Latest News

 April 17, 2023

Honorable Justin Trudeau,
Prime Minister

Honorable Joyce Murray, Minister
Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)

OPEN LETTER: FNLC Calls for The Prime Minister to Act After Parliamentary Report Details Systemic Issues in DFO

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Murray:

We are writing regarding the March 2023 scathing report by the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Ocean (FOPO) on science at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). This report is an indictment of the many issues long identified by First Nations and exposes the bias and unscientific decision-making and processes that permeate DFO.

Statement
April 4, 2023

UBCIC Alarmed by Vancouver’s Violent Plan to Clear DTES

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – April 4, 2023) A leaked City of Vancouver plan for the Downtown Eastside (DTES) proposes a two-stage violent escalation in evictions of homeless residents who have been forced to live in tents in the face of relentless housing and affordability crises. UBCIC calls on Vancouver to abandon this reckless approach and work with all relevant parties, including the local First Nations and Indigenous organizations, to create a holistic plan founded on the provision of safe, sanitary housing rather than short-sited, traumatizing displacement to homeless shelters and the streets of other neighbourhoods.

News Release
Date: April 4, 2023

Revised Final Settlement Agreement: Justice for First Nations Children

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) and the Indigenous Child & Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society welcome the completion of a revised Final Settlement Agreement on compensation. The $23.2 billion dollar agreement will provide compensation for all children and families who endured Canada’s discrimination through the First Nations Child and Family Services program and Jordan’s Principle, including those formerly excluded.

Statement 
March 31, 2023

UBCIC and BCAFN Support the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance Call for Federal Action on Protecting Wild Salmon

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.)The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and the BC Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) welcome the recent advocacy to political leaders in Ottawa by the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance (FNWSA) which calls for urgent action by federal leaders to protect wild salmon, a precious and vital resource for BC First Nations. This call is supported via resolutions from the UBCIC Chiefs Council and the BCAFN Chiefs-in-Assembly.

News Release 
March 30, 2023

FNLC Welcomes Vatican’s Formal Rejection of  ‘Doctrine of Discovery’

(Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C.) After decades of appeals by Indigenous peoples around the world, the Vatican has finally formally rejected the “Doctrine of Discovery.” The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) welcomes the repudiation of this centuries-old concept that shaped and continues to influence colonial government policies and laws.

News Release
March 29, 2023

UBCIC Stands with Wet’suwet’en as Gidimt’en Checkpoint Defending the Land from Fracking is Raided by RCMP

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – March 29, 2023) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is outraged to learn of another RCMP raid on Gidimt’en Checkpoint and the arrest of five people by the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), under the guise of a search warrant for theft under $5000. It is currently unclear what relation there is, if any, between the Gidimt’en checkpoint and the search warrant issued by the C-IRG before the arrests. These arrests continue the troubling pattern of police intimidation of Indigenous people asserting their rights to access their own territories and rejecting fossil fuel extraction. UBCIC unequivocally stands with those standing up for the title and rights of the hereditary leadership of the Wet’suwet’en.

News Release
March 15, 2023

UBCIC Concerned that LNG Project Approval Facilitates Fracking and an Increase in Methane Emissions in BC

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – March 15, 2023) Yesterday, the Province announced a new framework for clean energy lacking critical details, while approving a new liquified ‘natural’ gas (LNG) facility that federal regulators added their approval to today.

Statement
March 15, 2023

UBCIC Calls for Urgent Police Reform to End Violence, Death, and Oppression on International Day Against Police Brutality

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/Vancouver, B.C. – March 15, 2023) On International Day Against Police Brutality, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) calls for all justice actors and police authorities to acknowledge the tremendous historical and ongoing harm of police brutality that disproportionately targets Indigenous people and people of colour, rooted in colonial violence. Police and RCMP alike must uphold human rights, urgently implement the Calls for Justice, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, provide mandatory anti-racism training for all police agents to end racial bias and hate, and reconfigure lofty police budgets to prioritize de-escalation and trauma-informed, culturally safe services, so people in distress are met with compassion and support instead of violence, death and further oppression and dispossession. UBCIC firmly stands with all victims and families who have been harmed or lost loved ones to police brutality, and remembers Jared Lowndes, Chantel Moore, Chris Amyotte, Julian Jones, Dale Culver and more.