Central Government · progress in economics, land and resource management, and cultural development. Everything we do here at the Tahltan Central Government (TCG) is for the wellness

Central Government

A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 1 9

CONTENTSSTAFF MESSAGES 1

President's Message 1

Vice President's Message 3

Executive Director's Message 5

DEPARTMENT MESSAGES 7

TCG Board of Directors 9

Membership & Genealogy Message 11

Finance Department Message 13

Language Department Message 15

Lands Department & THREAT Message 23

Wildlife Department Message 31

Wildlife Guardians Message 37

Employment & Contracts Message 41

Education & Training Message 43

Communications Department 49

UPDATES 53

Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group (TSWG) Update 53

3 Nations Update 57

STAFF & CONTACTS 59

TA H LTA N C E N T R A L G OV E R N M E N T A N N U A L R E P O R T – 2 0 1 9

1

President’s Message

Chad Norman DayPresident, Tahltan Central Government

Welcome to the newly designed Annual General Report for the Tahltan Central Government. This marks the completion of my fifth year as the President of the TCG and it’s been an honour working with our Tahltan people and all our partners over the years. The TCG and our Tahltan Nation have steadily evolved and increased our capacity and I want to thank everyone who has played a positive role in such growth and our continued strength.

This has been another incredible year for the Tahltan

Nation mixed with triumphs and challenges, particularly

in the community of Telegraph Creek following the

devastating fires throughout the summer of 2018.

The TCG has continually dedicated significant time

and resources to ensure we contribute to the ongoing

rehabilitation and rebuild of the community of Telegraph

Creek. We will be working closely with the Tahltan Band

and the community members every step of the way for

years to come.

Over the past year, the TCG established the Education

& Training Department, Employment & Contracts

Department, and the Culture & Heritage Department.

We also added further staff and capacity to our

established departments. Our staff grew by an

additional 25% and it’s been a joy to work alongside all

the new members of the TCG Family: Gordon, Lance,

Sandra, Adam, Shawn, Kody, Clements and Carol.

Years of negotiations paid off as new economic

opportunities were created and revenue-streams grew

again this year. Brucejack Mine tax-revenue sharing

began, we control a new Tahltan Nation logging license,

and we recently supported the Impact Benefit Agreement

with Seabridge Gold on the proposed KSM Project.

In addition, we continue to receive significant revenues

from our agreements surrounding the Northwest Hydro-

Electric Projects, Red Chris Mine and Galore Creek Project.

In the past five years, our Tahltan Heritage Trust has gone

from several million dollars to nearly 40 million following

the sale of the Northwest Hydro-electric projects formally

owned by AltaGas. As a result of this historic growth,

for the first time ever, the Tahltan Heritage Trust will

create processes with the Tahltan people to finance

nation initiatives and programs. As this fund continues

to grow, the Tahltan Nation will continue to empower our

people and is closer to becoming independent and self-

governing over our territory and resources.

2

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S AG E

The TCG has taken a balanced approach and enhanced

our land management in several areas of Tahltan

Territory. Recently we have been successful shutting

down most of the exploration activity around Mount

Edziza, Klappan, Sheslay and the community of Iskut.

Soon we will officially ratify the historic Klapplan Plan

and celebrate this incredible achievement with our

people. We also made significant progress on a Tahltan

Land Stewardship Plan, began taking steps to shut

down the jade/placer mining industry, and started

creating several no-go zones around sensitive cultural

areas, our local communities and areas important to

the future health of our fish and wildlife.

The TCG would like to welcome all those new Tahltans

brought into the world over the past year and honour all

those who have passed on. Our TCG Family continues

to send our heartfelt condolences to their family and

friends. For the first time ever, we will be honouring

such individuals, along with our Tahltan graduates, at

this year’s TCG Annual General Assembly. Have a great

summer, Tahltans.

Klane Nedischā

Above: Chad Norman Day in Iskut playing with young Tahltans as part of the Healthy Active Tahltans (HATs) initative.

Left: President Day presenting on his annual update tour.


3

Vice President’s Message

Heather HawkinsVice President, Tahltan Central [email protected]

Dneze hotie, my fellow Tahltans! Esdihge jani ahntin

tsedze. I would like to reflect on the last year. It has been

a whirlwind for everyone, I think. The wildfire broke out

right after the AGA last year. I am a Telegraph Creek

resident and like everyone else we had to evacuate for the

remaining part of the year. My family relocated to Terrace

for a month and then to Dease Lake until December.

The following is a reflection of the past year’s highlights

and activities for your Vice President.

In October 2018, I did a site visit at AltaGas’ Northwest

Projects as an Environmental Performance Committee

member. We visited all the sites where signage

was erected in Tahltan place names and discussed

the steelhead presence going forward. Later that

same month, I travelled to Vancouver to attend the

Environmental Performance Committee for Galore

Creek. We discussed the program commitments and

permitting for EPC activities for 2019.

In November, I had the opportunity to attend the Generate

2018 conference in Vancouver and learn about clean

energy options for our people in the territory. I attended

the BC First Nations Leaders Gathering in late November

and enjoyed the one-on-one meetings with the Ministers

and Premier. Our concerns were heard and well received.

At government-to-government tables we discussed future

mitigation plans through the reconciliation agreement.

In December we had two TCG board meetings. One was a

special meeting regarding the purchase of the Northwest

Projects by Axiom and Manulife from AltaGas.

In February 2019, we joined the Nisga’a Nation for

Hoobiyee to acknowledge and strengthen our relationship

through proper cultural ceremony. It was beautiful and

a memorable moment. I was very honored to be there

representing our Nation.

I have been actively involved with our Lands Department

through all of our working groups, Land Use Plan

interviews, and current transcriptions. The TCG family

is a tight knit group and it’s growing. Meduh for this

amazing opportunity to serve my people!

4

V I C E P R E S I D E N T ' S M E S S AG E

Top: TCG Vice-President, Heather Hawkins and TCG President Chad Norman Day at Hoobiyee 2019.

Left: Aerial view of Telegraph Creek after the wildfires.

Above: Heather Hawkins and the AtlaGas team at the Northwest Projects site.


5

Executive Director's Message

Calvin CarlickExecutive Director, Tahltan Central Government

Another great year has come and gone, with great

progress in economics, land and resource management,

and cultural development. Everything we do here at the

Tahltan Central Government (TCG) is for the wellness of

our Tahltan people and lands.

I thank all of the 3748 TCG members for allowing us to

serve you, it is an honour to be entrusted with the great

mandate of helping our Tahltan Nation.

English literature cites that it was around the mid-1800s

when our Tahltan people first began engaging in wage-

labour via the mining industry, while still maintaining

our traditional lifestyle. Our land has always taken care

of us and we have always taken care of it. Whether it is

the moose that fills our bellies, the salmon that soothes

our soul, or the gold that supports our households, the

resources are to be respected and managed with care.

Over 160 years after that early introduction to the wage-

economy, we now have the Tahltan Central Government

to manage the title-and-rights interests of the Tahltan

people, bearing close proximity to the values that

sustained us for millennia. We are now a nation with

one foot in the old world and one foot in the new world,

standing strongly on both legs, as keepers of our land

who harvests our resources to support our people.

The TCG has a Board of 13 Directors, 9 departments with

28 full-time employees, various experts, and a $5 million

annual budget, all working to develop Tahltan economic

opportunities, to record and retain our traditional

practices, revitalize our Tahltan language, and increase

our Government infrastructure. In October 2015, we

had only administration and an Employment & Training

Department. In 3.5 years, the team has achieved a lot of

growth while maintaining operational optimization with

managerial best-practices.

In the next year we will achieve some key milestones

with our Government initiatives, with aims to complete

the Tahltan Land Stewardship Plan. This will be a key

deliverable that will be made by the Tahltan people and it

will help us manage our land use. Furthermore, we just

introduced a new Culture & Heritage Department that

will seek to collect, use, and preserve all of the world’s

information that is related to our Tahltan identity. We

will find it, retain it, and use it to help us fully immerse

ourselves in our traditional practices. Finally, our nation

building: We continue to build a place to call home, to

host our cultural, political and administrative activities,

and to further the development already underway.

We are self-sustaining, we are self-actualizing,

we are Tahltan.

Meduh for allowing me to serve.

6

E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R ' S M E S S AG E


7

DEPARTMENT MESSAGES

9 — TCG Board of Directors

11 — Membership & Genealogy Message

13 — Finance Department Message

15 — Language Department Message

23 — Lands Department & THREAT Message

31 — Wildlife Department Message

37 — Wildlife Guardians Message

41 — Employment & Contracts Message

43 — Education & Training Message

49 — Communications Department

8

S E C T I O N T I T L E


9

TCG Board of Directors

CHRISTINE BALL Cawtoonma Family [email protected]

ALICE HAMLIN Carlick Family [email protected]

EMMA CARLICK Thud ga Family [email protected]

KIMBERLEY MARION Simgaldtada (Ts’imgalteda) Family [email protected]

KEN EDZERZA Etzenlee Family [email protected]

10

T C G B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S

LEE MARION Shoe Kawk / Howd-A-Ghtte (Shukak) Family [email protected]

CAROL QUOCK Eth’eni Family [email protected]

ANNITA MCPHEE Good-za-ma Family [email protected]

MELVA QUOOCK Stikine Claw/Thicke Family [email protected]

TINA VAN MIERLO Quock (Dekama) Family [email protected]

NO PHOTO AVAILABLE


11

Membership & Genealogy Message

THE CREATION OF GUIDELINES FOR MEMBERSHIP

Formalizing Membership Guidelines remains an ongoing

discussion. I reported several options for consideration to

the Constitution Committee. These terms are undergoing

review while the Draft “Protocol Policy Handbook” is

also under construction. The Handbook will cover the

definitions in full detail. We await decisions by the

constitution committee to conclude this project.

GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENT UPDATE

We continue to support the Iskut Band Council and the

Tahltan Band Council with member-based data for their

community-based efforts.

NEW MEMBERSHIP DATABASE

We are wrapping up production of the new Membership

Database and are in the draft phase of the Policy

Handbook for it. Once policy has been completed and

all data has been transferred, we will begin the process

of taking all our existing physical and digital data and

applying it to our new database in conjunction with

training TCG, IBC, and TBC staff to operate the system.

Shannon FrankDirector of Membership & [email protected] 643 2037

DATA CONFIRMATION

To reinforce our membership claims and bolster our

validity in a court setting, we have collected and continue

to collect supporting identity documentation such as

birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates,

baptism certificates, adoption papers, DNA confirmations

(for individuals who have been adopted and do not have

their genetic parents on their birth certificate but are of

Tahltan Ancestry). I am continuing to research, record,

and link these documents to current and historical

members. New member sign-ups are now asked to

produce copies of long form birth certificates [these

include the parents’ names], a secondary piece of picture

ID in some cases, and earriage certificates or proof of

address for common-law relationships.

ELECTIONS

We have been planning for the Executive and Family

Representatives election at the AGA. All information

regarding membership contact info will be supplied by

this department to Intellivote, the firm that provides us

our voting services.

12

M E M B E R S H I P & G E N E A L O GY M E S S AG E

CULTURAL HANDBOOK

A handbook has been located and we are currently

looking for an opportunity to create an edition to this

original. This second edition will go more in-depth and

cover some items that were not discussed in the first

volume. We are now securing resources for this side

project. The project will be a collaboration between all

TCG departments and Tahltan elders, and led by our

new Culture & Heritage Director.

