Commercial Law absent in First Nations life in Canada

Economic development is a promising direction for First Nations in Canada, especially since the process has come under close scrutiny from coast to coast. University of Toronto Law School hosted a unique forum on First Nation economic development in 2008. “I think the most important thing is that everyone recognizes First Nation economic development is a political matter,” said the event moderator.

Holding an economic development conference at a law school should come as no surprise. Commercial law in Canadian life is huge, and until now, seemed strangely inconsequential to First Nations. Professor Doug Sanderson and other law faculty attended an intriguing luncheon address on day two of the conference highlighted by a speech delivered by Hon. Michael Bryant, Aboriginal Affairs minister, who suggested the need to create commercial law courts for First Nation reserves.

“How much of law in Canada is commercial law?” we asked. “Oh, about 60 percent or more,” Professor Sanderson replied. It is this type of law that sews up jurisdictional economics, and it is this law that is unavailable to aboriginal people. Aboriginal people are born under a completely different set of rules. Does not a single realization come to light that the Indian Act excludes a race of people from the economy by depriving access to commercial law? First Nation economic development is, in reality, written out of the realm of mainstream economics. A system of trusteeship holds all wealth, and monitored activity on an Indian Reserve has to be decided by a Minister of Indian Affairs. 122 sections of the Indian Act to make this potentate’s role very clear in the lives of aboriginal people. They are not allowed to have money.

Aboriginal economic development became a legal academic exercise with a national focus because the minster of Aboriginal Affairs in Ontario was arresting and jailing elders from Kitchenaumaykoosib Innunwig who protested Platinex Mines. Perhaps, it was out of frustration that the minister spoke to the matter as one of commercial rather than criminal concern. He called for a system to be put in place to accommodate the legal concerns of the First Na tions.

This is a fact of law, that a political document (the Indian Act) apparently deprives First Nations of a legal framework to possess money. The session’s moderator said solutions to these substantial concerns of legality are currently being sought. He believes people are only beginning to meet to address economic matters at the political level. Sanderson added that the situation is made even worse because a “settler versus native” attitude prevails and political issues remain unresolved. He noted the situation at Caledonia (and could have included the mind-boggling threat to personal security undergoing Mohawk people when they go to the store).

Sanderson said, “There are many ways for First Nations and corporate Canada to act together. . .The current political reality demands that thought and speech gravitate around ways to do economic development.” Sanderson also suggested that the best example for a way forward was cited in Minister Bryant’s speech when Bryant raised the subject of the Chocktaw Tribal Council (CTC) in the USA. The CTC has a federally-constituted commercial law court that governs activities under their jurisdiction along the Mississippi. They have American Indian judges and Chocktaw commercial law.

Culture Camp on Yukusem

 

Housing inspection services coming to First Nations communities

A national non-profit organization is fighting in the trenches of First Nation housing. First Nations National Building Officers Association (FNNBOA) is a volunteer organization that represents a profession offering technical services in residential construction and renovation on-reserve.
     

FNNBOA members are qualified to deal with house plan reviews, inspections, recommendation of repairs, and they provide technical advocacy and advisory services for on-reserve housing.

     

Chief Keith Maracle, Tyendinaga, Ontario, is secretary of the volunteer board, “There are approximately 250 to 300 employed in this sector,” a small number in relation to the number of First Nation Indian Act-governed communities in Canada, no less than 700 inhabited Indian Reservations.
     

FNNBOA faces a peculiar challenge to expand the role of its officers in First Nation housing, “We are seen as regulatory,” said Chief Maracle, and regulations are apparently not something to be desired in the fractious world of First Nation housing.
     

FNNBOA members are qualified to inspect housing construction, “We have occupational standards, a code of ethics, and certification procedures to inspect houses on reserve.” Chief Maracle says FNNBOA members are qualified to support CMHC and mortgage approvals, INAC leasehold guarantee programs, and reports to Environment Canada.
    

 Richard ‘Bud’ Jobin is co-President of FNNBOA who hails from central Alberta. Since 2002 when they laid the organizational groundwork, these two men have been advocates of professional First Nation housing services, “Certified inspection of First Nation housing is becoming a compliance issue,” says Bud, “which impacts on mortgage and insurance.”
     

It may not be here but the age of reason is coming over First Nation housing policy and FNNBOA intends to have First Nation housing inspection services in the ready. They have training affiliations with George Brown University, Humber College, NAIT, and Vancouver Island University to produce qualified First Nation Housing inspectors.
     

Bank creating viable housing market
     

Royal Bank of Canada illustrates the growing importance of certified inspection services in First Nation housing. RBC introduced a program this spring to help First Nations capitalize on economic growth opportunities.
     

RBC announced a new mortgage program called the Leasehold Mortgage Program to, “provide First Nations members with greater flexibility and choice when it comes to financing the purchase or construction of a home.” It also helps create marketable housing in reserve communities.
     

“RBC has worked with First Nations leaders/governments for many years to find and provide options for financing a home in the same manner that is offered off a reserve,” said David Cutway, manager, Residential Mortgages Policy, RBC.
     

“This new CMHC default-insured program . . . allows qualified borrowers on qualified reserve lands to obtain a home mortgage, benefitting both the purchaser and the First Nation community.”
     

