Chair, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate the invitation to come here today to share our insights into engaging in indigenous communities on major energy projects within our territories.
I will first provide some background on my community. Lax Kw'alaams is one of the largest and most progressive first nations in B.C. with over 3,800 members, approximately 800 of whom live in the village of Lax Kw'alaams. We have 83 reserves covering 16,497 hectares of land. Despite many hurdles, which I will broadly describe later, economic development has been a priority, and we have been able to pursue numerous successful ventures both within the community and off reserve. Most of our business opportunities are natural resource-based, including forestry and fishery operations.
More recently, Lax Kw'alaams has been able to successfully negotiate some financial and economic benefit from other uses of our lands, and we have developed positive working relationships with the province in some areas such as environmental assessments.
As you may know, Lax Kw'alaams is situated on the northwest coast of British Columbia. We are Coast Tsimshian people who for thousands of years thrived on the land and waters in the area surrounding what is now Prince Rupert. Our ancestors were an alliance of peoples or tribes from this region referred to as the nine tribes of Lax Kw'alaams. Together they governed an immense territory of over 1.2 million hectares on either side of the Skeena River, and an expansive ocean between the mainland and Haida Gwaii.
The alliance facilitated the development of a prosperous economy with a sophisticated government system and dynamic social and cultural environment. Unfortunately, as with other indigenous communities, we were heavily impacted by colonial encroachments into our territories. In 1834, at the invitation of our ancestors, the Hudson's Bay Company located at the site of the present village of Lax Kw'alaams. Initially our people continued to prosper with a virtual trade monopoly in the region; however, the introduction of illnesses such as smallpox and influenza decimated our people, and new religions that frowned on practices underpinning our social structures undermined our traditional government, dividing our people.
As Canada came into being, what began as mutually beneficial relationships evolved into a struggle by our people for economic and cultural survival. Successive federal and provincial governments imposed oppressive policies and restrictive laws to systematically alienate us from our territories. Our culture was undermined as the foundational protocols and ceremonies of our traditional government were outlawed. Like many indigenous nations in British Columbia, Lax Kw'alaams has never ceded or surrendered our territories, and while some Canadian court decisions support the idea that suppressive laws can extinguish the rights of our people, insofar as these laws were devoid of benefit to Lax Kw'alaams they are contrary to our law, and undoubtedly, an affront to the honour of the Crown.
Since the mid-1800s, the Crown has unilaterally granted rights to natural resources within our territories to third parties while restricting our peoples' access to these resources. We were even shut out or restricted from industries that had sustained our ancestors from time immemorial, and our inherent knowledge of resource management within our territories was ignored.
Commercial activities of Lax Kw'alaams fishers were severely restricted, and the knowledge of fisheries management imparted by generations before us fell on the deaf ears of government. Similarly, the trees within our territory were sold to corporate buyers for harvest, and lands were used or given away with no regard to Lax Kw'alaams.
Only in the last 28 years have governments, at the urging of the courts, begun to acknowledge the right of indigenous peoples to participate in the economy and to benefit from the use of lands and resources within our territories. The importance of this should not be minimized, since over a century of living under corrosive policies and laws has complicated both internal and external relations for our community, making engagements on matters such as major energy projects more complex.
Although the treaty process has benefited some first nations, Canada's attempts to resolve natural resource matters through treaties have a number of major drawbacks. While I won't get into too many details here, suffice it to say that various treaty policies have not adequately addressed issues relating to shared territories, such that the Crown has occasionally purported to grant rights under treaty that in the eyes of some courts override the unceded aboriginal rights of neighbouring first nations, even where resource management agreements exist.
Lax Kw'alaams is not actively engaged in the treaty process and at this time does not consider it to be a viable way to resolve natural resource management issues. While Lax Kw'alaams is not opposed to progressive, environmentally respectful projects in our territories, they must be mutually beneficial and able to accommodate our rights and interests. A key principle in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples stated in the recitals is the conviction that “control by indigenous peoples over developments affecting them and their lands, territories and resources will enable them to maintain and strengthen their institutions, cultures and traditions, and to promote their development in accordance with their aspirations and needs”.
To enable respectful development, Lax Kw'alaams does not want to be treated merely as another interest-holder in our territories. As title-holder to the lands and territories, Lax Kw'alaams must be a full participant in all processes relating to a proposed project and must also be a beneficiary of that project. This goes beyond engagement and includes consenting to the project. This should include: compliance with overall land and resource plans; co-operative determination of what approvals may be required; actively co-designing and participating in the processes leading to any approvals; and, ongoing involvement in compliance monitoring, including decommissioning of projects.
Before we can properly participate in processes, Lax Kw'alaams must be able to consult with our membership. To do so requires the creation and ongoing review of internal policies, the maintenance of rigorous lines of communication and the establishment of internal administrative supports.
However, Lax Kw'alaams faces many challenges in this regard.
Firstly, many of our members live and work in different locations throughout the province, so even basic things such as maintaining up-to-date contact information is often challenging. Also, we lack resources to attract and retain qualified personnel. As well, our funding is often project-based, which does not support a stable administrative infrastructure.
Qualified members often leave the area for better jobs elsewhere, and even when we are able to attract qualified personnel, it usually is for only short terms. We often have no option but to utilize external consultants, which drives up costs, diminishes community connection and long-term planning, and does not support a vision of stable and professional internal Lax Kw'alaams government.
As stewards of the territories, the indigenous nation often has the most comprehensive appreciation of the state of the territory. This positions it well to understand the cumulative impacts of industry and development within the territory.
However, maintaining an overall record of industry and development within the territory requires considerable time and effort. A number of years ago, Lax Kw'alaams engaged contractors to draft a land use plan to help guide the kinds of activities that could be undertaken in our territories. That plan, which was never ratified, is outdated and needs further development. Investing in the development and maintenance of an accurate record of developments in the territory would enable us to better assess the pros and cons of proposed projects.
Lax Kw'alaams is committed to environmentally responsible energy development and, with proper resourcing, is willing to work with the federal government to develop the policies and processes necessary to enable appropriate development in the territory. As you may know, Lax Kw'alaams is one of the communities that supports an energy corridor from Alberta to the west coast. We have worked with proponents in the past to enable such projects to proceed, meeting with traditional leadership and holding a membership vote on the PNW LNG. We learned many lessons from that process that would assist in future development.
We cannot stress the importance of beginning work early, providing user-friendly neutral information, accurate assessments of risks and benefits, and plenty of opportunity for member involvement. We can also state definitively that it is important that proponents interface with the community early and provide regular updates.
I also cannot overemphasize the need to support our communities in building the administrative infrastructure, including retention of qualified personnel, to enable the development of policies and adaptable processes that permit meaningful community involvement in land use and project decisions. Without community support, no project can succeed.
Finally, I would like to make clear that, in the spirit of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, if Canada wishes to consider major energy projects in Lax Kw'alaams' territories, it should ensure that Lax Kw'alaams' voice is represented in the laws and policy decisions that directly impact the use of land and waters within its territories.
In saying that, what's not included in the brief is that the government right now is imposing a tanker ban within our territories without consulting with us. The Great Bear Rainforest was imposed on us without consultation. That leaves us no choice but to probably end up in court, where nobody wants to be.