EVENTS

Prior to the hire of Kody Penner, our new Events

Manager, I was sometimes called upon to lead in

planning many of our larger member events and some

of our smaller director meetings. I’ve been helping bring

Kody up to speed in preparation of upcoming events and

I am thrilled to have a Tahltan member fill the position.

I am excited to see his quick progress in planning and

executing recent TCG events.

SHORT-TERM CONTRACTS

We have hired two short term contractors to collect

membership updates while Roxanne and I upload the

newly collected data.

We continue to support TCG’s Employment & Contracts

Department, Red Chris, and TNDC by providing

membership verification and by producing Membership

Verification Letters for athletic, education, and training

opportunities. The Membership Database is the

foundation on which the TCG is based. Indeed, the

Membership Database is paramount to supplying all

TCG departments with critical information. For Finance,

it is an updated Elders payment list. For the Lands

Department and Wildlife Department, it is contact

information for Trapline or Outfitter holders and website

verification. For the Communications Department it is

contact information for email blasts and mail outs and

for Events it’s a call list for various meetings. For the

Education & Training Department, it is membership

verification and verification letters and for the Culture

& Heritage Department, it will be sharing historical

information already collected.

67%(2513)

25%(930)

8%(303)

Ages 18–64 Ages 0–17 Ages 65+

80%(2252)

20%(564)

O� Territory On Territory

TOTAL MEMBERS

ON/OFF TERRITORY ADULT POPULATION


13

$3,365,171

Finance Department Message

Ginger FullerCPA, CMA, CAFM

The role of the Tahltan Central Government Finance

Department is evolving as the organization continues to

grow and expand. We remain committed to improving

procedures and introducing more streamlined policies

for reporting and oversight with each of the departments

and for the Board. The TCG’s primary sources of funding

come from the Tax Revenue Sharing Payments and

Agreements with the Province of BC. In addition, in

the past year we increased revenues from grants and

proposals, requiring our Finance Department to devote

more time to finance reporting to outside agencies.

This past year has seen an increase of 14% over last

year in Tax Revenue Sharing Payments received through

the Province of BC.

As a result, the TCG has increased distribution payments to

each community as well as the Elders’ Distribution Fund. In

2018/2019, TCG was able to increase the Elders’ quarterly

payments from $225 to $300 each quarter.

This is a trend we hope to see continue into the future.

Between June 2018 and April 2019, four Elders’

Distributions have been made for a total of $1,050,

to each Elder 65 years or older at the time of each

distribution payment.

14%increase over last year in Tax Revenue Sharing Payments received through the Province of BC

Total received during the past fiscal year through the Tax Revenue Sharing Agreements with the Province of BC

14

During the past fiscal year, the TCG received a total of $3,365,171

through the Tax Revenue Sharing Agreements with the Province of

BC. The main revenue streams came from the Coast Mountain Limited

Partnership AltaGas projects [$2,143,259 for Forrest Kerr project;

$59,841 for Volcano Creek project; $332,434 for McLymont Creek:

contributing a total $2,535,534], Imperial Metals’ $508,748 contribution

for Red Chris Mine, and new this year: $320,889 from Brucejack Mine.

In addition to the Tax Revenue Sharing the Tahltan Nation receives from the

Government of BC, TCG also receives Royalty Payments from each proponent.

Usually these amounts are reported and exhibited in this report; however, in

2018/2019 these payments have been rerouted to be directly deposited to the

Tahltan Heritage Trust and the reporting sent directly to the Trustees.

As TCG continues to grow its capacity, it is exciting to be involved in the

development of a strong, effective, and transparent Finance Department. Key

to the success of this department is the unwavering dedication from the staff:

namely, Cindy Dennis and Roxanne Ball. They are dedicated to improving their

skills in order to benefit the organization, and TCG thanks and recognizes Cindy

for her ten years of service.

Tax Revenues made significant contributions to the Tahltan

community programs, as well as to language development, wildlife

protection and the Elders’ Fund. The Revenue Sharing Payments are

distributed based on a percentage breakdown as agreed to within

the Protocol Agreement between Tahltan Central Government, Iskut

Band Council and Tahltan Band Council.

TAX REVENUE SHARING BY PROJECT

DISTRIBUTION OF TAX REVENUE SHARING

64%15%

10%

10%2%

20%

15%

15% 15%

10%

10%

10%5%

Forest Kerr $2,143,259

Tahltan Central Government $673,035

Iskut Community $504,775

Language $336,517

Elders' Fund $336,517

Red Chris Mine $508,748

Dease Lake Community $504,775

Legal $336,517

Wildlife $168,260

Bruce Jack $320,889

McLymont $332,434

Volcano Creek $59,841

Telegraph Creek Community $504,775

Below: Cindy Dennis, dedicated member of the Finance Department for 10 years.

F I N A N C E D E PA R T M E N T M E S S AG E


15

Language Department MessageEdōsdi – Judy ThompsonLanguage Director

PROMOTION OF LANGUAGE

∙ Language team staff have been uploading videos

of language lessons to “Speak Tahltan to Me”

Facebook page.

∙ Tahltan Students in UVic’s Diploma in Indigenous

Language Revitalization program are working with

Michael Bourquin on a documentary about Stories

in Tahltan Language as part of their course work,

performing and translating stories into Tahltan.

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson was Invited Speaker at

UNBC’s Health Research Institute’s Health Research

Seminar Series, Indigenous Language Revitalization

and Reclamation: Intergenerational Trauma, Healing,

and Resiliency, Prince George, BC. 11 September 2018.

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson was Invited Keynote Speaker,

Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre

Inc.’s First Nations Circle of Knowledge and Practices

Conference - Language is Life, Indigenous Language

Revitalization: Intergenerational Trauma, Healing, and

Resiliency, Winnipeg, MB. 04 October 2018.

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson was Invited Speaker,

University of Winnipeg’s Department of Indigenous

Studies’ Harry Daniels Distinguished Lecture Series,

Indigenous Language Revitalization: Intergenerational

Trauma, Healing, and Resiliency, Winnipeg, MB.

04 October 2018.

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson was Invited Panel Speaker at

Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT)

Aboriginal Academic Staff Conference – Advancing

Indigenization, Indigenous Knowledge and Languages

in the Classroom, Ottawa, ON. 20 October 2018.

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson attended Indigenous

Language Fluency Degree Partnership Meeting,

September 2018 and March 2019.

GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

Dah Dzˉahge Nodes

ˉidē, Tahltan Language Council met:

∙ meetings in August and October were canceled due to

Fires and Evacuees

∙ January 17–18, 2019, Terrace

∙ May 9–10, 2019, Dease Lake (no quorum)

Updated Terms of Reference for Dah Dzˉahge Nodes

ˉidē

/Language Council to have silent speakers as possible

alternates for speaker positions appointed by bands.

RESEARCH

Edōsdi - Judy Thompson, with Odelia Dennis and

Patricia Louie, wrote an article capturing research and

insights from our Language Nest programs. “Research,

planning, and implementation of Tahltan language nests:

Sharing our experiences.” Published December 2018 in

a Special Issue – “Spirit and Heart: Indigenous Peoples

contest the formal and lived curricula” of the journal,

Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry.

1. TAHLTAN LANGUAGE GOVERNANCE

16

L A N G U AG E D E PA R T M E N T M E S S AG E

2. LANGUAGE PROGRAMS

GENERAL UPDATES:

∙ There has been an increase in funding

from the provincial government ($50

million) for different language programs

(Language Nests, Mentor-Apprentice

Program, etc.). Edōsdi - Judy Thompson

attended a special First Peoples’ Cultural

Council meeting on March 16, 2018 in

Victoria (as the FPCC Tahltan member

on FPCC advisory committee) to get "an

update on the legislation and language

funding context for B.C. and to discuss

language planning and opportunities for

Board and Advisory members to champion

this work in your communities.”

∙ Edōsdi - Judy Thompson attended First

Peoples’ Cultural Council’s

Annual General Meeting in Port Hardy,

October 12–14, 2018 as a member

of the Advisory Committee.

∙ Development of a Bachelor of Indigenous

Proficiency Degree. Edōsdi - Judy

Thompson has been working with other

language specialists to develop curriculum

on behalf of the group engaged in developing

an Indigenous Language Proficiency Degree

framework for BC. This group is made up of

a consortium of post-secondary institutions:

Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, Wilp

Wilxo'oskwhl Nisgˉa'a, UNBC, UBC-O,

UBC-V, SFU, UVic, and the Okanagan Indian

Educational Resources Society/En’owkin

Centre, with a Partnership Agreement

between the members of the Consortium,

First Nations Education Steering Committee,

and the Indigenous Adult and Higher

Learning Association. The first two years

of the degree are in community and are

focused on the creation of speakers.

∙ In the next years (2020 or 2021), we want

to work with the Klappan School to start

Kindergarten immersion.

∙ Edōsdi Judy Thompson attended a

language nest in Aotearoa – New Zealand

in February 2019.

∙ The Language Program received a

Success by 6 grant to host Clan Nights

in each community in the Territory. On

Clan Nights, adults, youth and children

learn words and phrases for their clan,

while creating personalized t-shirts

representing their clan.

CHILDREN / YOUTH

Pre-school programs

∙ Dzimēs Chō T’oh, Iskut Language

Nest celebrated its four-year

anniversary in May 2018.

∙ K’asˉba’e T’oh, Dease Lake Language Nest

celebrated its four-year anniversary in

December 2018.

∙ Telegraph Creek Nest: was set to open in

September 2018 but did not happen due

to fires and evacuation of the community.

K-12 School programs

∙ Working with School District No. 87,

Ministry of Education, curriculum

writers, and language teachers in the

development of Tahltan Language

curriculum for K-12 (School District No.

87 funding). Had meetings on July 11–15,

2018, Vancouver; March 18–19, 2019,

Terrace; May 18, 2019, Vancouver.

PARENTS / ADULTS

Home

∙ Language Coordinators and Assistants

have been working on materials and

activities for parents to use at home to

help them interact with their children who

are learning the language either in the

language nest or school.

∙ Language Coordinators and Assistants

have delivered evening sessions in Iskut

and Dease Lake for parents of language

nest children and other community

members. Planning on starting evening

sessions in Telegraph Creek.

Language courses / Programs

∙ UVic’s Diploma in Indigenous Language

Revitalization continued in Dease Lake

in May 2018. Three courses were offered

in Spring 2018; three courses in Fall

2018; and the final semester with four

courses, including a practicum in school

during January–April 2019. This program

was possible through funding from

the Vancouver Foundation, the Federal

government (through UVic), and TriCorp.

Students graduated in Victoria on June

10, 2019. We are looking at starting a new

cohort in September 2020.

Right: TC Clan night March 2019 – Kitty Brown helps a young Tahltan create his t-shirt at Clan night, where

community learned words and phrases to introduce their clan while creating personalized t-shirts..


17

Right: Tahltan Grads in Victoria at UVIC graduation.

L-R back: Sonia Dennis, Hayle Gallup, Mary Dennis, Pauline Hawkins; front: Kitty Brown, Patricia Dennis, Tanya Dennis.

3. DOCUMENTATION

GENERAL UPDATES:

∙ K–12 curriculum Framework should be tested in

classrooms in September 2019. Currently we have

Scope and Sequence, with sample lessons, for all

Beginner and Intermediate levels in Listening and

Speaking domains of language learning.

∙ An online language application based on the Tahltan

Alphabet will be launched at the 2019 AGA. This App is

supported and funded through a SSHRC Partnership

Grant held by Dr. Marianne Ignace at SFU. A second

feature Tahltan Language App, expanding on the

words and phrases in the Tahltan Basic Conversation

Lessons, will continue development over the summer.

