Thank you, Mr. Chair.
On behalf of the Tsilhqot'in National Government, we would like to thank the committee for the invitation to appear on this important topic.
Today I will be speaking to the need for emergency preparedness within the Tsilhqot'in Nation, the only nation in Canada with aboriginal title as recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2014.
In 2017, Tsilhqot'in Nation experienced multiple wildfires that burned land the size of Vancouver Island within their area. We had two of the three largest fires in the history of Canada. Eighty-five per cent of my caretaker area was burnt. Nobody has better black trees than Tsilhqot'in Nation.
The hardest things with a disaster like this are the issues of jurisdiction and remoteness of our communities. In the face of outside agency-imposed evacuations of our communities, many communities decided to manage their own people. We're the only nation in the history of Canada to say no to an evacuation order. We're going to stay behind and we're going to fight this ourselves.
Our nation is seven hours north of Vancouver with one main highway in and out. We have one power distribution line to all six bands and no cell service. The repercussions of power going out include having no Internet access, home phone or cold storage and the dying of gathered foods.
Coming out of the 2017 wildfire, Tsilhqot'in Nation released a report called “The Fires Awakened Us”. This report has 33 calls to action.
One of the best ways to ensure preparedness for indigenous communities is to recognize their jurisdiction in preparing and managing emergency situations. This takes an investment by Canada and by British Columbia to establish emergency infrastructure training for all members. This has begun, with the first tripartite management agreement in Canada between the Tsilhqot'in Nation, Canada and B.C. This agreement was again renewed this year.
Some of the issues we faced during 2017 included ISC coming to our territory, coming to our community and promising that they would cover all costs related to protecting our community. Since 2017, it has been a fight. Every last financial detail has been argued and argued again to the point that out of the $800,000 that was owed to us, $500,000 remains outstanding.
We went into the court system. When it became absolutely crystal clear that there was no hope that they would win that case, they paid us in full with no questions asked.
I would say that during times of crisis like that, the fires were never a threat to my community. Our region is dependent on forest fires. We see a lot of forest fires. We have all grown up and fought fires as indigenous people in our area. We know the area. We know this area better than B.C. firefighters do, better than all of the fire help brought in from throughout Canada and throughout the world. We had Australian and Mexican firefighters who had never seen forest fires reach the height that they did. We know all the game trails, the highways, the roads, the back roads. In times of emergency, our guides know that territory better than anyone else.
It's crucial that that be recognized. We have hired our own trainees. That has to be recognized and incorporated in times like this.
We believe the crisis of 2017 was the result of poor forestry management practices. We have come to know that we will be involved in every decision from this point on.
What we did in 2017 was an act of self-government, and that jurisdiction has to be recognized and respected.
Sechanalyagh.