Financing of on-reserve housing has been limited in the past, said Mr. Cutway. “For example, First Nations members had to obtain a band or Ministerial Loan Guarantee (MLG) to secure a loan to purchase a home on reserve land. In addition, the First Nation government was responsible for the construction, maintenance and repair of these homes.”
     

The Leasehold Mortgage Program can help First Nations improve economic development through the construction of new homes, renovations to existing homes, purchases of new or existing homes, and construction of duplexes to four-plexes.
    

 First Nations communities may also use the program to attract non-Aboriginal homebuyers to properties developed on leasehold land, such as the housing development projects undertaken by the Westbank and Tzeachten First Nations, both of which are located in British Columbia.  

Boater safety a concern along with performance

Have you ever been in a boat on the ocean racing across the water on the tops of waves and suddenly you see a log in front? Wouldn't it be nice at that moment to say, "I'm unsinkable," when you're reaching for a life-jacket? (These are optional attire in recreational watercraft in Canadian waters; however, there must be one lifejacket per passenger in the boat.)
    

 Creating that unsinkable feeling is the basic philosophy of boat-building at Aluminum Chambered Boats (ACB) Inc., Bellingham, WA., where they simply say, “THERE’S INCREDIBLE BEAUTY IN PURE SAFETY.”
     

“She may not be the prettiest girl at the dance, but boy can she dance.” says Larry Wieber, Founder/CEO of ACB. Larry is perhaps underestimating the beauty of the boats he designs and builds, but he is ‘in the know’ about how to make recreational boaters benefit from ACB safety innovations.
     

Bear in mind ACB is something of an American institution and today the company incorporates the same advanced hull technology in their line of recreational and fishing boats as they use in their military vessels.
     

They build boats in the Pacific North West that meet stringent construction and safety requirements, “ACBs are the first and only aluminum boats tank tested by the US Coast Guard and approved without using foam flotation,” said Larry. “The unique chambered flotation system cannot be compromised,” even if the hull and several chambers are punctured!
     

“Hit a rock or log and tear the hull and you will stay afloat and stay alive,” he said. These are high performance watercraft riding on a patented aluminum chambered hull, “a design with a modified V hull and contiguous airtight aluminum chambers.”
     

The system provides critical survivability flotation, Larry said, plus, “incredible stability and reduced fuel burn with unmatched maneuverability.” Add to that a soft air-cushioned ride in the most difficult conditions.
    

 Remember that the US Navy runs a lot ACBs and so does the US Coast Guard. USCG puts crews on US coasts in a 24-foot center console CB-L vessel that handles multiple missions. It is deployed from a cutter in such operations as search and rescue (SAR), maritime law enforcement (MLE), ports and waterways, and coastal security.
     

The design of the CB-L will carry a three-man crew and up to nine passengers and the vessel is equipped with shock-mitigated seating for the crew. The vessel is designed for security services and powered with a Cummins QSD 2.8 230 HP Bravo 1 with Mercury outdrive. “The CB-L’s top speed is,” an incredible, “39.5 knots.”
     

US government and citizens alike operate ACBs in all weather conditions including winter in Alaska. So where did this ability to provide marine safety and security of passengers come from? Larry explained, “ACB has built a team of numerous seasoned military and marine industry professionals with collective skill sets that provide the basis of the ACB construction and logistics team.”
    

 ACB built their reputation for delivering quality on time and on budget by serving customers in all branches of the US military and expanding their market from that. Over the past few years the company has taken the patented rugged, state-of-the-art high performance aluminum boats to government, recreational, and commercial customers on a global basis. VISIT www.acbboats.com

Safety a first concern, along with performance in Aluminum Chambered Boats

Have you ever been in a boat on the ocean racing across the water on the tops of waves and suddenly you see a log in front? Wouldn't it be nice at that moment to say, "I'm unsinkable," when you're reaching for a life-jacket? (These are optional attire in recreational watercraft in Canadian waters; however, there must be one lifejacket per passenger in the boat.)

Creating that unsinkable feeling is the basic philosophy of boat-building at Aluminum Chambered Boats (ACB) Inc., Bellingham, WA., where they simply say, “THERE’S INCREDIBLE BEAUTY IN PURE SAFETY.”

“She may not be the prettiest girl at the dance, but boy can she dance.” says Larry Wieber, Founder/CEO of ACB. Larry is perhaps underestimating the beauty of the boats he designs and builds, but he is ‘in the know’ about how to make recreational boaters benefit from ACB safety innovations.

Bear in mind ACB is something of an American institution and today the company incorporates the same advanced hull technology in their line of recreational and fishing boats as they use in their military vessels.

They build boats in the Pacific North West that meet stringent construction and safety requirements, “ACBs are the first and only aluminum boats tank tested by the US Coast Guard and approved without using foam flotation,” said Larry. “The unique chambered flotation system cannot be compromised,” even if the hull and several chambers are punctured!

“Hit a rock or log and tear the hull and you will stay afloat and stay alive,” he said. These are high performance watercraft riding on a patented aluminum chambered hull, “a design with a modified V hull and contiguous airtight aluminum chambers.”

