Course:CONS370/Projects/The effects on the Haida and Squamish Indigenous Peoples of British Columbia, Canada from the operations of large forestry companies on their traditional forests

Summary

Figure 2. Cedar logging in Haida Gwaii

Indigenous have been living in North American land for thousands of years, they have developed their cultures and resources managing systems so they can stay respectful to nature and sustainable. In the 16th century, Western colonizers came to the America plate, and they started to rule and slave the local people from the East coast to the West coast. The First Nations in British Columbia was like an independent nation that has its own trade networks to keep the balance of its demand and supply. Also, they have a military system that was strong enough to protect their people. The Northwest First Nations used to have more than 45 languages, and their own managing system on the natural resources they had until mid-1800 when the colonizers brought invasive diseases, language, and the ruling system. In the 21st century, slavery has been abandoned for more than 100 years, and there are more rights and benefits provided by Canadian federal governments to indigenous people to ensure they are equal to everybody else. However, it is still difficult to have indigenous people get no biased opinions from other society members, such as big resources companies. This paper will focus on the effects of the big timber companies' monopoly activities in Haida Gwaii and Squamish people's land. Due to the monopoly activities, the traditions and economy of the indigenous people in those two areas are being affected. However, the newest agreement between Squamish Nation and the BC government has alleviated the influences.Nevertheless, more and more companies, NGOs, and the local government have been noticing this problem and have worked on the solution.

Haida Gwaii's Red Cedar War

Figure 1. Location of Haida Gwaii Island

Haida Gwaii is an island located in mid-west British Columbia(BC), and cedars are the signature of the island and the indigenous people in the area. In the early 1860s, a new disease called smallpox was introduced by Western colonizers. The population decreased to less than 10,000 because 19,000 was killed by smallpox. After 150 years, smallpox has been defeated by a human-made vaccine. The indigenous people in Haida Gwaii are still suffering from the colonizers in a different way, which is losing their ancient cedar forests that they have been maintaining and respecting for generations. Over the years, cedar trees take a wide range of applications among First Nations in British Columbia. They utilize cedars for shelter, clothing, manufacturing tools and artworks and the products are traded to art collectors or tourists which has significantly promoted the local economy. Likewise, monumental cedar, which takes more than 250 years to grow into a specific size and is an essential material for producing canoes, totem poles and houses, is considered to be the largest sharing of logging income. However, due to the increasing market demand, cedar is under the logging pressure and if the harvesting pattern continues, it may result in short supply. More than 1,800,000 cubic meters of timber were logged annually, and mostly by non- local timber companies in Haida Gwaii. Husby Forest Products(HFP) is one of the most popular non-local timber companies, and they focused on all the red cedars (Thuja plicata), which is a species they log more than half of their total logging amount. On the other hand, Taan Forest, which is Haida Gwaii's local timber company, had their logging rate under the average line, and the percentage of cedars log in the past 10 years was only 28% of their total amount of logging. Until 2012, the logging rate was limited at 930,000 cubic meters per year by the government. Even though the logging rate was decreased, none of the wood was sent to BC local mills, and those woods all sent to other countries for a better price. Parfitt said that because of the huge amount of logging, the traditions of the indigenous people that are closely inter-related with the cedar tree in Haida Gwaii could be placed in peril. They use the larger cedar trees to build their canoe, and totem to show their respect to the great nature and traditions, but the largest trees were considered quality wood for making timber products, so most of those trees were logged and traded overseas for greater prices. Large timber companies like the HFP in Haida Gwaii usually do not hire the indigenous people in the areas since they are considered "non-professional".  Christian White is one of the indigenous people and had experience in logging cedar trees, but he did not become a logger in those timber companies. instead, he became a carving artist to support his family for making a living.

Squamish Forest Resources Management & Tenure & Administrative arrangements

Figure 3. The map shows Squamish territory.

After the ice age, the first human sheltered in the Howe Sound and as time goes by, the society formed, the Squamish Nation. When Western traders began arriving on their shores, people were mostly living on fishing, as fishing industry was the booming business in British Columbia in the late 1800s. However, after the white settlement arrived at British Columbia, the central of economy shifted. The traditional fishing activities disappeared and paid labor and revenues instead. Although this change provided more opportunities on economic development, it resulted in racial discrimination and inequality. White government only accepted partial of Aboriginal claims to the land and resources, therefore, many Squamish became part of the white economy as cheap laborers. They lost their identity as landlord to their land and resource. Until the 1970s, Squamish Nation became a municipality [what does this statement mean?].

Overall, there are two types of forest tenure between First Nations and the holders in British Columbia, volume-based and area-based. Volume-based agreement is the government or companies have rights to harvest a certain volume of timber, while area-based agreement allows them exclusive access to timber harvesting in a particular geographic area.

