The FOCS Summer 2022 Newsletter is here shedding light on the major issues in Clayoquot Sound and beyond as well as getting a glimpse of the work we have been doing over the last several months, including updates on our campaigns.  Articles featured in this Newsletter are:

• B.C. Government Must Defer Logging in Clayoquot Sound + Fund Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas
• Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) Forest Defenders Seek Dropped Charges Due to Abuse of Process
• 6 Action We Can Take for Old Growth Forests
• Government’s TMX Pipeline Investment Could Be $30 Billion!?! How much do taxpayers have to pay?
• Canada’s Finance Minister Continuing to Ignore Climate Change Realities
• Clayoquot Salmon Roundtable Marine Risk Assessment: Special Reportback
• Deadly Parasites: Salmon Farms Provide Ideal Breeding Conditions for Sea Lice
• Deadly Viruses, Bacteria, and Diseases: Salmon Farms Factory Conditions Increase Spread
• The Solution: Remove Salmon Farms from the Ocean ASAP
• Imperial Metals Surrenders Tenures near Skagit Headwaters
• Salmon Stories Initiative Aims to Win Hearts and Minds to Speak Up for Salmon
• “Fracking The Peace” Documentary Highlights Impact of Fossil Fuel Extraction
• Free National Parks Pass Possible with Prescription for Nature

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Here you will find the FOCS Winter 2021 – 2022 Newsletter to explore the major issues in Clayoquot Sound and beyond as well as getting a glimpse of the work we have been doing over the last several months, including updates on our campaigns.  Articles featured in this Newsletter are:

• Climate Action Requires Canada to Invest to Protect 30% Minimum of Land and Ocean by 2030
• Fairy Creek Blockades Surpasses Clayoquot Blockades as Canada’s Largest Act of Civil Disobedience
• Prime Minister’s Holiday in Tofino Demonstrates Structural Racism in Canada
• Imperial Metals Renews Interest in Clayoquot Sound as Mount Polley Engineers Solely Held Accountable

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• Develop science-based protection targets and policies for all ecosystems, from dry forests to rainforests (including old-growth forests), from grasslands to tundra, from freshwater to marine ecosystems.
• At a minimum, adopt targets that match or exceed the national (25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030) and international (30% by 2030) protected areas targets.
• Support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), with appropriate policies and sufficient funding for land-use planning, management and stewardship programs such as Guardians initiatives, and associated Indigenous-led sustainable economic development in First Nations communities.
• Dedicate significant annual funding to purchase and protect private lands of high conservation value.
• Embrace the federal funding for expanding protected areas in BC for IPCA’s and land acquisition.

#PROTECTWHATYOULOVE

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This and many more articles can also be found in the FOCS Winter 2021-2022 Newsletter. Please click THIS LINK to explore more of our work and learn how you can help protect Clayoquot Sound.

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Scientists estimate that 50% of Earth should be in protected areas and climate stabilization areas by 2030 yet people are being attacked by their own governments to stop further environmental destruction, as in the case of the Fairy Creek Blockades where this photo was taken. Photo: Marnie Recker @marniereckerphoto

Adapted from an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from 200 environmental and social justice groups, including Friends of Clayoquot Sound.

The recent election underscored many issues of critical importance to people in Canada, including the urgency of addressing climate change, spurring nature’s recovery and ensuring greater equity. To do so, Canada must act boldly. 

Habitat loss is the number one driver of ecosystem degradation. Creating protected areas is an essential tool to address this crisis. The Canadian Government’s commitment to establish 10 new national parks and 10 new national marine conservation areas, and co-managing them with Indigenous nations, is an important goal as part of the commitment to protect 25% of land and ocean by 2025 and 30% by 2030. 

A bold strategy must be built with Indigenous Peoples and with full respect for their rights, title and knowledge systems. Our expectation is that every Indigenous Nation that wants to create an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) or Guardian program to protect their territories will be supported by the Canadian government, including using all possible influence with provincial and territorial governments. Providing capacity-building resources and legal, regulatory and policy conditions for establishment and maintenance of the IPCAs by First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities is a key part of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples as recommended by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We are urging all levels of government to fully implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and respect the inherent and constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples in all conservation initiatives. 

