Clayoquot Sound battle escalates

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Tla-o-qi-aht seek to embarrass B.C. government boycotting 1994 Commonwealth Games

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A West Coast band is threatening to boycott next year's Commonwealth Games unless British Columbia negotiates their land claim treaty.

The Tla-o-qui-aht Band of Meares Island may not participate in the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria unless the province deals with First Nations' issues in Clayoquot Sound, the band's chief said.

"We play a fundamental role with the First Nations in the opening and closing ceremonies and cultural activities," said Chief Francis Frank. "We are tired of just being tokens in the whole thing. We are not prepared to participate."

The Tla-o-qui-aht hope their reluctance to participate in any of the international games' cultural activities will draw negative press for the B.C. government, Frank said. But he has yet to consult the games' Native hosts, the Coast Salish Nation.

"We don't want to embarrass them," Frank said. "We want to embarrass (the B.C.) government.

Adding fuel to the battle for Native rights is the government's controversial actions in Clayoquot Sound. Bands along the west central coast of Vancouver Island, including the Tla-o-qui-aht, the Ahousaht and Hesquiaht First Nations, are outraged with the provincial government for allowing forestry firm MacMillan and Bloedel to log around the area, located 200 kilometres northwest of Victoria.

The temperate rain forests in the region represent some of the last stands of virgin timber in North America.

Approximately 20 per cent of the sound has been clear-cut since loggers arrived

on Meares Island in 1984. Last April, the B.C. government gave permission for an additional two-thirds of the remaining forests - 260,000 square kilometres - to be logged MacMillan Bloedel, a company in which the government owns shares.

The Tla-o-qui-aht have laid claim to an area of land that includes Meares Island and part of Pacific Rim National Park, Frank said. But the government has yet to acknowledge their claim or work out a deal.

"That's why we're fighting this (logging)," he said. "We feel that because of this, we have to negotiate with the province. But deciding what they did, they have taken that away from us."

Frank is not opposed to logging per se, but to the lack of consultation with Native groups and with clear-cut logging methods. He would like to see logging in a selective, sustainable manner that will provide employment for his people.

Natives' struggles in the sound have already garnered international attention. Two weeks ago, First Nations officials met with Robert Kennedy, Jr., a lawyer for the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council, to ally their efforts and stop logging in the region.

The Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht and Hesquiaht First Nations allied with Kennedy's environmental protection group because 50 per cent of all timber from B.C. is exported to the United States, said Frank. The bands were also impressed with the council's efforts in helping the James Bay Cree defeat the Great Whale dam project in Quebec.

"We called Bobin because we know he's done work with the Cree Nation over in Quebec," he said. "Through his lobby, they were able to convince New York (City) to cancel their contract with Quebec. Until this government is willing to sit down and talk with us, we will work with Boband his group and their lobby."

One of the first joint efforts the two groups will be a direct mail campaign, targeting both Prime Minister Kim Campbell and B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt.