipping company, NGC Nunatsiavut Marine Transport, as well as other sectors such as construction and logistics.

These are but a handful of examples of business investments now being undertaken by Canada’s aboriginal communities, many of them executed under one of the more than 250 community-owned economic development corporations in operation today across the country. More significantly, they represent only a component of a rapidly growing aboriginal business sector that TD Economics valued at $9 billion by revenue in 2011. And while these impressive numbers don’t erase the fact that poverty and deplorable conditions continue to stalk many aboriginal communities, they put lie to prejudicial beliefs that economic independence is out of reach for those same communities or that they are incapable of full participation in Canadian economic life. As Clint Davis, CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), puts it, “Economics and entrepreneurialism is innately human. When you look at participation in business, aboriginal people are no different than anyone else around the world.”

The question is, why are we seeing progress now? Several forces have been at work. Chief among them has been the commodities boom of the past decade and, more recently, the exceptional growth in the energy sector, which has brought large-scale investment to more remote areas of the country. Investment booms, however, are not socio-economic drivers in and of themselves, but catalysts that bring other factors into play. In the case of the rapid growth in aboriginal economic activity, one of those factors has been the growing recognition of aboriginal rights, either through land claims and other settlements or legal recognition of those rights in court rulings. Their absence has been a significant barrier in the past.

The original proposal for a Mackenzie Valley pipeline offers a case in point. Thomas Berger, appointed by the federal government to lead public hearings into the project, shocked the nation when he issued his report in 1977, supporting aboriginal opposition to the project and calling for a moratorium on pipeline development for 10 years to allow for the settlement of aboriginal land claims.

Whether the recommendation was as influential on pipeline development as popular retellings of the story hold is a matter for debate. (Many argue that changing economics killed the proposal and it is rarely mentioned that Enbridge opened an 870-kilometre pipeline in 1985 that linked the oil field at Norman Wells to Zama, Alta.) But it most certainly put land-claim settlements on the front burner. The Inuvialuit of the Beaufort Delta settled their claim in 1984, with many more Dene claims being finalized in the Mackenzie Valley in the years that followed.
The impact of these settlements on the investment climate was profound. At the end of the 1990s, a new proposal for a Mackenzie Valley natural pipeline began to circulate. Once more, the majority of community leaders — many of whom had cut their political teeth in the days of the Berger Inquiry — were back at the table with much to say. This time, however, they had not gathered to protest. They were looking to become one-third equity partners in the project through an organization called the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

It will likely be years before a Mackenzie pipeline project finally gets off the ground, but the transformation in the attitudes of aboriginal governments it represents is not diminished by the project’s ultimate timetable. Neither are the shifts in attitude on the part of industry that make such proposals and negotiations possible. In many instances, partnerships with local aboriginal communities have moved beyond mere notions of corporate social responsibility or requirements under rights agreements and grown into mature business-to-business relationships.

Such is the case with the Fort McMurray, Alta.-based Athabasca First Nation Business Group. It got its start in 1994 with little more than a pickup truck, a small crew and a contract to collect garbage at the Syncrude site and take it to the landfill. Today, it has a portfolio of companies in businesses focused on the oil sands sector that range from waste management and ultra-sonic industrial cleaning to recycling off-road tires and camp services. Together, the companies generate some $230 million in annual revenue and employ more than 1,400 people.

Social and economic agreements with developers in the region have no doubt played a major role in seeding the business group’s initial opportunities. But according to CEO Garry Flett, the organization’s growth is based squarely on sound business practices and genuine industry partnerships built on results. “Initially, the agreements get you in the door,” Flett says. “But we don’t rely on agreements anymore. Now that we’re in the door, we rely on being the best at what we do. If you are not the best at what you do, there’s always someone else who wants to do it.”

Such perspectives are not limited to established economic development organizations operating in areas undergoing large-scale development. Entrepreneurship is also rising across the country as a generation of young, better educated aboriginal business owners comes into its own. According to TD Economics, this sector — engaged in a wide variety of business sectors and services — has seen its overall revenue grow to more than $970 million from less than $600 million during the past five years. It further projects earnings to increase to more than $1.2 billion by 2016, suggesting that the lessons learned at higher levels are filtering down to the individual level.

