Our nation needs aquaculture, not celebrity activists
The Tlowitsis Nation has few opportunities for economics in our territory. Our territory has forestlands and some seafood. For more than a century, the forests have been licensed out to other visitors to our lands; they do not even reside there.
In 1962, the government removed basic services to our community on Turnour Island. With the prospect of no schooling for our children and no access to health care, the community was forced to leave the island. We have never surrendered our lands, it was impossible to continue to live in our remote village because of the decisions by government. This decision was not ours.
The issue is how we, the Tlowitsis, are able to be sustainable and benefit from our lands. Visitors have gained the most economically and seem to have priority to our lands and waters. This must change.
We are striving to become self-sufficient. The Tlowitsis receive limited funding from the government as we don’t have a home community. So we have had to find alternative economic drivers for our Nation. We know what’s happening to all the sea resources as well as other food supplies as the world population continues to grow. Like many First Nations in B.C., the Tlowitsis are eager to grow our community and develop a lasting economy from our traditional territory. Developing salmon farms in Clio Channel is a cornerstone for our Nation and after careful consideration we developed a partnership with Grieg Seafood.
We have studied Grieg Seafood and the way they do business and we are pleased. This is not to say they will not be under scrutiny by our guardians, who are our eyes and ears in our territory. Council is also keeping a watchful eye on behalf of our Nation. Grieg Seafood and our council are always in communication and have a good reporting system in place. They are proving to be a good partner. We receive no royalties or economic gain from the forestry giants on their onslaught of our forests and this agreement with Grieg Seafood is vital to the Nation’s economic well-being.
We have been judicious about the choice of sites for the salmon farms and have chosen two that are most suitable and are the only area in our territory that we approve at this time unless science shows us other ways. We recognize some people are opposed to fish farming even though their arguments don’t hold water. Those people are not welcome into our territory and not welcome at our salmon farms.
John M. Smith is chief of the Tlowitsis Nation.