Current Problems: Environment
Exploring Theme: "Environmental Impacts"
Updates on this page: 26
(Filtered by Stakeholder "British Columbia")
February 29, 2024
The protection of wetlands is tied to Indigenous and human rights
Despite their ecological, social, cultural and economic importance, over the past two centuries wetlands have been systematically destroyed for industrial, commercial and residential development. First Peoples Law Report: Rabble.ca, David Suzuki – In his 1972 non-fiction book No Name in the Street, James Baldwin asked, “Does the law exist for the purpose of furthering the ambitions...
May 11, 2023
More needs to be done to involve First Nations in emergency management, says Indigenous leader
Province says it is working to modernize emergency management legislation CBC News: Provincial and local authorities need to do more to involve First Nations in their emergency management plans, says Stó:lo Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil. McNeil says the B.C. government is not providing enough direction to local and regional governments on how to work...
March 6, 2023
A First Nation’s Quest to Know Why Their Cemetery Was Flooded
After water invaded Kwikwetlem burial grounds, the long journey towards a solution. A Tyee special report. The Tyee: George Chaffee walked to the burial site with his brother and a pair of shovels. Their choices for where to make the grave were limited, given the sprawling traditional territory of the Kwikwetlem First Nation had been...
February 4, 2023
Pacific Coast Indigenous nations see a glimmer of hope for the future of salmon
Habitat loss decimated salmon populations. Indigenous communities are working to bring them back CBC News: Brook Thompson grew up along the shores of the Klamath River in Northern California, where her family would spend their summers camping and catching salmon. “It’s where I got a lot of connection about my culture and my family history,”...
January 20, 2023
‘Crush you like a bug’: BC Hydro’s Site C lawsuit targets farmers, First Nations
The suit brought against peaceful opponents of the most expensive hydro dam in Canadian history has the hallmarks of a strategic lawsuit meant to silence and intimidate critics, according to experts The Narwhal: In the basement of Yvonne Tupper’s home, in northeast B.C., sits a banker’s box filled with papers from a Site C dam civil lawsuit...
January 20, 2023
B.C. announces cumulative impact agreements with Treaty 8 First Nations
LANDMARK DEAL WITH TREATY 8 NationTalk: Castanet – The B.C. government has reached four new agreements with Treaty 8 First Nations to address the cumulative impacts and future planning of industrial development in the northeast. The agreements provide hundreds of millions of dollars for land restoration and resource revenue sharing, and lays the groundwork to...
January 16, 2023
Federal fisheries officers investigate Coastal GasLink pipeline project
The Globe and Mail: Work on the contentious Coastal GasLink pipeline is under investigation by federal fisheries officers, as construction pushes through sensitive salmon-bearing rivers. The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office has already issued dozens of regulatory warnings and orders, as well as fines, for the 670-kilometre-long, $11.2-billion project. Dan Bate, spokesman for the Department of...
January 4, 2023
The Sacred Balance: Learning from Indigenous Peoples
We are no more removed from nature than any other creature, even in the midst of a large city. Our animal nature dictates our essential needs: clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy. NationTalk: Rabble.ca. David Suzikii The following is adapted from the prologue to the 25th anniversary edition of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our...
November 2, 2022
Tensions rise as Coastal GasLink blasts a creek near a Wet’suwet’en camp
Questions and concerns about salmon, steelhead and the health of the river remain unaddressed as TC Energy continues construction of its gas pipeline The Coastal GasLink pipeline crosses more than 700 watercourses on its 670-kilometre-route. The crossing of Ts’elkay Kwe (Lamprey Creek) involves blasting to clear a path and excavating a trench directly through the...
October 23, 2022
Coastal GasLink in hot water over pipeline environmental violations
Vancouver SUN: TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project is in hot water with British Columbia’s environmental regulator for failing to meet the conditions of a compliance agreement that was supposed to correct a lengthening history of violations of the project’s environmental permit. The Environmental Assessment Office posted an order to its website late Friday, issued...
October 21, 2022
First Nations angered by delays in joint probe of cross-border contamination from coal mines
Globe News: First Nations and environmentalists say they are angry the federal and British Columbia governments continue to stonewall American requests for a joint investigation of cross-border contamination from coal mining as meetings of the panel that mediates such issues wrap up. “They can sit on every fence they want, but at the end of the day,...
August 30, 2022
‘Trying to save our fish’: B.C. First Nations appeal a court ruling in an attempt to restore the Nechako River
Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations have been fighting for the health of the watershed for over a decade. A dam operated by Rio Tinto Alcan and regulated by the province continues to devastate sturgeon and salmon populations The Narwhal: Seventy years ago, B.C. approved a hydroelectric project that would irreversibly alter an entire watershed and...
August 23, 2022
Multiple Threats to Pacific Salmon Fishery: Canada and BC double funding and extend pacific salmon program
Vancouver, BC – Improving the health of Pacific salmon and ensuring a sustainable fishing sector is a priority for both the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia. Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Joyce Murray and the BC Minister of Land, Water, and Resource Stewardship,...