∙ Language staff are supporting Brenda Ireland on

the research for a Tahltan Cultural and Protocol

Handbook, both for Tahltan members and for those

working with Tahltan people and organizations.

∙ Didenekeh website has been re-activated for

language learners.

∙ At the 2018 AGA, we launched the Tahltan

Language Website to promote the language

(tahltanlanguage.com), house resources, and provide

news and information on the Tahltan Language

Revitalization initiatives. At the 2019 AGA, we will

showcase new features.

RECORDINGS

∙ Documentation researchers continue to translate and

transcribe Tahltan Stories.

∙ Documentation researchers continue to record fluent

speakers for apps (alphabet book, children’s books

based on Ancestors’ stories).

∙ Four Language Team staff were trained in September

2018 on digitizing analog audiotapes. The rest

of staff and documentation researchers will be

trained in Fall 2019.

∙ Two Language Team members attended Archives 101:

Archival Practice for Indigenous Organizations with

Archives Association of British Columbia, February 20,

2019 in North Vancouver.

∙ The Language Team is working with the Culture and

Heritage Director to develop an archive of Tahltan

language and culture materials and resources.

LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS

∙ As part of BCLI Funding with the FPCC, we will be

showcasing digital language learning games designed

with Jet Pack Learning in the Summer of 2019.

tahltanlanguage.com

18


Above: Patricia Louie receiving an Award of Excellence in Early Childhood Education for her work with the Language Nest in Iskut.

Above: Tahltan Language teachers Angela Dennis and Odelia Dennis with Dr. Neyooxet Greymorning, at ASLA teacher training in Edmonton AB, May 2019.

4. TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

∙ UVic’s Diploma/Bachelor of Education in Indigenous

Language Revitalization, which started in Dease Lake

in January 2016, continued throughout 2018 and

completed on April 30, 2019. A new cohort is being

planned for Fall 2020.

∙ Nest staff (Patricia Louie, Tanya Louie, Theresa

Etzerza, Erma Bourquin) attended Language Nest

training in Victoria BC, September 10–11, 2018.

∙ Language Team staff and documentation researcher

attended Indigitization training at UBC Vancouver,

September 12–13, 2018.

∙ Language technicians (Kathy Cottrell and Hayle

Gallup) attending First Voices training in Victoria BC,

October 22–24, 2018.

∙ Language Team staff, technicians and researchers

attended First Voices training in Dease Lake

May 6–8, 2019.

∙ Language Nest staff and fluent speaker attended

Language Nest training and Chief Atahm Language

Conference in Kamloops, May 16–17, 2019.

∙ Language team staff and teachers attended

Accelerated Second Language Acquisition Teacher

Training with Dr. Neyooxet Greymorning in Edmonton

AB, May 16–17, 2019.


19

Above: The graduates and mentors of the Diploma in Indigenous Language Revitalization through the University of Victoria, celebrating after their convocation in Victoria June 10,2019. (Not pictured: Pat Etzerza).

20


Top: Tanya Louie and Patricia Louie teaching a young Tahltan the Tāłtān language with the help of a Tsu-tsu puppet.

Above: Louise Framst after defending her Masters project, with her supervisors Dr. Marianne Ignace and Dr. John Alderete; and Language and Culture Director, Edōsdi. Simon Fraser University, April 2019.

5. HEALING, WELL-BEING, AND RESILIENCY

∙ In partnership with the Peoples’ Haven (Tahltan Band), we are creating a new

position to support all aspects of knowledge transfer and planning for youth

and their families, which will include language, traditional teachings and

ceremony, as well as healing as related to language revitalization.

∙ Language staff attended a ½ day Healing training with Sandra Harris October

22, 2018 in Dease Lake to learn and practice tools for working with trauma.

HIGHLIGHTS

First Peoples’ Cultural Council Funding:1. Awarded multiyear funding through BC Language

Initiatives grant ($200,000, July 2018– March 2020).

This funding will support regular Elders’ and Tahltan

speaker gatherings in the three communities to work

towards positive relationships between and amongst

communities and staff and to work towards the

development of a dictionary and teaching grammar.

2. Awarded multi-year Language Nest Funding for

Dzimēs Chō T’oh, Iskut Language Nest ($150,000 for

July 2018–March 2021).

3. Awarded multiyear Aboriginal Language Initiatives

Funding for K’asˉba’e T’oh, Dease Lake Language

Nest ($100,000 for July 2018–March 2020)

4. Invitation to develop a new FirstVoices Archive (up to

$50,000, September 2018–March 2019).

∙ Able to secure funding from many different sources

due to the leveraging of MIRR funds

∙ Patricia Louie earned a 2018 Provincial Child Care

Award of Excellence from the B.C. government for

her work with our children in our language nests.

The provincial child care award recognizes early care

and learning professionals (ECL) or teams who work

in child care settings throughout the province and

demonstrate excellence.

∙ Edōsdi – Judy Thompson received a Distinguished

Academic Award – Early in Career Award Category,

from the Confederation of University Faculty

Associations of BC. This award “recognizes the

contributions to the non-academic community made

by faculty members who are at an early point in their

careers” and Edōsdi was recognized for her Tahltan

language revitalization work.

∙ Positive working relationship with School District No.

87 in the development of Tahltan language curriculum

(SD providing funds to pay for curriculum writers and

workshops for Tahltan teachers).


21

∙ Language and Culture Coordinators and Assistants

work in each of the three communities to promote,

teach, research and advocate for Tahltan language for

all Tahltan members.

∙ Odelia Dennis is completing her Masters in Indigenous

Language Revitalization in 2019. Her thesis is centered

on the process for creating new words in Tahltan.

∙ Louise Framst started her Masters in 2018 after

completing her graduate Certificate through SFU

First Nations Studies and Linguistics in June 2017.

She graduated with a Masters in Linguistics of First

Nation Language in June 2019. Her research focused

on teaching resources for learning sets of verb

patterns in Tahltan.

∙ Kathy Cottrell started her graduate studies at Simon

Fraser University in September 2018 and is focusing

her research on Tahltan language as well.

∙ Hayle Gallup completed her Bachelor of

Education June 2019.

∙ Working with Brenda Ireland on Cultural Protocol

and a Handbook for the Nation and for those working

with Tahltans.

∙ Three Tahltan artists completed illustrations and

design of a children’s alphabet book; we will put a

call out for more Tahltan artists to work on more

children’s books.

CHALLENGES / POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS / NEXT STEPS

∙ Need to record many different types of conversations

with fluent speakers as soon as possible (e.g. language

nest setting, hunting, sewing, working on fish, cooking,

working on hides, etc.).

∙ Need to keep the momentum going; in order to keep

getting funding for majority of sources, we need funds

to leverage against.

∙ Need to invest in linguistic research and analysis of

language to create useful teaching materials, to take

students out of beginner, intermediate level speakers.

∙ Need to work on the documentation and development

of an online and print dictionary; we have a proposal

and a three-year plan but lack the human capacity

and funding to start right now.

∙ Need to continue to have language and culture

evenings in our three communities, as well as in

communities outside of our Territory where our

people reside (e.g. Terrace, Smithers, Whitehorse,

Prince Rupert, Vancouver, etc.) so that we can learn

our language and culture through dance, song,

beadwork, working with hides, etc.

∙ Develop courses and resources for people living in our

Territory so that they can learn about our language,

culture, and ways of knowing.

∙ Develop programs for our young people after finishing

high school to learn about who they are, language, and

culture as a pre-cursor to post-secondary education

and/or employment.

∙ Continue working on children’s books and apps

(e.g. song book).

∙ Dah Dzˉahge Nodes

ˉidē, Tahltan Language Council

working on a policy for individuals/groups researching

Tahltan language.

∙ Dah Dzˉahge Nodes

ˉidē, Tahltan Language Council will be

honouring Tahltan language champions at 2019 AGA.

∙ Work with Tahltan Health authorities to offer immersion

sessions in all 3 communities, such as language camps

out on the land and language houses.

∙ Create opportunities to engage our people in dancing,

song, ceremonies, potlatches, oral stories.

∙ Transcribe and translate Tahltan language on tapes

from 80s study.

22


Tahtlan-langauge model 9.28.19 Language Revitalization Framework – The guiding framework for the Language and Culture Program in revitalizing Tāłtān and creating new Tāłtān speakers.


23

Lands Department and THREAT Message

Christine Creyke, Lands Director, has been in her role since

2016. Christine is the co-chair for the Tahltan-BC Government-

to-Government (G2G) forum. The mandate for the G2G Forum

is to ensure implementation of the Shared Decision Making

(SDM) Agreement and provide a venue for G2G discussions.

The SDM agreement includes capacity funding to support

implementation of the Agreement. It also supports several

working groups (i.e. Fish and Wildlife Working Group,

Minerals Working Group, and Forestry Working Group).

Christine CreykeLands Director

A G2G workshop was held in Telegraph Creek in

Summer 2018. The intent of the workshop was to better

inform provincial staff of traditional land and wildlife

management so they might have a better understanding

of why Tahltan are adamant about sustainable resource

management and the protection of our land, wildlife,

water, and way of life. We asked Elders from all three

communities to join us and share their experiences with

traditional approaches to natural resource management.

Tahltan knowledge and the Tahltan Ancestral Study (TAS)

play a significant role in proposed project developments

and resource management in Tahltan Territory; we

provided presentations on governance, wildlife, and

TAS to help provincial staff understand the wholistic

approach Tahltan take when it comes to decision making.

Members of the Lands Department and THREAT

participated in regional workshops with the Province

and other Indigenous Lands technicians on mineral

tenure and placer mining. During these workshops,

participants identified a number of concerns and

opportunities for improvement. This information will

be summarized in a report that will help guide the

province in changes to the regulations for both placer

mining and mineral tenures.

...we provided presentations on governance, wildlife, and TAS to help provincial staff understand the wholistic approach Tahltan take when it comes to decision making.”

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L A N D S D E PA R T M E N T A N D T H R E AT M E S S AG E

Above: Drafting sections from the Tahltan Land Stewardship Plan

Above: Installation of the Tahltan Nation entrance sign.

Above: Alanna Quock sharing the Stewardship Plan at the Dease Lake Update Meeting.

TAHLTAN LAND STEWARDSHIP PLAN

The Tahltan Land Stewardship Plan (TLSP) will define principles, goals, objectives

and policies that will govern Tahltan Territory and provide a basis for decision

making. This is an essential document that will, among other things, identify

and ensure that the most sacred parts of our Territory are protected for all

generations to come. The Land Stewardship Planning process began at the 2016

AGA; we are excited to present our work on the TLSP to date at the 2019 AGA!

When we started the process, the TCG contracted Dillon Consulting Ltd., a

planning firm out of Vancouver to assist with the process. In the Fall of 2018, we

decided to end our contract with Dillon and begin working with Alanna Quock,

who owns and operates Regenative Design & Development Consulting. Alanna,

daughter of Ray Quock and a Tahltan member, has a background in planning,

design, community development, and environmental management; she has

over 15 years of experience working with individuals, First Nations, communities

and governments. Alanna and her team have been an excellent addition to the

development of the TLSP.

TĀŁTĀN SIGNAGE PROJECT

The BC | Canada 150: Celebrating B.C. Communities and

their Contributions to Canada grant program awarded

the Lands Department $50K to develop signage

throughout the Territory. Christine Creyke, along with

Kelly Edzerza-Bapty and Tsēmā Igharas (both of whom

assisted in designing the signage, visualization and

implementation of the project), built a monument-scaled

southern border Entrance sign reading “Tahltan Nation”.

The entrance sign is the first phase of the project.


