Tsilhqot’in/BC

The Fraser Basin Council facilitates monthly meetings of the Tsilhqot’in/BC  Fish and Wildlife Panel

The Fish and Wildlife panel members meet to share technical data and information, and discuss issues related to fish and wildlife in the region/territory. They collaborate on joint initiatives that support long-term viable, healthy and ecologically functional fish and wildlife populations and habitats, and promote respect for and consideration of Tsilhqot’in Aboriginal rights to fish, hunt, trap and trade.

The Fish and Wildlife Panel operates under:

  • the Tsilhqot’in Stewardship  Agreement (a strategic engagement agreement for shared decision-making on land and resource management between the Province of BC, Tsilhqot’in Nation and Tsilhqo’tin National Government)

  • the Nenqay Deni Accord, and

  • commitments under the Gwets’en Nilt’i Pathway Agreement

Initially signed in 2009 (as the Tsilhqot’in Framework Agreement), the stewardship agreement, as updated, relates to lands within Tsilhqot’in traditional territory. The Government of British Columbia acknowledges that Aboriginal Rights exist within the area and that the agreement is a bridging step to a potential reconciliation of rights, titles and interests.

An impetus for the initial discussions between the Province of BC and First Nations were the findings in Tsilhqot’in Nation, a 2007 Supreme Court of BC case on Aboriginal rights and title in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. In 2012 the BC Court of Appeal upheld the BC Supreme Court decision insofar as affirming Aboriginal rights in the region. In June 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized, for the first time in Canada, Aboriginal title to a specific tract of land that lie with the Tsilhqot’in traditional territory: see Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44.