Alliance toughens stand against forest industry

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The Interior Alliance, representing the Okanagan, Nlaka'pamux, Secwepemc, St'at'imc and Southern Carrier Nations, has served notice to the provincial forest ministry and members of the forest industry that Aboriginal consent must be sought in order legitimize any plans involving the harvesting of trees in the south central interior of British Columbia.

In a press release issued by the Interior Alliance on Feb. 14, the organization made known its views on recent announcements by the provincial Forest Ministry and key industry players regarding plans for eco-forestry certification in the province.

"The Interior Alliance's position is that the lands in the entire south central interior of British Columbia have never been the subject of a treaty between the Crown and Aboriginal nations, and is therefore subject to the unceded, unsurrendered Aboriginal title and rights of the Interior Alliance nations; as such, a central requirement for any forestry eco-certification scheme will be documented proof of Indigenous consent," the release stated. "Any attempt to circumvent this requirement will be discredited with buyers and consumers through the International Forest Market Campaign, currently underway by the Interior Alliance, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Assembly of First Nations and the American-based National Congress of American Indians."

Chief Arthur Manuel of the Neskonlith Indian Band is chairman of the Interior Alliance. Chief Manuel is also chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council and co-chair of the Assembly of First Nations' Delgamuukw Implementation Committee.

"Eco-forestry is being promoted primarily from environmental and Indigenous people and organizations. It isn't really being promoted by the Ministry of Forests. The ministry of forests' primary agenda is dictated by the multinational corporations," Manuel said when asked to comment on the Interior Alliance release.

"All of the land south of Prince George has been allocated to the big companies. That's how come there's no room at the negotiating table for Indigenous people on forestry issues. Because all the big companies have all the trees. They never grew those trees. Those trees were there because of our people. Yet these companies are capitalizing on all the money and resources from those trees. In fact, I would say, Indigenous people of British Columbia are subsidizing the forest industry because the province and the companies aren't making accommodations for Aboriginal title issues.

"They're always trying to say 'Well, all the forests have been given out and this is how we're going to log, and here are our five-year development plans,' and when we go in and say 'Well, that's a calving area for deer or that's a calving area for moose, we don't want you to log there,' they just basically ignore that," Manuel said. "Basically what the industry wants to do is make southern British Columbia a tree plantation."

Through involvement in the International Forest Market Campaign, Manuel said, participating organizations are conducting research, and trying to increase support for their cause worldwide. Manuel said the campaign has already received some support from the Natural Resource Defense Counsel in the U.S., and Greenpeace in Germany. He said the campaign will soon be looking at reviewing of the softwood lumber agreement between Canada and the U.S.

"What we're doing is talking about substantive change in the regional economy in the area. Basically what we're saying is Indigenous people have to be joint managers, joint owners of our whole traditional territory . . . we're concerned about all the territory the province is presently using without our permission. This all goes back to Aboriginal title because we don't have any agreements with the Crown on anything. The Interior Alliance is not part of the negotiating process with the Crown. We're not in the British Columbia treaty process. We're outside of that, and what we want to see is that Aboiginal title will not be extinguished. Which means that we have an ongoing proprietary interest in all of our trees, all of our grass, all of the water, all of the land, forever. And what it means is we will never sign that away.

"That's how come we say that all of the timber that's leaving British Columbia right now, where there are no agreements with Indigenous people, basically that timber is stolen, so that's the basic issue that we're dealing with. In terms of the softwood lumber issue, what we're saying basically is . . . the fact that Canada and the British Columbia government have not dealt with Aboriginal title issues, Aboriginal title is an unwarranted subsidy to Canadian lumber plants."

He said one of the reasons B.C. can sell lumber cheaper than the Americans can is because "they don't give any Shushwap any proprietary interest or royalties with regard to those trees."

Manuel said some opponents have called the Interior Alliance "radical" because of its views, but he argues there is nothing radical about the organization.

"The Interior Alliance is standing behind one of the most conservative organizations in Canada and that is the Supreme Court of Canada. That's who we're standing behind. If anybody is radical, it's the premier of the province of B.C., because he's not trying to implement the decision of the Supreme Court. If anybody is being radical its the prime minister of this country because he's not willing to go along with what the Supreme Court of Canada says. Because radical just means that you're trying to go against what is the accepted norm, and the Supreme Court of Canada and Delgamuukw have recognized that Aboriginal title is a proprietary interest. So those of us who are standing behind the Supreme Court in that decision are really just trying to implement the law as found, and it's really the executive branch - the prime minster and the premier - who are the radicals."

When questioned regarding a response to the Interior Alliance statemnts, the Ministry of Forests' communication department said the minister, Jim Doyle, would be unable to comment until he had a chance to better familiarize himself with the issue and the portfolio. Doyle, who takes over from David Zirnhelt, was sworn in Feb. 29.