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Special report

First Nations Forward

Produced in collaboration with the Real Estate Foundation of BC, I-SEA, Vancouver Foundation, Vancity, Catherine Donnelly Foundation, Donner Canadian Foundation, Clayoquot Biosphere Trust,  North Foundation, Willow Grove Foundation, Canadian Center for Journalism, Victoria Foundation, and the Port Moody Foundation. National Observer retains full editorial control over the topics and the reporting. 

115 Articles

Once managing poverty, now managing wealth

“My girls' lives are going to be so different because of all this opportunity." Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Crystal Smith looks forward as she endures severe personal criticism over her community's participation in mutual benefit agreements with the Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada project to pipe and liquefy natural gas for export to Asian markets from the Northwest Pacific coast.
First Nations Forward
By
June 3rd 2019

In the heart of Great Bear Sea, a scallop farm turns ‘science into profit’

For Coastal Shellfish Corporation, a scallop aquaculture venture located on the rainy northwest coast of British Columbia, two things matter most: sustainable business in an area too familiar with the boom and bust of fishing industries, and that their activities cause as little harm to the natural environment as possible.
First Nations Forward
By
April 23rd 2019

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief: 'Reconciliation is not at the barrel of a gun'

“I kept thinking of the prime minister and how he said there was no more important relationship than the one with Indigenous people. And then here come all these guns…Reconciliation is not at the barrel of a gun.”- Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks reflects on the RCMP raid of a resistance camp blocking construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in January, 2019.
First Nations Forward
By
April 16th 2019

Stellat'en First Nation's traditional culture 'pretty much gone,' but LNG agreement offered relief from 'enforced poverty'

“At the end it was easy because we negotiated the best deal we could,” said Stellat’an Chief Arthur Patrick.  “Natural gas is more benign to the environment than oil and coal. Natural gas will replace coal in other parts of the world, like China. If we can be a part of that replacement, then I think we’re doing the world some good.”
First Nations Forward
By
April 10th 2019

Here's what happens when an energy pipeline company comes calling

What happens when an energy pipeline developer comes to town? Brandi Morin examines the pressure on a First Nations community in central interior B.C. when Enbridge, with an oil pipeline proposal, and then TransCanada, with the Coastal GasLink project, came calling. Elected Nak’azdli Whut’en Chief Alexander McKinnon relives one of the most difficult decisions of his life.
First Nations Forward
By
April 9th 2019

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation celebrates wisdom of past as they look to future

Nuu-chah-nulth leadership, Indigenous front liners, celebrated environmentalists and guests will join together to celebrate 35 years of Tla-o-qui-aht sovereignty through the Meares Island Tribal Park. The Tribal Park, first formally declared in 1984, is one of four tribal parks, governed and protected by the original caretakers of the land and waters.
First Nations Forward
By
April 4th 2019

'Clean energy aligns with who we are as Indigenous people'

Michelle Myers and Chief Russel Myers Ross of Yuneŝit'in, are two clean energy leaders in the Tŝilhqot'in Nation with strong visions for the future. Myers believes renewable energy aligns with her people's values and connection to the land while Chief Ross has played a major role developing the Dasiqox Tribal Park, an area protected for Tŝilhqot’in traditional laws to be upheld and enacted.
First Nations Forward
By
March 28th 2019

Tŝilhqot'in’s ‘spiritual war’ to protect land, water, rights

The Tŝilhqot'in Nation is at spiritual war with Taseko Mines, which has for over two decades been trying to build what would be the world's largest copper and gold mine at a sacred elevated lake the nation knows as Teztan Biny. Though the mine has been rejected twice at the federal level, they have the greenlight on a drilling program, forcing the nation back to court to seek an injunction.
First Nations Forward
By
March 21st 2019