How are we working together?
Provincial staff, who are supporting each of the initiatives in Action 2.06, are working collaboratively with First Nations and First Nation organizations to co-develop unique approaches that jointly identify priorities and actions across a range of projects at various stages of planning and implementation.
There is broad consultation and co-operation with First Nations and engagement with First Nation organizations and cross agency partners, working collaboratively with more than 150 First Nations on multiple projects to support Action 2.06.
Are there challenges?
While there are notable challenges to this work, especially in the context of a more constrained fiscal environment, these challenges are being monitored and there are actions in place to mitigate them.
This is a result of the subprojects developing different tools and methods for working together with Indigenous partners on an ongoing basis, like reviewing work to align with updated direction and entering into agreements for data sharing. Despite facing resourcing challenges, multiple subprojects are continuing to find ways to adapt work to continue collaborating with Indigenous partners and are approaching their executive leadership to find support.
Highlights
Guardians Stewardship Training Initiative
Guardians play a crucial role in supporting the self-determination and governance of First Nations and facilitating the co-management of the natural environment with the Province. In April 2023, B.C. committed to partner with First Nations representatives to co-develop the Guardians Stewardship Training Initiative.
The Guardians Working Group, made up of representatives of 77 First Nations with expertise and experience in managing Guardians’ programs and activities, was convened to support this work, including collaboratively developing draft principles and parameters for the training initiative. Working collaboratively with the Guardians Working Group, the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (WLRS) and the New Relationship Trust (NRT), the Guardians Stewardship Training Initiative provided $3 million to 21 First Nations and First Nation organizations, representing a total of 27 First Nations, to support their capacity to access training for their program and staff.
Marine Protected Area Network
In June 2024, the Province of B.C., the Government of Canada and 17 partner First Nations signed the Great Bear Sea Project Finance for Permanence Agreement. This agreement establishes a co-governance structure to protect marine wildlife and habitats through the Marine Protected Area Network and enables $335 million in long-term funding supporting Indigenous-led marine stewardship and coastal economic development.
The agreement also outlines a timeline for implementation to achieve 25% of marine protection by 2025 and 30% by 2030, incorporating provincial protection tools, creating a secure and lasting future for marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
Marine Plan Partnership (MaPP)
MaPP is a co-led marine planning process that began in 2011 between 17 First Nations and the Province in the Great Bear Sea.
Project highlight: Shellfish Aquaculture Development. Central Coast MaPP partners have conducted extensive research to promote Nation-owned shellfish aquaculture. This work aligns with the Central Coast Nations’ priorities of fostering new, sustainable economic opportunities while managing fisheries for future generations. Since 2016, annual work plans have included activities to advance Pacific geoduck aquaculture. Four pilot sites were studied to understand the biophysical suitability of intertidal geoduck aquaculture, including developing a Habitat Suitability Index. MaPP partners have gained insights into site selection, permitting, seed acquisition and other logistics necessary for developing geoduck aquaculture on the Central Coast. The next step is to assess the financial feasibility of aquaculture activities and the economic benefits it can bring to communities.
Previous years’ progress
Highlights
Collaborative Marine Planning (i.e., Marine Protected Areas Network and Marine Plan Partnership for the Great Bear Sea):
This past year, Marine Protected Areas Network (MPAN) partners began the implementation of Marine Protected Areas in the Great Bear Sea. For example, the Province is working with Mamalilikulla First Nation on the implementation of an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in Gwaxdlala/Nalaxdlala (Lull Bay/Hoeya Sound) in Knight Inlet, resulting in the establishment of governance structures, the drafting of a collaborative management plan and the implementation of a language restoration strategy. In addition, the Marine Plan Partnership (MaPP), a co-led marine planning process between the Province and 17 First Nations, continues to advance the regional kelp monitoring program. Kelp is a culturally important species and an invaluable component of marine habitat, providing important benefits to communities, species and ecosystems.
Guardians and Stewardship Training Initiative:
Guardians play a crucial role in supporting the self-determination and governance of First Nations and facilitating the co-management of the natural environment with the Province. In April 2023, B.C. committed $8.9 million over three years to partner with First Nations representatives to co-develop the Guardians and Stewardship Training Initiative. The “Guardians Working Group”, made up of representatives of 61 First Nations with expertise and experience in managing guardians programs and activities, was convened to support this work, including collaboratively developing draft principles and parameters for the training initiative. Working collaboratively with the Guardians Working Group, the Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship (WLRS) funded six pilot initiatives from First Nations in B.C. and one from a First Nation organization that will support training on the ground and inform research into guardians-related curriculum development. The pilot initiatives will also inform the broader implementation of the training initiative. In February 2024, WLRS hosted a B.C. guardians gathering with over 170 attendees, providing a chance to network, collaborate and gather feedback on the guardians and stewardship training initiative.
Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Framework:
The Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Framework (CISF) and associated regional forums continue to inform key resource management decisions, objective setting and planning processes with trusted data. The governance working group executive, which provides strategic guidance and oversight for CISF, is looked to as an inclusive First Nations and provincial government co-governance model that has made progress in moving towards co-management, advancing shared decision-making, and implementing the Cabinet-endorsed recommendations for long-term collaborative stewardship throughout the past year. The 2023/24 fiscal year also represents the first year that the annual budget for WLRS included base operational funding to support the Province’s long-term commitment to the collaborative stewardship model.
