Cowichan hosts the world

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The Cowichan Tribes on Central Vancouver Island have something to teach the world. On Aug. 31 they hosted Indigenous representatives from Taiwan, Bolivia and El Salvador in a day of information exchange on the successes and challenges they face in natural resource management.

Delegates toured the Cowichan Valley and Mount Prevost in the morning and participated in information and cultural exchanges after lunch.

Dr. Kelly Bannister, aassistant professor at the University of Victoria and a research associate with the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance, was instrumental in initiating the informal conference. In June, she had met Dr. Yih-Ren Lin, assistant professor in the department of ecology at Providence University in Britain.

Lin's specialty is Indigenous people's rights and participation in natural resource management in Taiwan. Because the Taiwanese government has only recognized Indigenous peoples' rights within the last two years he expressed great interest in meeting Canadian Aboriginal groups.

Bannister contacted others, including the Sierra Club and the Cowichan Band who were eager to share knowledge. The Sierra Club invited delegates from El Salvador and Bolivia, including Dr. Ricardo Navarro, chair of the world-renowned Friends of the Earth International and director of CESTA, which is Friends of the Earth in El Salvador.

Never Meija and Mary Rojas from Bolivia were also present representing Arbolando, a Bolivian organization focused on watershed management, reforestation, ecological reforestation and environmental education.

"We see this as the seed that will grow into communications and discussions about these issues," Bannister said.

"All day we've been seeing so many similarities of what has been happening politically, socially and economically with Indigenous peoples in the world. It's a great opportunity for real cross-cultural exchange."

Joey Caro, a member of the Hul'qumi'num treaty group, of which the Cowichan Tribes are a part, said that the world is getting smaller and what affects one nation affects all. "We're grateful these people have reached out to us. We've been studied for years, our forests, our land, our foreshore water. I think we're the most studied people in the world. But it takes all of us to protect this blue bowling ball we live on called Earth."

Lin showed a film directed by a Taiwanese Indigenous filmmaker, which graphically demonstrated the plight of the people and the struggle they are facing to preserve their environment and their cultural ways.

Arvid Charlie, representing Chief Harvey Alphonse, addressed the group and explained some of the struggles his tribe had experienced in dealing with federal and provincial governments. There was a time, he said, when his people were threatened with jail if they gathered Native medicinal plants in national and provincial parks.

Arvid Charlie recalled one plant in particular, red ochre, which had to be harvested immediately or it would disappear.

He related the discussion he had with officials who insisted that people wanting to harvest these plants had to obtain a permit first.

It wasn't easy, he said, but he did make officials understand that some plants wouldn't wait for a permit.

"This is the only place in Canada where this is permitted," Charlie said.

"I hope that other First Nations who have that problem will convince governments that they have to come and see what we really mean by culture and tradition."

Diane Hinkley, who organized the conference, noted that the Cowichan language had recently become a written language. You can't understand a culture until you understand the language she said.

The culture arises out of the environment, she said, and the language rises out of the culture. So preserving the environment was paramount.

The Cowichan tribes, along with their treaty struggles, have been working for years, particularly the last two, with their own environmental oncerns.

After two winters of below-normal rainfall, poor snow pack and hot, dry summers, the water level of the Cowichan River is dangerously low.

At the same time, demands on the water supply continue to grow, both by residential development and industry, particularly two large mills.

The lower water level has raised water temperatures sufficiently to prevent salmon from coming upstream to spawn.

Kate Miller with the Cowichan Tribes' environmental department said the crisis has brought the community together, including the First Nations. Instead of stopgap measures, the community is, for the first time, looking at the entire watershed in order to solve the problem.