The system provides critical survivability flotation, Larry said, plus, “incredible stability and reduced fuel burn with unmatched manoeuvrability.” Add to that a soft air-cushioned ride in the most difficult conditions.

Remember that the US Navy runs a lot ACBs and so does the US Coast Guard. USCG puts crews on US coasts in a 24-foot center console CB-L vessel that handles multiple missions. It is deployed from a cutter in such operations as search and rescue (SAR), maritime law enforcement (MLE), ports and waterways, and coastal security.

The design of the CB-L will carry a three-man crew and up to nine passengers and the vessel is equipped with shock-mitigated seating for the crew. The vessel is designed for security services and powered with a Cummins QSD 2.8 230 HP Bravo 1 with Mercury outdrive. “The CB-L’s top speed is,” an incredible, “39.5 knots.”

US government and citizens alike operate ACBs in all weather conditions including winter in Alaska. So where did this ability to provide marine safety and security of passengers come from? Larry explained, “ACB has built a team of numerous seasoned military and marine industry professionals with collective skill sets that provide the basis of the ACB construction and logistics team.”

ACB built their reputation for delivering quality on time and on budget by serving customers in all branches of the US military and expanding their market from that. Over the past few years the company has taken the patented rugged, state-of-the-art high performance aluminum boats to government, recreational, and commercial customers on a global basis. VISIT www.acbboats.com

Making a career out of growing fish on Canada's Pacific Coast

Lauren Edgar, 23, from Klemtu, B.C., is making a career out of fish farming. "I've been working for Marine Harvest Canada for two years full-time and a period of time before that as a part-time employee. I am making career of it." Lauren did a course at Vancouver Island University on shellfish farming last year at VIU. It was a nine-week course, "some in Prince Rupert, some in Nanaimo."
     

She enjoyed the course and school and continues to advance those aspirations by looking at further education opportunities including VIU and on-the-job training. Lauren works out of Klemtu, B.C., on Swindle Island in the central coast. It's the southern end of Tsimshian Nation where she lives and was born and raised. "I work on site in an eight-day shift and we live in a float-house," explained Lauren, "I like it. It's very nice and sometimes it gets interesting during the winter." Winter storms make the water choppy..
     

Lauren feeds MHC Atlantic salmon that are grown by Kitasoo Seafoods Ltd and processed in a facility in Klemtu, "Right now that's my main job, to feed the fish." It's an amazing event each day, whereupon, "The fish really get going, it's all on camera." Daily operations are under the watch of MHC personnel like Lauren,. "We are connected to head office by phone and internet." In her job, "We do one feeding session once-a-day at the present size of the fish in my pens," whereas, "When they're smolts they get more feedings per day." 
      

The work in fish farming is exciting, "It's fun to watch the fish grow and interesting to see how big they get." Lauren describes the routine, "At harvest time," which for the site she works on will be relatively soon; meantime, "Various facets need to be done on site by employees, for example, we do mort-cleaning on 14 pens and go to each pen every second day for inspections with part of the operation automated and part done with a dip-net." Dying fish are rare in the net-pens and they find one or two per pen out of literally thousands of fish, but she is educated about and fully apprised of the potential for disaster on a farm site. "A plankton bloom could really kill a lot of the fish in the pen. A harvest takes about two years to produce. 
    

"We get moved from site to site occasionally depending on the personnel situation, or you might stay there on the same site for many months working eight days in and six days out." 
     

She loves the company, "Marine Harvest Canada is a really good company," and she is knowledgeable about fish farming, "Before Marine Harvest Canada came to Klemtu my dad ran a fish farm that was owned by Kitasoo for four years. He managed the site." Her dad has since moved from Klemtu.
     

She remains a central coast person , "I liked it growing up here and I love living here today," but when she gets a break she travels from the remote area to Campbell River or the Lower Mainland.

A new array for gathering hydro power

The EnCurrent Turbine patented by New Energy Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, is making the rounds in North American waters and the system is proving to be a great adaptation in all kinds of high-flow water systems like Calgary city water outflows, steep Alaskan rivers, high-flow tidal currents on the Inside Passage of Vancouver Island, and icy winter waters of Manitoban rivers.

“We put a 5KWh system in the Ruby River in Alaska. Initially they called for 2.5 KWh but our system was able to pull out that much more electricity from the river current,” said Clayton Bear, one of the principals of New Energy Corporation.

“In Manitoba we tested year-round. At present we are looking at two things: further expansion in Alaska and access to the Rural Electrification Program in B.C.,” said Bear, “which is mostly First Nations accessing the program.”

Elsewhere in the country Clayton attended a conference this spring in Moncton looking into the potential for energy in the Maritimes. “The conference was looking at big projects in the Bay of Fundy. Many companies are looking because there is so much power in that water. The tide rises 10 m per second. It’s an incredible amount of energy.”

The conference showed that Bay of Fundy presents many unresolved technical challenges. The generators as yet cannot withstand the beating of that much water. “They are talking about smaller projects in the immediate future using estuaries with high tidal flows off the bay.”

