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.”

Staying ahead of the curve on oil spills

Prince Rupert, B.C., is home to the new Eagle Bay OSRV (Oil-Spill Recovery Vessel) launched late 2008 by Burrard Clean Operations (BCO) to prepare for on-coming new industrial developments in Prince Rupert and Kitimat. "We want to be an insurance policy for the environment," said Kevin Gardner, BCO President. "We don't want to be out there because it means something has spilled, so it's one of those pieces of machinery that you hope you never have to use."
     

The new environmental management vehicle will range anywhere on the coast, "basically from Shearwater all the way to Prince Rupert," a large area of operation, said Gardner, including Haida Gwaii. The Eagle Bay is a 15.54 m (51') aluminum monohull skimmer with a recovery capacity of 32.8 tonnes per hour. It has Hiab Seacrane, two Cana-flex sweep booms, and two LAMOR HK2-2.54 Brush skimmers for drawing oil and flotsam from the seas. She will run 21 knots on the Caterpillar C12 main engine.
     

Gardner said the vessel made the voyage from Klemtu to Prince Rupert in 6.5 hours, a very respectable speed. "The Eagle Bay has a higher speed, better skimming capabilities most skimmers, and more comforts for the crew so they can be out on the water for longer periods of time. But this if this boat never touches a drop of oil, that is a good thing," said Craig Dougans, Manager of Response and Operational Standards for BCO.
     

The purpose of the Eagle Bay is "to stay ahead of the curve. It was built because of the increased pace of economic development in the north, in particular Kitimat and Prince Rupert. BCO has plans for more environmental oil-spill response equipment to be deployed in the north." He added, "The sinking of the Queen of the North was the impetus for action. Sometimes it takes a disaster to happen and then people have to find the positives."
     

The new skimmer was a $1.3 million expense to BCO and will operate in the Pacific Coast with 12 other similar emergency-oriented vessels, including one in Alaska that is a sister ship to the Eagle Bay.

Broadwater Industries has years of service from aluminum watercraft in Prince Rupert, B.C.

Boats are essential service vehicles in a coastal environment but in the North Pacific Coast it is a tough environment so it takes a boat that can handle the stormy and belligerent North Pacific Ocean. Broadwater Industries built their first aluminum boat in 1984 for the B.C. Dept. of Forestry, said Mike Collins, head of the boat division. “I have been building boats since 1977 and in my 32-year career I have built over 500 boats personally.”
   

 Broadwater Industries boat division has been visited by customers for many different reasons, he explained, to build boats for everything from recreation, commercial, Auxiliary Coast Guard, Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Environment, crew boats, charter Boats, to the frequently seen aluminum work boats.
    

One of the advantages of an aluminum boat is its durability, said  Collins, “And they provide many years of service with low maintenance cost. The durability of the hull allows the boat to be beached for shore work. They stand up very well with collisions with debris in the water.” He said the aluminum boat repairs are very often minor.
     

Aluminum boats retain their value over the years, and “usually the replacement power (engine) is the largest cost to keep the boat up to its origin state. I know of several boats that I have built 25 years ago that are still running around,” said  Collins. The aluminum boat construction begins with a quote, “With new sales of our boats the quoted price is always guaranteed as long as there are no significant changes after the construction has started.”
     

Broadwater sends weekly emails to the buyers with pictures showing the construction process, “and if any questions arise we are able to answer them promptly. If there are any changes during construction we work very closely with our customers to keep any added costs to the minimum.” With the finished boat Broadwater Industries gives a 10 year limited warranty on the hull.
    

“Our boats are all custom built,” said Collins, “so we don't normally have boats in our yard for sale. This I feel is a good practice, this gives us the opportunity to listen to our customer's needs and ideas of how they would like their boat constructed.” He noted, “Many of our customers are First Nations. We have sold boats to individuals for recreation, food fishing, commuting, chartering, and tourism. We have sold our boats as well to First Nation communities. Their main uses so far have been for fisheries programs, Watchman programs, and crew boats.”
     

