Kwakiutl opposed to removal of land from tree farm licence
Victoria Times Colonist
Friday, February 09, 2007
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=90213bc0-bc87-4d49-a12a-f4584e2c4f61
The Kwakiutl First Nation plans legal action to block a forestry company from
removing 28,000 hectares of private land from tree farm licences on Vancouver
Island.
In a letter to Forests Minister Rich Coleman, the band accused the provincial
government of failing to consult with the band before allowing Western Forest
Products to remove the land.
"Our first action is to legally and effectively hold your approval in
abeyance," the band council wrote in the Feb. 5 letter. "We will seek an
injunction to have your government and Western Forest Products obey the
protocol that is in place for meaningful consultation and accommodation."
Removing land from the tree farm licence will give the company more freedom as
to its use. Land in the licence is subject to environmental and replanting
restrictions, harvest limits and controls on raw log exports from the province.
The Kwakiutl First Nation is not the first to criticize the deal. Labour and
environmental groups last week called it a corporate bailout at taxpayers'
expense.
Coleman on Thursday rejected the band's complaint, saying government has been
consulting on the removal since August 2005.
"There's been correspondence back and forth," he said. "For them to say they
had no consultation is incorrect, quite frankly."
Coleman added that he was aware a previous removal of lands from a tree farm
licence on the island prompted a lawsuit by another first nation over a lack of
consultation. So he checked before making his decision to ensure that first
nations had been consulted, he said. "My information was we consulted ... and
I've confirmed that."
But Kwakiutl band manager Albert Robinson said Thursday Coleman never notified
the band about his staff's recommendation, nor were they told Coleman had
reached a decision. Robinson said he only learned about the deal through media
reports.
Robinson said WFP's president Reynold Hert called the band this week to express
concern the band had wrongly concluded that land in the tree farm licence was
being converted to private land, when, in fact, WFP has owned it for years and
is simply taking it out of the tree farm licences, a company spokesman said
Thursday.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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