Meanwhile Bear and business partner Robert Moll have EnCurrent Turbines arrayed in five, ten and 25 KWh systems in Canoe Pass, Manitoba, and Alaska on the Yukon River. The next phase for New Energy is to take their tidal project in Canoe Pass (near Quadra Island on the B.C. coast) to the 250 KWh scale with an array of EnCurrent Turbines. The ultimate goal is to extract five to MWh out of the tidal flow around Quadra Island.

At OREG (Ocean Resource Energy Group) Chris Campbell noted the province is organizing a series of regional meetings with First Nations in 2009 and meanwhile the federal government has put some money into an ocean wave energy project with SyncWave in Ahousaht, a semi-remote First Nation community found outside Tofino in the Nuu chah nulth Nation.

VIU grad a biologist in a beautiful land

Vancouver Island University (VIU) has an education program in fisheries and aquaculture that is a magnet to First Nation youth of the Pacific Coast. Sabrina Halvorsen graduated a four-year degree program to become an Associate Biologist for Nuu Chau Nulth Uu-a-thluk Fisheries in Port Alberni, B.C..

“I am a member of the Uchucklesaht Tribe,” said Sabrina of a community of the Nuu Chah Nulth Nation on the west side of Vancouver Island. She received her childhood education at schools in Uchucklesaht, Bamfield, and Port Alberni; Sabrina entered VIU after working in cultivating oysters outside Barkley Sound.

“When I originally started in the Uchucklesaht oyster farm a science opportunity was presented,” and she seized it and went to work on the VIU degree. Today she does biological science for the NTC, “I’ve been doing a variety of different things this spring. We are doing stream restoration work, crab studies, sea otter studies, and general scientific observations.”

She lives in this remarkably beautiful land, “I like the work and days working in the field are my favourite days.” The office work is immersed in policy papers and proposal writing. The NTC has the greater Nuu chah nulth Nation in mind, which is basically from the height of land all the way down the west side of Vancouver Island.

Historically Nuu chah nulth people had closer relations with their northern neighbours the Kwakwaka’wakw more than with the giant Coast Salish nation opposite those heights.

Sabrina works with regional biologists Jim Lane, Katie Beach, and Roger Dunlop in the NTC lands and fisheries offices. “We have sea lice surveys upcoming, continuation of the sea otter counts, and we are conducting crab surveys. I will also be participating in the Burman and Koauk projects which will be determining Chinook salmon escapement to these rivers”.

She works with the Bamfield Marine Science Centre (U of Vic) to deliver aquatic orientation sessions to youth. “We show them the activities of a biologist and how to sample species such as salmon by removing scales and otoliths for age and origin. We teach them the importance of protecting our natural resources

and what we can do to maintain the natural environment. We also try to engage and encourage the students who are interested in working towards science-based career goals.”

The Uchucklesaht oyster and mussel farm that introduced her to the career is no longer operating. “The oyster farm was so remote a location that it’s hard to find personnel who can do it. I hope my band will start that up again someday.”

VIUFA was established in 1979, said Don Furnell, professor in the department, “offering a two-year Diploma in Fisheries and Aquaculture Technology,” and in time, “the program expanded to include a one-year post degree diploma for students that already had a B.Sc. in biological or environmental sciences.” 

In 1997 the department added a B.Sc. in Fisheries and Aquaculture, “Since opening the department has graduated approximately six hundred students,” said Don, “many of whom were of First Nations descent and sponsored by their various bands.”

Facilities have grown to include two cold water tank farms for rainbow trout and Fraser River white sturgeon. The department has a public involvement hatchery at Chase River in Secwepmec territory.

“VIU has a sea water recirculation system where laboratory specimens are kept and bred,” said Don, “an aquaponics room that grows vegetables in conjunction with warm water fish, and a tropical fish room that breeds and grows aquarium fish for the pet trade.”

VIUFA places equal emphasis on fisheries management and aquaculture R and D. Students take courses in salmonid life histories and management, an advanced course in fisheries management with an emphasis on fisheries politics and global warming, a lake survey field and laboratory based course, a course in hydrology and another in limnology, a course on the biology of fish, and another in invertebrate zoology

Even though many of facilities on campus are related to aquaculture there is a strong fisheries component to all the programs. “Because of the dual emphasis on both fisheries and aquaculture graduates find employment in a wide variety of careers in government, in private aquaculture operations,” he said, “and growing a diversity of organisms such as salmon, oysters, clams, sablefish, sturgeon and marine plants and micro algae.”

NBCC the nexus of aquaculture in New Brunswick

Rod Carney is one of the Aquaculture Technician instructors at NBCC-St. Andrews College in New Brunswick, an education institution that lies at the centre of a thriving aquaculture industry in the province. First Nations in eastern Canada have been accessing NBCC-St. Andrews for years to gain technical training in growing fish.

“Over the years we’ve run several programs specifically requested by First Nations, and within the program last year we graduated two more Aboriginal students out of Quebec,” said Rod. The Aquaculture Technician course runs over a ten-month school term from September to June each year with a combination of school work and hands-on training that offers a tech-oriented learning curve.

