First Experts
Leona Humchitt (Zux̌valaqs), from Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella BC, is part of a federally sponsored Indigenous Council of clean energy experts. She was interviewed on a Global BC news segment called Shaping BC: Including Indigenous voices in climate strategy.
That council presented a report to the Canadian government titled Kinship and Prosperity: Proven Solutions for a Clean Energy Landscape. It is part of a program called Wah-ila-toos, which is being funded through a $300 million federal commitment.
The Global BC interviewer asked: What are some of the recommendations and clean energy solutions that you have identified?
Zux̌valaqs answered: So, we really wanted to uplift and amplify the work of indigenous communities and let, you know, readers know that we are strong, and clean energy transformation that we carry forward that all the innovative engineering of sustainability that our ancestors had done pre-contact and we’re really looking forward to being able to share, you know, the information within our report. We know that, you know, we continue to be in the driver seat in relation to self-determination for our nations, for example, my community. We did strong community bilateral engagement with our people that was very meaningful to support, you know, giving them the options of what clean energy could we include in our community energy plan, so we continue to engage with them and the various stakeholders, so that is like grass roots engagements with alliance self-determination. So, we wanna be able to, you know, continue to advance UNDRIP and UNDA that the federal government and the provincial government has adopted, you know, these are their recommendations and policies and we wanna be able to support the alignment to that.
Reminiscent of Lucky’s speech from “Waiting For Godot”.
Here are the actual expert proposals her group have come up with in the Kinship and Prosperity report:
The recommendations of the Indigenous Council have been organized under the following themes:
Ease Access to Funding
Develop Consistent Project Eligibility Criteria that prioritizes Indigenous Community Benefits
Accelerate Indigenous Leadership in the Energy Transition
Advance Inclusive opportunities and a Just Transition
Respect Self-Determination by prioritizing Indigenous-led Decisions
Sustainably Fund Indigenous Participation
Not really the Proven Solutions for a Clean Energy Landscape that most Canadians hope their tax dollars might address … but what a great looking team!
Wah-ila-toos Leadership connects on a Northwest Ocean-going Canoe Tour with Takaya Tours on Tsleil-Watuth territory, April 2024
©Takaya Tours, 2024, Taleil-Waututh Territory
No surprise that Wah-ila-toos has more to do with racial/social tax laundering than saving the planet.