Protecting natural carbon storage from being destroyed, alongside dramatic reductions in fossil fuel emissions, is necessary to meet climate targets. Protected areas can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation while protecting biodiversity. Integrating climate change considerations into conservation planning will fundamentally improve land and ocean use decision-making and outcomes.

#LASTSTANDFORFORESTS

#WORTHMORESTANDING

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This and many more articles can also be found in the FOCS Winter 2021-2022 Newsletter. Please click THIS LINK to explore more of our work and learn how you can help protect Clayoquot Sound.

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Clayoquot Salmon Festival X The Festival of What Works

Salmon play an integral role for coastal livelihoods, cultures, and ecosystems on the west coast. And they lead incredible lives, starting in freshwater then migrating to the ocean. Celebrating the backbone of the west coast is what inspires Friends of Clayoquot Sound to organize the annual Clayoquot Salmon Festival based out of Tofino. With COVID remaining an issue, Friends of Clayoquot Sound are taking the 2021 Clayoquot Salmon Festival online once again.

For a second year in a row, the Clayoquot Salmon Festival is teaming up with Salmon Nation’s Festival of What Works for a week to celebrate salmon and amplify what is working to protect the greater salmon bioregion. The Clayoquot Salmon Festival X Festival of What Works collaboration runs from Sunday, November 2 – Sunday, November, 7, featuring 50+ online events, 100+ speakers, and short films on demand. By taking Clayoquot Salmon Festival online, we aim to provide an opportunity to reflect upon and build an active appreciation for the irreplaceable value of salmon to people and ecosystems across the salmon bioregion.

Reconciliation and collective healing are major themes for this year’s content as Indigenous knowledge and stewardship are humanity’s greatest hope for protecting salmon, the ancient salmon forests and salmon watersheds. Tla-o-qui-aht master carver and land defender, Joe Martin, shares his ancestral knowledge and artistic practice in “ƛaʔuukʷiatḥ Dugout Canoe” and “Forests Across Generations”, with both films available on demand through the Festival. Numerous short films from Friends of Clayoquot Sound and our allies, also presented on demand, help tell the stories of the thousands who have mobilized and been arrested in both Clayoquot Sound and Fairy Creek to protect the old-growth trees of the salmon ecosystems on Vancouver Island.

At least 137 different species depend on the marine-rich nutrients that wild salmon provide. As a keystone species, salmon support life such as orcas, bears, wolves, and eagles while providing nutrients to the ancient rainforests of Pacific Northwest. But salmon are also under significant stress in the environment from climate change and water pollutants. Within the on demand section you can also watch “Salmon Warriors: An End to Engineered Fish” to learn more of the important perspectives on salmon solidarity with Skookum John in Ahousaht and marine biologist Alexandra Morton in the Broughton Archipelago.

The Clayoquot Salmon Festival is timed to coincide with the return of the salmon spawning season on the west coast. The tenacious drive of salmon hurling themselves upriver over obstacles to give life to the next generation is inspiring to witness. The Festival always prioritizes celebrating the return of the salmon with our own creative spirit. Make sure to check out the on demand Gust of Wind performance series presented in collaboration with the Tofino Arts Council. Willie Thrasher and No Attraction perform outdoors offering powerful songs and thoughtful perspectives at iconic locations around Clayoquot Sound.

Salmon are essential to protecting a way of life rooted in the Pacific northwest environment. They inspire us to confront challenges, like having difficult conversations, which is why we are focusing on education through the Festival at this important time. To stay up to date with all the events, please follow Friends of Clayoquot Sound and Clayoquot Salmon Festival on Facebook and visit our website www.focs.ca/salmonfestival to link into Salmon Nation’s larger Festival of What Works schedule with over 50 events and many on demand films!

