Self-Sufficiency

As a possible workaround to the escalating tariffs and duties from the United States, a group of B.C. First Nations is exploring a bold plan to engage in free trade with Indigenous communities in the United States.

“We can’t keep getting cut to death here. We’re dying by a death of a thousand tariffs. We need to find something that’s going to get us through this,” said Dallas Smith, Nanwakolas Council president.

Watch the CBC News video here

Opinion: The MCCF risks perpetuating business-as-usual practices that exclude First Nations from critical decision-making processes

As a journeyman ironworker, Dalia Landaverde has installed the structural skeletons in some of Vancouver’s largest and most impressive residential towers.

Standing outside a massive construction site in South Vancouver, the 29-year-old woman beams with pride while discussing how this well-paying job pulled her out of poverty.

“I was a brand new, young single mom — no job, no education, really no prospects of what to do,” she recalled.

“Now I live off Commercial Drive. I support my son by myself. I have a big, nice truck. I’ve done all right for myself.”

Centre will look at how to better benefit from sectors such as forestry, mining and natural gas.

A group of 204 First Nations in B.C. will soon have one central hub to look toward for support and advice on economic development.

The B.C. Assembly of First Nations announced Tuesday (Oct. 11) the launch of its new Centre of Excellence in First Nations Economic Development, along with a $1.2-million injection from the province.

A new report from the Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans asserts that the federal government has failed to fully implement Indigenous rights-based fisheries.