B.C. logging issue on boil

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As the battle lines are drawn over resource extraction from traditional Native lands, it appears the unity that First Nation people in the province of British Columbia have been searching for has become a reality.

In a region where Native politics have traditionally been split, frequently with great animosity, along the line of those who support the idea of treaty-making with the province and those who don't, all the factions have been united behind the actions of one Interior band.

Westbank First Nation's chief and council, in a move they say was aimed at "creating jobs and economic fairness," ordered their loggers into the woods on Sept. 7. Their job was to harvest 25 hectares of timber in what is known to them as Okanagan Nation traditional territory. Under the provincial system, the land was open for bid later in the year and is not yet covered by a provincial timber license. Those licenses are issued by the Ministry of Forests.

Instead, fed up with two years of waiting for the provincial government to embrace the spirit of the landmark Supreme Court of Canada Delgamuukw decision, the Okanagan Nation Alliance, a council made up of representation from all the Okanagan nations, has issued its own cutting permit to the band. The permit requires the band's loggers to adhere to all safety and forest codes and is similar to current provincial regulations.

Shortly after the Westbank loggers took to the woods and the mainstream backlash began, the Okanagan Nation chiefs joined the battle to show support for Westbank Chief Ron Derrickson. As provincial officials issued stop work orders, criticized the logging as illegal, and talk of RCMP intervention began, more and more First Nations and First Nations organizations joined in an unprecedented show of solidarity.

"The harvesting of our timber grew from frustration led on by the province ignoring Aboriginal title and rights under the Delgamuukw decision," Derrickson said.

Earlier this year, Westbank tried to find a way to participate in the lucrative billion-dollar forest industry within the province's rules. After attempting to obtain what the band felt would have been a reasonable amount of timber, Westbank was informed they were eligible for 2,000 cu. m. of "blow down," considered by Native leaders to be a "mere scrap" which would have created only a couple of weeks work for Native loggers.

The remainder of the 7.6 million cu. m. harvested in the Okanagan Valley would remain under provincial control and most likely awarded to non-Native commercial loggers. Local Native observers joke that woodpeckers and termites are getting more wood than Okanagan First Nations, but leaders don't see the humor in it.

"We, as Native people, have an undeniable right to participate in the economic interests of the province," Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, told Windspeaker. "Delgamuukw says we are the owners of this land and that must be fully understood, respected and implemented in all future planning of resource extraction."

Forest Minister David Zirnhelt, during an emergency meeting in Vancouver on Sept. 15, told a gathering of Native leaders that the forest industry will continue to be regulated under the current guidelines.

"First Nations groups must go through appropriate channels to negotiate timber extraction rights," the minister said.

"Those channels must be negotiated through the current treaty negotiation process. Two thousand cubic metres were offered to the Westbank First Nation under our direct award program and the Westbank First Nation has ignored our offer."

Approximately 80 chiefs and delegates arrived for the meeting, expecting the minister would have something to offer as a way of reaching a negotiated settlement. Shortly after the meeting began, the chiefs walked out, angry and frustrated. Before exiting the meeting, Phillip thanked the minister for "uniting the Aboriginal people in B.C. and across this nation" by ot coming to the meeting with more to offer.

The Westbank logging operation has since gained the support of the Assembly of First Nations, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, the First Nations Summit and the Six Nations Alliance - all the province's major Native political groups - plus a number of individual bands.

The meeting was requested by Derrickson, who invited AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine to mediate. Fontaine opened the meeting by urging the province to bargain in good faith. He criticized the province for releasing media reports that said Westbank "was engaged in criminal activities as an attempt to create fear in the minds of British Columbians."

Fontaine went on to say this issue "is not about criminal activity. It is about the assertion of Aboriginal rights in their traditional territory."

Fontaine said the Native loggers have "rock solid" support from the AFN, adding that a resolution had been passed by the Summit chiefs supporting the logging.

"This is not an isolated incident," he said. "It is reflective of the deep frustration held by many First Nation communities across this nation."

Interior bands have traditionally been less willing to negotiate with the province, saying they're prepared to stand on the legal validity of their claim to ownership of land which was never surrendered. Treaty-making in Canada generally stopped at the top of the Rocky Mountains, leaving title to most of the present-day province of British Columbia in a state of legal confusion. In the Delgamuukw decision, Canada's highest court applied the law of the land and decided that Aboriginal title to the land existed and must be dealt with. The Interior bands, their position vindicated by the court, have become more insistent and less patient with a provincial government they believe has allowed the status quo to continue despite the court ruling. Even the less adversarial Coastal bands, which participate in the British Columbia Treaty Commission process as mebers of the First Nations Summit and are seen as more conciliatory, have had enough.

"First Nations groups have watched as the very lands being negotiated are stripped of resources, which are key to First Nations' future economic stability and self-sufficiency," Grand Chief Ed John, Chief Joe Mathias and Robert Louie, leaders of the First Nations Summit, said in a letter to the editor published in the Vancouver Sun. "First Nation groups have asked whether there will be any resources left by the time we finalize out treaties or are we negotiating for nothing more than barren pieces of land?"

Although they still prefer the method of achieving reconciliation through treaty negotiation, in the short term the Summit has supported the actions of the Westbank First Nation.

As the logging issue came to a boil, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs held a three-day special assembly in Westbank. The political organization which represents First Nations opposed to the treaty process passed a resolution which could have a serious impact on the forest industry in the province. Borrowing an idea from environmentalists who have made trouble for the British Columbia logging industry in the past, the Union chiefs have resolved to take their grievances to the world stage by calling for an international boycott of British Columbia wood products. Phillip believes the international attention will help his cause in several ways.

"The more Canada and B.C. try to use their courts, police and army to deny our Aboriginal title, laws and jurisdiction, the more evidence we will have to show the international community that Canada's wealth is based upon the theft of our lands and resources which constitutes economic racism against our Aboriginal nations," he said.

With even media commentators like conservative Gordon Gibson struggling with how to describe the Westbank logging - Gibson, the Globe and Mail columnist, who is normally unsympathetic to Aboriginal viewpoints, wrote in a colun published on Sept. 21 that he isn't sure whether to call the logging illegal or unauthorized - Aboriginal groups have no such trouble with their terminology. They are claiming the province is involved in illegal resource extraction on their traditional lands, an act of bad faith bargaining.