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Conservationists call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence (DND) Lands

Oct 26 2011/in Media Release

Ancient Forest Alliance worries about potential sell-off of unused DND lands for real estate development and calls for federal government to let Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, the provinces, regional districts, and First Nations protect unused DND lands.

The potential sell-off of Department of National Defence (DND) lands reported by the Ottawa Citizen and the Canadian media recently is causing concern for conservationists who fear some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems could be jeopardized by real estate development.

Instead the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the federal government to protect the endangered ecosystems and exceptional natural areas on unused DND lands through:

– the Canadian Wildlife Service as new National Wildlife Areas

– Parks Canada as new National Parks

– transferring unused DND lands to the provinces for new Provincial Parks, Provincial Conservancies (in BC), or Ecological Reserves

– to Regional Districts in BC as new Regional Parks

– to First Nations as treaty settlement lands under agreement to become new First Nations protected areas where subsistence, cultural, and spiritual uses will continue

The Department of National Defence controls 800 parcels of federal public lands totalling 2.25 million hectares (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island) in Canada for military use, although vast areas are unused and remain in excellent ecological condition. From endangered coastal old-growth forests to prairie grasslands to Carolinian deciduous forests in southern Ontario to large intact boreal forests, Canada’s least disturbed ecosystems are often in the unused portions of the DND’s lands.

“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but in many cases the ecosystems in the best ecological condition in Canada are on DND lands. Much DND land is unused, and in other areas the occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and suburban sprawl that impact other lands in Canada,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re demanding that the federal government show environmental leadership by protecting the endangered ecosystems and key natural areas on DND lands through new National and Provincial Parks, National Wildlife Areas, and Ecological Reserves rather than selling them off for suburban sprawl.”

In the Capital Regional District around Victoria, the DND controls over 4000 hectares of public lands, which include the very finest old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir forests and Garry oak ecosystems left in Canada in places like Rocky Point and Mary Hill in Metchosin, and DND lands behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, adjacent to Fort Rodd National Historic Park, and at Royal Roads University (which leases their lands from the DND) in Colwood.

“40% of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is now underneath the pavement of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, or converted to agriculture, and 99% of its old-growth forests are already logged. The finest remnants of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are here on the DND lands,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s a first rate national conservation priority to get them protected. It’s time for everyone to speak up!”

AFA's Ken Wu and Joan Varley stand beside a giant old-growth Douglas-fir on unused DND lands along Ocean Boulevard in Colwood

Conservationists Call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence Lands

Oct 26 2011/in News Coverage

Ancient Forest Alliance worries about potential sell-off of unused DND lands for real estate development and calls for federal government to let Canadian Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, the provinces, regional districts, and First Nations protect unused DND lands.

The potential sell-off of Department of National Defence (DND) lands reported by the Ottawa Citizen and the Canadian media recently is causing concern for conservationists who fear some of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems could be jeopardized by real estate development.

Instead the Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the federal government to protect the endangered ecosystems and exceptional natural areas on unused DND lands through:

– the Canadian Wildlife Service as new National Wildlife Areas

– Parks Canada as new National Parks

– transferring unused DND lands to the provinces for new Provincial Parks, Provincial Conservancies (in BC), or Ecological Reserves

– to Regional Districts in BC as new Regional Parks

– to First Nations as treaty settlement lands under agreement to become new First Nations protected areas where subsistence, cultural, and spiritual uses will continue

The Department of National Defence controls 800 parcels of federal public lands totalling 2.25 million hectares (about two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island) in Canada for military use, although vast areas are unused and remain in excellent ecological condition. From endangered coastal old-growth forests to prairie grasslands to Carolinian deciduous forests in southern Ontario to large intact boreal forests, Canada’s least disturbed ecosystems are often in the unused portions of the DND’s lands.