“St. Andrews in Charlotte County in the south-west is the centre of aquaculture in the province,” he said, describing the island-dotted south-west coast Charlotte County, New Brunswick. “Ninety five percent of the $300 million a year aquaculture industry is located in the south-west coast,” he notes. Other areas of the province have lobster beds and shellfish developments but the Atlantic salmon grow in the waters off Charlotte County.

Rod said the first commercial salt water fish farm was set-up in 1978 and the industry went through the same growing pains that have been reported elsewhere as the industry evolved into a highly regulated and industrialized economy thriving on both coasts. “We’re growing about half the amount of Atlantic salmon that is produced on the west coast,” where the fin-fish aquaculture industry is about $600 million annually, largely for export, making it B.C.’s largest agricultural export.

Rod was a graduate of aquaculture technical training at New Brunswick Community College at St. Andrews in 1979 where he’s now the teacher (one of two instructors) for Aquaculture Technicians-in-training at NBCC-St. Andrews. NBCC campuses are found in Fredericton Centre, Miramichi, Moncton, Saint John, Woodstock, and the NBCC College of Craft and Design.

“Our campus has the aquaculture focus as a practical outcome with industry and hatcheries operating in the vicinity. Our campus has several programs but the training for aquaculture has been set here and much of the training relates to on-land rearing and ocean-based net-pen aquaculture, specifically the growing of Atlantic salmon.”

Because industry is looking at other developments in fish research and development occurs in different species. “We are experimenting with halibut, cod, and shortnose sturgeon,” a fish native to the eastern seaboard and the riverine systems flowing into the east coast.

One company in the province, Supreme Sturgeon and Caviar, works in Charlotte County with 45,000 sturgeon producing three tonnes of caviar per year. The shortnose sturgeon female can live up to 60 years and grow to about 4.5 metres under ideal growing conditions, and sturgeon will live in tidal waters.

“The Atlantic salmon farms in our waters produce for the markets in the North Eastern U.S. and eastern Canada,” said Rod. Meanwhile the program for students at NBCC-St. Andrew will be part of the province to building partnerships with universities in New Brunswick, transferring certificate course credits to university and vice versa. “Our goal is to see the Aquaculture Technician program count as one year toward a four year degree.” Contact Rod at nbcc@gnb.ca or visit www.nbcc.nb.ca

TSBC being green and being seen to be green

The Tire Stewardship of BC has a mandate to deal with discarded rubber tires in the province, and Mike Hennessy told First Nations Drum, “On January 1, 2007, industry got behind the wheel and Tire Stewardship BC, a not-for-profit society, formed to represent the tire retailers in the province.”
    

TSBC took responsibility for the B.C. Ministry of Environment’s tire recycling program, which operated from 1991 to 2006, “the longest running tire recycling program in Canada,” said Hennessy. TSBC is responsible for operating BC’s scrap tire recycling program in accordance with its Ministry of Environment approved Tire Stewardship Plan and the BC Recycling Regulation. “TSBC is accountable to its stakeholders and the public for the collection, processing, and environmentally sound disposal of all scrap tires designated under the Recycling Regulation,” he said.
    

“The society is governed by a board comprised of seven directors representing member organizations: Retail Council of Canada, Western Canada Tire Dealers Association, Rubber Association of Canada, and New Car Dealers Association of BC.” He noted that all provinces have a scrap tire recycling program, the latest being Ontario whose program is scheduled to launch on Sep. 1, 2009.
    

The program works primarily at the retail level with most motorists exchanging old tires for new ones at the time of purchase. Retailers take back one old tire for every new tire sold and arrange for haulers to collect and transport the tires to processors. 
     

Then there is the case of the orphan tire. “Other motorists choose to take their old tires home rather than leave them with the retailer for disposal. Ultimately, these orphan tires end up at a landfill where they are held for collection by haulers,” said Hennessy.
     

TSBC instituted the Return to Retailer (R2R) program in May, 2008 to allow consumers to return orphan tires to participating retailers instead of landfills. They make it easier for consumers to get orphan tires into the recycling stream, reducing the cost of operating municipal landfills and transfer stations.
     

TSBC continues to recruit new R2R participants, particularly in the remote regions and the program is completely voluntary. In fact, said Hennessy, there is nothing to prevent First Nation owned gas stations from participating.
     

He noted while it doesn’t accrue revenue R2R retailers participate to be and to be seen to be “green”, and to attract more potential customers to their establishment. In coming weeks and months the TSBC will be working with other product stewardship agencies regarding recyclables for shipping. 
     

Old tires have a useful purpose, “Over 80 percent of the tires collected are recycled into products, primarily crumb rubber, granules of rubber with the steel and fiber removed.” Crumb is then used to create a variety of products including athletic tracks, synthetic turf fields and golf courses; even asphalt rubber.
     

Western Rubber Group is the company that coordinates the collection of all the tires in the province. It also uses 80% of them in their crumb processing operation, the only such facility in BC.

Forest industry sailing through a perfect storm

Skimikim Nursery in Salmon Arm, B.C. continues to grow trees for silviculture in a province where forestry is struggling, and Skimikim has contracts to fulfill in First Nation forestry departments including Adams Lake Band and Stuwix Resources Joint Venture, two forestry outfits operating in the B.C. Interior. 
     