The designs and applications at Broadwater are time-tested and unique, “Our boats have evolved into one of the best built anywhere. I have always appreciated listening to our First Nation customer's ideas because most boats that are sold to First Nation communities are used in remote regions under at times unfavorable weather conditions and usually on a daily basis.”

Learn more from Mike Collins at 1-250-624-5158 www.broadwater.bc.ca

Numas Warrior a powerful ship-berthing tugboat for the Orca Quarry Marine Terminal

The Orca Quarry located on the east coast of northern Vancouver Island, 3.8 km west of Port McNeill, B.C., is permitted to produce 6.6 million tons of sand and gravel per year. Production began in Feb. 2007 including a dedicated ship-loading facility in Port McNeill for handling vessels up to 80,000 tons.

This harbour activity is now enhanced by the delivery of the Numas Warrior to Port McNeill, “a powerful and modern ship-berthing tugboat now in service assisting 80,000 ton capacity Panamax class freighters in and out of the Orca Quarry marine terminal,” said Mike Westerlund, Communications Manager, Polaris Minerals Corporation.

Polaris owns 88% of Orca Quarry, with the remaining 12% interest held by Namgis First Nation, said Westerlund, “The tugboat ownership group, consisting of Polaris Minerals Corporation of Vancouver, the Sea Legend Group of Port Hardy and Island Tug and Barge of Vancouver, were pleased to press the Numas Warrior into service in December.”

Since then the Warrior has been on hand to move each freighter loaded at the quarry and assists with the loading of barges dispatched for Vancouver. The tugboat operates powerful engines with rotating drives, “on a beamy, flat-bottomed hull design. The boat is about 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and has a relatively flat bottom,” said  Westerlund, “When combined with its twin 1,200 hp diesel engines and 360 degree rotating Z drives, this boat can move sideways almost as fast as it can move forwards.”

He said these attributes make it ideal for controlling the movements of large vessels, and “the new boat has won the admiration of all who have worked with her, including the BC Coast Pilots.” The twin MTU diesels meet Tier II emission standards, an advanced standard for clean burning diesel engines.

Mining is an optimist’s game

It was fundamentally important for the Terrane Metals Mt. Milligan Mine project to hold its own. “We are at the federal permitting and environmental assessment phase,” said Ryan King, Terrane Metals Investor Relations, “We’re probably one year away from construction,” he said , “It will be 2012 before production starts on copper concentrate to be smelted in Asia.”

The company placed orders for industrial machinery and equipment to be installed at the mine site. Glen Wonders is Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability for Terrane Metals at Mt. Milligan Mine, and works with local parties affected by the mining operations scheduled to ensue 155 km northwest of Prince George, B.C..

“It is very hard to access debt capital at the moment, lending institutions are very cautious,” said Wonders. He was, like everyone, “waiting for investor confidence to return. It’s not about our mine. You have to keep the problems in perspective. It remains a favorable mine,” he said.

“You have to be an optimist to be in mining. Miners as a group are always optimistic.” He said the Mt. Milligan Mine is in the midst of federal and provincial permitting processes while the Environmental Assessment has been done on the provincial side and a technical review is underway on the federal side.

One of the most important functions for Wonders is liaison with First Nations. “Our engagement with First Nations is detailed in the discussions about employment. The mine means potential jobs for First Nations people if the mine receives all needed approvals and financing,” said Wonders. Those he has been involved with are from Ft. St James, McLeod Lake, West Moberly, and Halfway First Nations. “The mine is on the treaty land of McLeod Lake First Nation,” said Wonders.

The Nak’azdli First Nation took umbrage with the claim that the project is backed by the First Nation on whose lands it is located. They recently disputed the McLeod Lake claim to the territory. Wonders lived in Prince George for many years and is aware of the crisis in forestry jobs that surrounds the region, reducing employment in towns like Mackenzie and Ft St James north of Prince George. “The mine is a beacon of light for a lot of people.”

Talking Stick, Vancouver Island, Indigenous Art, by artist unknown

 

Canadian wood fuel is powering European cities

The time is now for things to change in forestry in B.C. and across Canada, said John Swaan, Wood Pellet Association of Canada's executive director. The industry faces many challenges, and among them an excess of deteriorating wood fibre that is growing in value, depending on the outcome of research and development in the use of bio-mass for energy.