25

FORESTRY

Christine Creyke, Lands Director, has been in

communication with Rob McPhee on the development

of the Woodland License and has been working in the

background on best stewardship practices and what

could be incorporated into an IBA. This past December,

through the TLSP process, we held a forestry technical

planning session to develop stewardship practices that

will feed into the Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) for the

Tahltan-owned Woodland License. Considerations for

wildlife and Tahltan land uses (i.e. trapping, hunting,

gathering berries and medicinal plants, etc.) of proposed

logging areas have been priority for the FSP direction.

ARCHAEOLOGY

After the 2018 Wildfires, discussions with the Province

began around developing a Rehab Plan for the

fireguards. The Lands Department and our archaeology

team (Duncan McLaren, Vera Asp, Johnny Bob, George

Kaufman, George Dennis, Brendan Gray) developed an

Archaeology Inventory Assessment (AIA) plan for all

fireguards. In May 2019, the archaeology team began

work near Telegraph Creek and found thirty new ancient

and historic sites and several significant obsidian tools.

Their work will be complete by the end of June 2019 and

their findings will be presented to the Nation.

The archaeology team applied for a grant with BC

Parks to do Ice Patch Archaeology on Mt. Edziza and

was successful in getting $22,000.00 to cover the

helicopter time and other expenses. The team was

supposed to conduct this project last summer but the

fires postponed them until July of 2019. They will be the

first to do this type of research in Tahltan Territory. Their

work should continue to bring exciting findings and

further support our Rights and Title claims.

26


WATER MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT

In 2016, an AGA resolution was passed for the Tahltan

Central Government to begin working on a Water

Management Plan for Tahltan Territory. Since then, we’ve

taken small steps towards pro-active water monitoring

and overall water management. In 2017, we began

working on a monitoring program involving the Alaska

Department of Environmental Conservation, Fish and

Game and Natural Resources, the BC Ministries of Energy,

Mines, and Petroleum Resources, and Environment

and Climate Change Strategy. This collaborative project,

called the BC-Alaska Transboundary Rivers Monitoring

project, has our Guardians taking quarterly samples on

the lower Stikine and the Unuk Rivers.

Recently, Lands Director Christine Creyke was appointed

to the BC-Yukon Bilateral Water Management Committee

(BMC), in support of the implementation of the 2017

BC-Yukon Territory Bilateral Water Management

Agreement. The main purpose of the BMC is to administer

the Agreement and report on its achievements. Christine

will join the BMC, along with representatives from

the Government of BC, the Government of Yukon and

Indigenous representatives from other First Nations

within the Liard River watershed.

The Lands Department received a grant to hire a

University coop student, Siddiq Mahyildin, on a four-

month contract (May–August). Siddiq is a student in

the Master’s program with the Mining Engineering

Department at UBC; he will be responsible for collecting

and organizing all data (both private and public) from

mining projects and activities in Tahltan Territory. The

primary focus of Siddiq’s work will be developing an

exploration database to support analysis of exploration

activities in Tahltan territory with a focus on regional

groundwater (i.e. water management/stewardship, gap

analysis, etc.). Our hope is that the work developed by

Siddiq will assist the Lands Department with framing a

Water Management Plan.

Left: Tuya River.


27

MONITORING MUSHROOM HARVESTING

The Lands Department developed a

mushroom harvesting management plan

to ensure the protection of our Land and

Resources. This plan ensures mitigation

against environmental impacts, implements

a permit system to Tahltan and non-Tahltan

harvesters, and assigned our Guardians to

monitor mushroom activities. The Guardians

will ensure all mushroom-harvesting

visitors to Tahltan Territory follow our rules

and guidelines (e.g. no ATVs, no soap in any

waterways, no visitors in the no-harvest

zone, etc.). The non-timber resource permit

we developed for morel mushrooms can be

transferred to other non-timber resources

(i.e. pine mushrooms, berries, medicinal

plants, etc.) if Tahltan membership decides

we should further monitor other plant

resources in Tahltan Territory.

EXPLORATION

In November, the Lands Department hired Shawn

Ducharme as the Lands and Resource Technician. Shawn

is a former employee of the Red Chris Environmental

team and husband to Trena Quock. Recently we’ve been

developing an ‘Exploration Framework’ as a tool for

Tahltan leadership to approach exploration activities

in Tahltan Territory. Our current tools include: maps

(mineral tenure), a database (referrals), Communications

Agreements, Exploration Agreements, and the Shared

Decision-Making Agreement with the Province of BC. The

Lands Department also developed an inspection report

to be used on all site visits by THREAT, Wildlife Guardians,

and Lands Department staff. The inspection form will be

linked to Lightship, our mapping platform used as our

referrals database. Accounts and access to Lightship

were recently developed for all Board of Directors

as well as Leadership. Lightship helps us improve

understanding of all projects, referral applications, and

how the Lands Department responds to the Province.

In July 2018, after hearing continuous community

concern, Christine Creyke, Norm MacLean, and two

provincial representatives inspected a Placer Mine on

the Barrington River. The provincial Mines Inspector did

not indicate any serious concerns with the operations

in relation to the permit conditions. Shawn Ducharme

will participate in all joint inspections with the Province

going forward. We have scheduled several days of

inspections for the Summer of 2019.

The Lands Department aims to address all

community concerns and encourages members

to document suspicious activities on the land

(e.g. with photos, GPS locations, etc.).

28



29

The Tahltan Heritage Resources Environmental Assessment Team (THREAT) continues to support the Tahltan Leadership and the Tahltan Lands department on referrals, implementation of environmental commitments in our Impact Benefit Agreements, management of strategic initiatives like the Klappan Plan and the Red Chris Management Agreement and permitting.

Right: Chantel Quock water sampling in Todaggin Lake, monitoring Red Chris Mine.

THREAT meetings. The feedback we receive helps us in our

review and assessment of projects. The team has several

tools for its work, including: the Tahltan Ancestral

study database (managed by Vera Asp), the THREAT

assessment process, technical experts and Tahltan

knowledge holders. Tahltan elders that have worked

with the team include Jerry Asp and Lee Marion.

In this past year, THREAT focused on a number of projects including:

∙ The Kutcho Project is a proposed copper-zinc mine

located in the eastern portion of Tahltan Territory

along the Jade Bolder Road. Kutcho Copper Corp is

working on advancing the project through feasibility

and permitting. Kutcho Copper Corp. provided a draft

project description to THREAT for review and comments.

A joint technical working group is being developed

with technical representatives from Tahltan, the Kaska

Nation, and Kutcho Copper Corp. THREAT is also

working on a collaborative environmental assessment

process with the Kaska for the Kutcho project.

∙ The Silvertip Project, located in the Rancheria area,

is a silver-zinc-lead mine. In 2017, the company

submitted permit amendment applications to change

its operations from seasonal to yearly. THREAT has

participated in the review process for these applications

Nalaine MorinTHREAT Project Manager

THREAT’s mission statement is:

∙ To support the protection of Tahltan environmental,

social, cultural, heritage and economic interests that

may be affected by industrial action;

∙ To assess potential impacts from new and existing

industrial development on Tahltan territory;

∙ To identify options for avoiding or mitigating impacts; and

∙ To ensure that Tahltan people are meaningfully

involved in permitting processes and project reviews.

Nalaine Morin is the Project Manager for THREAT. THREAT

is comprised of a team of Tahltan members and technical

experts. In 2019, we expanded our team to include Jamie

Davignon. We establish budgets and workplans for each

project, which we follow to support our work each year.

This work planning also helps us to understand and plan

for our resourcing needs. Roxanne Creyke (nee Ball) has

been our THREAT administrator for a number of years. In

2019, she identified and implemented a new timekeeping

and invoicing system that supports the team in tracking

time and expenses for each project.

Communications and engagement are important aspects

of the work done by THREAT for the Tahltan Nation.

We report back to leadership and the nation through

briefings, newsletters, presentations and community

30


which included: reviewing the applications, participating in the

technical working group and facilitating a community meeting

in Dease Lake. A Tahltan Land Use and Occupancy study was also

developed for this project by the Tahltan Ancestral Study team

(Vera Asp, Duncan Mclaren, Brendan Grey and Rosemary Asp).

∙ The Galore Creek Project is still in care and maintenance but new

work has started on the project. Nova Gold sold their interests in

the project to Newmont and the new Galore Creek Project team

has been working to advance the project. This work includes

revisiting the project description, additional exploration activities,

reviewing environmental baseline data programs and preparing

to enter the environmental assessment process in 2020. THREAT

has reviewed the multi-year area-based permit application for the

project and participated in workshops with the company including

baseline reviews and road design.

∙ The Red Chris Mine has had management changes this year

including a new owner/operator for the project, Newcrest Mining

Limited. THREAT continues to manage a number of initiatives

established for this mine including implementing the Red Chris

Management Agreement, participating in any permit amendment

for the mine, and participating in the Independent Engineering

Review panel (IERP) update meetings. Red Chris submitted a

5-year mine closure plan update in June 2018; the review for this

update is still ongoing. The Red Chris Management Agreement

team held community meetings in Iskut with the Province

on September 24, 2018 to discuss the annual report, joint

inspections, and incident reporting for the mine. Representatives

from the Environment Department at the mine were also present

at the meeting. They answered questions from community

members regarding environmental concerns about the mine.

∙ The Klappan Management Board, established under the Klappan

Plan, met several times last year. During these meetings the

board discussed applications for activities in Zone C, addressed

community and stakeholder comments regarding the Klappan plan

and reviewed draft recommendations for land management in the

Sacred Headwaters zone. Tahltan members of the management

board include: Marie Quock, Chad Day and Nalaine Morin.

∙ The Northwest Projects (Forrest Kerr, McLymont and Volcano)

are all in operation. AltaGas is pursuing a two-year study to

understand the effects of reducing the instream flow requirements

at Northwest Projects. The purpose of the study is to evaluate a

possible operational change as part of an ongoing initiative to

increase operating efficiency at the projects. THREAT has reviewed

the proposed study and provided comments, participated in the

working groups and provided updates to the Tahltan Leadership.

Left: THREAT's new hire, Jamie Davignon.


31

GUARDIAN PROGRAM

Jarett Quock has been the full-time Wildlife Guardian

since April 2016. Recently, Jarett was forced to take

medical leave. Clements Brace was hired as the second

full-time Wildlife Guardian, and Brianna Tashoots, a

2nd year Environmental Science student, was brought

on as a Wildlife Guardian until she returns to school in

December 2019.

COLLABORATIVE STEWARDSHIP FRAMEWORK

The Collaborative Stewardship Framework (CSF)

provides 3 million dollars over three years (2018–2020)

to the 3 Nations (Tahltan, Kaska, Tlingit). The intent

of this CSF is to build shared capacity to deliver upon

shared reconciliation and stewardship outcomes which

inform natural resource management processes. CSF

is intended to be a way of working with Indigenous

governments and communities to support collaborative

design and delivery of natural resource stewardship

in BC. Through the CSF work planning, we identified

our priorities and short and long-term goals. We also

developed a work plan moving forward. Wildlife, and

wildlife habitat, are the main focus of the CSF workplan.

Wildlife Department Message

Lance NagwanWildlife Director

With the additional funding we received, we were happy to

hire more seasonal Guardians. In the Fall of 2018, we hired

two seasonal Guardians from Iskut. We had planned to

hire two guardians from Telegraph Creek as well but with

the wildfire situation, we cancelled the Telegraph Creek

Guardian program for Fall 2018.

