Lori Halls, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship announced today:
British Columbia and the Coastal First Nations (CFN) have negotiated a new bilateral Accord, which consolidates and builds upon the parties’ 2009 Reconciliation Protocol and 2020 Memorandum of Understanding. BC and CFN will be signing this new Accord on August 14, 2024.
As you may be aware, CFN’s Member Nations include: Wuikinuxv, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk, Gitga’at, Metlakatla, Gitxaala/Kitkatla, and Council of the Haida Nation (Old Massett and Skidegate).
The Accord outlines how the Coastal First Nations and the Province will work together in partnership to increase the quality of life throughout the area. This includes resource-based economic activity in areas such as aquaculture like shellfish and harvesting ventures, clean energy, and opportunities in the coastal forestry sector. It also reinforces CFN conservation efforts in the Great Bear Rainforest. In addition, it further promotes CFN-led steps on improved communications and enhanced digital services and technology, benefiting the entire North Pacific Coast.
In 2009, B.C. and Coastal First Nations Member Nations entered into the BC/CFN Reconciliation Protocol, which focused on collaborative approaches to land and resource management and implementing economic initiatives, as a foundation for broader reconciliation over time. The Reconciliation Protocol was amended and renewed several times – most recently in 2016.
In 2020, CFN and B.C. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work together on a longer-term vision that built on the successes of the Reconciliation Protocol to pursue a conservation-based regional economy through a diverse set of initiatives to promote financial self-reliance.
The new Accord is the culmination of the work set out under the 2020 MOU and will replace the MOU and BC/CFN Reconciliation Protocol with one agreement.
The Accord largely continues the good work contained in the 2009 Protocol and the 2020 MOU. It:
· renews and updates the shared decision-making framework that forms the basis of the 2009 Protocol;
· renews and updates the primary fiscal arrangements in the 2009 Protocol, including the Great Bear Rainforest carbon offsets sharing framework;
· establishes a new set of initiatives to support coastal communities to take advantage of opportunities in clean energy;
· establishes a process for the 2020 MOU’s commitment to explore potential joint or consent-based decision-making for inclusion in a future negotiated agreement, with the identification of aquatic plant harvesting authorizations as an area of interest;
· establishes a new set of initiatives to support coastal communities to respond and adapt to climate impacts.
· builds on successful revenue-sharing initiatives under the 2009 Protocol and its extending agreements with new initiatives focused on revitalizing Indigenous and market economies.
Upon the signing of the Accord, we will provide a link to any news releases or announcements, including any links to the Accord when it is made available online.