Forest & Range Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreement (FCRSA) is based on both types of tenure that in general the government has the exclusive access to the area while some licenses contain volume limitations [your statements are confusing]. It was established in 2019 and was signed by the provincial government and the council of the day which is also a legal tenure. It is considered to be a win-win program which was planned to benefit both sides of the BC government and Squamish people. BC government is able to enter and harvest the Squamish forests with licenses in exchange for money. BC government has engaged in the forest activities, while retaining the traditions and interests of the locals by agreement of Squamish Nation fully participate in the activities that are possible to affect their Aboriginal Interests. The agreement is programmed to introduce advanced timber harvesting methods, as well as achieve sustainable forest and range development to the Squamish area. The main goal is to reinforce community social, cultural and economic well-being to minimize the gap between Squamish people and non-aboriginal people. Specifically, Squamish people are able to make decisions on their land, territory and resources and the development of local natural resources has promoted the local economy. A bank account was established to transfer money from BC government to Squamish people as the annual Revenue Sharing Contributions which is approximately $750000 and if Squamish Nation requires money for forest and range decisions, an additional funding, up to 35000 will be sent from BC government as supplement. Currently, two main issues are affecting timber harvesting in British Columbia, rights and resources. The FCRSA has partially addressed the problems of imbalance between the government and Squamish people but the resources problems are still there. Since 2011, the annual allowable cut (AAC) of Squamish forests is about 480000 cubic meters. Soo Timber Supply Area (TSA) is a region from Metro Vancouver to Squamish District which contains almost all of the major commercial tree species with the highest population growth rate in British Columbia. It involves mature forest systems and river systems which include more than one hundred wildlife species and marine lives. Since 2000, protected areas and parks have been established in the area to prevent overexploitation. Accounting to the latest data, approximately 39% of the area is available in timber harvesting and fishing, and the rest is limited. Squamish has put a lot of effort into environmental protection, but the problem still exists. The increasing market demand and desire for economic maximization cause the problem fail to be completely solved. The FCRSA was established last year and it still needs time to test its effectiveness on maintaining sustainable forests.  

Affected Stakeholders List

The Crown

It is responsible for the rights of the indigenous groups in BC, and the Crown is there to make sure the "heart" of Haida Gwaii is not "touched" by any third-party companies.

Large non-local forest companies. (HFP).

They need to increase the logging amount of cedars so they can make more money. Hiring more people from the local indigenous communities would lead to a higher cost of logging due to unprofessional skills, where hiring professionally trained loggers will lead to fewer mistakes, therefore lower cost. They cut off the spiritual belief, food resources and income of the local indigenous communities.

Local timber companies and mills. (Taan Forest)

It is hard for them to survive in competitions with those larger companies. They do not have the quality resources, they lack employees but have not enough financial support to hire more.

People in the local indigenous community. (Haida)

It is hard for them to find a job locally so they are not doing well. Even though they legally have the right to manage their own resources, they are not able to use the right in their land due to the monopoly of large companies.

People in the local indigenous community. (Squamish)

The newest agreement provides Squamish Nations with territory rights and annual funding on harvesting, but also leaves problems of overexploitation in the forests.

Interested Outside Stakeholders

Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association(ILMA)

ILMA is there to support local indigenous communities, small timber companies, and mills so people in those communities are able to get a job locally. The ILMA supports sustainable, community-minded forestry, and promotes domestic manufacturing. Furthermore, ILMA wants the "Right log to the right mill". The ILMA is here to help small timber companies to get the quality wood they need and make special products that will be traded at a higher price so the local communities are able to make money. The ILMA is trying to support the indigenous people to have more job positions, greater education, and financial gains. The ILMA will need all of the support from society since it is a Non-Governmental Organisation. People are doing more support for these types of NGOs because the focus on environmental protection is getting more and more popular.

Discussion

The operations of large forestry companies have both positive and negative effects on aboriginal people, even though the negative effects are far more huge than the positive effects. The main negative effects on aboriginal people are the threats of their social status and the equity for managing their local forestry resources, the influences to their traditional culture, and the influences to aboriginal people’s daily life.

Before the 1970s, British Columbia government neglected the rights and benefits that originally belonged to aboriginal people for a long time and therefore allowed forestry companies to rent a long-term harvesting right of forests at a relatively low price. The over exploitation of wood makes the scarcity of forest resources, and affects the rights of aboriginal people for managing their traditional forest resources. And the main reason for this result is because the provincial government did nothing and allowed the companies overcut forest resources in order to finance the economy of province.

Besides, since the First Nation people have long history of living on this land, they have their own habits and culture that been set and practiced on this land for a long time, including the forests and rivers. However, the establishment of relative forest legislation and treaties by government disturbed these First Nation’s tradition and culture, and as well as by the logging companies who have property rights to these forests. Furthermore, the local biodiversity of forests and the value of the land itself can also be influenced since logging companies prefer good quality trees and focus on logging larger ones.

Last but not least, the economy has been disturbed and there is no guarantee for the daily income of aboriginal people, because some of the jobs that they rely on for earning money are disappeared due to the loss of forest resources, such as fishing by canoe, a kind boat which made by cedar trees. When hiring employment, indigenous people are also excluded by the logging companies because these companies believe they are “unprofessional”.

The situation became a little bit better than before since aboriginal people started to cooperate with the government and signed some treaties in order to ensure their rights of the land. The most obvious positive effect is that aboriginal people can manage the forests with government together and share the revenue so that stimulate the development of their economy and exploit more resources, such as Squamish people. The agreement signed by both sides, BC government and Squamish Nation safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of Squamish people and economic growth. Nevertheless, the influences of logging to their culture are still unsolved, which is the remaining problem that needs to be solved in the future.

Assessment

In British Columbia, 94 percent of land are considered as public owned, however, only 3 percent of it are assigned to First Nations according to the treaties that First Nations signed with the provincial government. Since the provincial government holds most of the management rights of the land, it will be the crucial decision making authority.  

Other stakeholders, such as Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, ILMA, who can provide aboriginal some jobs and prevent the waste of forest resources, and local or non local forest companies, all follow the jurisdiction of the government, so that they do not have decision making authority.

Recommendations

Since the use and control right of lands are held by the government, we would suggest aboriginal people to communicate with the government more often and talk about the further solutions to solve the conflicts between logging activities and the disturbances of their life. Not only the provincial government, but also the federal governments. The right of managing more parts of forest land should also be talked about.

Besides, because of the overexploitation of wood by some logging companies, the nature and environment has been damaged. First Nations can also find collaboration with some relative environmental protection organizations, and that may be useful when trying to communicate with the government. Furthermore, in order to reduce the bias of aboriginal people’s social status, the government should make some statements to companies that aboriginal people have rights to be hired.