Course:FRST370/2021/Haida Nation: Culture and History in Forestry Management in British Columbia, Canada.

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Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is located off the West coast of British Columbia, Canada. The archipelagos are the home of the Haida Nation who continue to inhabit the islands. Throughout the 20th century, the Haida Nation continued to negotiate and implement their own grounds for forestry after resistance from the Provincial government of British Columbia. As of 2021, the Haida Nation has multiple administrations, organizations, and businesses that operate within Haida Gwaii. Moreover, Haida Nation continues its forestry operation with cultural practices, economic strategies, and co-management agreements that emphasize a sustainable forestry operation on the islands.

Introduction

Location

Map of Haida Gwaii, located on the north west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of multiple islands along the Northwest coast of British Columbia. The most two populated islands are Graham Island and Moresby Island, and another 150 smaller islands surrounding them. The words "Haida Gwaii" means "Islands of the Haida people".[1] These cluster of islands were previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Logging

The history of logging in Haida Gwaii stems back to the 1800's and early 1900's as Europeans began harvesting timber on the islands with improvement to technology, allowing more timber to be harvested with intense work from labourers.[1] During the early 20th century, the federal government ensured the Indian Act would not allow First Nations from hiring lawyers, and Indian Affairs would reject all land claim disputes such as logging.[1] For the next 25 years and shortly after World War II, First Nations groups began to repeal and amend the Indian Act, causing a paradigm shift for environmental concerns on First Nations communities.[1]

As time went on and logging continued on the Queen Charlotte Islands, the technology began to improve more and operations became more efficient. In the 70s and 80s, operations grew extensively where more wood was taken from British Columbia than ever before.[1] With the lack of recognition from the provincial government, the Haida formed the Islands Protection Committee which lobby against the provincial governments' logging practices that caused environmental degradation and ensured the creation of wilderness areas in Haida Gwaii.[1] The Ministry of Forestry and provincial government formed, The Public Advisory Committee, estimated that the harvest of one of the islands, Lyell Island, would be up to 30%. Lyell Island was being overharvested by 30% and concluded that this would not be a sustainable area for logging, but the provincial government would not accept any changes or proposals by the Islands Protection Committee.[1] The Haida Nation began to grow frustrated and as a last-ditch effort, despite the rejected proposals and lack of recognition for their land claims, the Islands Protection Committee and the Haida people set up a blockage on Lyell Island in 1985.[1] Lyell Island was one of the largest demonstrations for environmental protection and self-determining acts in Canada at the time.

Haida Nation

Flag of the Haida.

The Haida have been gathering on the islands for thousands of years and continue to live in communities with non-Haida members, located throughout the north and south side of Graham Island. The current population of Haida members is 2500 with another 2500 being non-Haida members and located in two main communities called Gaw (Old Massett) and HlGaagilda (Skidegate). Mentioned on their nation website, the Haida Nation "collectively holds Hereditary and Aboriginal Title and Rights to Haida Territories and the cultural and intellectual property rights of the Haida Nation" and every Haida citizen has access to all Haida resources for cultural purposes and food, in accordance to their traditional laws.[2] The Haida Nation throughout the years has continued to create and organize their forestry practices with the community interests in mind, but also culturally safe as possible.

Culture

Haida Sculpture from the Museum of Anthropology UBC, Vancouver, UBC.

Haida people have strong cultural connections to the land and forests, and their connection spans more than 10,000 years to the islands.[3] Haida Gwaii is rich in cultural history and the Haida have lived off the land and ocean. The Haida have close cultural ties, especially bears, salmon, and many trees species, particularly cedar.[1] Logging in Haida Gwaii has been occurring for as long as the Haida inhabited the islands, practicing their traditions by creating structures such as longhouses, totem poles and large war canoes.[1] Their cultural practices allowed them to sustainably harvest timber since cedar trees were often tall which needed to be cut into smaller sections and pulled through the forest. Since there were not mechanical systems helping the Haida people, a lower harvest rate would occur, trees would begin to regrow more sustainably, and had maintained a minimal disturbance in the ecosystem.[1]

Haida house, totem pole, and regalia, 1888.

Tenure arrangements

Strategic Land Use Agreement

Similar to the Haida Gwaii Management Council, the Strategic Land Use Agreement (SLUA) is an agreement between Haida Nation and the provincial government of British Columbia. Rather than focus on decision making, the SLUA outlines "sustainable forestry practices, established a network of terrestrial protected areas covering 52% of total land area and 72% of coastal areas, described interim and permanent measures for new protected areas, and identified land use objectives and management structures".[3] The SLUA would also reduce an annual allowable cut (AAC) from 2.2 million cubic metres to 800,000 cubic metres while analyzing the future and long-term harvest season and supplies.[3]

Ultimately, the SLUA had two objectives. The first is promoting a government-to-government relationship through the land-use planning process which was important for the Haida as they were the creators.[1] The second is providing a framework for EBM and confirming strategic land-use zones. The EBM is an "adaptive, systemic approach to managing human activities, that seeks to ensure the co-existence of healthy, fully functioning ecosystems and human communities" as defined in the SLUA.[1] To simply put, it helps to define a balance between ecosystems and human communities.

