Collaborative Stewardship in Northern British Columbia
Northern British Columbia supports vast northern wilderness landscapes and wildlife. The wildlife and other resources of this region have supported indigenous way of life since time immemorial and today continue to provide the foundation for indigenous cultural resilience in the north. Moose, sheep, caribou, salmon, clean water and medicinal plants are valued today not just by the original stewards of these landscapes, but by many British Columbia residents as well as drawing international interest. The high interest in northern wildlife and wildlife harvest by local, Provincial, Canadian and international audiences has led to pressure on some of these populations and the need to approach management of these populations in new ways to acknowledge a shared stewardship between the First Nations and BC.
The 3 Nations Society and British Columbia Collaborative Stewardship Framework (“3NBC-CSF”) is an initiative by which the Kaska, Tahltan, and Tlingit Nations have agreed with the Province of BC on the co-design and the building of shared capacity with the goal of shared management of land and resource values across the traditional territories of the 3 Nations in the Province of BC.
The 3 Nations and BC have agreed to engage in shared decision-making on the delivery of this program, thereby supporting BC’s commitments to reconciliation, and to implement the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, and the Draft Principles that Guide the Province of British Columbia’s Relationship with Indigenous Peoples.
Round River was contracted by the 3Nations Society to review collaborative and co-governance examples and structures from Canada and internationally, with a particular focus on wildlife stewardship, and to develop recommendations for the 3NBC-CSF team to consider in developing their shared stewardship approaches for wildlife and other natural resources in northern British Columbia.
The Collaborative Stewardship reports: Exploratory Review of Select Collaborative Governance and Management Models and 3Nation-BC Collaborative Stewardship Forum: Phase 2 Final Report on Collaborative Governance Review and Research may be downloaded here.
