Kwakiutl First Nation protests BC government’s attempts to shirk … – The Vancouver Observer
Kwakiutl First Nation protests BC government’s attempts to shirk treaty responsibilities
Nation says it will continue to occupy its traditional territory until provincial and federal governments agree to honour 1851 Douglas Treaty
Feb 18th, 2014
Eight months after the Supreme Court of British Columbia declared that both the provincial and the federal governments have failed to honour the 1851 Douglas Treaty between the Crown and the Kwakiutl First Nation of Port Hardy, BC government has launched an appeal.
Last June, the nation went to court to seek a judicial review of decisions made by the Provincial Crown in granting land tenures to logging company Western Forest Products. Under the provisions of an 1851 treaty between the Crown and the Kwakiutl First Nation, the Kwakiutl argued the province should have consulted meaningfully with them before allowing Western Forest Products to remove more than 14,000 hectares of private land from the area covered by Tree Farm Licence 6. The licence also covers roughly half of traditional Kwakiutl territory.
The province filed its appeal several weeks ago, and members of the Kwakiutl have been protesting on their traditional territory ever since, and they have no plans to stop any time soon.
Read more: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/kwakiutl-first-nation-protests-bc-government-trying-shirk-treaty-responsibility
