Premier David Eby hailed a partnership between four First Nations on Vancouver Island and one of the largest forest companies in British Columbia as a “landmark” agreement that will send signals across the province.
Nanwakolas Council members belong to the Kwakwaka’wakw group of Nations, located on northern Vancouver Island and the neighbouring southern Central Coast region. The deal is an Incremental Treaty Agreement, a legally binding pre-treaty agreements. He added that it also speaks to community members-at-large across the province, who earn their living in the resource sector. “Agreements like this bring certainty, bring prosperity to community, that everyone benefits from,” Eby said. “It’s not a zero-sum game.”Nanwakolas Council President Dallas Smith said the agreement reconciles economic consideration with environmental sustainability.