Tribes from Washington state and Southeast Alaska that have ancestral homelands along salmon-rich transboundary rivers are asking the British Columbia government to consult with them on potential adverse impacts on rivers and fisheries by mining operations.
Officials with the Lummi Nation and Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) said June 13 that they were notified by the BC Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) that they would have a limited voice regarding port expansion of the BC Roberts Bank Terminal.
Roberts Bank is home to a twin-terminal port facility on the mainland coastline of the Strait of Georgia in Delta, B.C. It is known as the outer harbor of Canada’s busiest port, the Port of Vancouver.
The tribes contend that the project would have an adverse impact on Chinook salmon, which are harvested commercially, and an impact on Southern Resident orca whales, in addition to the Lummi people.
According to tribal officials, the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2021 decision in R. v. Desautel, states that indigenous peoples in the United States whose ancestral lands were taken and divided by the U.S.-Canadian border may assert rights as aboriginal peoples of Canada and engage in meaningful consultation on projects affecting them.
The tribes said the EAO had notified the Lummi Nation and 15 SEITC member tribes that their rights would be “distinct” and “differentiated” from the rights of First Nations in B.C. A judicial review of B.C.’s decision to grant permits for expansion of Roberts Bank was slated to begin in late June.
Lummi Nation Chairman Anthony Hillaire said that approving projects like the Roberts Bank Terminal without such consultation neglects a crucial opportunity to enact transboundary protection of natural resources and communities as the pace of global warming accelerates.
“Although this is an issue of Indigenous rights in which Lummi, Alaskan and many First Nations find common cause, it also affects every person who lives here and who depends on the clean waters, the rivers and the fish of this region,” Hillaire explained.
“The remaining lands unexploited by resource extraction in that region consist primarily of indigenous territory,” SEITC President Esther Reese said. “We are the stewards of some of the world’s last wild salmon rivers, which have defined our lifeways for thousands of years.”
David Karn, spokesperson for the EAO in Victoria, said the province intends to develop a policy in accordance with consultation-and-cooperation requirements in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
This includes consultation and cooperation with BC First Nations, “to explore and clarify how the scope and manner of consultation with Aboriginal groups located outside of Canada is undertaken, distinct from consultation with B.C.-based First Nations. The province will also engage with federal government officials and other interested parties, such as proponents and industry associations, as appropriate,” he said on June 18, in response to a query to the provincial government.
Karn said that early engagement with First Nations in B.C. indicated strong interest involvement in the development of any provincial policy regarding consultation with Aboriginal groups outside of Canada.
“First Nations in B.C. have also expressed interest in having the time and space to engage in government-to-government discussions with U.S.-based Aboriginal groups claiming rights in British Columbia,” he said.
“While the consultation policy is being developed, project reviews will carry on and the province will determine on a case-by-case basis how it will fulfill any consultation obligations it has with Aboriginal groups located outside of Canada,” he added.
The EAO has a longstanding practice of engaging with potentially affected Indigenous communities in the U.S. where there are potential transboundary effects from proposed projects in British Columbia, but the environmental assessment process is not a rights-determining process.
The agency said it considers all information that may be brought forward during the assessment, including any potential impacts on First Nations and Indigenous communities.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie@maritimepublishing.com