Kunst’aa guu-Kunst’aayah Reconciliation Protocol (K&K Protocol)

Kunst'aa guu-Kunst'aayah translates to "the beginning" and the main objective is the creation of the Haida Gwaii Management Council(HGMC).[1] The 2009 K&K Protocol allows the HGMC and Solutions Table shared and joint-decision making protocols and represents “an incremental step in a process of reconciliation of Haida and Crown titles".[3] The K&K Protocol is another event marked throughout the years that stems from the blockade at Lyell Island, succeeding from the 2007 Land Use Management Agreement.[4] K&K Protocol also ensures the re-affirmation of the provincial government's commitment in providing a forest tenure of 120,000 cubic metres per year plus $10 million to acquire the tenure, with a portion of that revenue going to carbon offsets on Haida Gwaii.[3] The tenure and revenue generated will go towards the Council of the Haida Nation.

Haida Gwaii Management Council

The Haida Gwaii Management Council (HGMC) is managed by the Haida Nation and is in a collaborative governance relationship with the provincial government of British Columbia, outlined by the Kunst'aa guu-Kunst'aayah Reconciliation Protocol (K&K Protocol).[5] The HGMC is the body that makes decisions pertaining to forestry, the harvest of timber, and land resource management.[3] Moreover, since HGMC has joint decision-making authority with the provincial government and if there was a disagreement between both parties, HGMC has a neutral chairperson that is expected to cast a tie-breaking vote.[3]

Administrative arrangements

Cultural Wood Access Permit

The Haida Gwaii Cultural Wood Access Permit (HGCWAP) process is a co-managed process, which merges the Free Use Permit (FUP) used by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range and the Right to Access Permit (RTA) previously used by the Council of Haida Nation (CHN) for being accessible to forest for cultural purposes.

The purpose of the new permission process is to make sure the responsibility and more fruitful management, making full use of the forests to supply of wood for traditional and cultural activities.

The CHN and the BC Ministry of Forests will boost respectful access to the forest for a long-term benefit of Haida Cultural.

Haida individuals can use the trees for a specific cultural purpose, like making a totem pole, canoe, or longhouse. However, the quantity and quality of the wood will hinge on how much wood will be required to support the project. The timber resources should be used only for the approved project.

The applicants must complete the Cultural Wood Access Permit application and explicate the specific quantity requirement, blueprints, and letter of support for the project. The Applicant will formulate a plan about specific areas where the wood will be harvested together with the Process Coordinator. The Process Coordinator should ensure this this project will not destroy the sustainability of this place and to ensure the quality of the wood is equivalent to the expected quality.

Taan Forest

Taan Forest is owned and operated by the Council of the Haida Nation, and is a subsidiary of the Haida Enterprise Corporation (Haico).[1] The word "taan" translates to "bear", and Taan Forest continues to operate under a sustainable and manageable forestry operation.[1] Since Taan Forest is owned and operated by the Haida, their cultural practices are highlighted through the epistemologies of "making things right" if an issue occurs.

Affected Stakeholders

Haida Nation

The Haida Nation would be the affect stakeholders in Haida Gwaii and they continue to navigate and negotiate with the provincial government on tenure agreements. Historically, the Haida Nation has always faced encroachment of logging companies and the provincial government harvesting timber on the islands. In the years following World War II, the political independence in the 1970's was sparked by the frustration and lack of recognition of logging activities and encroachment within their territory, and shortly after in 1975, The Council of the Haida Nation.[4] In 1985, the Haida Nation created a blockade and with their political disempowerment, continued to resist colonial advances from logging companies.[4]

The conflict between the Council of the Haida Nation and the Province of British Columbia (B.C.) regarding widespread industrial logging led the two parties to sign a Reconciliation Protocol in 2009, which established two distinct but related structures to govern forest and land use on Haida Gwaii: the Haida Gwaii Management Council (HGMC) and the Solutions Table.[6] The Solutions Table is created by the HGMC as a method of joint-decision making between the Haida Nation and provincial government, and is described as a "vehicle for consultation and accommodations".[3] However, since this method of joint-decision making has created tension and a power imbalance in favour for the provincial government[3], the Haida Nation continues to face pressure and resistance from the provincial government.

