The Tsawout First Nation, located 20 kilometres north of Victoria, B.C., has declared an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) for 155 kilometres of ocean in its traditional waters. The area will be called QEN'T Marine Protected Area. QEN'T — pronounced "qwant" — means "to be looking after," "caring for," or "protecting something or someone" in SENĆOŦEN.

The Okanagan can expect more spring floods, but also longer and drier summers in the future. That’s thanks to climate change, says James Littley, deputy administrator with the Okanagan Basin Water Board. “According to the 2020 report, climate projections for the Okanagan region, we will see warmer temperatures here,” Littley told delegates to the Southern Interior Local Government Association convention in Vernon on Tuesday.

A First Nation in British Columbia will receive a boost from the province for shoreline stabilization, with the chief saying it is under consistent threat of flooding. The $5 million aimed at so-called riprap erosion control measures is going to the Sqwa First Nation, Shxwha:y Village and the City of Chilliwack. The announcement comes a week after the province provided $23.4 million in funding to 49 communities to help reduce risks from future disasters related to natural hazards and climate change, including $150,000 for a drainage pump station upgrade design in Chilliwack. 

The Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) announced a land, water and resource management agreement with the Blueberry River First Nations Indigenous group on Wednesday that will restart development in the vast Montney shale play, but also limit new oil and gas activity. New well licenses in B.C.'s Montney have been frozen since June 2021, when a landmark B.C. Supreme Court decision ruled in favour of a Blueberry River claim that decades of industrial development had damaged their traditional territory.

Tribal representatives from across the Northwest are flying into Washington, D.C. this week to discuss how mine waste in British Columbia is threatening their way of life. With plans in the Canadian province for doubling the number of mines, tribes say waste already affects waterways downstream in the U.S. Richard Janssen Jr. is the Department Head of Natural Resources for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and is in D.C. this week. He said selenium waste from mines near the Elk River north of Montana has a detrimental effect on waterways.

The downstream effects of the Kenney Dam weren’t felt right away. Growing up on the Saik’uz First Nation in the 1970s, Chief Priscilla Mueller remembers a time when the Nechako River was overflowing with spawning salmon in July and August. Elders would set nets and families would help clean the fish. Smoke shacks ran continuously, preparing the food for winter, and freezers would be filled with the abundant stocks.

A spokesperson for B.C.'s Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said talks are continuing and "we hope to have more to say about this soon". Since August the province has started issuing some drilling permits for leases with existing well pads, and other work that does not require land to be disturbed. Jeremy McCrea, an analyst with Raymond James, said this was a positive sign. Conversations with management teams indicate companies plan to increase spending in late 2022, suggesting these negotiations will be resolved by then, he added.

“It follows the story Raven Returns the Water, which is a Tla’amin story,” said Fraser-Munroe. “I think it is, really at the time and I think still today, prescient in that it was discussing the ways greed or one person controlling resources isn’t necessarily good for the community and isn’t even good for the person in charge. Sometimes it can have negative consequences.” The 20-minute performance tells the story of Poho (Raven) who is in her valley and is realizing the environment around her is drying up slowly and animals are dying.

Today, Ahousaht First Nation is celebrating the completion of their new wastewater treatment plant, located at Ahousaht First Nation's Maaqtusiis Reserve No. 15. This plant replaces the old septic tank treatment and lift station, as well as the old outfall pipe, which was located in an area with a shellfish habitat sensitive to sewage contamination. The old system was unable to properly protect seafood safety and did not meet regulatory standards.

Members of the Cowichan Tribes First Nation on Vancouver Island are relieved to finally have drinkable water coming from their taps, though some members are still going without. Clean water is a necessity that many in Canada take for granted, but for 20 households on Indian Road in the First Nation on southern Vancouver Island, it's only recently become accessible.

A First Nation is working alongside a B.C. tech company to learn more about how climate change is affecting the waters it harvests food from. In an effort to preserve and even build up capacity for seafood harvesting, the T'Sou-ke First Nation on southern Vancouver Island turned to Victoria-based MarineLabs, which collects real-time data about the ocean, about 18 months ago to better understand what's going on in the Sooke Basin and other areas it uses.