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Dear Premier Clark, Minister Polak and Associate Deputy Minister Jardine,

We are writing with respect to UBCIC Resolution 2016-49, “Support for the Tsilhqot’in Nation and Condemning the Provincial Amendment Process for the “Prosperity Mine,” which was presented, affirmed and endorsed by consensus at the UBCIC Annual General Assembly on September 23, 2016 (enclosed).

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Premier Christy Clark and Ministers Polak and Rustad,

We are writing with respect to UBCIC Resolution 2016-34, “Support for WSÁNEĆ First Nations’ Opposition to Steelhead LNG,” which was presented, affirmed and endorsed by consensus at the UBCIC Annual General Assembly Chiefs Council on September 22, 2016 (enclosed).

January 27 2017, Turtle Island—The newly named National Energy Board (NEB) panel tasked with reviewing TransCanada’s Energy East tar sands pipeline application has just announced that it had no choice but to restart the review process at square one due to the bias shown by the previous panel, just as many First Nations that are part of the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion - www.treatyalliance.org - had demanded in submissions made to the NEB. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – January 17, 2017) Last week, Canada applied for judicial review of the Specific Claims Tribunal’s decision regarding compensation awarded in the Huu-ay-aht First Nation logging rights case. Today, UBCIC calls on Canada to withdraw this application, which is an insult to the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, an attack on the authority and independence of the Tribunal, and a repudiation of the most basic principles of reconciliation.  

(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, BC) Members of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs are deeply and profoundly saddened to hear of the sudden and unexpected passing of Arthur Manuel.

January 5, 2017

Dear Minister Bennett,

We are a long-standing national group of specific claims research directors working on behalf of Indigenous Nations and committed to the just, fair, and timely resolution of specific claims in Canada. Here we present a response to the November 2016 report by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG), First Nations Specific Claims—Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). This response, called Taking Action, Building Trust, translates recommendations from the audit process into concrete, tangible actions that Canada can undertake within the next six months.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – December 20, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), supports the Neskonlith Indian Band’s demands that the province rescind a permit issued for logging 28 hectares of Secwepemc territory near Harper Lake south of Chase. The Crown cut blocks are just above Neskonlith reserve #2, an ecologically sensitive area for Rocky Mountain Elk and a contentious area near the land disputed in the 1999 Harper Lake Logging Case. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – December 16, 2016) Sixty-eight years after the Huu-ay-aht First Nation first challenged Canada’s unlawful issuance of a long-term logging licence on the community’s reserve lands, the Specific Claims Tribunal has awarded the Nation compensation of $13.88 million. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs congratulates Huu-ay-aht First Nation on the successful resolution of this claim and strongly condemns Canada’s conduct in the proceedings.