"Access to sawmill residue is hard to find," said John. "The sawmill residue is being totally utilized. Meanwhile non-commercial grade fibre is abundant in the B.C. forests and elsewhere," due to existing forestry practices. The problem for wood pellet manufacture is that to harvest debris would cause a five-fold increase in the cost of fibre used in wood pellet manufacture because sawmill residue has been the cost-efficient commodity to make wood pellets to this date.

Nevertheless, "The forest floor holds the future of economic development," said John. In terms of bio-energy, untold mega-watts of electricity are being slashed and piled and burnt in North America's forests, a situation that becomes practically macabre when the deterioration of mountain pine beetle factors into the equation. In that disaster lies an opportunity, and the members of the association are poised to develop a new economic sector.

 People like John Swaan are impacted by the current state of B.C. forests because they are close witnesses to the situation. "I have made many trips through the B.C. Interior looking at forests that I was involved doing the replanting of lodgepole pine, and those trees of 30 years ago are dead." John doesn't mind saying the Ministry of Forests in B.C. remains bent on placating licensees and that is a perpetual reality in North American forestry, companies rule the forests. Things may be changing, however, and Swaan said First Nations are major partners in accessing volume of fibre required to the bio-mass/energy production equation, whatever form it ends up taking.

"We need to reclaim and remediate forests and First Nations are front-line advocates of the process. We have to deal with big changes in forests because of 50 years of fire suppression in forestry management." Fire is an ecological player that has played a reduced role, and it is a major part of the way forests have evolved. Meanwhile, the market for wood-generated energy is expanding, "Wood is displacing coal in Europe," said John. "In one Belgian city one of our members started shipping 120,000 tonnes of wood pellet annually to replace 80,000 tonnes of coal." Cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK are switching from coal fuel to wood. Canada is the source of their wood-energy.

The wood pellet industry runs on a shoe string, according to Len Fox, General Manager, Premium Pellet, in Vanderhoof, B.C., "It's difficult to make money. Our fibre costs are high and our profit margins are tight." Even so, Premium Pellet is filling orders as usual in Europe, and increasingly more often in North America. The area of operation for Premium Pellet is northern B.C., which puts Premium Pellet in close liaison with First Nations throughout the territory and they work exceptionally closely with Saikuz First Nation.

"Six of our 15 employees are First Nation and one of them is about to become certified as a millwright," said Len who grew up in Telkwa, B.C., a historical village of 1,400 located on the Bulkley and Telkwa Rivers. This is a completely integrated community of Babine First Nation people living with those of non-Native descent.

The business is export-driven and viability depends on watching costs, "We're the tail wagging the dog at this end of the industry. We are affected whenever CN Rail puts up their rates or truckers put up their rates. On the other hand we're pretty comfortable in our operations right now. We have an affordable supply of fibre and good relations all around."

 The Premium Pellet is a subsidiary of L&M Lumber Ltd. and Nechako Lumber Co Ltd. "L&M has agreements to employ Saik'uz First Nation (Stoney Creek) people in their harvest and other operations," said Len. Saik'uz is located 9km south-east of Vanderhoof on Kenney Dam road.

First Nation owned college feeling economy’s crunch

Haisla Nation in Kitimat, B.C., owns a Registered Private College in partnership with Alcan Aluminum and Roger Leclerc is the director of Kitimat Valley Institute (KVI). "We do several areas of programs," said Leclerc, "Aboriginal Education and Training, Technical and Industry programs, consulting work, special programs for management, pulp and paper technician program," and KVI has run a power engineering program in the past, "and still have the curriculum for that program." KVI has a conference centre for rent. (Story 2009)
 

At KVI, "Presently we are providing a 10 month employment training initiative that provides them with a Dogwood (high school diploma) certificate," said  Leclerc. "We are delivering academic and life skills programs, employment readiness, and work experience placements into jobs." The demands of a changing economy are creating new business opportunities in the region, and KVI runs a 12-day Aboriginal BEST Program, delivered on behalf of the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, as run by Bruce Lacroix, "We've run it for the last two years," said  Leclerc. "It provides information and the ability to start a business," teaching the students business plans and marketing skills.
 
