Field trip participants
On June 28th and 29th, 15 Indigenous water leaders from across B.C. came together at the First Nations Water Governance Roundtable in Smithers, B.C. on Wet’suwet’en Territory in the Skeena region. Each participant came from a First Nation community that has made significant advancements in the management and governance of fresh water in its territory. The Roundtable provided a space for peer learning and strategic collaboration, with the goal of advancing the collective vision of Indigenous-led freshwater governance in British Columbia.
Across B.C., many First Nations are leading a range of different water planning and governance initiatives, including developing government-to-government land-use agreements and plans; co-leading watershed boards; creating water plans, strategies, and declarations; and articulating Indigenous water laws. First Nations are also shaping the course of water governance and management in their territories through the application of new legal tools available within the B.C. Water Sustainability Act, including environmental flow protections and, in the future, Water Sustainability Plans.
Although a window of opportunity to reshape water governance exists in B.C., there is still considerable uncertainty around how to create the necessary lasting conditions, capacity, and relationships for First Nations and non-Indigenous governments to work together effectively and share authority over water and watersheds.
Discussions at the roundtable were led by Michael Miltenberger (former Government of the Northwest Territories MLA & Minister of the Environment and Member of FLOW) and Merrell-Ann Phare (Executive Director, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources and Member of FLOW). As co-facilitators, they guided the conversation, but also shared and inspired participants with their ideas developed from years of experience working to create and lead co-governance processes with Indigenous nations in the North and the Mackenzie Basin. They pushed and challenged participants to think about how we can shift from “management” to “governance.”
It was clear from the conversation that there is a range of ideas and interpretations about what “co-governance” means, and how to get there. Regardless of differences, moving towards new watershed decision-making approaches that meaningfully share authority and protect waters is a shift that cannot be driven by First Nations working in isolation. This work needs to be done between peers, as well as in non-Indigenous communities, agencies, and governments.
The Roundtable also included a field trip to visit fisheries management projects in Wet’suwet’en Traditional Territory, led by fisheries staff and knowledge holders from Wet’suwet’en Nation and Moricetown Band. Participants got to see, hear, and learn from knowledge keepers about Wet’suwet’en initiatives to steward their land and waters, and manage culturally significant salmon fisheries.
Following the Roundtable, team members from the POLIS WSP and the First Nations Fisheries Council took a second field trip of fisheries and land management projects in Gitanyow traditional territory. Led by Kevin Koch (Fish & Wildlife Biologist, Gitanyow Fisheries Authority) with Jeff Anderson (WWF-Canada, Skeena Region), participants toured the sites where sockeye salmon spawn, rear, and die, and where forecasted returns are expected to be greatly diminished. Sockeye are essential to the cultural identity and livelihoods of many Indigenous communities in B.C. and this year the collapse of the sockeye salmon run in B.C.’s Skeena watershed has made national headlines. The field trip illustrated first-hand the impacts of climate change, forestry, and development in the watershed. What was most evident was the tremendous leadership of the Gitanyow (as well as Gitxsan, Wet’suwet’en, and other Skeena-region First Nations) to protect and restore critical fish habitat and implement a comprehensive environmental flows protection regime.
UPDATE: Download Summary Report & Next Steps: BC First Nations Water Governance Roundtable (Oct. 2017).
