Strength in Unity

Dogwood Initiative

BC First Nations have strong legal claims to most of the land and resources in BC. Yet for decades Canadian governments and resource companies have acted as if they alone controlled British Columbia. First Nations peoples were often excluded from their own lands as logging, mining, hydro and fossil fuel operations dominated the landscape under the authority of government licenses and tenures.

Government maintained and environment where resources companies where king by dividing First Nations. Isolated, underfunded and overwhelmed by overwhelmed by industrial activities First Nations saw their lands and forests commodified and sold from their lands

A new era is beginning. A new era where First Nations have a real say in what happens on their territory.

To accomplish this First Nations are coming together to act strategically.  A vanguard of First Nation leaders are using a growing arsenal of tools to change their relationship with both the federal and provincial governments.

Most importantly, First Nations are coming together to exercise their power. And they are getting results.

Dogwood Initiative

Over the past decade existing First Nations organizations like the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), the First Nations Summit, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and regional organizations such as the Okanagan Nations Alliance and Northwest Tribal Treaty Nations have helped focus collective strategies.

Dogwood Initiative

One of the more dynamic new collective efforts was the Title & Rights Alliance (TRA), which launched in 2003.  The TRA brought together, for
for the first time since the 1970s, treaty, non-treaty and independent First Nations from all over BC to protect land, forests, and communities for future generations.

Through marches and actions the Title & Rights Alliance scared government. It began creating uncertainty for business as usual in BC. It is no surprise that soon after the Title & Rights Alliance convened the largest First Nations political rally in BC history that the BC government launched a new initiative to create a
New Relationship with First Nations. ,

Regional First Nations have come together to stop unsustainable initiatives. For

Taylor Bachrach

example, 

• In an area that northwestern First Nations call the Sacred Headwaters, because it is where life began in their creation myths, Royal Dutch Shell has been forced to cancel their plan to drill for coalbed methane for the fourth year in a row. 
• Coordinated First Nations legal and political opposition was instrumental in creating uncertainty for Enbridge’s Gateway pipeline proposal to build a twin pipeline to ship oil products on tankers to and from the tar sands in Alberta. Combined with other tactics this “uncertainty” forced the project to be delayed 6 times. Although Enbridge recently announced plans to resuscitate the project.