A draft template letter to note your concerns:
Date
To (select your MLA here
https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members ),
I am writing to express my extreme concerns regarding your Government’s response to losing the Yahey vs BC (Blueberry River FN decision) wherein the Supreme Court of BC found that the Blueberry River First Nation’s treaty rights to hunt, trap and fish in their territory have been breached by allowing industrial development in Blueberry’s territory at an extensive scale.
Instead of focusing on wildlife management and habitat restoration in the region, and addressing the impacts of industrial activities while providing support for on-the-ground actions that benefit wildlife and habitat in Treaty 8 territory, your government decided to engage in secret backroom deals with the intent of punishing hunters & other recreational users of the area in question.
There is nothing in the court proceedings, findings and decision that specified that resident hunters are or were a problem whatsoever.
The proposed outcome of those secret dealings is to reduce moose hunting opportunities by fifty percent in Region 7b, make most of the area a Limited Entry Hunting Zone, and to completely eliminate all caribou hunting with the Region. Additionally they propose to increase the Guide Outfitter’s share of the remaining quota up to twenty-five percent from the stand nine percent in BC, representing a drastic increase in their allocation and further reducing resident hunting opportunities. This represents wildlife management by social decree, and about as far from scientific management as you can possibly get.
Note that the Peace region has the highest density moose populations in the province. The province’s own data indicates hunting is sustainable and that licensed hunter harvest is extremely low. Caribou populations in the area are also noted as “stable or expanding”. There is no conservation rationale for your government’s approach. It has now become obvious that your Government is willing to negotiate licensed BC hunters’ and recreationists’ opportunities away in favor of Site C, logging, and oil and gas.
This is a an extremely unsettling move by your government, using hunters as pawns and selling them out in order to continue, and actually escalate the very kind of industrial environmental degradation and damage that was the heart of the court case itself. The fact that your party is willing to sacrifice our access and ability to feed our families simply so business can proceed as “normal” is unacceptable. It has come to my attention that after the tentative agreement was in hand, the NDP Government immediately granted over one hundred and ninety industrial permits with the area in question. That I consider both disingenuous and intolerable.
Given your Government’s stated drive to harmonize hunting seasons and numbers in all of Northern BC, we are expecting this same type of secret dealings will occur in Region Six and elsewhere. In fact the Tahltan have already stated they will make sure of that. They also noted the desire of government to harmonize the seasons for moose and caribou in Northern BC, suggesting they will also soon seek a cessation of caribou hunting and a gross reduction of moose harvests by resident hunters.
The Yahey vs BC (Blueberry River FN decision) was about industrial activity, not hunting, and it is extremely inappropriate to punish hunters for the cumulative effects of industrial activity.
The type of division these types of deals create will not help with your stated goals regarding Reconciliation, but rather further fan the flames of distrust and anger between Indigenous and Non Indigenous groups.
Reducing or stopping hunting will not restore fish, wildlife and habitat resources. That takes money and political will, not regulation changes.
The historical BC wildlife / habitat funding graph line is flat as it moves right, and has been for too many years. When adjusted for inflation and growth it actually represents a significant decline in available resources dedicated to properly managing these resources. That level of funding is beyond inadequate, and very much represents the fact we are “managing to zero” in this province.
Finally I would like to note that Together for Wildlife and the Ministers Wildlife Advisory Council were not consulted while the 7B caribou closure and moose reductions were being negotiated. Together for Wildlife and the Ministers Wildlife Advisory Council were briefed on the proposal last week when it was publicly presented. The Minister and her staff failed to follow the procedures that the NDP government itself has set out for wildlife decision making. Instead it strongly appears she simply acted unilaterally...
As a British Columbian, I am deeply concerned that the province is negotiating away opportunities for sustainable hunting instead of confronting the cumulative effects of unsustainable resource extraction.
I am writing you today to directly pose this question: Will you please confirm that you and your Government will act now to protect resident hunter access in Region Seven and beyond from this serious infringement? Further, I directly request an answer to this pressing query.
I am looking forward to your timely response.
Yours sincerely,
CC:
Premier John Horgan
(
premier@gov.bc.ca )
PO BOX 9041 STN PROV GOVT VICTORIA, BC V8W 9E1
Katrine Conroy Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
(
FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca )
Room 248 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Mike Farnworth Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General
(
PSSG.Minister@gov.bc.ca )
PO Box 9282 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9J7
Murray Rankin Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
(
IRR.Minister@gov.bc.ca)
Room 323 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Nathan Cullen MLA for Stikine Minister of State for Lands and Natural Resource Operations & Chair of the Environment and Land Use Committee
nathan.cullen.MLA@leg.bc.caRoom 027 Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Author
Topic: BC trades away outdoor recreation rights to continue industrial encroachment (Read 4167 times)