This Spring, we hired two Telegraph Creek Guardians

early to begin monitoring mushroom harvesting

activities. Our Iskut Guardians will be brought on when

hunting season starts. The increase in personnel has

allowed the Guardians to patrol a larger portion of

Tahltan Territory during the hunting season. Their role is

to monitor land use, hunting activity, and any violations

that occur within Tahltan Territory.

32

W I L D L I F E D E PA R T M E N T M E S S AG E

PREDATOR PROGRAM

Predator management has been identified as a priority

through a number of different wildlife committees

and working groups, including the Northern Wildlife

Roundtable and the Fish and Wildlife Working Group.

Developing a Predator Management Plan, as part

of our overall Moose Management Plan, is on the

radar and ongoing.

Historically, Tahltan practiced predator management to

different degrees. Currently, trapping of wolves is on a

small scale – localized to individual traplines. Recently,

the Wildlife Guardians and other interested Youth

undertook intensive training held by Layser’s Kennel &

Contracting. This training program not only focused on

wolf trapping techniques but also wolf pack behavior

and overall pack removal.

The goal of starting a predator program is to ensure our

communities are safe, and to increase the abundance

of ungulate populations. Over the winter, the Guardians

trapped near Dease Lake, the Burn, and Klappan.

Guardians spent their winter days skinning and cleaning

wolf hides. It is undetermined what to do with the furs

at this point as we are not able to sell them. Some ideas

we have include donating to sewing groups or teaching

Youth fur tanning workshops.


33

MONITORINGIn 2018, an association for successful outcomes in

moose regulation changes in the Skeena Region–

between 3 Nations, and BC–resulted in coordinated

discussions on developing a more standardized

approach for monitoring hunting and land use activities.

We collectively discussed an approach supporting

greater comparisons of results on licenced hunting and

land use during the hunting season and through each

Fish and Wildlife Working Group (FWWG).

The Guardians use the Lightship mapping platform to

collect their field data. Lightship is the mapping platform

the Lands Department uses for our Referrals database.

We have been collecting hunter surveys and ‘other’

observations (i.e. illegal kills, environmental concerns,

etc.). Monitoring resident hunters has been the focus of

the Guardian program for the past several years. More

recently we began monitoring other land activities and

started training to ensure we are monitoring those

activities appropriately.

The Guardians conduct all the water sampling for the

Transboundary Water Sampling Program on the Unuk

and Lower Stikine Rivers. The Lands Department

started working with the Province of BC on this project

in 2018 and recently renewed the agreement. Guardians

will continue water sampling as part of this project, and

hopefully expand the program to cover other areas in

Tahltan Territory.

The Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources

(MEMPR) and the 3 Nations held a workshop in April

2019 regarding joint inspections. The Guardians will be

working with the Lands Department on exploration site

inspections. The form the Guardians helped develop has

been linked to Lightship.

In 2018, the Guardians became more involved with

industry programs to collect information for projects

or baseline inventories. Both GigaMetals Inc. and

Kutcho Copper Corp. used Guardians to conduct

baseline inventories and sampling in 2018–19 (wildlife

inventories, water sampling, and archaeology sampling).

Regular site investigations and monitoring continued at

active mines such as Red Chris.

34

W I L D E L I F E D E PA R T M E N T M E S S AG E


36

W I L D E L I F E D E PA R T M E N T M E S S AG E

JADE BOULDER STONE SHEEP PROJECT

The project (Stone Sheep Seasonal

Movements, Mortality and Habitat in

Relation to the Industrial Resource Road

Use in the Caribou Pass and Dome Mountain

area) is entering its third year and has been

a collaborative effort between the TCG

and Tahltan Guide & Outfitters Association,

with the support of non-governmental

organizations and industrial partners such

as Kutcho Copper Corp. and Wild Sheep

Foundation. This project is providing critical

information on the seasonal and daily

movements of sheep in the Dome Mountain

area, particularly during periods of high

Industry activity along the Jade Boulder

Road. This information will assist in the

development of management direction

required for the area through the Jade

Boulder Working Group and/or Kutcho

Copper Corp environmental assessment

review, both commencing in 2019.


37

HOW WILL CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT OUR WILDLIFE?

Our local and traditional knowledge tells of decreasing

snowfall and drier weather. Such changes may have

serious impacts on the abundance and distribution of

vegetation, fish, and wildlife. Tahltan Elders and community

members are especially concerned about the species most

culturally important species to our Nation.

After moose and salmon, hodzih (caribou) are among

the most important food sources for Tahltan. Of all

herds, the Tseneglode may be the most important

for sustenance today, in part due to ease of access.

This April, the Tahltan Central Government’s Wildlife

Department launched a community-based monitoring

program focused on the Tseneglode herd. The project

began with a team of wildlife experts collaring ten

hodzih from in order to track the Tseneglode herd’s

movement and behaviour. The team took samples

as well, to track the hodzih’s health and continue an

ongoing study led by the Tahltan Guide Outfitters

Association and the Province of British Columbia.

They are now installing weather stations to provide

corresponding climate data within the herd’s range.

The next phase of the project will be to establish culture

camps at Gnat Pass and Kutcho Creek. The camps fall

within the Tseneglode herd’s range, in an area seasonally

used by Tahltan members for traditional purposes.

The culture camps center on youth and elder interaction,

to ensure traditional knowledge is shared while on the land.

Educational activities will include scientific monitoring

methods, GPS navigation and communication equipment

training, the use of drones, and Tahltan bushcraft skills

including traditional survival and preparation. Participants

will join Wildlife Guardians in collecting climate data,

maintaining weather station, and surveying habitat.

For the next three years, the hodzih will teach us about

climate change.

Wildlife Guardians Message

Jarett QuockWildlife Guardian

Clements BraceWildlife Guardian

W I L D L I F E G U A R D I A N S M E S S AG E


39

40

TSENEGLODE CARIBOU AND CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT

The project is designed to occur over three years

(2018–20). The focus of the first year will be on project

commencement, equipment purchase, deployment of

collars and weather stations, collection data, capacity

building, and community engagement. The following

year will focus on the land monitoring, Youth/Elder

engagement, and hosting culture camps. During the

third and final year we will wrap up monitoring, ensure

the Youth/Elder engagement is properly documented,

host a final culture camp, and report on the entire

three-year project. We hope the results will fund further

years for the project to continue in Tahltan Territory.

Project Objectives1. Assess long and short-term climate trends for the

Tseneglode Woodland Caribou Herd using traditional,

local, and scientific knowledge

2. Educate and train Tahltan to identify and monitor

climate change indicators

3. Bring Tahltan out on the land and encourage

Elder-Youth engagement and knowledge transfer

through culture camps

4. Ensure monitoring activities are producing information

that meets community needs and priorities

5. Report the findings of the study to our communities,

including short and long term trends for climate and

hodzih, recommendations for responses, and a range

of adaptations to consider

6. Strengthen community capacity and understanding of

climate change through an approach that integrates

scientific, traditional, and local knowledge. Enable our

communities to take immediate adaptation actions on

the foundation of better knowledge

In year one (fiscal 2018–19), we focused on deploying 10

collars on the Northern Mountain Population Tseneglode

Woodland Caribou Herd. The collaring occurred on

April 3, 2018 with TCG Wildlife Guardians involved in the

capture, handling, and collection of samples for 9 cow

and 1 bull caribou.

W I L D L I F E G U A R D I A N S M E S S AG E

Featured:

Clements Brace, Wildlife Guardian

Bill Jex, Provincial Wildlife Biologist

Dr. Caeley Thacker, Wildlife Veterinarian

Bill Oestreich, Outfitter and former Wildlife Director

William Oestreich, Bill's son

Fraser MacDonald


41

MINERAL EXPLORATION PROGRAMS IN 2018–2019 HIGHLIGHTS

Please Note: In the 2018 season of the 8 companies

that reported statistics, the following was identified:

∙ 93 positions that were occupied by Tahltans

∙ $9,298,480 dollars in contract spend for

Tahltan Businesses

∙ in 2016 there were 3 identified Tahltan Contractors

in this industry

∙ in 2018 there were 10 identified Tahltan Contractors

in the Mineral Exploration Industry

∙ Negotiating an “Opportunities Agreement” these

agreements will outline specifically a process for

allowing Tahltan Businesses to be prepared to bid and

work on the project. There are no such agreements

that currently exist and the process is fairly informal,

however we are asking the companies to make them

formal for 2019.

∙ This does not include all the indirect spending in

local stores and hotels.

Adrian CarlickEmployment & Contracts [email protected]

Employment & Contracts Message

18%OF FIRST NATIONSEMPLOYEES ARE

TAHLTAN

11

17

11

36%OF EMPLOYEESARE TAHLTAN

207

Coeur Mining Inc.“We have been working hard to increase our First

Nation employee numbers and we have gone

from 45 to 60 this year. This is currently 21% of

our total workforce (280 total), up from 15%.”

There are currently 10 Tahltans and 1 Tahltan-

Kaska working for Coeur Mining Inc.

Pretivm“There are currently 31 Tahltan members working

at the Brucejack mine, 14 with our Underground

Mine contractor PROCON and 17 directly for

Pretivm. All employees working for PROCON are

and Pretivm are permanent positions.”

Red Chris MineAs of May 2019, Red Chris Mine currently

employs 207 Tahltans in various positions

throughout Red Chris Mine, hiring 5 new

Tahltans in the last month, a 4.5% increase

since April 2019.

42

HIGHLIGHTS IN THE TAHLTAN EMPLOYMENT AND CONTRACTS DEPARTMENT

∙ Put on a Job Fair with over 30 companies in attendance in Dease

Lake. Over 200 people attended and there were great prizes.

People have been hired as a result of attending the Job Fair; for

example, Couer Silvertip and Red Chris Mine took resumes and

hired Tahltans. In addition, several exploration companies will be

hiring people that showed up to the Job Fair.

∙ Developed and finalized a database that will collect resumes that

companies will have access to. This will enable a smoother process

for everyone once developed. I worked on this with Freda Campbell,

Education & Training Director.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM MEETING NEWCREST

∙ Had lengthy meetings with Newcrest staff and went over Sections 5:

Human Resources, Tahltan Nation and Training; Article 6: Workplace

Matters; and Article: 7 Tahltan Business Opportunities. The purpose

of this painstaking exercise was to give feedback so they could fully

understand what is working and what is not. This is the first time any

company had done this, so it certainly shows their dedication.

∙ Newcrest is very committed to the 40% number required in the IBCA

with Red Chris Mine.

∙ Negotiated creation of a position within the TCG for “Community Liaison”.

∙ Committed to hiring one more Tahltan HR person very soon. So that will

be two new positions that will go to Tahltans.

∙ Negotiated with Peter Arendt, CEO of TNDC, to potentially secure the

Drilling Contract, the Bus Services, the Air Travel and help create the

process for the TIA contract.

Top: Kelso Marion working at Red Chris Mine.

Above: Annual Dease Lake job fair hosted by the Tahltan Central Government in April 2019.


43

Education & Training Message

The Education & Training Department came into being

on August 15, 2018. A resolution was put forward at

the 2017 TCG AGM which stated the following:

That the TCG collaborate with the other shareholders

(Tahltan Band & Iskut Band) of the Tahltan Heritage Trust

to begin accessing the interest funds from the Trust on an

annual basis and utilize such funds annually to help support

Tahltan students and trainees. The funds should be made

available to anyone with Tahltan ancestry in pursuit of

employment & training certificates, high school upgrading,

post-secondary studies, trades programs and any other

reasonable programs that help Tahltan members become

meaningfully employed in the workforce. A special education

and training board, made up of representatives of all three

government entities and other Tahltan members should be

established to create proper policies. Amendment – add a

three-year clause to revisit this resolution.