But even though these are encouraging trends, they also point to issues that must still be addressed. For starters, the economic opportunities enjoyed by the growing aboriginal business community are not evenly spread across the country. The resource investment driving many of the gains over the past decade is highly regionalized, as are the benefits that flow from it. Similarly, not all aboriginal governments are as experienced or as stable as they need to be to develop the kind of policies that will facilitate wider participation in local or regional economies. And the capacity of aboriginal communities overall still lags the rest of the country.

These issues, however, are not insurmountable, says CCAB’s Davis. Education, obviously, is a critical issue that must be addressed, especially in more remote communities where standards lag national averages at the critical primary and secondary levels. Stronger governance at the community and regional levels also needs to be developed and maintained so that local leaderships are better prepared to set economic policy and attract investment. And communities need to look at themselves and understand the competitive opportunities they bring to the table and their own goals for the future. “It’s not enough to say you are open for business,” Davis says. “Communities need to know what kind of industries they want to get into, what kind of partners they want and what they want to get out of those partnerships. They have to figure out what gives them a competitive advantage. ” But if past performance is any indicator of future potential, the momentum is moving in the right direction. It may be enough to shift the attitudes of Haisla First Nation when it comes to their position on Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. Their opposition is based on another type of business decision: risk management. Their fear is that the environmental consequences of an oil spill are far worse than those of natural gas spill. That’s hardly an anti-development position. It’s one based on determining the type of business they want to be in. And that in itself speaks to the growing sophistication of aboriginal-owned business in Canada.

Oral presentation by Intervenors: January 18th, 2012 @ the Ramada Hotel starting at 6:00 PM. The schedule for intervenors is available here , and you are encouraged to attend any of these sessions, if possible. Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance & Carrier Sekani Tribal Council are organizing a rally and indoor presence. We will provide more details soon.

Oral presentations by non-intervenors: March or April (TBD) S2S will be organizing a local workshop this winter to assist those who have registered to prepare their oral presentation. More details to follow.
Friends of Wild Salmon are offering webinars (online seminars) this week to help people get prepared for presenting at the upcoming Enbridge pipeline hearings.From the comfort of your own home you’ll be able to either phone in and/or follow a live Internet webinar. At the beginning of the webinar, FOWS will be providing a 30-minute overview presentation covering what you can expect and offering ways to maximize the impact of your oral statement. After that, we’ll have a question and answer period for participants.You can register now for the telephone/webinar session by selecting from the following dates/times (click on one of the dates provided):
Thu, Jan 5, 2012 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM PST
Sun, Jan 8, 2012 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PST
Mon, Jan 9, 2012 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM PST

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration and providing the information you need to join the webinar. Be sure to read the computer system requirements.

Letter of Comment: Please follow this link to provide the Joint Review Panel with a written submission by March 13, 2012.

Letter to the Editor: Send a letter to the editor of the PG Citizen, the PG Free Press or the Northern Sentinel

Also, please check out Ethical Oil’s new Ad that will be appearing in newspapers around the north!

Wishing you a wonderful 2012,
The Sea to Sands Conservation Alliance

The Joint Review Panel hearings will be starting soon, in a community near you! Due to the overwhelming number of people concerned about the Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, the National Energy Board received a record-breaking (4300 and counting) registrations for oral presentations.

CSTC Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee stated, “The ghost of the old colonial relationship is re-emerging causing unrest among our people.   Mining investors should be advised that the land question in British Columbia is unresolved and that only First Nations can bring the certainty needed for projects to proceed.”    Investors should look around and see the conflicts with the proposed Prosperity Mine, Mt. Klappan, Gething Coal, Enbridge Gateway, etc. and see that projects cannot proceed without the free, prior and informed consent of First Nations.   

Tribal Chief David Luggi noted, “The combined territories of our member First Nations accounts for 7.8 million hectares, about 8.3% of BC and twice the size of Vancouver Island, most of which is seeing an increase in mining exploration.”  The CSTC has several active, proposed and abandoned mines including Endako (molybdenum/active), Pinche Lake (mercury/closed), Kemess South and North (gold, active/proposed), Mt. Milligan (gold/copper-active/proposed) and Bralorne (gold/abandoned). 

“The CSTC First Nations are actively working with resource extraction projects that demonstrate sustainable and equitable benefits, without compromising our rights and those of our future generations”, stated Tribal Chief Luggi. “Companies need to talk with us before they submit any applications to the BC and federal government.  The Crown needs to talk with us about how we can share the wealth from our territories, otherwise no one will benefit.”