Interested Stakeholders

Logging Companies

The Land Use Agreement for Haida Gwaii had “appeased” the logging companies' economic benefits rather than accommodating to the Haida’s values.[7]

Provincial Government

In 2002 a court appeal clarified to the provincial government must consult with and accommodate the Haida people in regards to their timber harvesting. The provincial government had previously stated that they had no obligations to address the Haida people unless proved by title or agreed upon in treaty. Even during the court sessions, the logging had continued due to the claimed potential economic impacts. It wasn't until 2004 that the court ruled the government had the moral duty, not legal, to consult and strategize with the Haida people.[6]

Discussion

Our aims and intentions for this community forest project is to understand how an Indigenous community in British Columbia operates within a province with no historical treaties or negotiations. Furthermore, examine a nation that operates with its culture at the forefront of its operation. The success with examining Haida is understanding their history before looking at their operations today such as logging, protests, demonstrations, Supreme Court cases, and negotiations in the 20th century.

A critical issue that can be understood is that Haida does not have its own governing body that decides how much timber can be sold, priced, extracted, etc. It is governed both by the nation and the provincial government. While Haida Nation members have expressed they are fine with having a relationship with the provincial government, there is more advocacy towards a self-determining governing body.


Recommendations

Haida Gwaii is already a benchmark for forestry management led by Indigenous communities across Canada, and perhaps the world. Recommendations for the management system is to continue the development of their cultural practices to further demonstrate sustainable forestry. Moreover, since Haida Nation technically does not operate its forestry, rather it is a co-opt through legislation with the provincial government, Haida Nation could implement their own governing body that dictates its harvest season, locale, amount of logging, pricing, etc. This may further improve the indigenous people in HaidaGwaii with their living conditions by offering more employee spots, and also increasing the income of the forest. This could be established through treaties with the provincial government. While it is difficult and takes time, this would be a step forward for autonomy and self-governance for the nation.


References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 MacKay, C. (2015, April 30). Reclaiming Haida Gwaii : the Haida’s road to co-management. Undergraduate Research. G, . Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/undergraduateresearch/52966/items/1.0075604
  2. ↑ https://www.haidanation.ca/haida-nation/
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Hotte, N., Wyatt, S., & Kozak, R. (2019). Influences on trust during collaborative forest governance: A case study from Haida Gwaii1. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 49(4), 361-374. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2018-0222
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Porten, S. v. d. (2014). Leyell island case study: Social innovation by the haida nation. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 38(3), 85-105.
  5. ↑ http://www.haidagwaiimanagementcouncil.ca/faqs/
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hotte, N., Kozak, R., & Wyatt, S. (2019). How institutions shape trust during collective action: A case study of forest governance on haida gwaii. Forest Policy and Economics,    107https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2019.05.007
  7. ↑ Townsend, J. (2009, January). On Haida Terms Self-Determination and Land Use Planning On Haida Gwaii. https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/002/MR51605.PDF
  1. British Columbia Government EBook Collection, Haida Gwaii Management Council (B.C.), &    Haida Gwaii Timber Supply Review Technical Working Group (B.C.). (2019). Haida gwaii timber supply review: Draft data package (Draft. ed.). Haida Gwaii Management Council.
  2. Dean, M. (2009). "What they are doing to the land they are doing to us": environmental politics on Haida Gwaii (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia). https://open.library.ubc.csoa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0067779
  3. DiNOVELLI-LANG, D. (2018). The haida gwaii lesson: A strategic playbook for indigenous sovereignty. Mark Dowie. san francisco: Inkshares, 2017. 286 pp: Book reviews. American Ethnologist, 45(3), 445-446. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12699
  4. Ethier, T., Haida Gwaii Natural Resource District (B.C.), British Columbia Government EBook Collection, British Columbia. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, & British Columbia. Forest and Range Evaluation Program. (2013). Multiple resource value assessment (MRVA): Haida gwaii natural resource district. Forest and Range Evaluation Program.
  5. Gilani, H. R., Innes, J. L., & Kent, H. (2018). Developing human well-being domains, metrics and indicators in an ecosystem-based management context in haida gwaii, british columbia, canada. Society & Natural Resources, 31(12), 1321-1337. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2018.1481548
  6. Haida Gwaii Land Use Objectives Order (2009) https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/natural-resource-use/land-water-use/crown-land/land-use-plans-and-objectives/westcoast-region/haidagwaii-slua/haida_gwaii_proposed_luo.pdf
  7. Takeda, L (2010). Power and contestation in collaborative ecosystem-based management: The case of Haida Gwaii. Ecological Economics, 70(2), 178-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.02.007
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