Freda CampbellEducation & Training [email protected]

From this resolution, an Employment & Training Committee

was developed. It is comprised of Chad Norman Day

(Chair), Adrian Carlick, Ann Ball, Maureen Johnstone, Curtis

Rattray and Jolene Louie. The committee developed the

Education & Training Policy that can be found on the TCG

website, along with the application forms for short term

training courses and post-secondary/trades programs.

Importantly, anyone of Tahltan ancestry can apply

for funding for Short Term Certifications, for Post-

Secondary programs and for Trades training. Each

student is allowed a maximum of $2500 per year for

short term training certifications and $5000 per year for

post-secondary programs and trades programs. The

funding can come in the form of tuition, required books

& supplies, travel and/or a living allowance.

To qualify for funding an applicant must:

∙ Be of Tahltan ancestry;

∙ Be a confirmed registered member of the TCG;

∙ Be in good financial standing with the TCG, the

Tahltan Band and the Iskut Band (if applicable); and

∙ Be applying for funding for a program that meets the

program eligibility requirements set out in the policy.

When I started on August 15, 2018, I immediately started

funding short-term certificate students, post-secondary

students, and trades students for the 2018/2019

academic school year and reimbursing educational

costs as far back as May 1, 2018.

44

E D U CAT I O N & T R A I N I N G M E S S AG E

As of May 31, 2019, the TCG Education & Training funding

program has spent $118,022.92 funding 50 certified TCG

members in the following manner:

CERTIFIED REGISTERED

MEMBER $

Short-Term Certifications

16 12,761.92

Post-Secondary 23 94,441.33

Trades 5 10,865.30

Totals 44 118,068.55

In September, I reviewed all the scholarships that the TCG

had to offer and a few that were in the works. The Red

Chris Development Company Ltd. and the Tahltan Guide

& Outfitters Association scholarships had yet to be run for

the 2018/2019 academic school year. We wanted to start

looking at running scholarships for each semester and

potentially encouraging students to enroll in areas where

the Tahltan Nation has skill gaps.

At the end of September, I travelled south to meet

with the educational institutions in the Northwest.

I visited the following:

Coast Mountain College – Prince Rupert campus

Coast Mountain College – Smithers campus

Coast Mountain College – Terrace campus

University of British Columbia – Terrace campus

Kitimat Valley Institute

My goal was to let them know of my position and to get

a better understanding of the educational opportunities

available to Tahltans in the Northwest. I was very

pleased to see that Coast Mountain College has a new,

state of the art, trades facility and I was happy to see

that they are working towards providing an education to

people in remote communities, utilizing a combination

of in-class time and video conferencing. Education is

changing and it is changing in a way that will provide

remote communities better access.

In October, I wrote a proposal to the Sector Labour

Market Partnerships program project. The proposal

was to hire a successful marketing company who could

help us develop a marketing strategy for the Tahltan

Skills Inventory, communicating the value of Tahltan

participation and the benefit it would have for Tahltan

members and the Tahltan Nation. It involved discussing

the Tahltan Skills Inventory, industry involvement, and

creating an oversight committee. The proposal was

submitted on October 26, 2018.

Above: NWACE Programme.

I also began planning the 2019 Dease Lake Bootcamp by

working with several exploration companies, Northpac,

and the Red Chris Development Company Ltd., to find out

the kind of certifications that they would like to see in their

entry level employees and requesting support letters to

submit with our proposal to TRICORP.

In October, I assisted Ann Ball with the Galore Creek

Mining Corporation Bursary Awards.

I was very pleased to see that Coast Mountain College has a new, state of the art, trades facility and I was happy to see that they are working towards providing an education to people in remote communities, utilizing a combination of in-class time and video conferencing. Education is changing and it is changing in a way that will provide remote communities better access.”


45

In November, I attended a conference in Prince Rupert

held by TRICORP and discussed the possibility of having

a Bootcamp training session in Dease Lake in January

2019 and of the Tahltan participating in a Northwest

apprenticeship training program where students would

travel around the Northwest with contractors in the

construction trade as apprentices. With the construction

needed because of the 2018 Wildfires and the construction

required for IR 13, there is potential to participate.

When I returned from the conference, I sourced a

training provider for the 2019 Dease Lake Bootcamp

and began planning by securing instructors, dates

and venues. By the end of November, the Dease Lake

Bootcamp proposal was being finalized.

In December we ran the Red Chris Development Company

Ltd. and Tahltan Guide & Outfitters Association bursary

awards with a closing date of December 30, 2019.

On December 5, 2018, the 2019 Dease Lake Bootcamp

proposal was submitted to TRICORP. The final budget was

$191,816.45 to be funded by TRICORP and $49,433.93 in

kind to be funded by the Tahltan Central Government.

Also in December, I attended a Mining Industry Human

Resources Council meeting. MIHR has been tasked with

finding creative ways to encourage students to go into

careers in mining. In the future I am certain we will be

able to use this resource to support Tahltans developing

capacity in the mining sector.

On December 20th, we received approval for the 2019

Dease lake Bootcamp. The Bootcamp consisted of 23

workplace certification courses with rules designed to

encourage participation.

Recruiting for the Bootcamp began immediately in the

new year, we had a deadline of January 11th to submit

the final paperwork so we marketed the program

over the Christmas holidays and got busy visiting

communities signing people up as soon as we returned

to work. We were able to meet the deadline and it was

wildly successful, we had to cut off applicants because

we did not have the capacity to meet the demand.

The TCG also provided accommodation to Bootcamp

applicants who resided outside of Dease Lake. We

secured the temporary accommodation that was

provided to the evacuees from the 2019 Wildfires. One of

the reasons we took this on is we wanted to prove that, if

accommodation was provided for students who resided

outside of Dease Lake, we could increase participation

rates and success rates. The statistics below speak

for themselves, but this also doubled the amount of

work required to host the Bootcamp: rules had to be

communicated and enforced, rooms needed to be

booked and cleaned, and invoices had to be created.

Right: The Wildfire Training Courses were a compilation of 10 courses designed to produce Wildfire Fighters and Wildfire Medics.

Above: Freda Campbell and Belfrey Quock at the Dease Lake Job Fair.

46


FUNDED SEATS SEATS ATTENDED ATTENDANCE CERTIFICATES DNC FAIL SUCCESS

TDG 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

OFA 1 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

TE 10 10 100.00% 10 100.00%

TE 6 6 100.00% 6 100.00%

WHMIS 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

Wildlife Awareness 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

ATV Rider Safety 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

ATV Rider Safety 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

Food Safe Level 16 12 75.00% 12 100.00%

H2S 16 15 93.75% 15 100.00%

Confined Space 16 15 93.75% 13 2 86.67%

Fall Protection 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

Industrial Fire Extinguiser 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

Ground Disturbance 16 16 100.00% 16 100.00%

General Radio Operator 10 10 100.00% 10 100.00%

Aerial Manlift 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

Forklift Safety 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

Skid Steer 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

Hoisting & Rigging 8 8 100.00% 8 100.00%

Helicopter Safety & Rigging 10 10 100.00% 10 100.00%

Overhead Crane 10 10 100.00% 10 100.00%

OFA Level 3 12 12 100.00% 11 1 91.67%

TCP 12 12 100.00% 12 100.00%

Chainsaw & Bucking 7 7 100.00% 6 1 85.71%

Chainsaw & Bucking 7 7 100.00% 7 100.00%

Airbrakes 16 11 68.75% 11 100.00%

Totals 308 297 97.36% 293 4 0 94.96%

The 2019 Bootcamp started on January 19, 2019 and

ran to March 22, 2019. There were 74 applicants and 49

participants in the 2019 Dease Lake Bootcamp. Of the

44 participants, 20 Tahltan were deemed “2019 Dease

Lake Bootcamp Grads” and their names were given to

the industry partners who committed to hiring the grads.

The list will also go to any other resource development

company in Tahltan Territory who requests it. At the

2019 Dease Lake Job Fair, every booth that was seeking

employees requested the list. We are excited to do the

employment statistics for the Bootcamp in the fall. We

plan on having the Dease Lake Bootcamp every year

until the demand for it falls. The statistics for the 2019

Dease Lake Bootcamp are below:


47

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the 2019 AME

Round Up because there was no one available who could

take over the Bootcamp in my absence. Next year we will

schedule the 2020 Bootcamp around the AME Round Up.

In February 2019, I attended the Moose Hide event in

Victoria with President Chad Day and Tahltan youth.

I also attended the Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group

and continued to facilitate the Bootcamp. Further, we

received word that we would be given the opportunity

to hold Wildfire Training Courses in Dease Lake due to

the 2018 Wildfires. I began to secure dates and venues.

We also started to seriously discuss holding the NWACE

Program in Dease Lake. We started talking about how

we would fill a class of 18 and the importance of having

accommodation in Dease Lake to support participation.

We were able to finalize the Wildfire Training Courses

on March 4th. In the first half of March 2019, I began to

recruit and sign up students for the Wildfire Training

Program and, the second half of March 2019, I recruited

and signed up students for the NWACE Program.

We created videos, visited communities each week,

and proactively recruited students any way we could.

The Wildfire Training Courses were a compilation

of 10 courses designed to produce Wildfire Fighters

and Wildfire Medics. The courses ran from March 26,

2019 – April 9, 2019. We tried to distribute the training

equally between the 3 communities of Dease Lake,

Telegraph Creek and Iskut. Once again, the TCG provided

accommodations by using the temporary accommodations

set up to accommodate the 2018 Wildfire evacuees, and

once again it doubled the work of hosting the training.

The Red Chris Development Company Ltd. and Tahltan

Guide & Outfitters Association’s bursary awards were

finalized in the first week of April and the winners

were announced. I also assisted AltaGas Ltd. with

their scholarship awards. They were finalized and

announced at the end of April.

The Dease Lake Job Fair happened on April 6, 2019 and it

would close the application period for the NWACE Program.

Belfrey Quock was hired to be the Program Coach for the

program and he and the program facilitators began the

process of selecting students for the program. We were

able to fill the classroom with Tahltan members and the

program started on April 24th and ran to June 12, 2019.

In April, I presented my program at an AME MinEx Talks in

Vancouver along with President Chad Day, Jerry Asp, Rob

McPhee, and Nalaine Morin. While in Vancouver, Gordon

Infanti, Communications Director, and I met with Matthew

Milovanoic, Senior Program Manager for the Labour

Market Partnership Project to discuss the Tahltan Skills

Inventory. Matthew assured us that the proposal would be

approved, despite the delay we were experiencing.

In May, I attended a meeting hosted by Pretivm to discuss

best practices in the communities they recruit from and

the barriers we experience getting community members

employed at Brucejack.

On May 7th, we received the official approval for the

Marketing Strategy for the Tahltan Skills Inventory and we

discussed the potential costs associated with the delay.

I also helped the NWACE Program plan their final dinner,

assemble a panel for the NWACE Students to present

their business plans, secure a keynote speaker and

provide a leadership invitation list for the final dinner.

Also in May, Adam Amir, Communications Coordinator,

and I visited the Red Chris Mine to take photos and

obtain some much-needed images of Tahltans working

in industry. The visit was a success and we have some

ideas for future videos.

In June, we completed the NWACE Program. It has been

a very busy 9 ½ months and I anticipate that our next

fiscal year will bring further education and training

opportunities for Tahltan members. I am excited to launch

the Tahltan Skills Inventory in the Fall. The Inventory

will help Tahltan members communicate their skills to

employers and find employment.

48


Above: Freda Campbell at Red Chris Mine.

