Latest News

News Release
June 16, 2020

UBCIC Statement on Police Raid of Namegan/CRAB Park Tent City

((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – June 16, 2020) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) stands in solidarity and shared outrage with the residents of Namegan/CRAB Park Tent City who were forcefully displaced this morning. The Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver have continued their pattern of prioritizing corporate interests and colonial property over the lives and safety of unhoused community members.

Indigenous Leaders and Environmental Groups Demand Independent Federal and BC Investigation into Safety of Existing TMX Pipeline After Latest Oil Spill

“The federal government investigating itself is clearly not an option,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC

For Immediate Release

(Sema:th Territory/ Abbotsford– June 16, 2020), Vancouver- Indigenous leaders and environmental groups in British Columbia are asking the Federal and BC governments to launch an independent, Indigenous-led expert investigation into the safety and integrity of the existing 67-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline after a 150,000 litre oil spill over the weekend. It is the pipeline’s 85th spill. Indigenous leaders and groups are also asking for a moratorium on construction for the new pipeline.

News Release
June 14, 2020

Stop TMX: Devastating Trans Mountain Pipeline Spill Reinforces Urgency to Halt Further Expansion

(Sema:th Territory/ Abbotsford– June 14, 2020) Indigenous leaders are demanding answers and raising alarm following another Trans Mountain pipeline spill, which took place early yesterday morning in Abbotsford.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Organizations Call on Mayor Kennedy Stewart to Implement Immediate Ban on Racist Police Street Checks in Vancouver

June 10, 2020, (xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, BC – The BC Civil Liberties Association, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, and Hogan’s Alley Society are calling on Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who is also the Vancouver Police Board Chair and Board Spokesperson, to immediately put a stop to police street checks in Vancouver.

BC First Nations Justice Council
British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs
First Nations Summit

Indigenous leaders condemn Police actions in death of Chantel Moore
The young Nuu-chah-nulth mother had recently moved to Edmundston

(xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, BC – First Nations leadership across BC is united in calling for a full and timely investigation in the matter of the police-involved death of Chantel Moore.

Chantel Moore died at the hands of police last night in Edmundston, New Brunswick.

Ministry of Education
Ministry of Children and Family Development
Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training
First Nations Education Steering Committee
First Nations Leadership Council

June 4, 2020

Improving outcomes for First Nations children in care

VICTORIA - Indigenous children and youth in government care and former youth in care are entitled to consistent and reliable support at school, home and in their communities, to ensure they get the most out of their school years and are set up for success in life.

The First Nations Children and Youth in Care Protocol, signed May 26, 2020, commits the Province and First Nations to work together to engage in dialogue and joint action on specific issues and initiatives, seeking to improve the educational outcomes and well-being of Indigenous children and youth in care, and former youth in care through legislative, policy and practice reform.

News Release
June 4, 2020

Black Lives Matter: UBCIC Stands in Solidarity Against Racialized Police Brutality and Inaction

((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – June 4, 2020) UBCIC is calling for broad action to dismantle systems of white supremacy upheld by policing institutions. The killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota has once more laid bare the rampant racism in so-called North America, made up of countries built upon a colonial history of Black enslavement and the genocide of Indigenous peoples. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) recognizes the shared colonial legacy of oppression that generations of Indigenous and Black people in Canada and the United States experience today as institutionalized racism, police brutality, state violence and inaction.

Press Statement
June 3, 2020

Canada Fails to Prioritize MMIWG: 1^st Anniversary of the National Inquiry’s Final Report Demonstrates No Progress

((Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaʔɬ/sel̓ílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – June 3, 2020) A year ago today, Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals looked forward with hopeful eyes as the Final Report of the National Inquiry in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) was released alongside the Calls for Justice. The 231 imperative Calls for Justice are supposed to provide the framework for a National Action Plan to dismantle Canada’s colonial structures and systems of power that are responsible for staggering rates of violence, death, and suicide amongst Indigenous women and girls. Today marks the day the National Action Plan was to be released. However, rather than a pathway forward to transformative change, Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island were met with inaction, disregard, and the announcement from Canada that the plan will be delayed.