June 29, 2022
Enforcement operation near Lake Cowichan
NationTalk: Since early June 2022, the BC RCMP, through the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) and Division Liaison Team (DLT), have been involved in ongoing discussions with the impacted First Nations communities – Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht and Pacheedaht – regarding their concerns over a protest camp that has been placed across Haddon Main and Carrmanah Mainline Forest...
June 23, 2022
Protesters Ordered to Remove Illegal Camp and Respect Indigenous Sovereignty and Provincial Authorizations
Nitinaht, Traditional Ditidaht First Nation Territory, B.C. – Indigenous leaders from the Ditidaht, Huu-ay-aht and Pacheedaht First Nations met with protesters today to give final notice to immediately dismantle an illegal camp built across a main logging road on Ditidaht Traditional Territory in Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44 on Vancouver Island. The Nations’ elected and hereditary...
April 18, 2022
Multiple Threats to Pacific Salmon Fishery
NationTalk: The First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance (“FNWSA”) is deeply troubled with the revelations set out in an article featured on the front page of today’s Globe and Mail which identifies that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (“DFO”), under the Harper administration, withheld critical science related to the existence of a highly transmissible...
March 4, 2021
The Narwhal – Response to the Milburn review
The Narwhal as flagged the following as major problems: 50 per cent of the $5B increase to $16B in project costs are due to geotechnical issues relating to the unstable valley prone to large landslides and the COVID-19 pandemic. But the other 50 per cent of the cost increase was not revealed. Every single independent...
February 26, 2021
Milburn Review of Site C Dam
BC Government – The Province has released the Milburn review (Oct. 10, 2020), with 17 recommendations aimed at improving oversight and governance. Government and BC Hydro have accepted all the recommendations. The review focused on four areas: Governance and Oversight Geotechnical issues Risk Construction Supervision and Claims Management https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Milburn_Summary_Review.pdf...
January 29, 2021
Multiple threats to Pacific salmon fishery
The Province – K̓áwáziɫ Marilyn Slett — Chief Councillor of the Heiltsuk Nation, President of Coastal First Nations and co-chair of the Wild Salmon Advisory Council to British Columbia — describes the urgency of the salmon crisis and the immediate need for collective action. The importance of healthy salmon populations for coastal First Nations cannot...
January 13, 2021
Opposition to Imperial Metals Mining permit in the Skagit Watershed
NationTalk – An international coalition of more than 200 conservation, recreation and wildlife groups as well as local elected officials, businesses and Tribes and First Nations opposing a pending mining permit by Imperial Metals in the headwaters of the Skagit River continues to grow. Letter to British Columbia Premier John Horgan signed by 108 U.S....
August 10, 2020
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
“Safety First” a new report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada recommends that all new mine tailing ponds be constructed using filtered tailings storage, otherwise known as dry-stack tailings. When filtered tailings are not an option, at the very least better dam construction needs to be required by regulators, Safety First states. The reports notes the...
July 24, 2020
Coastal GasLink ignores Environmental Assessment Act
Unist’ot’en – BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (BCEAO) has issued a non-compliance after Coastal GasLink clears pipeline Right of Way through hundreds of wetlands without environmental fieldwork. There are nearly 300 of these protected wetlands along the pipeline route, and Coastal GasLink’s “Qualified Professionals” have neglected to develop site-specific mitigation for any of them. Nearly 80%...
August 9, 2019
Multiple threats to Pacific salmon fishery
BC Assembly of First Nations – Failure to issue a closure to all marine and recreational Fraser River salmon fishing due to the Big Bar Landslide near Lillooet. On June 21, 2019 a large land slide was discovered in a remote part of the Fraser River, which is considered one of the most sacred rivers...
August 1, 2019
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council – released “Reducing the Risks of Mining Disasters in BC: How Financial Assurance can Help”. Based on the analysis presented in this report, we make one overarching recommendation to British Columbia policy-makers and two supporting ones. 6.1 Main recommendation Require hard financial assurance against the risk of mining...
December 1, 2018
Failure to protect Woodland Cariboo
Government of Canada – “Progress Report on Steps Taken to Protect Critical Habitat for the Woodland Caribou” indicates little progress is being made toward conservation. Meanwhile, provinces continue to issue permits for energy and forestry developments that do not comply with Species At Risk Act (SARA) , placing caribou at even greater risk. (David Suzuki...
August 14, 2014
Mount Polley Mine Tailings disaster
The Mount Polley mine tailings dam collapsed, releasing 25 million cubic metres of contaminated mining waste. The massive spill destroyed or affected over 2.6 million square meters of aquatic and riparian habitats over a 10-km distance. Imperial Metals did not even pay the full cost of the clean-up. British Columbians and Canadians picked up a...
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