A sub-adult grizzly bear chases down a salmon near Klemtu, B.C., in a 2015 file photo.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
On the central coast of British Columbia, six First Nations and federal and provincial governments signed a historic agreement Friday in Klemtu to protect one of the richest coastal waters on Earth – a region where Pacific salmon are a cornerstone species for coastal First Nations and commercial fisheries.
“The establishment of Mia-yaltwa Ha’lidzogm hoon reflects decades of Indigenous leadership, collaboration, and persistence to protect the marine ecosystems that sustain our cultures, communities, and economies,” said K̓áwáziɫ Marilyn Slett, Chief Councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, one of the First Nations signatories alongside the Wuikinuxv, Nuxalk, Kitasoo Xai’xais, Gitxaała and Gitga’at Nations, in a statement.
The reserve’s name, which means “Realm of the Salmon, Home of the Salmon,” blends syllables from the Nations’ languages – a linguistic act of unity for peoples who have stewarded these waters for millennia.
“It is our responsibility to care for this land, as it cares for us, and to support it in a way that enables it to flourish and thrive,” said Chief Marlou Shaw of Wuikinuxv Nation in a statement.
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The marine reserve is the first of up to 10 committed to under Canada’s $3.8-billion nature strategy, announced this spring – and a centrepiece of the Great Bear Sea Marine Protected Area Network, the world’s largest Indigenous-led, collaboratively governed network of its kind.
The reserve spans a rugged stretch of islands, rocky headlands and steep fjords along B.C.’s central coast within the Northern Shelf Bioregion. Nestled between the Great Bear Rainforest and the open Pacific, it is larger than the size of Prince Edward Island, though final boundaries are still to be confirmed.
The Spirit Bear, the rare, white-coated Kermode bear, feeds on the salmon that run through these waters. Kelp forests and eelgrass meadows shelter herring, salmon, halibut and Dungeness crab. Sea otters hunt in the shallows. Humpback whales feed on the herring that pulse through these waters. Offshore, coral and sponge reefs rise from the sea floor.
The designation, among the first in Canada, pairs a national marine conservation area and an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area – that recognizes the Nations’ inherent rights and responsibilities to govern and steward their territory – with the same name and footprint. “I think this will be one of the strongest marine protected areas on the planet,” said Chief Chris McKnight of Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation in a statement.
“When we strengthen and support the ecosystems, they in turn strengthen and sustain us,” said Danielle Shaw, president of the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance, in a statement.
Built on a model that sees environment and economy thrive together, Julie Dabrusin, Canada’s Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Nature, told The Globe and Mail that fishing and ecotourism will continue. “We’re not talking about a no-go zone – commercial fishing and recreational fishing remain in that area,” said Ms. Dabrusin.
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Commercial fishing in the Great Bear Sea is worth half a billion dollars annually. Bottom trawling will be banned – “there was very little” groundfish and shrimp trawling in the area to begin with, said B.C. Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Randene Neill.
“We can conserve areas that are special, we can build our economy in a really good, sustainable way and we can do it through the lens of reconciliation. It’s kind of like a triple-word score: Everybody wins,” said Ms. Neill, adding that a co-management board and advisory committee will govern the reserve, with a zoning plan still to be developed through consultation.
Full legislative designation under the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act – which would make the fishing protections, including the bottom trawling ban, legally enforceable – is anticipated to take a number of years.
Michael Bissonnette, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, said the approach marks a meaningful departure from conservation’s colonial history, in which protected areas have often meant the displacement of Indigenous peoples from their own territories. “These examples where conservation is led by Indigenous peoples are so much better,” he said.
The designation comes as Ottawa and Alberta negotiate a new oil pipeline to the B.C. coast. Several of Friday’s signatories – Kitasoo Xai’xais, Gitga’at and Heiltsuk – are among the coastal First Nations who travelled to Calgary last month to warn pipeline investors of their opposition to a crude export terminal in the region and any lifting of the federal tanker ban on B.C.’s north coast.
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The pace of progress toward Canada’s goal of protecting 30 per cent of its marine areas by 2030 also remains a concern. Marine protection sits at 15.5 per cent, short of an interim 25 per cent target that passed last year. Habitat alteration, resource pressures and a warming ocean are among the mounting threats. “We’re seeing drastic declines in biodiversity and climate change is going to just increase those declines and we need to act,” said Mr. Bissonnette.
Other marine reserves have faced stopgaps. The South Coast Fjords in Newfoundland and Labrador was scrapped by the province this spring. B.C.’s Southern Strait of Georgia is “decades away,” said Ms. Neill. Several other candidate sites – in Hudson Bay, Labrador and Eastern James Bay – still need to advance to reach the federal government’s promise.
“The work on this has been going for years, and so we’ve managed to conclude this one,” said Ms. Dabrusin. “I think it’s really quite reasonable when we show the success of one, we keep moving towards more in the future.”
In Klemtu on Friday, the moment belonged to the Nations whose elders first mapped these waters for protection a generation ago. “In the 1990s, Wuikinuxv elders and knowledge holders identified these areas as essential to the Wuikinuxv way of life,” said Andra Forney, Stewardship Director for Wuikinuxv Nation, in a statement. “After decades of dedication and hard work, we are honoured to finally begin realizing the vision and dreams they set in motion.”