Skimikim had to close their Surrey greenhouse operations that had been growing trees since the 1960s. “We’re probably not as hard put as eastern Canada,” said Jim Kusisto, but the workload at Skimikim is clearly reduced, “We shipped 275 million seedlings about three years ago, this year we will ship 185 millions seedlings. We’ve lost millions of seedlings in sales in the past three years.”
     

All areas of the province are harvesting less timber, mills are shutting, “Its way down and mills are closing,” said Kusisto. “All of the towns of the B.C. interior are tied to the forest industry and stores are closing on main streets, every month one or two more.”
      

Kusisto agreed that wood pellet manufacture and use of forest waste and biomass, these are new directions for an industry that faces a full blown mountain pine beetle disaster in B.C.. “There are hundreds of thousands of trees standing that have already exceeded their life expectancy,” dead pine trees standing or leaning all over the forests of B.C., and Jim gets to see them up close.
     

The forests of B.C. have been painted a different colour from the normal constant verdant; where once was a constant bright green, instead great red swatches cover long mountain slopes from Houston to Burns Lake, from Prince George to Merritt. It’s a patchwork of dead trees, some standing red and dying, amid thriving spruce or fir. Other pine vistas provide consistent ruination from the top to bottom of a mountain slope.  In the face of all the tumult in the B.C. and Canadian forest industry, “Silviculture has not been ignored,” said Kusisto. But let’s face it, “There are limitations on what you can do to remediate a problem this big. This is off the scale in terms of what we’ve ever done before.”
     

In the forestry industry they’ve encountered what amounts to a perfect storm, “Massive amounts of wood to harvest with no market to sell to and everything in the economy going against us,” thus more than a few have scaled down operations. 
     

Skimikim closed Surrey greenhouse operations that had 20  employees. Kusisto said the time was right for most of the people concerned because the median age in the Surrey operation was older, most were at or near retirement.
     

The operation near Salmon Arm has a more diversified workforce of about 12 to 15 employees. “We are confident that we are going to go on. This year’s contracts look okay. The problem is margins are going to hell as the cost of fertilizer rises and hydro bills increase on greenhouse operations. We did get a break on natural gas this year,” and indoor growing occurred with cost-efficiencies this past winter.
     

The main goal in this economy is to keep the quality of their product up, “You are trying to maintain market share,” and ensure that word of mouth about the Skimikim seedlings is all positive. Good business relations with First Nations also help, “We got a later order from Lower Nicola First Nation this spring.” 
     

\The problem now is finding pine seed, “Pine seed is a valuable commodity right now,” said  Kusisto.  With all the pine in the province dead there is a huge volume demand for pine seed, “and more mixed species planting with pine and spruce, even pine and Douglas Fir. Not to say we’re out of seed, but those who own it are nervous about selling it right now.”
     

Cone orchards are needed, in fact, “It’s a 25 year commitment to invest in cone orchards, and it takes years to collect on that investment. We do grafts and create orchard seedlings by the thousands. You graft the pine strip to a root stock and produce a highly favorable pine tree for cone production.”
     

They did 2,500 grafts this year for cone orchards in B.C. and Alberta. The goal is to produce a bigger, better self-pruning pine tree that grows bigger and produces ‘clear’ wood,” wood without blemishes and knots. “You pick grafts that will produce taller, straighter, self-pruning trees that will deliver clear wood.”
     

\Bigger trees with better volumes of usable timber means the province can adjust future Annual Allowable Cuts upwards without adversely affecting the balance of volume in the forest.

World class research and training in shellfish

 The Vancouver Island University established the Centre for Shellfish Research to go deep into shellfish, including laboratory and field based research into the science of shellfish genomics, explained the centre’s main administrator, Koren Bear.

“Helen Furney Smith is the science officer leading the research into health assessments on shellfish to help industry, and to assess wild stocks,” in both the environmental and commercial context. “The research is using mussels as indicator species, and Helen’s research in genomics looks into the gene expressions of mussels, what stresses them and causes mortalities,” and the research involves species from aquaculture and wild both.

Bear said, “Mussels are a worldwide indicator species of pollution levels, and in many places in the world even if they are growing oysters they will grow mussels in the surroundings because of the gill structure,” of these animals that act as a buttress against pollutants.

Mussels are one part of a multi-tropic trend in aquaculture, as noted recently at the Aquaculture Canada show in Nanaimo. CSFR is also conducting studies into the commercial viability of cockles on the west coast. “This research looks into the commercial aspects and a steering committee is in charge of the program.

Cockles are being examined in brood stock, cockle hatchery conditions (diet, temperature, and densities), and through field investigations. “They are grown in aquaculture elsewhere in the world but they are not done here.”

The commercial aspects examine mortalities (what kills the crop) and field investigations examine sizes of fields of feed. “They feed on micro-algae by filter-feeding, and investigators are looking at long-line cultures versus beach culture,” said Bear.

CSFR-VIU is moving to Deep Bay, next to Fanny Bay to establish field stations working from a new $8 million facility. “We broke ground and it’s due to open July 2010. The Centre for Shellfish Research will be run by Brian Kingzett, as manager when we are becoming a world class research and training facility.”