Guardian Shared Compliance and Enforcement Pilot Project with Kitasoo Xai’xais and Nuxalk First Nations:
In July of 2023, BC Parks signed a formal agreement with the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Nuxalk First Nations to enable the shared compliance and enforcement pilot program. The pilot is a 2.5-3-year initiative (two years of field work plus another 6-12 months of evaluation prior to new designations) resulting in designation of 11 First Nations guardians with the same legal authorities as park rangers within the parks and protected areas in their ancestral territories. The pilot program is the first of its kind in Canada. The designated guardians now have the same suite of authorities as park rangers but remain employees of their Nations. This new partnership approach recognizes the invaluable local knowledge, capacity, presence and stewardship responsibility and authority of the Nations, while also supporting broader goals for Indigenous self-determination and enhanced environmental and cultural resource protection.
In addition to the highlighted initiatives above, the Province is also making progress on land use planning, forest landscape planning and implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement. Overall, 128 First Nations are participating in 42 collaborative stewardship tables, programs and initiatives that are making notable progress and contribute to advancing this action.
How are we working together?
For the 2023-2024 reporting year, the focus for consultation and co-operation was for the Province and First Nations partners to agree on what policies, programs or initiatives currently demonstrate that progress on Action 2.6 is underway, and which activities, accomplishments and impacts to publicly highlight. The identified programs and initiatives jointly set priorities for environmental stewardship activities through province-wide working groups, regionally established forums and/or government-to-government partnerships, as well as integrated data and decision-making through a variety of collaborative and co-operative processes. The respect and recognition of the distinct knowledge systems of participating First Nations is key in all these processes. Each of the initiatives identified under 2.6 will contribute to the advancement of this action and each represents joint stewardship in action.
Are there challenges?
It is a challenge to develop meaningful and comprehensive performance measures across the wide range of initiatives advancing under Action 2.6 as each has their own unique objectives, partnerships, capacity constraints, and governance structures. Other challenges include the ability to jointly secure and implement a long-term, sustainable funding model for collaborative stewardship initiatives that is equitably distributed, easily accessible, and adaptable to the evolution of shared priorities on the land and water. Additionally, this work must be integrated with related initiatives, such as: the conservation financing mechanism; Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation; Together for Wildlife Strategy; draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework; and with the new fiscal framework.
Possible barriers also exist within policy and legislation to advance the innovative approaches required to achieve collaborative stewardship in alignment with UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
Highlights
There are a wide variety of innovative and meaningful partnerships, programs and initiatives underway that contribute to the advancement of this action:
- Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Framework (CISF)
- On October 24, 2022, the Province endorsed a long-term commitment to fund regional Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Forums, including an expanded Cumulative Effects Framework and support for Guardians. This will provide stability and certainty to the work of existing and future forums in delivering resource stewardship through shared decision-making and co-management that brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous data, knowledge systems and methodologies.
- Collaborative marine planning (i.e., Marine Protected Areas Network and Marine Plan Partnership for the Northern Shelf Bioregion)
- In February 2023, 15 First Nations, the Government of Canada and the Government of B.C. jointly endorsed the Marine Protected Area Network Action Plan (the Action Plan) for the Northern Shelf Bioregion. Rooted in Indigenous knowledge and robust science, the Action Plan is a model of collaborative governance/stewardship and provides a planned approach to the protection of the oceans and their marine wildlife and environments.
- Blueberry River First Nations Implementation Agreement
- Signed on January 18, 2023, between B.C. and Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN), this agreement manages for the past, present and future cumulative impacts of industrial development on treaty rights, better protects those rights and allows for responsible resource development. This agreement includes (but is not limited to) significant and new measures such as establishing a $200 million restoration fund for BRFN to direct projects to heal the land and heal the people, a reduction in commercial timber harvesting activities in important cultural areas to BRFN members and material changes to the regulatory environment for the oil and gas sector.
- Forest Landscape Planning (FLP)
- The Ministry of Forests is undertaking four FLP pilot projects and initiating eight new FLPs throughout the province in collaboration with First Nations and Indigenous organizations. FLPs enable holistic consideration of the way forests are managed in B.C. including how they are managed for cultural values, old growth forest, wildfire and climate change resiliency. These processes represent a true collaboration on establishing how natural resources are managed in B.C. and will be the cornerstone of a new sustainable approach to forestry.
- As well as
- Modernized land use planning
- Great Bear Rainforest Agreement
- Aboriginal Liaison Program
- Guardian Shared Compliance and Enforcement Pilot Project with Kitasoo Xai’xais and Nuxalk First Nations, and
- The Guardians and Stewardship Training Initiative.
Indicators
- Number of engagement participants in programs and events: 120 First Nations participating in collaborative stewardship tables, programs and initiatives.
- Strategic engagement underway: Nine key initiatives that include 20 collaborative stewardship tables, programs and initiatives contributing to implementation.
How are we working together?
For the 2022-2023 reporting year, the focus for consultation and collaboration was for B.C. and First Nations partners to agree on what policies, programs or initiatives currently demonstrate that progress on Action 2.6 is underway. The identified programs and initiatives jointly set priorities for stewardship activities through regionally established forums or partnerships and integrate data and decision-making through a variety of collaborative and co-operative processes. The respect and recognition of Indigenous Knowledge Systems is key in all of these processes. Each of the initiatives identified under 2.6 will contribute to the advancement of this action and represent joint stewardship in action.
Are there challenges?
Risks to fully implementing this action include the following:
- The ability to develop meaningful performance measures in consultation and co-operation with First Nations partners for the whole of 2.6 while respecting the diversity of initiatives, partnerships and governance structures within it
- Engagement/reporting fatigue and capacity constraints and the impact on sustained effort on 2.6 reporting over time, and
- Possible barriers within policy and legislation to advance innovative approaches required to achieve collaborative stewardship in alignment with UN Declaration/Declaration Act.