News Release
November 10, 2025

UBCIC Recognizes 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and Calls for Strengthened Action to Protect B.C.’s Rivers of Ice

(xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil Waututh)/ Vancouver, B.C. – November 10, 2025) The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is formally recognizing 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP), as declared by the United Nations General Assembly, and the launch of the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Science (2025–2034).

British Columbia is home to more than 17,000 glaciers that sustain life across the province by providing cool, plentiful water to salmon-bearing rivers and nourishing ecosystems and communities long after seasonal snow has melted. These glaciers hold immense cultural, ecological, and spiritual significance for First Nations across the province. Due to the accelerating impacts of climate change, most of B.C.’s glaciers are projected to disappear within the next 75 years, contributing to rising geohazards and deeply altering the hydrology of First Nation territories.

“Glaciers are living parts of the lands and waters that our peoples have relied on since time immemorial,” stated Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President. “As the climate crisis accelerates their loss, it threatens not only ecosystems and salmon but our very cultures, histories, and rights as First Nations. The UBCIC has consistently called for implementing solutions to, and protections against, climate change through resolutions and we continue to call for direct action and increased cooperation to better understand the full impacts of climate change”

UBCIC is calling on federal and provincial governments to urgently strengthen their monitoring and protection of the cryosphere, including glaciers, snow, permafrost, river, and lake ice, across British Columbia. This work must be undertaken in partnership with First Nations, ensuring Indigenous knowledge and stewardship guide all monitoring, research, and adaptation measures.

“Recognizing the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation is about more than awareness—it’s a call for collective action,” said Chief Marylin Slett, UBCIC Secretary-Treasurer. “Governments must step up to ensure that glaciers, which are sacred to so many of our peoples, are studied, protected, and respected as part of our shared responsibility to future generations.”

UBCIC encourages all Canadians to learn more about the United Nations’ International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and the Decade of Action for Cryospheric Science by visiting www.un-glaciers.org

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Media inquiries:

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President, 250-490-5314
Chief Marilyn Slett, Secretary-Treasurer, 250-957-7721

UBCIC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

For more information, please visit www.ubcic.bc.ca

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