In her role at CSFR Bear administers programs that, “we continue to offer on contract basis. These existing courses are offered on contract basis, however, all shellfish courses will become open enrolment courses for the general public beginning in March 2010.”

As the department prepares for moving to the Deep Bay Field Station, they are restructuring the educational scope to include Traditional Ecological Knowledge. “We are speaking to First Nation researchers, and Elders possessing traditional knowledge, and medicine expertise that exists in communities,” said Bear.

She said they will enhance the decision-making process in the study of wild animal species. “I am hoping to meet some of these folks at the Shellfish Summer Camp coming Jul 2 to 6, 2009 at Camp Morecroft, Nanoose Bay.”

CSFR is hosting a First Nation Youth Leadership Shellfish Program called FLOW, “Future Leaders on the Water for ages 13 to 18. They are invited to experience an orientation to the scientific Marine Environment, and look closely at shellfish biology.

The program at Nanoose Bay runs at a discounted rate of $250 per person, and youth are accommodated and fed. Activities include kayaking, swimming, a visit and tour through VIU Campus, including the BIO lab, and a look at life on campus.

They will see the sturgeon growing at Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and shellfish under cultivation in CSR labs. Elders will discuss the cultural significance of shellfish middens at Deep Bay.” CSFR entered partnerships to develop a camp model that stresses hands-on activity. Bear said VIU’s Don Tillapaugh calls the camp, “using shellfish to develop essential skills and leadership.”

CSFR is doing more outreach in the coast with Overview Courses on Shellfish Aquaculture. “We go to the community and discuss different species for potential aquaculture development. We are presenting one day overview of scallops at the north end of Vancouver Island in June.”

She said the workshops go into challenges on governance, tenure, capacity issues, and offer an outreach by CSFR in one-day awareness building forums, in First Nations regional centres found in Port Hardy, Campbell River, Port Alberni, Nanaimo Cowichan, and Victoria.

COTR Adventure Training campus set in a great town, Fernie, B.C.

Picture of Joe giving the thumbs up with his dad and friends from Kwadacha

More than a few First Nation youth are taking steps into the world of education to find their way onto bigger things. Joseph Syme, age 19, from Prince George, B.C., is a descendant of the Secwepmec Nation; Joe's mother is a member of the Canim Lake Indian Band.

Joe Syme spent this academic year at the College of the Rockies Fernie Campus in their nine month program toward the Adventure Tourism Degree. He took this interesting diversion after a year at University of Northern B.C. in the Environmental Planning department.

Fernie, "was amazing," said Syme, "Pretty much the best year of my life. It was nine months of extreme activity," and he listed off rock climbing, skiing, rafting, and other activities. "It was all-season, started in September with wilderness travel, hiking, and mountaineering." He said the winter portion included ski-touring, walking uphill on skis then skiing downhill, "It's all worth the effort to get some unbelievable downhill turns."

Syme was immersed in a program involving a lot of intense physical challenges, "rock-climbing is where you tackle a rock face, and mountain climbing is part of a package that includes ice climbing. Mountaineering is taking you to the top of the mountain. You go for the peaks."

The COTR program at Fernie is about training people to manage outdoor adventures. "In-class stuff was based on first aid and risk management," said Syme, "liability waivers, and so forth from the legal point of view," sessions conducted by lawyers.

The business end of Adventure Tourism classroom study included computer time on different applications on Windows in Excel and Word in particular, said Syme, "Another class on entrepreneurship included business people from Fernie. A lot of the times in adventure tourism the companies are pretty small, and we learned about a rafting company in Fernie, and a mountain bike touring company."

Mountain biking was not part of the course, "Next year they are integrating a portion about mountain biking. The certifications that I got help get jobs in the industry. First aid and ski-instructing, swift-water rescue, and life guard training," these are valuable certificates in seeking employment.

"We did a couple of hiking trips; most of it was oriented toward winter avalanche skills training and there was a deadly snowpack this year, kind of dangerous, people died." He also engaged in winter camping, staying in tents: "We hiked in our own tents and a couple of other trips were done where we stayed in huts.

"We did winter survival and dug snow caves and stayed in those. We burrowed out a cave and it was really warm. You can also trench-dig a shelter in the snow and it is faster but not as warm a shelter. Digging the snow cave takes about an hour and it might not be the best choice in a real blizzard."

They learned how to start fires the fastest and most efficient way. "We learned a technique called the bundle technique, bundle branches and break them off in a particular way and it is guaranteed to start a fire with one match. You pick the wood off the surrounding trees so it's not practical in alpine conditions."

In-class assignments included written tests, "For certification there was rigorous testing, especially in First Aid. The outdoor trips were tested by instructor observation with feedback sheets and group debriefing," and this composed part of the marks.

"My marks were pretty good," said Syme. "They talked to us individually to discuss the weaknesses. If we were doing our written assignments we were able to engage the instructors in the outdoors. And you had to have a certain percent on the tests like 80 percent on First Aid. A few students fell off in the marks in these areas," said Syme.

