Healthy Communities Depend on Healthy Lands
Many of British Columbia's most informed and passionate environmental advocates and wilderness enthusiasts live in southeastern BC. For years, individuals and organizations they represent have voluntarily participated in regional land use planning processes, sitting cheek by jowl with industry representatives and government. Time and again, democratic planning processes have been usurped and outcomes biased in favour of industry, especially logging and mining interests. Massive clearcuts, degraded water, extirpation (local extinction) of endangered species and elimination of critical habitat are all outcomes of this myopic, unsustainable collusion between government and industry.
Healthy, sustainable communities are defined by democratic planning that doesn't sacrifice a healthy environment to support a few jobs and line the pockets of company shareholders. Healthy communities support the democratic rights of citizens to approve plans with the best interests of future generations in mind. This planning includes environmental protection to safeguard critical habitat for endangered species and drinking water quality, and it recognizes ancestral rights of First Nations.
The corrupt processes that have characterized land use planning in southeastern BC gravely jeopardize the future economic integrity of this region. Here, future economic prosperity does not lie in resource extraction and its continuous environmental degradation. For years, groups like the Fraser Headwaters Alliance, Save the Cedar League, Valhalla Wilderness Society and the Silva Forest Foundation have pointed out the devastating environmental and economic consequences of short-sighted, industry-oriented planning, and they have advocated wilderness protection and sustainable forestry. These groups, and Parks Canada personnel, have long called for increased protection of unprotected areas in the service of diverse, prosperous communities and a healthy environment. They deserve your help!
First Nations
Traces of First Nations occupation in the proposed park area date back at least 5,000 years. The Bugaboo is found within the ancestral range of the Sinixt First Nations and the Ktunaxa Kinbasket Nation. The Sinixt held close ties with the Okanagan, Shuswap and Spokane peoples and were considered the mother tribe of the Kootenay Boundary region. The Ktunaxa Kinbasket Nation have historical commonalities with the Athabaskan peoples to the north and east. Native populations of the Bugaboo were decimated by smallpox in the 1800s, and the last BC Sinixt died in 1956, after which the Sinixt were declared extinct. The Sinixt nation survived in Washington state, however, and Sinixt members have since returned to BC and are currently fighting to have their "extinct" status revoked. Both Sinixt and Ktunaxa Kinbasket First Nations lay claim to the area encompassed by the proposed Bugaboo National Park.