Clayoquot Salmon Festival Curated Event Stream

Schedule for the Festival of What Works

6 Days / 50+ Online Events / Free & By Donation

Register @ www.festivalofwhat.works

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November 2, 2021

Kick Off Event

6:00 – 6:30pm

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November 3, 2021

Nature Based Planning in Action

10:00 – 11:30am

Nature-based solutions are underpinned by natural processes or structures, designed to address environmental challenges while providing multiple benefits to economy, society and our ecological systems. In short: they’re what works. Two exceptional leaders and planners share how we can use nature to inform, plan, design and make decisions—and how, by doing so, we can protect our natural environments. Herb Hammond, from Silva Forest Foundation, will share the philosophy, principles and process of nature-based planning, and how his development of NBP has been shaped by his work with many Indigenous peoples. Dawn Morrison, from the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, will share her analysis, insights and experience on how NBP is complementary to Indigenous knowledge, laws and governance. She will also share an overview of current work that is using NBP to reassert Indigenous rights to hunt, fish, farm and to protect land and water.

Featuring:

Herb Hammond

Dawn Morrison

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November 3, 2021

The Residential School Legacy—And What Comes Next

1:30 – 2:30pm

For much of the 20th century in Canada, it was mandatory for all Indigenous children to be taken from their families and sent to institutions designed to assimilate them into white, Christian, Canadian society. Abhorrent abuse was widespread and systemic. Two Indigenous elders who have survived the Residential School System share their stories, and discuss what we can do—now—to support those still facing the after-effects of this shameful history, and confront the ongoing, systemic racism towards Indigenous people still occurring today. Only by listening and understanding can we begin to move forward into action. There will be a live Q&A with the panelists.

Featuring:

George Muldoe

Bev Sellers

Hup Wil Lax A (Kirby Muldoe)

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November 4, 2021

The Blue Economy

3:00 – 4:30pm

How can Alaskans harness the opportunity to create healthy economies and ecosystems through development of Indigenous-led kelp farming practices? This session will showcase leaders in the Blue Economy—Alaskans staking a claim in the state’s plans to grow a billion-dollar mariculture industry. While leading fisheries are lining up for permits, the difference lies in millennia of experience in sustainable harvest and marine responsibility that inform a Native brand in Indigenous-led kelp farming and processed foods.

Featuring:

Dune Lankard

Jim Smith

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November 4, 2021

4:00 – 6:00pm

Kelly Terbasket, co-founder of IndigenEYEZ and kinSHIFT, will share how combining creative arts practices with land-based learning offers medicine for our troubled relationships, particularly between Indigenous peoples and settlers. Called the creative empowerment model, this creative play allows us to access our imagination, vulnerability, and participate in co-learning in a way that builds trust. Join us for this original, important interactive workshop.

Featuring:

Kelly Terbasket

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November 5, 2021

UNDRIP: Why It Matters

3:00 – 4:00pm

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 by a majority of 144 states in favour. Both Canada and the United States voted against. Jennifer Preston and Paul Joffe will discuss UNDRIP, sharing its history and its current state as a global human rights instrument. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world and—as Preston and Joffe highlight—it can be used to advance sustainable development, address climate change and enhance food security. Both presenters were involved in the development of the Declaration and now work to implement it. Find out more about this essential agreement and its power for good.

Featuring:

Paul Joffe

Jennifer Preston

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November 5, 2021

Activism Beyond Burnout

4:00 – 5:30pm

Activists often live and work inside contexts that make self care difficult. This healing session will be led by two lifelong BC activist leaders sharing their own stories and strategies, and offering practices that help to sustain this work. Participants will learn about deep breathing, self-care, support networks and other strategies to commit deeply to the service of life, including our own.

Featuring:

Jeh Custerra

Donna Morton

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November 6, 2021

Climate Resilient Salmon: Insights from the Bioregion

10:00 – 11:30am

Across Salmon Nation, people are working to understand the ways that wild salmon are being impacted by changes in climate—and taking actions to support climate resilience in these vital species. Bringing together a diverse group of local conservation leaders, Indigenous leaders and scientists from Alaska to California, this panel will share observations and insights into the ways that climate is shaping the future of wild salmon ecosystems, and what we can do to promote resilience in wild salmon and salmon-centric ways of life.