Left: When Herbert Henyu started working for TNDC Spatizi Construction in 1988, Kelso Marion wasn't even born yet. Kelso's father, Vern Marion, was the general manager, foreman and Herbert's boss. Thirty years later, Kelso Marion is the foreman and Herbert's boss.


49

Communications Department

He also completed an audit of the Communications

Department and began re-building the department from

the base up. Foundational projects include:

∙ TCG Mailing List

∙ TCG Strategic Media List

∙ Staff Mailing List

∙ Communications Agreement List

∙ Communications Agreements Housekeeping

∙ TCG Horizon Scan

∙ Key Stats Document

∙ Organizing and Securing TCG’s Archives,

Media and Assets

∙ Updating and improving TCG’s media

production capacity

∙ Updating and redesigning TCG’ channels of

communication, including Facebook, the website, and

the newsletters

∙ Enhancing the security of TCG’s social media, website

and accounts, etc.

∙ TCG Branding Exercise

Gordon InfantiCommunications [email protected]

In 2018, Tahltan Central Government

(TCG) hired Gordon Infanti as the new

Communications Director.

Our new Communications Director had

a busy first number of months, focused

on establishing relationships with TCG

staff, Tahltan members, stakeholders and

industry partners.

The Communications Department’s main task is to help TCG and our fellow Departments communicate with Tahltan Membership. We provide posters, notifications, social media posts, and various forms of community outreach. We also assist Departments on collaborative project.”

50

C O M M U N I CAT I O N S D E PA R T M E N T

COMMUNICATING FOR TCG & THE DEPARTMENTS

The Communications Department’s main task is to help TCG and

our fellow Departments communicate with Tahltan Membership.

We provide posters, notifications, social media posts, and various

forms of community outreach. We also assist Departments on

collaborative project. Specific examples include:

For the Lands Department, we created the “How to do Business in

Tahltan Territory” campaign, unveiled at the 2019 AME Roundup.

We are working with the Education & Training Department regarding

the marketing campaign for the upcoming Skills Inventory Database,

to be unveiled in the New Year.

For the Membership & Genealogy Department, we help ensure

the Tahltan Membership List is current. We assure channels of

communication with Tahltan Members remain open, accurate

and up-to-date.

For the Finance Department, we oversee the invoicing and billing of

Communications and Engagement Agreements with industry partners.

We have worked with the Wildlife Department and our Guardians to

disseminate their message and will continue to do so moving forward,

including assisting them with their video and photography capabilities.

We are working with the Employment and Contracts Department on

a Culture Sensitivity project.

We will be working with the new Culture & Heritage Department on

a number of things, including Elder video bios.

These are just a few of the examples of how the Communications

Department works with other TCG Departments.

DOING BUSINESS IN

Tahltan Territory

Central Government

IMPROVING CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

The rebuilt Communications Department focuses on continually

improving our methods and manners of communicating with

Tahltan Membership. We re-designed the Industry Newsletter

and renamed it the Industry Review. We re-designed the Quarterly

Newsletters and this Annual Report – all in an effort to provide

more compelling communication.

To continue improving, we are in the midst of a TCG branding exercise.

The exercise will help us ensure that the TCG brand is clear and

consistent across all Departments and towards the general public.

Central Government

INDUSTRY REVIEW 2019

SPRING NEWSLETTER

2019

Central Government

Doing Business in Tahltan Territory

Industry Review 2019

tahltan.org/2019-industry-review/

Spring Newsletter 2019

tahltan.org/2019-spring-newsletter/

https://tahltan.org/2019-industry-review/

https://tahltan.org/2019-industry-review/

https://tahltan.org/2019-spring-newsletter/

https://tahltan.org/2019-spring-newsletter/


51

In January 2019, we added Adam Amir to

our team. Adam allows us produce our own

visual media in-house. With his help, we

now aim to communicate more through

video and visual storytelling. To date Adam

produced videos on:

∙ The 3 Nations Youth Delegation

to AME Roundup

∙ The TCG Special Assembly

∙ The Moose Hide Campaign

∙ Tahltan’s Historic Participation

at Hoobiyee 2019

∙ The All Native Hockey Tournament

∙ The Wildlife Guardian’s Caribou Collaring

We have long-term projects underway

regarding Tahltan’s natural and cultural

heritage and are open to suggestions for

future productions.

Videos are available to view here:

tahltan.org/videos

The 3 Nations Youth Delegation to AME Roundup

The Moose Hide Campaign

The All Native Hockey Tournament

The TCG Special Assembly

Hoobiyee 2019: Historic Tahltan-Nisga’a Alliance

The Wildlife Guardian's Caribou Collaring

The Communications Department’s primary

focus is to improve communications between

TCG and Tahltan Members, and between the

Tahltan Nation and stakeholders regarding

our Territory. Our second focus is to better

represent Tahltans to the greater public.

We build and nurture relationships with the

media. Through our efforts and outreach,

we help Tahltan stories find increasing

coverage. Here are a few examples of

Tahltan stories in the news:

1. Historic meeting of Nisga’a and Tahltan strengthen ties during Hobiyee (The Interior News – Feb 27, 2019)

2. Tahltan, Tlingit, Kaska youth participate in Vancouver mining conference (Terrace Standard – Feb 4, 2019)

3. Tahltan Strong benefit concerts raise more than $86k for Telegraph Creek (Yukon News – Oct 12, 2018)

4. Tahltan woman appointed to Canada’s gun advisory committee (Terrace Standard – Mar 5, 2019)

5. Tahltan Central Government reacts to $250K donation for wildfire recovery efforts (Terrace Standard – Jan 31, 2019)

6. Telegraph Creek reconstruction on schedule, gets fundraising boost (CBC – Dec 10, 2018)

7. Telegraph Creek reopens 102 days after evacuation order (CBC – Nov 15, 2018)

Look for an upcoming article by President

Chad Norman Day in this summer’s

Canadian Mining Journal, entitled

“Respecting Indigenous Title & Rights:

Meaningful Engagement and Collaboration”.

PROMOTING TAHLTANS’ MESSAGE TO THE WORLD

Right: TCG President Chad Norman Day and Nisga’a Lisims Government President Eva Clayton hold up the Nation-to-Nation Alliance Memorandum of understanding signed Feb. 22 in Gingolx.

https://tahltan.org/videos/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjGVabFWR4Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUivJ5VPs0E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRliqrd2j58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsemrRdZ4Dc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kw1ELl4y1Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpkW8WyBGRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpkW8WyBGRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRliqrd2j58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kw1ELl4y1Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsemrRdZ4Dc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUivJ5VPs0E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjGVabFWR4Y

https://www.interior-news.com/news/historic-meeting-of-nisgaa-and-tahltan-strengthen-ties-during-hobiyee/



https://www.terracestandard.com/news/tahltan-tlingst-kaska-youth-participate-in-vancouver-mining-conference/


https://www.yukon-news.com/news/tahltan-strong-benefit-concerts-raise-more-than-86k-for-telegraph-creek/

https://www.yukon-news.com/news/tahltan-strong-benefit-concerts-raise-more-than-86k-for-telegraph-creek/

https://www.terracestandard.com/news/tahltan-woman-appointed-to-canadas-gun-advisory-committee/

https://www.terracestandard.com/news/tahltan-woman-appointed-to-canadas-gun-advisory-committee/

https://www.terracestandard.com/news/tahltan-central-government-reacts-to-250k-donation-for-wildfire-recovery-efforts/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/telegraph-creek-fundraising-construction-1.4940414

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/telegraph-creek-fundraising-construction-1.4940414

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/telegraph-creek-reopens-102-days-after-evacuation-order-1.4906089

52

C O M M U N I CAT I O N S D E PA R T M E N T

ENGAGEMENT WITH INDUSTRY

TCG uses Communications & Engagement Agreements

to ensure that companies working in Tahltan Territory

meaningfully engage our Nation and respect our Title &

Rights. Our innovative and unique use of Communications

& Engagement Agreements offers an important example

to other First Nations navigating relationships with

industry. By President Day’s prerogative, any and every

company in Tahltan Territory must have a Communications

& Engagement Agreement. The Communications

Department oversees these Agreements. To date, fifteen

companies signed Communications & Engagement

Agreements. Eight more Agreements are in negotiation.

We have Communications and Engagement Agreements

with the following companies:

∙ GT Gold Corp.

∙ Skeena Resources Ltd.

∙ Giga Metals Corp.

∙ Garibaldi Resources Corp.

∙ Kutcho Copper Corp.

∙ Aben Resources Ltd. (Forrest Kerr)

∙ Etruscus Resources

∙ Metallis Resources Inc.

∙ Shaft Creek – Teck Resources and Copper Fox

∙ NorthPac Forestry

∙ SnipGold Corp. (Seabridge)

∙ Crystal Lake Mining Corp.

∙ Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Toronto)

∙ Golden Ridge Resources Ltd.

∙ Coeur Silvertip Holdings Ltd.

COMMUNICATIONS GOING FORWARDIf you visited the TCG Website lately, you

might have noticed its new look. In 2019, we

began a refresh. As a result, the website is

now more user-friendly and featuring more

of the information Members requested. For

example, under Events you will now find

a Calendar–synced to our Facebook page–

where you can easily keep find and follow

all upcoming Events. The refreshed website

also now includes a password-protected,

Members Only Section. Through this secure

page, we can now share private information,

including legal matters, live streams of

meetings, and other sensitive content

appropriate only for Tahltan Members. In

the future, this is the location we envision

a repository of Tahltan Nation specific

resources and information.

Meaningful engagement is no longer an option

in Tahltan Territory. It is a requirement.

Above: More than 40 youth from the Tahltan, Kaska, and Tlingit Nations pose for a photo at the top of the Teck Resources building in Vancouver during the Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference.

Tahltan, Tlingit, Kaska youth participate in Vancouver mining conference – Feb 4, 2019






53

TSWG Update

BACKGROUND:

The Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group (TSWG) was

established in 2011 to fulfill specific commitments made

by the Province under the Northwest Transmission Line

Agreement. The TSWG includes representatives from

the Province, the Tahltan Central Government, Iskut

Band Council and Tahltan Band Council.

TSWG 2018/19 AT A GLANCE

Tahltan Socio/Cultural Working Group consists of

four internal groups:

1. TSWG Leadership Committee – TCG (Chad Day),

Iskut Band Council (Chief Marie Quock), Tahltan

Band Council (Chief Rick Mclean) and Province of

BC (Stuart Gail) and coordinator (Feddie Louie)

2. Co-chairs – Feddie Louie (Tahltans), Pamela Miller

(MIRR / Province representative)

3. Technical team – 2 band managers, Shana Dennis

and Maggie Dennis, and TCG Executive Director

Calvin Carlick

4. Project Leads or Directors – Language and Culture

(Edōsdi - Judy Thompson), Employment (Adrian

Carlick), Education (Freda Campbell), Research

(Brenda Ireland), Health and Social (Feddie Louie

and Jodi Payne)

Feddie LouieTWSG [email protected]

The TSWG mandate is two-fold:

1. Prepare Tahltan citizens, their communities and the

Nation, to participate in and benefit from economic

development projects in their territory; and

2. Protect and preserve Tahltan culture and

society from the potential negative effects of

rapid development.

TSWG is co-chaired by Feddie Louie and Pamela

Millar (BC Ministry of Indigenous Relations and

Reconciliation – MIRR).

TSWG’s purpose is to conduct long-term planning and

implementation of specific initiatives across key priority

socio-cultural sectors within the Tahltan Nation:

54

T S W G U P DAT E

TSWG 2018/19 PROJECTS:

Unity and Governance Tahltan Central Government, Tahltan Band Council, Iskut

Band Council work together through TSWG to improve

our communities and support our members.