First Nation fish farmers in Clayoquot Sound

Moses Martin lives in one of the most beautiful places in Canada, Tla-o-qui-aht Indian Reserve, Long Beach, Tofino, B.C.. “I come from a family of artists and I’m the one who can’t draw a straight line,” he jokes. He works in the region as liaison with Creative Salmon, the net-pen fish farm company that grows Chinook salmon around giant Meares Island amid Clayoquot Sound.
      

Martin always worked hard at expanding the economic footprint of Tla-o-qui-aht in the region's economic activity. He recently acquired a 24’ Harbercraft aluminum boat to course the pristine waters of his home, “We do guiding, fishing charters, bear watching and whale watching tours, and tours of Creative Salmon fish farm sites. Farm sites are found on the east side of Meares Island about 20 km out of Tofino.”
     

Tla-o-qui-aht has a few members working for Creative Salmon, “We have a few community members working on sites. Creative Salmon’s workforce is about 25 percent First Nation and we are working toward 50 percent.” Expanding the number calls for training which is on the job training by and large, said Martin. 
     

“They are not bad paying jobs,” and he noted in summer the workforce increases as students hire on at $15 per hour. Farm sites employ people year-round and employees go in and out from Tofino daily since the locations are not as remote as many of the farm sites on the east site of Vancouver Island, whereas up in Klemtu sites owned by Marine Harvest Canada are distinctly remote.
     

Tla-o-qui-aht members find employment at Lions Gate Fisheries which operates a fish processing plant in Tofino. Jobs in all facets of the industry are year-round. Meanwhile the tourism industry is beginning to pick up in Tofino and  Martin has the 24’ aluminum touring boat moored at the government dock in Tofino. 
     

“The business of tourism is beginning to pick up and it’s busy in Tofino right now. It has had a bit of a slow start,” and experienced a decline over the winter in what is normally a year- round destination area.
     

Creative Salmon’s Tim Rundle said the company continues to grow Chinook salmon in the usual fashion to 15 lbs dressed and delivered fresh to market. Creative Salmon like others presently grow the fish in a relatively unsure regulatory market.
     

“It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s DFO that regulates the fish farm industry or the province, as long as it doesn’t set it back.” The general criticism of netpen fish farming regards escapes, disease, and conditions on the bottom beneath net-pens. Creative Salmon has learned over the years, “The big lesson is we do it low density because if you crowd the fish they don’t get the proper nutrition.”
     

Laurie Jensen is the Environmental, Licences and Community Relations Manager Mainstream Canada (A Division of Ewos Canada Ltd., which also grows fish in net-pens on the west side of Vancouver Island. “Fish farming is important for producing healthy food for a growing population of the world,” said Laurie. 
     

“Our aim is to produce food in a sustainable way so that our practices do not reduce the potential for future food production based on the same natural resources.” She noted that Mainstream Canada has achieved full certification in the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard for all their BC operations.

Removing one roadblock to growing First Nation communities

Five Nations Energy Inc. provides an essential service in a remote region, an electric transmission service that serves three First Nation communities on the shores of James Bay. Joe Gaboury is the General Manager of FNEI, “First Nations Energy is the only First Nations-owned electricity transmission company in Canada. It is a federally incorporated non-profit corporation owned equally by Attawapiskat Power Corporation, Fort Albany Power Corporation, and Kashechewan Power Corporation.” The electricity, in addition to powering these Cree Nation communities, runs down a 90 km extension to the De Beers Canada Victor Mine that opened in 2008.
     

De Beers is producing a quarter of a billion dollars in diamonds each year and employing 400 people. Gaboury said the mine has been good for the area, creating jobs for people especially in Attawapiskat and Fort Albany. “They say it has a 12-year life span and the company is continuing to explore leases in the James Bays Lowlands for more diamonds. They may be here a lot longer.”

      

Gaboury is a businessman, educated in accounting at Laurentian University and University of Sudbury and has a Masters in Business Administration. He began to manage FNEI late in 2008 after a three-year stint running Attawapiskat Power Corporation brought him to complete awareness of transmission operations. His task is straight-forward, “Increase reliability for the customers and keep the system growing.” DeBeers added an extra line to the transmission system to increase the wattage capacity.

    

 Delivery of enough electricity changes the way communities operate, “Electric heating is displacing the use of wood energy in heating homes,” said Gaboury. “The system is able to support this, nevertheless, upgrading the transmission system is an on-going challenge.” Delivering this much electricity is important, “Making the communities expandable was one of the driving forces to developing a transmission network,” said Gaboury. “Diesel was restricting the size of the communities, it was loud, it was an environmental mess, and these communities had outgrown the capacity of diesel electrical generation.”
      

He said a regional transmission grid linked to Hydro One takes away all the former constraints on schools, recreation facilities, and the ability to add new housing subdivisions. “It changes the game; at least it removes one road-block to expanding these communities."
     

Each town-site on the western shore of James Bay, from the southerly Ft. Albany, to Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat at the other end, has established its own distribution corporation, which do billing, service, and general maintenance, he explained, “They each have their own employees and operations.”

      

FNEI has four full-time employees working maintenance and emergency services. “We’ve been going ten years now and we’re still here. It does offer us a bit of notoriety,”  Gaboury finds it sadly amusing that they are the only First Nation high voltage transmission company in Canada, but, “it allows us to serve as a role model.”