“It might be surprising to most Canadians, but in many cases the ecosystems in the best ecological condition in Canada are on DND lands. Much DND land is unused, and in other areas the occasional bullets and bombs still often have lower impacts than the large-scale industrial resource extraction, clearcutting, strip-mining, oil drilling, agriculture, and suburban sprawl that impact other lands in Canada,” stated Ken Wu of the Ancient Forest Alliance. “We’re demanding that the federal government show environmental leadership by protecting the endangered ecosystems and key natural areas on DND lands through new National and Provincial Parks, National Wildlife Areas, and Ecological Reserves rather than selling them off for suburban sprawl.”

In the Capital Regional District around Victoria, the DND controls over 4000 hectares of public lands, which include the very finest old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir forests and Garry oak ecosystems left in Canada in places like at the Rocky Point and Mary Hill DND lands in Metchosin, and at DND lands behind the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, adjacent to Fort Rodd National Historic Park, and at Royal Roads University (which leases their lands from the DND) in Colwood.

“40% of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem is now underneath the pavement of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Duncan, or converted to agriculture, and 99% of its old-growth forests are already logged. The finest remnants of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem are here on the DND lands,” stated TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer. “It’s a first rate national conservation priority to get them protected. It’s time for everyone to speak up!”

Ottawa Citizen link: https://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/10/26/conservationists-call-for-the-protection-of-endangered-ecosystems-on-department-of-national-defence-lands/

Human rights groups and Indigenous peoples’ organizations will closely monitor landmark international hearing into Canadian land rights case

Oct 26 2011/in Announcements

Public statement
26 October 2011
On Friday, October 28, the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States (OAS) will hold its first ever hearings into the violation of Indigenous land rights in Canada.

The case before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) concerns the 1884 expropriation of over 237,000 hectares of resource-rich land from the traditional territories of the Hul’qumi’num peoples on Vancouver Island. The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group alleges that Canada has violated international human rights norms by refusing to negotiate for any form of redress for the expropriated lands, which are now mostly in the hands of large forestry companies, and by failing to protect Hul’qumi’num interests while the dispute remains unresolved .

More than a dozen Indigenous peoples’ organizations and human rights groups have filed legal briefs in support of the Hul’qumi’num case.

Craig Benjamin, Campaigner for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples with Amnesty International Canada, said, “The case now before the Inter-American Commission highlights crucial issues of justice that affect not only the Hul’qumi’num people, but Indigenous peoples across Canada. The very fact that a respected international human rights body like the IACHR is investigating these issues should be a wake up call to the federal and provincial governments and to all Canadians.”

In agreeing to hear the complaint, the Inter-American Commission ruled that the available mechanisms to resolve this dispute in Canada, whether through negotiation or the BC treaty process, are too onerous and too constrained in their protection of human rights to live up to the standards of international justice.

Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come, Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) said, “Fair and timely resolution of land and resource disputes is essential for reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada and for closing the unacceptable gap in standard of living facing so many Indigenous communities. We hope that the intervention of the international human rights body can be a catalyst for rethinking government policies and approaches that have so blatantly failed Indigenous peoples and the cause of justice.”

“Canada cannot credibly demand that other states live up to international standards for the protection of human rights — including the fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination — while dismissing those same standards at home,” said Heather Neun of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada. “Our organizations will be closely monitoring this hearing and are prepared to campaign to make sure governments in Canada act on the Commission’s findings.”

The hearing will be held at the Commission’s headquarters in Washington D.C. on October 28, 2011, at 9 am EST. The hearing will be webcast on the Commission’s website.

This public statement was endorsed by:

Amnesty International Canada
Ancient Forest Alliance
Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers)
Ecotrust Canada
First Nations Summit
Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee)
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Lawyer’s Rights Watch Canada
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs

For more information visit:

https://www.hulquminum.bc.ca/news
https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/webcast_schedule.asp

Conservationists call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence (DND) Lands

Conservationists Call for the Protection of Endangered Ecosystems on Department of National Defence Lands

Human rights groups and Indigenous peoples’ organizations will closely monitor landmark international hearing into Canadian land rights case

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