On Monday, Ms. Rice was celebrating the rebirth of the tourism industry on the Central Coast, with photo tourism making strides in the area following the ban of trophy bear hunting.
As part of her presentation to the Legislature, Ms. Rice made note of how the ban has made a difference for the residents of the area and delivered a growing number of visitors to the region to view the Bears of the Bella Coola Valley, part of a shift in the economic focus for its communities.
However, nowhere to be found from any of her information options of late, is a comment, observation or even acknowledgement of another issue that has become a fairly important concern for the Central Coast region.
That of the recently launched lawsuit by the Heiltsuk First Nation, which has taken legal action against Kirby International and both the Provincial and Federal governments, that in relation to the Nathan E Stewart incident of 2016.
In their information release of October 10th, the Heiltsuk outline the scope of their concern over the incident of two years ago and the lack of preparation for future situations that they say still exists in their territory.
“This claim follows two years of independent investigation by Heiltsuk into the spill’s cause, response, and impacts,” ... “The preparation of this case itself is a major achievement, since Canada, B.C., and Kirby have denied or ignored our requests for information, consultation, and support. Our hope is that this case sets a new precedent for oil spill response for the province and the country. I wouldn’t wish these last two years on anyone.” -- elected Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett on the legal challenge launched by the Heiltsuk First Nation
The lawsuit was launched almost two years to the day that the the American-owned tug and articulated barge, known as Nathan E. Stewart and operated by Kirby Corporation, ran aground in Heiltsuk territory.
The The tug eventually sank spilling 110,000 litres of diesel fuel, lubricants, heavy oils, and other pollutants into Gale Pass, an important Heiltsuk food harvesting, village, and cultural site.
As part of their legal action the Heiltsuk are seeking compensation for damages resulting from the grounding of the Nathan E. Stewart and the subsequent oil spill.
These include loss of traditional harvest and associated cultural losses, and commercial losses, as well as costs associated with oil spill response efforts, Heiltsuk-led environmental impact assessment, and other remediation.
Frank Brown, hereditary chief and a member of the Heiltsuk adjudication committee outlined the scope of the concern for the community in the years that have followed the incident.
“Since time immemorial, we have followed Ǧviḷás, Heiltsuk traditional law. It tells us to balance the health of the water and land with the needs of our people and to ensure there will always be plentiful resources,” ...“Today, Gale Pass is in jeopardy because of Canada, British Columbia, and Kirby’s actions. Our law has been violated and the legal action we are taking in the B.C. Supreme Court today is our bid to hold them accountable.”
Back when she was the opposition MLA, Ms. Rice was fairly active on social media during the time of the incident taking the provincial government of the day led by the Premier Christy Clark to task, making note of the situation and the lack of a world class oil response on the coast.
Considering the volume of pictures through the MLA's social media streams, she clearly enjoys her time whenever she is on the Central Coast. Yet since the Heiltsuk announcement of October 10th, MLA Rice has yet to comment on the recent developments from that region, whether through her various information streams, or by way of a comment in the Legislature.
And while the NDP MLA probably can't offer up an opinion related to the Heiltsuk legal challenge, she should at least attempt to bring some clarity when it comes to some of their concerns over the role of the province when it comes to marine protection.
Offering her constituents on the Central coast some indication as to where she stands on the kind of protection that they should have and to the concerns of the Heiltsuk people.
As we noted on the blog back in August, the Heiltsuk Nation had expressed their disappointment related to a recent contract award to deliver on marine safety protection in British Columbia, with the Federal Government passing over their bid for the work, instead awarding the contract to an Atlantic Canada based company.
Something that was a puzzling decision at the time and for the most part has not brought out any discussion from the North Coast MLA, or her partners in the NDP government, a collective which one imagines could have advocated for the closer to home option offered by Heiltsuk.
It's a tough line for elected government representatives to follow sometimes, whether to speak on issues that the cabinet may not wish them to speak on, or to represent the concerns of the residents who elected them in the first place.
For now, the course of action on marine protection for the Central Coast appears to be that of saying nothing at all.
For more items of note related to the work of the MLA in the Legislature see our archive page here.
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