Title
Motion with Notice: Partnerships to Protect Old Growth Forests in a Manner Consistent with Reconciliation (Director Isitt)
Recommendation
[At the June 9, 2021 CRD Board meeting, further deliberation on an amending motion was postponed due to a provincial announcement that afternoon. The amending motion, if passed, would result in the main motion being amended to read:
That the Board endorses the following resolution and directs staff to forward copies to the Premier of British Columbia, the BC Minister of Forests, the BC Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Members of the Legislative Assembly representing constituencies on Vancouver Island, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) member local governments, requesting favourable consideration:
Resolution: Partnerships to Protect Old Growth Forests in a Manner Consistent with Reconciliation
BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Capital Regional District expresses its willingness to work with Indigenous governments, the Government of British Columbia, the Government of Canada and other entities to protect old growth forests on southern Vancouver Island in a manner consistent with reconciliation objectives, including consideration of establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Capital Regional District calls on the Government of British Columbia to allocate funding to enact deferrals in an economically just manner, in the full spirit of reconciliation, and to support through conservation financing and other measures the economic transition of affected Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers, communities and companies from unsustainable old-growth logging toward the development of long-term sustainable local economies.]
That the Board endorses the following resolution and directs staff to forward copies to the Premier of British Columbia, the BC Minister of Forests, the BC Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Members of the Legislative Assembly representing constituencies on Vancouver Island, and Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) member local governments, requesting favourable consideration:
Resolution: Partnerships to Protect Old Growth Forests in a Manner Consistent with Reconciliation
WHEREAS the District of Highlands, District of Metchosin, District of Saanich and City of Victoria have gone on record calling for the Government of British Columbia to protect old growth forests in a manner consistent with the objective of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples;
AND WHEREAS Ancient high productivity old-growth ecosystems are globally one of the most valuable climate mitigation and resiliency assets in terms of carbon storage, sequestration, protection against wildfire, storage of water and preservation of biological diversity;
AND WHEREAS Less than 3% of the original high productivity old growth forests in British Columbia remain standing, and of this residual land base, 75% is slated to be eliminated through industrial logging operations;
AND WHEREAS the Government of British Columbia’s Old Growth Review Panel recommended in April 2020 that the Province defer development of old growth forests where “ecosystems are at very high and near-term risk of irreversible biodiversity loss” until a new strategy is implemented;
AND WHEREAS Alternatives exist to increase protection of biological diversity and employment, through the immediate and just transition to sustainable management of second-growth forests with expanded value-added processing and manufacturing;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Capital Regional District endorses the position of the District of Highlands, District of Metchosin, District of Saanich and City of Victoria calling on the Government of British Columbia to protect old growth forests on Vancouver Island in a manner consistent with reconciliation objectives;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Capital Regional District expresses its willingness to work with Indigenous governments, the Government of British Columbia, the Government of Canada and other entities to protect old growth forests on southern Vancouver Island in a manner consistent with reconciliation objectives, including consideration of establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Capital Regional District calls on the Government of British Columbia to work with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to implement recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review and defer old-growth logging pending implementation of the panel’s recommendations;
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Capital Regional District calls on the Government of British Columbia to allocate funding to enact deferrals in an economically just manner, in the full spirit of reconciliation, and to support through conservation financing and other measures the economic transition of affected Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers, communities and companies from unsustainable old-growth logging toward the development of long-term sustainable local economies.
(NWA)