UBCIC Seeks Details on Funding Announcement for Highway of Tears Public Transportation Plan
(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – June 17, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is asking the Provincial Government to provide concrete details and a clear timeline for public transportation along Highway 16, which is known as the Highway of Tears due to the tragic murders and disappearances of mostly Indigenous women and girls hitchhiking along the route.
Read moreFNLC Release: First Nations Resolute they will Reform Indigenous Child Welfare in BC
Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC) - First Nations leadership and child-serving organizations gathered over the past two days, along with representatives of the Government of British Columbia and the Government of Canada - to discuss the current crisis in Indigenous child welfare in British Columbia.
Read moreOPEN LETTER: BC Fish Farms Threaten Wild Salmon Runs: DFO Confirms Potential HSMI Disease
The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) calls on the Government of British Columbia and Canada to recognize the extreme risk to which their promotion of the BC finfish aquaculture industry presents to not only the pristine coastal BC environment but to already critically low wild salmon runs on which many British Columbians rely.
Read moreUBCIC Calls on Trudeau Government to Truly Commit to UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, B.C. – May 17, 2016) At the 15th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Canada publicly stated it would be a full supporter of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration) without qualification and then immediately qualified the statement by adding “to adopt and implement the declaration in accordance with the Canadian Constitution.”
Read moreBC encouraging environmentally risky mining and creating massive taxpayer liability
(Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver BC – May 16, 2016). The BC government is enabling a dangerous disregard for environmental monitoring, reporting and protection among mining companies by letting them off the hook for the full costs of environmental reclamation – leaving taxpayers liable for more than $1.5 billion, a new report shows.
Read moreOpen Letter: Appeal of legal decision regarding transfer of diseased salmon
Dear Minister Tootoo and Minister Wilson-Raybould:
We are writing in regard to the circumstances surrounding the 2015 legal decision Morton v. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Marine Harvest. It has come to our attention in British Columbia that in your capacity as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada you appear as a co-appellant with the salmon farming corporation, Marine Harvest, to appeal that 2015 legal decision. We find your decision very disturbing and we ask you to immediately reconsider your participation.
Read moreOPEN LETTER: Coalition Extremely Disappointed with BC’s Failure to include all Family Members in Event to Remember BC’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Dear Minister Rustad, Minister Anton, and Minister Morris:
We are writing with respect to the event you are holding on Tuesday May 10th at 12:15pm to “remember the lives of BC’s missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and unveil a lasting legacy” at the Parliament Buildings of BC in Victoria. We understand that a quilt will be made public which was created at the BC Family Gathering in Prince George, Lheidhli T’enneh Territory, in January 2016. At that event, family members were invited to create a piece of the quilt to honour their loved one, and these pieces were then stitched together.
Read moreUBCIC Fully Supports Land and Title Defenders Camped at BC Hydro in Opposition to Site C
(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, B.C. – May 6, 2016) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs is condemning the ongoing ‘corporate thuggery’ of BC Hydro, which recently filed a notice of civil claim and an application for an injunction in BC Supreme Court to stop people from camping overnight at its Vancouver office.
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