Strategic Plan DevelopmentThe TSWG, with input from leadership, developed a

5-year strategic plan forging the path forward. Each

sector requires input from the communities. This will

be accomplished through the development of working

groups for each one.

Membership Database SystemsTSWG supported the finalization of the Tahltan

Membership Database. This proved invaluable

when it was used to identify and relay emergency

communications with Telegraph Creek evacuees.

Tahltan Protocols Research

A neutral contractor completed research on some

protocols around funerals, our clan systems, traditional

governance and other traditional practices. This research

will be vetted through the Elders prior to being written

into policies and procedure documents.

Health and Social Working GroupTSWG is in the process of developing a Health and Social

Working Group that consists of representation for the

frontlines of the three communities. This group oversees

the updating of the Tahltan Nation Health Plan, the

Traditional Wellness plan and the Mental Health Strategy.

It’s also developing a path forward for our child and

family services and centralized Tahltan Health Services.

Community revitalizationWe are organizing a working group to develop plans

to revitalize our communities and attract families back

to our Territory.

Above: Kimberley Marion and team.


55

Governance(includes coordinator, travel costs for team, AGA, special projects and admin)

30% $150,000

Language & Culture 24% $120,000

Education, Employment,

& Training

18% $90,000

Infrastructure 10% $50,000

Health 10% $50,000

Community Revitalization 8% $40,000

Strategic Planning

When the TSWG began our work in 2011, we identified

five (5) socio-cultural sectors that required direct

planning and implementation to minimize the negative

impacts of rapid development. These sectors include

education, language and culture, employment and

training, family and community development, health

and infrastructure (across all sectors).

In the summer of 2018, the TSWG met with leadership

to explore priorities and goals for the next five (5) years

and develop a plan to achieve these goals. This work is

in progress and will be presented early in the new year.

Community-based working groups to advise individual sectors

∙ Governance

∙ Health/Social Working Group

∙ Education/Training Working Group

∙ Language and Culture

∙ Employment

Employment and TrainingReport presented separately by TahltanWorks and

Education team

Language and Culture Report presented separately by Tahltan Language Team

FINANCIALS:

The $500,000 that funds TSWG comes directly from

MIRR, through an annual contract negotiated each year.

The financial breakdown of $500,000 is as follows:

Education (K-12) Health and Social Sectors

∙ Highlights include the Tahltan Nation Health Plan

revision to include Mental Health strategy and

Traditional Wellness Practises, Vision and Dental care,

and exploring options for health benefits coverage.

∙ Healthy Active Tahltans (HATs) initiative.

∙ Child and Family development strategy – SWWG (3

Nations – TKT) is currently working collaboratively

for the region and the newly formed Tahltan Health

and Social Working Group will develop a child and

family strategy for the Tahltan Nation, which will

work in conjunction with our collective vision and

holistic approach to provide support and services to

our members in coming years, including daycare and

early childhood development.

∙ Education (K-12) – working out how to implement the

SD87 and 3 Nation partnership agreement.

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T S W G U P DAT E

Left: Brodie at school in Iskut.

Top: Young Tahltans participating in the HATs initiative.


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3 Nations Update

In November 2018, the 3 Nations’ positive work across

the region received recognition from the BC Government

with a Premier’s Award in the category of Innovation.

Hosted by Premier John Horgan, the 3 Nations and the

Province of BC were recognized for the unique, ground-

breaking partnership they developed in re-designing

their relationship in the spirit and intent of reconciliation,

the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

and the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action.

The 3 Nations were represented at the Premier’s Award

Ceremony by Tahltan, Kaska and Tlingit leadership,

Stikine Wholistic Working Group members and technical

representatives. A video, created by BC, showcased the

Tahltan, Kaska and Tlingit homeland, our people, and

our culture and highlighted the essence of our unique

regional partnership: https://3nations.org/events/

premiers-award-ceremony/

Following the successful meeting with the Premier

and Cabinet Ministers in 2018, the 3 Nations secured a

funding commitment of over $10,000,000 for a three-

year period, ending in 2021. The funding is to support

the 3 Nations in three areas:

1. 3 NATIONS GOVERNANCE

Now a registered Society with its own governance,

operational and financial policies and procedures,

the 3 Nations Society manages the funding received

from Government and distributes according to the 3

Nations programs.

The 3 Nations Society receives $500,000 every fiscal

year to carry out the work of the 3 Nations Society,

covering the technical team, leadership meetings,

human resources, strategic planning and administration.

The work of the 3 Nations (Tahltan, Kaska, Tlingit) continues

to grow and evolve significantly since the early days,

resulting in sustainable funding partnerships that ensure

the progress of the 3N model, collective solutions, and

lifting community and cultural strengths.

Above: The 3 Nations receieving the Premier’s Award in Innovation.

https://3nations.org/events/premiers-award-ceremony/

https://3nations.org/events/premiers-award-ceremony/

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3 N AT I O N S U P DAT E

2. STIKINE WHOLISTIC WORKING GROUP (SWWG)

For the fiscal year 2018–2019, each 3 Nations community was

provided $150,000 throughout the fiscal year by the province (MIRR)

for SWWG programming as follows:

∙ Child and Family

Wellness Services;

∙ Land Based Supports;

∙ Traditional Ways;

∙ Community Engagement;

∙ Community Staff Resources;

∙ Men and Boys; and

∙ Capacity Development.

For the fiscal year 2019–2020, each 3 Nations community will be

provided an increase in funding: $405,500 for SWWG programming

as detailed above. The funding increase is due to contributions from

Canada in addition to those from the Province.

3. WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

Feddie Louie continues to lead the 3N efforts on creating new

opportunities for wildlife partnerships and changes on the land.

For the fiscal year 2018–2019, each Nation was provided the

guardian portion of their funds which was $177,320. The wildlife

co-management and traditional management practices will be

carried into fiscal 2019–2020 and allocated appropriately.

OTHER FUNDING: COLLABORATIVE STEWARDSHIP FRAMEWORK

The 3 Nations Society and British Columbia Collaborative Stewardship

Forum (“3NBC-CSF”) are involved in a 3-year pilot program by which

the Kaska, Tahltan, and Tlingit Nations have agreed with the Province

of BC on the co-design and the building of shared capacity with the

goal of shared management of land and resource values across the

traditional territories of the 3 Nations in the Province of BC.

This year the partnership accomplished the following:

∙ Co-design and the building of shared capacity with the goal of

shared management of land and resources across the traditional

territories of the 3 Nations;

∙ Financial and human resource capacity for the 3 Nations Guardian

program which allowed for an expanded role of the guardian program,

continued engagement with provincial representatives on hunting

and land use monitoring and establishment of study areas, seasonal

guardians and the purchase of necessary equipment and tools;

∙ Incorporation of working groups and community direction

priority setting;

Activities occurring in the Tahltan Nation and funded through this program include:

1. Community engagement and direction for caribou herd

priorities for inventories and management actions;

2. Development of moose population action plans

through community and guardian engagement;

3. Early winter Klappan moose inventory in 2019;

4. Morel mushroom harvesting management and

monitoring in the spring of 2019;

5. Tahltan Guardian monitoring of licensed hunters

and land use activities in the fall of 2019;

6. Joint monitoring patrols by Guardians and

Conservation Officer Service.

∙ Ability to address information gaps and the support of ongoing

joint programs such as the Cassiar Stone’s Sheep Program,

Carcross Caribou Herd Monitoring, Atlin Caribou Herd Monitoring

and wildlife health throughout the 3 Nations territories;

∙ Ability to support projects on understanding the success and

challenges of active co-management agreements with Indigenous

Nations and governments; or establishing agreements on a

common approach to monitor and assess licensed wildlife

harvesting using all sources of knowledge in the 3 Nations

collective territories.

The 2019–2020 year will consist of finalizing the enabling

agreement, continued meetings between the 3 Nations and

the Province of BC and continued community and leadership

engagement and direction to 3NBC-CSF.


59

Staff and Contacts

# BASE DEPARTMENTS AND TITLES NAME EMAIL

EXECUTIVE

1 President Chad Norman Day [email protected]

2 Telegraph Creek Vice President Heather Hawkins [email protected]

3 Smithers Secretary Treasurer Adrian Carlick [email protected]

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

1 Telegraph Creek Carlick Alice Hamlin [email protected]

2 Telegraph Creek Cawtoonma Christine Ball [email protected]

3 Iskut Eth’eni Carol Quock [email protected]

4 Prince George Etzenlee Ken Edzerza [email protected]

5 Terrace Good-za-ma Annita McPhee [email protected]

6 Dease Lake Quock Tina Van Mierlo [email protected]

7 Telegraph Creek Shoe-Kawk/Howd-A-Ghtte Lee Marion [email protected]

8 Dease Lake Simgaltada Kimberley Marion [email protected]

9 Telegraph Creek Stikine Claw/Thicke Melva Quock [email protected]

10 Terrace Thud ga Emma Carlick [email protected]

ADMINISTRATION/STAFF

1 Terrace Executive Director Calvin Carlick [email protected]

2 Terrace Finance Director Ginger Fuller [email protected]

3 Terrace Director of Culture and Heritage Sandra Marion [email protected]

4 Dease Lake Office Assistant Shirley Nehass [email protected]

5 Dease Lake Finance Senior Clerk Cindy Dennis [email protected]

6 Dease Lake Education & Training Director Freda Campbell [email protected]

7 Dease Lake Lands Director Christine Creyke [email protected]

8 Dease Lake Wildlife Director Lance Nagwan [email protected]

9 Dease Lake Wildlife Guardian Jarett Quock [email protected]

10 Dease Lake Wildlife Guardian Clements Brace [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]























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S TA F F A N D C O N TAC T S

# BASE DEPARTMENTS AND TITLES NAME EMAIL

11 Dease Lake Dease Lake Community Director Carol Danielson [email protected]

12 Dease Lake Language Community Programs Manager & Language Coordinator

Odelia Dennis [email protected]

13 Dease Lake Language Assistant Lynda Edzerza [email protected]

14 Iskut Employment Assistance Services Coordinator

Darcie Philana Louie [email protected]

15 Iskut Language Coordinator Patricia Louie [email protected]

16 Iskut Language Assistant Tanya Louie [email protected]

17 Telegraph Creek Language Coordinator Pauline Hawkins [email protected]

18 Telegraph Creek Language Assistant Kitty Brown [email protected]

19 Smithers Director of Employment & Contracts Adrian Carlick [email protected]

20 Smithers Membership & Genealogy Director Shannon Frank [email protected]

21 Smithers Finance Junior Clerk & Information Assistant

Roxanne Ball [email protected]

22 Prince George Land and Resource Technician Shawn Ducharme [email protected]

23 Prince George Language Director Judy Thompson [email protected]

24 Vancouver Communications Director Gordon Infanti [email protected]

25 Vancouver Communications Coordinator Adam Amir [email protected]

26 Vancouver Events Manager Kody Penner [email protected]

27 Vancouver Language Projects Manager Amber Blenkiron [email protected]
















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TSWG

Admin /Finance

Employment / Contracts

LandsEducation/

TrainingWildlife

Culture /Heritage

CommunicationsGenealogy/

MembershipLanguage

Protocol Agreement

Governance Committee

Finance Committee

Elders Council

Youth Council

TCG BoardTNDC

Executive Committee

Executive Director

TCG Organizational Chart

POLICIES

1 2 3Government Human Resources Finance

Shareholder1/3

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Central Government · progress in economics, land and resource management, and cultural development. Everything we do here at the Tahltan Central Government (TCG) is for the wellness