B.C. Natives get say in logging

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An agreement between B.C. and Clayoquot Sound Natives will give the First Nations greater control over logging in an old-growth forest on Vancouver Island.

Tla-qui-o-aht Chief Francis Frank said representatives of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council reached Council reached an agreement with provincial officials in late January on the final wording of the technical drafting of a co-operative forestry management deal.

The council had dismissed the province's original version of the Interim Measures Agreement because the wording in one section, which called for the creation of a joint management board to control logging, was too vague.

"We had a problem with the government lawyers watering down the functions of the central region boards to one where we were left with the impression that they were still looking at this as an advisory body," Frank said.

"Now we've got the understanding that we also thought we had - that it is a decision making body."

Section 10 of the interim agreement proposed establishing a joint management board between Native and provincial officials to deal with management land use and planning in the southeast corner of the Clayoquot River Valley.

"What we wanted was 'the parties shall jointly manage Clayoquot Sound,'" Frank said. "Part of the management responsibilities will be to deal with land and resource use. Really, what we want to do is to say it in plain English.

Although the text still reads the same, the chiefs are more sure of the province's willingness to interpret the function of the co-management board within the legal text, he said.

The problem with defining the co-management board's powers was not with B.C. Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Cashore, Frank added.

"It was with the bureaucrats, the legal beagles that started to toy with the government."

But the deal, which was first presented to the tribal council Dec. 10, was designed to give Natives greater decision-making power, Cashore said.

"And that's exactly what the province will deliver."

The co-management board will include members of the Ahousht, Hesquiaht, Tls-qui-o-aht, Ucluelet and Toquaht First Nations and provincial officials.

The provinces will also provide funding for job training and set up a First Nations provincial working group to explore other economic opportunities in the region.

The agreement is set to be signed Feb. 22