Featuring:

William Atlas

Greg Knox

Nate Mantua

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November 6, 2021

Salmon Stories: Taking the Pulse of Salmon Nation

2:00 – 3:00pm

The Magic Canoe is a storytelling entity that seeks to amplify stories of what works across the bioregion, and support the vision of Salmon Nation—as a place and an idea. One of its projects—in addition to the Festival—is Salmon Stories: an initiative that seeks out Fellows from across the bioregion to collect and record stories about the importance of salmon to their community. This is an experiment in non-extractive storytelling and decentralized editorship; a way of sharing stories from the vast diversity of the bioregion while building a robust storytelling collective. Find out more about the initiative, meet some of the Fellows, and hear what works about this model.

Featuring:

Olivia Leigh Nowak

Ian Gill

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November 7, 2021

Water is Life: Festival Closing Ceremony

4:00 – 4:45pm

Water is the lifeblood of Salmon Nation and clean water is essential to all life on earth. Ceremony helps us to recognize and honour this. Diverse leaders from Alaska to California will share practices that celebrate the power of water to heal, shift states and connect us all in this collection of interconnected videos from across the bioregion. Spiritual traditions across time and space have revered water as life giver, cleanser and sacred element. By learning from these featured practitioners we can be inspired to create our own culturally-appropriate ways to deepen our connection and commitments to water.

Featuring:

Rhys-Thorvald Hansen

Annita McPhee

Priti Shah

Bradley Shende

Christine Spinder

Kate Sutherland

Jeff Vanderclute

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Timmy Masso and his brother Hjalmer Wenstob led a prayer, sang 4 songs in Nuu-chah-nulth, and gave Trudeau four opportunities to come outside and witness Masso’s statement, but Trudeau never showed up. Photo: Marnie Recker @marniereckerphoto

Friends of Clayoquot Sound accompanied Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members of the Masso family who gathered supporters to call on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take accountability for vacationing in Tofino within Tla-oqui-aht territory instead of attending the first ever Truth and Reconciliation Day. We supported 18 year old Tla-oqui-aht leader, Timmy Masso, in calling on Canada’s Prime Minister to apologize and take accountability for his holiday mistake.

“Due to recent events regarding Prime Minister Trudeau, we will be going to Chesterman Beach to call upon Mr. Trudeau to address the mistakes that he has made,” Masso wrote online. A couple hours later, around 20 of us were positioned on the beach in the pouring rain in front of Trudeau’s taxpayer funded vacation rental, where his security cameras and guards faced us.

“We use reconciliation as a word right now, but recently it seems like a hollow word. It doesn’t seem like there’s really that much action that’s going into it and it’s quite sad to say… If one sitting Prime Minister were to take a vacation on Remembrance Day, the whole country would be in an uproar,” Masso said.

Justin Trudeau refused to meet with Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members and had his security pass along the message that it was his “personal vacation time”. The security promised to deliver to Trudeau a paper copy of Timmy Masso’s statement, along with a package of handwritten letters from local elementary school students sharing their disappointment in the PM. “It’s sad that we don’t expect much from leadership anymore.

After the final song, Timmy Masso read the statement and thanked supporters for responding quickly to calls for support as
Trudeau remained inside the taxpayer funded vacation rental. Photo: Marnie Recker @marniereckerphoto

It’s sad we have to stand in the rain in the middle of a pandemic following an election, just to be heard. But here we are,” said Hjalmer Wenstob. The next day, Trudeau apologized to the Tk’emlúps Secwepemc for not responding to their invitations to attend the Truth and Reconciliation Day Ceremony. The Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald responded: “Hollow apologies will no longer be accepted.” While Trudeau vacationed in Tofino, he led an active court challenge to deny Indigenous children set to receive billions in compensation from Canada. But the next week in Ottawa, a judge ruled that Indigenous children are entitled to government compensation as Canada “wilfully and recklessly” discriminated against them.

The evidence of the Prime Minister’s racist approach to governance continues to accumulate, just like empty promises of clean water infrastructure for Indigenous communities or pushing pipelines without consent across unceded Indigenous territories, among many others. We stand in solidarity with Indigenous people holding the Prime Minister and colonial politicians accountable for the structural racism they facilitate.

#INDIGENOUSLIVESMATTER

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This and many more articles can also be found in the FOCS Winter 2021-2022 Newsletter. Please click THIS LINK to explore more of our work and learn how you can help protect Clayoquot Sound.

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