"With all these different industries coming into the region a local small business community will benefit," said Leclerc. KVI is using various delivery modes to put the education on-stream, "We deliver on-line programs and offer computer labs." Trades and equipment operation are offered, "KVI, Kitimaat Village (Haisla Nation's central community), and North West Community College are delivering a carpentry and housing maintenance program to produce residential housing workers."
 

Leclerc noted, "We struggle on delivering an essential job readiness program at KVI because it's a social program," and the education funds are hard to find. "We'll have 20 people register and 15 to 17 will complete it. This year we started with 10 and it's tough because we get no public funding. We've had industry and shareholders KVI's partners) fund the program in the past." The job readiness program delivers wider community benefits by building the capacity of the community for employment, "It has a September start date and we want to keep it alive. ALCAN is 110 percent behind what KVI is doing. We have anywhere between 500 and 1000 students and we operate 12 months a year." Leclerc said the ALCAN modernization program is moving ahead at a reduced pace in this 'down' economy, "and we are anticipating major expansions for industry, which works 12 months a year."

Meanwhile the school programs, industry related and dependent, have been reduced in scale to match the shrunken economic activity of a recession, "We've gone to job sharing ourselves, no layoffs, but KVI staff has been put on a three-day work week."

Dialogue on Aquaculture in First Nations Drum April 2009

 

Canadians for Reconciliation continue to meet with success

The Elders from Sto:lo, Stat'myx, Salish, and Nisga'a nations needed to be housed out of the elements during the Chinese New Year's Day Parade in Vancouver, B.C., as it happened to be a cold one on Jan. 27, 2009, "A very cold and wet event this year," said Bill Chu, who organized an assembly of First Nations in the parade on Main Street.

Bill Chu's guests, the wait for the march of the dragons and that doesn't normally happen. Bill has organized similar multi-cultural events over the past few years in Vancouver.

"It always seems to be raining on the New Year's Parade," said Bill, "but this year it was bitterly cold." Bill Chu is a driving force behind Canadians for Reconciliation, "a peaceful non-partisan grassroots movement committed to developing a new relationship with aboriginal people, one that signifies a deep apology for past injustice, a willingness to honor truth now, and a resolve to embrace each other in the new millennium."

There is some missing pieces too, that they would like to embrace. "A professor at UBC informed Bill that the 1881 census in B.C. revealed 20 percent of the non-Aboriginal population in the province was Chinese. "There were more Chinese than any other single immigrant group. There is no history books that explain this, and it paints the Chinese of British Columbia in the completely different light."

Chinese were indeed a populous group, but not exactly a uniform one because the in-migration was practically entirely men. Furthermore because of the misinformation in the history books, "Today we are seen as recent immigrants. Our history has been suppressed to benefit of the white guys. Aboriginal people and our people were treated similar ways. We suffered similar discrimination and all of it was written right out of the history books.

"In the 1800s when the government of B.C. would give away free tracts of land only two groups of people were excluded from this privilege: Chinese and Aboriginal. We were useful to work on building the railroad and working in the mines, but we were never welcome and they used us out of necessity. It was a cheap way to finish the railroad." As a result the years 1881 to 1885 compose a memorable chapter of labour exploitation of Chinese men.

"It's not just about wages," said Bill, "and we didn't get those every day of the year either. We were only paid nine months of the year. During winter there was no work and they stopped paying us. It trapped the people in place with no health care, inadequate constructions to survive to winter, and no way to save any money." Everything they saved was spent on surviving three wintery months with no income.

The Chinese began turning to the only alliances open due to the draconian systemic racism that was blossoming in the North American continent, with B.C. distinguished by particular complications related to the location on the Pacific Rim, namely, Pacific-based people. 

Bill said, "The Aboriginal story I like to tell is from a Chinese restaurant owner who was passing away, and he gathered his children around him, and he told them, 'You have to treat the Aboriginal people well.'

"'Why must we do this?' asked the restaurateur's children, 'Way back when I was a railroad worker who got injured I was left by the tracks to die because that is what they did for us. Nothing. A few agonizing days a group of Aboriginal people walked by and picked me up and took me home where they nursed me back to health. And I became a restaurant owner.'"

