Thread by @TorranceCoste

I had another meeting about old-growth with reps from a First Nation in BC this morning. Like a lot of these conversations, it was incredible heartbreaking and frustrating.

LONG thread on the BC government's broken approach on old-growth forests.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth #UNDRIP
1/18

The Nation I talked to, like all in BC, have had some of the threatened old-growth in their territory recommended for deferrals (two year holds on logging) by the provincial government.

The province has asked the Nation to inform them of their intention within 30 days.
2/18

Like most of the 200+ First Nations in the province, this community is concerned about remaining old-growth and the continued logging of it.

Also like many Nations here, they're involved in logging, after 100+ years of being excluded from economic development on their land.
3/18

The provincial government sent the Nation the maps pertaining to their territory that show where the at-risk old-growth that is recommended for deferral is, and said the deferrals will go ahead if the Nation agrees.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth
4/18

The problem is that the Nation doesn't know
a) whether the most important forest within its territory is included in the province's recommendations of not, and
b) what the economic impacts of agreeing to do the deferrals would be.

5/18

The Nation told me they do not have the capacity to analyze the data from the province and answer these questions.

The province has not provided any assistance whatsoever to help the Nation do this.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth
6/18

Without resource to hire a consulting firm to do this work, that Nation's only option is to ask the logging corporations with licenses on their territory to help, but because of their obvious biases (timber harvesting, profit), they don't trust them.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth
7/18

This community doesn't feel it's able to say yes or no to the government's proposed deferrals at this point. They are aware that in the meantime, irreplaceable old-growth is being logged on their territory, and the threat of irreversible biodiversity loss grows.
8/18

My meeting this morning was with reps from one Nation, but this scenario is playing out on hundreds of territories in B.C.

As the @UBCIC's Grand Chief Stewart Philip has put it, the @bcndp "is hiding behind Indigenous people."

#bcpoli #oldgrowth
9/18

The government's approach pretends that every Nation is in a position to say "yes, do the deferrals, regardless of the economic consequences," or "no, don't do the deferrals, regardless of the loss of biodiversity."

I'm not aware of a single Nation in either position.
10/18

As a conservationist, this is heartbreaking.

As a settler trying to challenge the colonialism I'm complicit in, it's infuriating.

After 150 years of oppressing Indigenous peoples, the BC government is unfairly placing all responsibility to protect old-growth on them.

11/18

Under the status quo, there are economic incentives for Indigenous and rural communities to sign-off on logging the last old-growth forests.

Protecting them requires providing the same or greater incentive to conserve it. That's the @bcndp's responsibility, nothing less.
12/18

The BC NDP government is failing to meet this responsibility, instead opting for an approach that pretends as though the economic pressures placed on First Nations after 150 years of their resources being stolen doesn't exist.
13/18

Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent building and maintaining the status quo in BC #forestry. Similar investment is needed to shift away from it.

This sucks, but this is the bed the government has made, and they have to lay in it.
#bcpoli
14/18

The Old-growth Strategic Review panel didn't recommend deferral of logging in at-risk old-growth forests for fun -- they did it to prevent irreversible biodiversity loss.

Deferrals are not permanent, and so they should be immediate.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth
15/18

The BC government has the resources to calculate the financial impact of 2 year deferrals for every First Nation. It should do this, compensate the Nations for that amount, then provide resources to give them the capacity to engage in planning about permanent land use.
16/18

After 2 years, the old-growth will still be there, should a given Nation chose to cut some of it or protect it all.

Right now that choice isn't possible. Irreplaceable forests are dropping, and the people they belong to and who belong to them are left in the lurch.
#bcpoli
17/18

The @bcndp government has gone to great lengths to wrap its messaging on old-growth in language about it's commitment to reconciliation.

It's actual approach could not be further from that.
BC has to do better.

Thank you for reading.
#bcpoli #oldgrowth

18/18 end of thread