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(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – September 7, 2017) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs congratulates the Huu-ay-aht First Nation on achieving final resolution of its logging rights specific claim. On September 5, Canada withdrew its application for judicial review of the Specific Claims Tribunal’s decision to award $13.9 million in compensation to the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. Canada has also announced its intention to work collaboratively with Indigenous Peoples to overhaul the specific claims policy and process such that they fully recognize Indigenous rights and reflect a reconciliation-based approach. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver - August 31, 2017) BC must begin its transition from dangerously reckless open net-pen fish farms to the safety of land-based closed containment aquaculture. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – August 24, 2017) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance (FNWSA) are shocked and infuriated by Cook Aquaculture’s release of 305,000 specimens of an invasive salmon species into the waters of BC and Washington.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – August 11, 2017) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) remains steadfast in its ongoing opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – August 9th, 2017) August 9th marks International Indigenous Peoples Day, the anniversary of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982. The theme of this year’s World Indigenous Peoples Day is the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver BC – July 12, 2017) Several Indigenous communities throughout British Columbia are in states of emergency or on evacuation alerts as wildfires threaten their homes and territories.  Indigenous Peoples have a fundamental right to make decisions with respect to protecting and defending the safety, health and  well-being of our community members, housing and community infrastructure. Some have decided to stay and defend their homes rather than evacuate. 

July 4, Rapid City, SD (Black Hills) — An assembly of Tribal leaders of the Great Sioux Nation along with leaders of the Ponca Nation in Nebraska and Oklahoma today met, in the sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, with a large delegation of Chiefs of First Nations from Canada who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. The tribal leaders and chiefs sent a clear message on this July 4^th US “Independence Day” about their independence as Sovereign Indigenous Nations and to announce a new cross-border alliance to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. The historic gathering challenging the power of Canada and the US to harm their lands and pollute their water comes on the heels of widespread Indigenous resistance in Canada challenging the July 1^st celebrations of Canada’s “150^th anniversary”.

UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS
CHIEFS COUNCIL
JUNE 28TH-29TH, 2017
SEABIRD ISLAND BAND GYM, STÓ:LŌ TERRITORY, B.C.

Resolution no. 2017-32

RE: UBCIC Rejects Canada150 Celebrations