Bill noted, "That's just one insight. The fact is that in 1885 the white guys decided, 'We don't want the Chinese here anymore.' They started the head tax in 1885, slapped on the infamous head tax $50 to enter the country. Only the Chinese, nobody else, had to pay the head tax. At that time for $50 you could buy a house. It was a lot of money"

The Chinese already in the country for many years may have once intended to return to China but their chances of that had always been slim and now they were none. He said the era of the head tax put the Canadian Chinese in a big dilemma. Here they were, many of them since 1858, and suddenly it is was stick around in Vancouver enduring this horrendous discrimination and scraping for a living. That was the moment when some of them intermarried with Aboriginal population."

Bill Chu is hopeful that a wider body of research begins to develop in the history of Chinese in British Columbia because it precedes Canada and the Chinese should be acknowledged for their place in the foundations of an important nation in the world.

The way it’s got to be for mining in B.C.

The B.C. First Nations Mining Conference late last year in Prince George, B.C. contained intensive discussion at an open mike from representatives of First Nations across the province. The microphone was open to the First Nation leadership, and the mining industry in attendance listened to input throughout the conference.

“It was within the modern day treaty making process, the recommendations that came forward front and centre, that said you have to deal with each other with respect,” said one speaker from the Dease Lake area of Northern B.C.. 

“What does that really mean?" he asked. "Does that mean offering as little as possible, disrespecting our people by the offers on the table? I think that here we are trying to find solutions about how to get along with industry, and how to be partners, and how to find solutions together. I think that can be most effective if we clearly understand what that word respect means.”

He said, “We wouldn’t have to coerce government to change legislation or the regulations about how we conduct business with our people if we lived respecting people and others. If industry regarded that word and its full meaning, and some of them do, I don’t paint the brush broadly, because some come to us and say, ‘We want to work together,’ but the thing is that with the climate here and the unresolved issues we need to spread that message, even to our own people. To me it’s an important word.”

Another speaker from the Treaty Eight area (north-east B.C.) said, “We were in the process of negotiating mining agreements with companies in our area, and they told the government that they were talking with us.”

He explained, “After that little bit of information was exchanged they stopped talking to us. We’ve got mining happening all over our area, and they opened another mine to start producing coal, and there is not one person from our community working in it.”

He noted with some frustration, “They offered $700 for education in our community. Seven hundred dollars doesn’t even cover the cost of busing our kids to school in Chetwynd.”

A speaker from the Campbell River area, John Henderson, former chief of the Campbell River Indian Band, said, “Up and down the coast, isolated remote communities have felt the impact of the logging industry as well as the overfishing. They are now left with very little in those communities. So the challenge that we have regards mining a sustainable resource. If the answer is no, it isn’t sustainable, how do we insure that the First Nations and non-First Nation communities are sustainable after the mining resource is gone?”

“You know as First Nations it is very difficult to do business. We get the finger pointed at us and the non-Native community won’t talk to us. We’re going through a lot of that at home right now. If we’re going to be true partners then let’s have First Nations at the table. Let us develop a partnership. Let’s talk about business.” 

Henderson noted, “We’ve got all kinds of boards and associations across this country where First Nations aren’t even a part of anymore. We need a voice, whatever that may be. If we’re going to be partners with a mining company or an oil and gas company then 50 percent of that organization should be First Nation. There is no question about that. So how do we get there?”

He said, “It’s up to council members to make sure they buy into the process. But if there is nothing on the table and the end of the day what is the point? We can’t just be pawns in the business world there. “The way it comes out, it is prejudice. And that is what the non-Native community is saying to us, ‘You want the door open. You want guaranteed employment. What about us? Where are our jobs?’”

“That’s on the other side of the table. That’s got to stop. There is nothing unions and all those things that are out there.”

Henderson concluded, “It’s a long story every time we talk about partnership with non-Native organizations. How do we fix it? Like I said, there should be First Nation involvement in the true sense of the word. Because there is no BS’n about it, that’s the way it's got to be.