The recent BC Jobs Plan: Canada Starts Here announced by the Premier in September calls for 8 new mines and 9 expansions by 2015.   The way the BC government is going about by announcing projects without working in partnership with the impacted First Nations will result in litigation and further conflict.   Tribal Chief Luggi further stated, “We are calling upon the Premier to convene a First Nations government to government table to discuss the development agenda on our homelands.   Without such engagement most of the proposed mines will be mired in legal conflict for many years.”

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For more information please contact:

Tribal Chief David Luggi: Office (250) 562-6279 e.222. Cell: (250) 640-6622
Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee:  Office (250) 562-6279 e.223.  Cell: (250) 640-3256

Tribal Chief David Luggi commented, “Mr. Layton certainly left his mark in politics, he brought the NDP from the ashes of 13 party seats to an unprecedented 103 seats in parliament today.” Luggi continued, “I think what we should remember about Jack is that he took a stand for the environment and a stand for First Nation’s rights and title in a time when no leader would step up to the plate. He will be missed for sure.”

Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee shared a moment when he had a chance meeting with the NDP Leader, “I met Jack Layton for the first time in Copenhagen, Denmark during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in December 2009.

He was very supportive of our opposition to the oil sands expansion via the Enbridge pipeline proposal.  He’s also been supportive of a tanker ban on the coast.”  Teegee remarked, “Mr. Layton was a great advocate and supporter of people without a voice, whether it was the homeless or the environment, he leaves a legacy we can all reflect on for inspiration.”

Tribal Chief Luggi concluded, “Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Layton’s family during their time of bereavement.”

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For more information please contact:

Tribal Chief David Luggi: Office (250) 562-6279 e.222. Cell: (250) 640-6622 Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee:  Office (250) 562-6279 e.223.  Cell: (250)
640-3256

PDF Version

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/127659008.html

Ten candidates running for four spots on the Nak’azdli Band Council came out to speak and answer questions at the all candidates forum in Kwah Hall.

While one candidate showed up only to decline the nomination, five other candidates did not make it to the forum.

Fellow candidate Anne Sam did defend the absence of Peter Erickson, who she said was committed to the community but was out on his family’s keyoh, and would not have missed it for anything else. She urged those present to keep an open mind to the absent candidates, given the timing of the forum, which was later than usual. The forum fell when many families go out onto traditional keyoh territories to take part in a summer harvest.
The candidates present each made a speech and then the floor opened up to questions from the audience.
Candidate Kenny Sam made a passionate appeal in his speech regarding land rights.

“That’s our land and we have to fight for it,” he said.

Harold Prince, former councillor and former chief spoke passionately about education. He spoke partly in Dakelh (Carrier), and then announced he has made the commitment to be alcohol and drug free.

Tim Erickson also spoke strongly about alcohol and drug use, saying his priorities are education and housing. He challenged his fellow candidates to set an example for the community by leading a healthy lifestyle.
“We have to, as a generation, start making our footprints out there.”

The focus of many of the questions was on education, youth and culture, especially language.

Anne Sam spoke about getting the community engaged and informing them about education so people can have a say and so their children can succeed in the system.

The approach suggested by Rosemarie Sam to empower the youth was to encourage them to get engaged in the issues, and to educate young people on their rights so they can be proactive.

The Enbridge Northern Gateway proposed pipeline was also raised as an issue for the community, with Anne Sam explaining the role she has been playing in working on the Headwaters Initiative, which opposes the pipeline.

“We’re working with other First Nations to gather support and say ‘no’ to Enbridge,” said Anne Sam.

Kenny Sam is part of a registered intervenor group in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel process.

He said he will be opposing the pipeline, which would cross his keyoh, through this process.

Most of the candidates present also brought forward ideas for helping to preserve the language.

The candidates are running for four council member openings, each of which would be for a two-year term.

There are a total of eight council members and one chief on the Nak’azdli Band Council.

The election will beheld on August 18.

• View AGA Poster.pdf
• Click here to read the 2010/2011 Annual Report
• Click here to read the AGA Agenda – October 6, 2011

October 6th, 2011
Wet’suwet’en First Nation
Decker Lake Hall
Starts at 9 a.m.

For more information, please contact Mariam Louie at 250-562-6279

Carrier Sekani Tribal Council 30th AGA – “People, Purpose, Passion: The Pathway to Success”
Please join us at Decker Lake Hall, Wet’suwe’ten First Nation, Thursday, October 6th, 2011
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM