🗓️ MARK YOUR CALENDARS: May Training & Funding in Gitanyow!
We are excited to support our Gitanyow Wilp & Community members with these upcoming programs:
✅ May 20-22: Driver’s Ed (GLP) Program in Gitanyow.
✅ May 29: DEADLINE to apply for the $5,000 Trades Bursary!
Full details and eligibility requirements are in the poster.
Have questions? Please contact:
Trades Bursary: Beverly Russell
[email protected]
Drivers Training: Cherilyn Grey
[email protected]
Work cell: 672-977-1611
BruceJack Mine continues to be a tremendous support of education and training opportunities in Gitanyow. Through its funding for the Sindhil House of Learning and GHC Office, the Trades Bursary or Gitanyow Driver's License programs, GETI (Gitanyow Education and Training Institute) is proud to be working together to empower our youth and adults through learning. #Gitanyow
Small northern communities are speaking out on the health impacts of LNG
As B.C. plans to expand oil and gas development and export projects, health care professionals are pointing to crucial missing information. There’s been no independent, cumulative health impact assessment of the BC gas industry— from extraction to export and emissions. The community health focused Health Officers’ Council of BC is asking the province to do an assessment and city councils, like Dawson Creek’s, are adding their voices of support.
“As part of the delegation of health professionals and Indigenous leaders last September, I heard first-hand from doctors in Dawson Creek about their serious concerns about health impacts from fracking in their community. In our community, we’re also speaking out against LNG impacts from projects like Ksi Lisims and PRGT. Gitanyow stands in support of health professionals and the Dawson Creek council in their calls for B.C. to do an independent health impact assessment for LNG.”
Tara Marsden/Naxginkw, Wilp Sustainability Director
Concerns about the health impacts of LNG are also extending to Kitimat, where residents are contending with LNG Canada burning significantly more gas than planned with massive flaring visible in town and the flaring problem taking up to three years to fix.
It’s more than time to find out what oil and gas health impacts are for communities. We need more councils in the region to pass motions like Dawson Creek’s so residents can make informed decisions about the oil and gas industry.
Here is the motion that passed in Dawson Creek. @davidebybc@tamaradavidsonbc
How does the expenditure of government energy and taxpayer dollars benefit communities? What are the risks of #LNG projects? Are they REALLY of national interest? (Spoiler alert: they're not).
For more answers to these questions, read Stand.earth's own Richard Brooks' new op-ed in @thevancouversun on the dangerous reality of Canada's proposed LNG hype.
We deserve opportunities for long-term employment for tens of thousands of people, while catalyzing affordability, clean energy security and climate resilience -- not more foreign billionaire-owned projects.
🔗 in bio
The Gitanyow Chiefs were at the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Dec 8th and 9th in regard to the Gitanyow title case. The trial has not yet started and the SCC is considering procedural issues.
The Gitanyow title case cannot proceed until these four questions are answered.
1) What weight should be given to Gitanyow’s access to justice vs. other First Nations’ procedural rights and access to justice in Gitanyow’s title case?
2) Does the Nisga’a Treaty grant Nisga’a Lisims Government (NLG) an automatic full-party status in Gitanyow’s title case?
3) Can “Tsetsaut”/Skii km Lax Ha (TSKLH) make their own claim to an alleged competing title case as part of Gitanyow’s title case?
4) Should participation in another First Nation’s title case have a threshold framework to prevent dubious claims from slowing down access to justice?
Gitanyow’s legal team did an excellent job advancing their submissions and are confident we will clear the path for access to justice for Gitanyow and our title case!
Given the precedent-setting nature of the Gitanyow case, it’s likely the Supreme Court Justices will not arrive at a decision for some months.
Ksi Lisims LNG has passed all the hurdles but one — a final investment decision expected next year. Gitanyow sent a letter today to 40 banks and pension funds to respect Gitanyow rights and urge them not to provide financing or equity investments for the proposed project.
Why?
- No consent from at least four additional First Nations
- Mounting financial risks from LNG during renewable transition
- Legal, regulatory and environmental and climate threats.
Over 125 civil society organisations endorsed the Gitanyow letter in solidarity.
Our release: https://bit.ly/3Y7eeCw
Our letter: https://bit.ly/4pJ8drG
#KsiLisims #NoLNG
@davidebybc@stand.earth
With a swell in support for LNG projects from the B.C. government, you may be wondering what all the hype is about. Maybe you’ve seen a slick ad campaign or an article telling you that natural gas from B.C. is the ‘cleanest’ LNG in the world and the best way to reduce reliance on U.S. trade.
For more than 10 years Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs and our independent expert advisers have been researching, analyzing, and evaluating the potential risks and benefits of LNG development. We found that many of the claims made by the LNG industry simply do not have adequate evidence to support them.
Let’s fact-check the top economic and sustainability LNG claims.
Read our blog: /blog/debunking-10-lng-myths-blog-post/
#LNG #KsiLisims
New laws in B.C. can push through extractive industries where they aren’t wanted and without Indigenous consent. The B.C. government is following the ‘rule of law’ only when convenient . . . . and that’s a huge concern for the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs and other Indigenous nations fighting to determine what economic development happens on their territories.
It’s 2025. B.C. should be moving forward ¬– not backward – on reconciliation.
#IndigenousRights #RuleofLaw #Gitanyow #reconciliation
@davidebybc@schandraherbert@skeenawatershedco@mollywickham@ubcic@dogwoodbc@sierraclubbc@davidsuzukifdn
We’re celebrating four years since the Wilp Wii Litsxw Meziadin Indigenous Protected Area was announced.
Two hundred guests were hosted at the announcement event and the protected area was supported by the other seven Gitanyow Wilps (House Groups), and witnessed by neighbouring Gitksan, Wet’suwet’en, Tsimshian, and Nisga’a peoples.
Wilp Wii Litsxw Simoogits (Chief and Wing Chiefs) and Sigidm’hanak (Matriarchs) signed the Declaration of the Indigenous Protected Area.
The Meziadin watershed provides salmon spawning habitat for approximately 80% of the Nass River. The Meziadin protected area ensures food security with healthy Nass River salmon runs, even as the climate crisis adds extra challenges.
Development in the area must be done sustainably and in accordance with our Ayookxw and principle of Gwelx ye’enst (sustainability). A management plan is used in consultation with industry and Crown governments to guide all activity in the protected area.
In a related note, in 2012, the Hanna Tintina Conservancy, which includes critical habitat for Nass River sockeye, was protected through the Gitanyow Lax’yip Land Use Plan. In June this year, Gitanyow secured a ‘no staking’ reserve stopping mineral exploration and a provincial commitment to expand the conservancy within one year.
We’re proud of our Wilp Wii Litsxw Meziadin Indigenous Protected Area and know that it will always exist to protect critical salmon habitat, regardless of policies of the government of the day.
#IndigenousProtectedArea #IndigenousStewardship
@davidebybc@skeenawatershedco
98 years ago today our Chiefs fought to protect Gitanyow’s traditional lands, laws and rights in opposition to the reserve system.
On August 24, 1927 the RCMP threw six Gitanyow chiefs to the ground, arrested and marched them by other First Nation communities with a noose around their necks as a warning to others, and threw them into Oakalla Prison.
Modern day Gwaas Hlaam (George Daniels) said it succinctly, “They imprisoned our Chiefs and caged us in this reserve.”
The day after arriving in jail, Gitanyow’s first President, Albert Williams, wrote a letter to the Attorney General stating, “We the Natives of Kitwancool, wish that our Mother Land be used for public wealth and…any Good Agreement which may lead to prosperity and better Education for the Natives. We desire that our possession question be arrived at peacefully between us and the government.”
Even after everything they just went through, our ancestors demonstrated their commitment to peace and legal recognition from their jail cell. We seek a Title Recognition Agreement to this day.
On August 24 we honor their memory and sacrifice.
TOYAX SI NISSIM.
Watch the full video: /watch?v=4a3MWW1XAew
#Gitanyow #JusticeForLaxyip #LandBack #TitleCase #IndigenousRights #gitanyowstrong UBCIC
Great communications opportunity alert! We’re hiring a Communications Coordinator to amplify the voice of the Gitanyow Nation.
Help us share the story of the Gitanyow—our lands, our laws, our future. One storytelling role with countless ways to make an impact. Apply now and make your voice part of our legacy.
#Gitanyow #CommunicationsJobs #Storytelling #IndigenousJobs #CulturalRevitalization #GitanyowHereditaryChiefs
Deadline: September 8, 2025
