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February 8, 2018 – First Nations from the Maritimes all the way to Alberta who are among the 150 Nations in Canada and the US who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion are standing stronger than ever with their brothers and sisters in BC and will do whatever it takes to continue delaying the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline and tanker project.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – February 2, 2018.) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs extends our warmest congratulations to the Williams Lake Indian Band in finally achieving justice for their Village Site Specific Claim after over a century of struggle. Today, the Supreme Court of Canada restored the 2014 decision of the Specific Claims Tribunal which ruled that Canada failed in its duty to protect the Williams Lake Indian Band’s ancestral village lands from pre-emption. The Court agreed that Canada’s failure contravened colonial law and that Canada had a fiduciary obligation to take appropriate measures to protect the village lands and remedy the loss.

(Victoria, January 26, 2018) In a public ceremony on the Legislature lawn today, Treaty 8 Chiefs returned three “Stakes in the Peace” inscribed with the names of Premier John Horgan and Ministers George Heyman and Lana Popham.

(Unceded Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, B.C. – January 1, 2018) As the days start to grow longer, there remains a smoldering, undiminished sense of determination, inspiration and hope in our hearts as we approach Battleground 2018.

(Unceded Coast Salish Territory / Vancouver, B.C. – December 10, 2017)  December 10 is the day 70 years ago in 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights officially recognizing that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” In 2007 144 states voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Declaration). The Harper Government was one of four states to vote against the UN Declaration. The Trudeau Government formally endorsed the UN Declaration in 2016. 

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – December 6, 2017) As the entire province awaits the NDP Government’s decision on the bedraggled boondoggle that is the Site C dam project, Chief Lynette Tsakoza of Prophet River First Nation, Chief Roland Willson of West Moberly First Nations and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs are calling on Premier Horgan’s Cabinet to immediately and unapologetically cancel the project. 

PUBLIC STATEMENT
5 December 2017

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is a consensus international human rights instrument elaborating standards for the survival, dignity, security and well-being of Indigenous peoples of the world. Today, MP Romeo Saganash’s private members bill on implementation of the UN Declaration, Bill C-262, will begin debate at second reading in Parliament.

(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver) On November 20, 2017, the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, addressed the Symposium on Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Priorities, Partnerships, and Next Steps, formally announcing Canada’s support of Private Member’s Bill C-262.