Leon Creek Church

I was inspired to post these because of a piece in the Lillooet News.   The article speaks of a painting of a church that they were not clear where it was, I could see right away it was the church on the Leon Creek Reserve of the Ts'kw'aylacw First Nation.   Some are from a trip as part of the Treaty negotiations in 1998, the others are from a camping trip I took with my brother in August of 2000.

The church in 1998

August 2000

Fred Alec 1998

Interior of the church

The wall behind the altar

Bridge over the Little Leon Creek to get to the buildings on the reserve in 1998

Looking out the front door of the church in August 2000

Looking out of a church window

Houses on the Leon Creek Reserve August 2000

Looking at the church from a house on the Leon Creek reserve

Rural BC Demographics

I am quantifying various things about rural BC in preparation for my appearance on Voice of BC next Thursday.

My definition of rural BC is all of the province that except for:

• East coast of Vancouver Island from the Comox Valley south to Victoria
• The Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky, Metro Vancouver
• The Fraser Valley
• Prince George
• Kamloops
• The Okanagan from Ok Falls to Armstrong

Here are some quick numbers relating to demographics specifically how they relate to aboriginal people in BC:

In the 2006 Census, 605,000 people lived in rural BC and 3,470,000 in urban BC.   This means a bit less than 15% of the population of the province.

Rural BC has 82,610 aboriginal people out of a total of 196,070 - this is 42.1% of all the aboriginal people in BC.   They make up 4.8% of all the people in BC but 13.5% of rural BC.  

Two urban centres, Kamloops and Prince George have large aboriginal populations.   They account 16,000 more aboriginal people, about 9.1% of their population.   This means in the rest of urban BC less than 3% of the people are aboriginal.

The Kootenaies, Boundary and South Okanagan have very low aboriginal populations.   With them factored out aboriginal people are about one in five in the rest of rural BC.

The aboriginal presence in rural BC is one that is not normally top of most people's minds in urban BC.   But it is a reality that the population in Prince Rupert, Bella Colla, Lytton, Fort St James and many more locations has a large aboriginal population.   The aboriginal population is also younger.

The rural aboriginal population is not only younger, but it is poorer and less likely to be able to get work.

Fundamentally, any solutions for the economic well being for rural BC has to pay a lot of attention the economic well being or First Nations.

NovaGold releases an interesting report

NovaGold Resources, owners of the Galore Creek project in the northwest of BC just to the east of the Stikine River, has released their sustainability report.    It is interesting reading and the first time I have seen something of this caliber for a company that is more of an exploration outfit than a global mining giant.

Here are the principles the work to:

The principles of NovaGold's approach:

• We respect Native Alaskan and First Nation groups and encourage continuous collaboration, so that their relationship with the land and the expertise gained from other mining operations adds value to our plans and processes.
• We catalyze local and regional economies in the near and long term by identifying and developing resources in a way that considers the long-term impacts and benefits of operations.
• We strive to reduce the risk of permitting delays by working closely with the appropriate government agencies and maintaining and nurturing collaborative working relationships with our aboriginal and community partners to identify a responsible, critical path for development.
• We believe long-lasting social and economic benefits can flow to the communities in which we operate.

I am reasonably certain their approach is a corporate codification of their experience with the Tahltan.

I am sure there are people out there that will call this greenwashing, but that is short sighted.   The very fact the company is talking about this, is willing to express their approach to environmental issues, is talking about needing a social license to operate, says a lot about where we are at in 2010.

The Metlakatla and Lax Kw'alaams Settlement

This week the process started to transfer 4166 hectares of lands to the two first nations as part of their settlement of their Cut Off Specific Claim. Most of the land will be a new jointly managed reserve between the two communities, but there will be several small parcels in much more useful locations close to Port Edward.

I highlight this settlement because it includes a large transfer of lands to First Nations, but it is not the only one. The fact that is different about these settlements is that it allows for land to be transfered to Indian Reserve status.

For decades the policy of the BC government was not to generally allow any provincial lands to be transfered to Indian Reserve status. In general under the NDP and Social Credit the only transfers were of lands related to moving a road or highway when it crossed a reserve.

Since the Liberals were elected in 2001 the province has changed their position and has allowed lands to be made into new Indian Reserves. I worked on specific claims in the past and was normally instructed to negotiate for more reserves lands. This was simply not an option in the 1990s, in fact in one settlement the band had to sign agreement that they would never ask for a piece of land to transfered to reserve status.

Allowing more lands to come under Indian Act administration allows for lands that bands govern and can use for development and housing. Many bands have small patchworks of reserves that are effectively ungovernable or undeveloped. Allowing bands to govern more will allow them to develop more capacity to manage their own affairs.

In the case of settlement with the two Tsimshian communities near Prince Rupert, the large new reserve lands make a consistent block of aboriginal jurisdiction between Metlakatla and Port Simpson. The bands also have lands near Port Edward along the railway and road, a 35 acre lot. There is another one further up the highway towards Terrace.

The land at Port Edward is well suited for commercial development by the band and to offer on reserve housing closer to Prince Rupert.

Ultimately in rural BC it is the First Nations that are going to some of the most important partners in economic development. If they have more and better lands, they will be able do more development.

Kokish Hydroelectric Project near Port McNeil

The Kokish Hydroelectric Project has a draft terms of reference within the BC Environmental Assessment process. There is a comment period till Feb 11th. Public meetings were held in Alert Bay and Port McNeil last week.

The Kokish River Hydroelectric project is a partnership between the 'Namgis First Nation and Brookfield Renewable Power. The plan is for a 45 Mw powerplant producing between 150 and 200 GWh/yr. The biggest issue with respect to the environment is the impact on the fish in the river. I assume much of the assessment process will be about fish issues. The full description of the project can be found here.

This project is a very positive thing to see. Rural First Nations in BC need to find more opportunities to create jobs and to create revenues that are not under the control of the Federal government. A project like this will create a moderate number of jobs in the construction process and a few ongoing jobs in running the facility. As more non storage hydro facilities go into operation, there will be increased long term fulltime jobs.

The gross revenues of the project should be at least $9,000,000 a year. I am not sure what the operating costs will be and costs involved with financing so it is hard to estimate what the return will be to the partners. After the cost to build it accounted for, it is reasonable to think the partners will see a million dollar return per year. For the 'Namgis this means they will be closing in on 45% of their revenues coming from non Federal Government sources.

The partnering with a company that has a track record in being able to develop non storage hydro projects will also lead to a transfer of knowledge to the 'Namgis. As they develop more human resource capacity for projects like this, the easier it will be for them to develop projects without partners. The 'Namgis already own a 12% stake in Orca sand and gravel quarry. In general the 'Namgis are proactive in building economic opportunities for their community.

The 'Namgis are looking at several other small scale hydro projects. One is also with Brookfield this is a 6.6MW one on Clint Creek. The other is still in the very early stages, a 9.9Mw one on the East Fork of the Kokish River in partnership with Innergex Renewable Energy. As these are built, the overall costs of operating all of them will fall and the returns to the 'Namgis will improve.