Categories Canada, Events, North America and the Caribbean, Stories

Tribal Parks (ICCA) Gathering 2016

First published on 03/29/2016, and last updated on 03/29/2018

By: Eli Enns, ICCA Consortium Regional Coordinator for North America

This upcoming March 10th-14th 2016, Indigenous communities who have committed to forwarding self-determination strategies, such as Tribal Parks and Tribal Park type initiatives, will gather in the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

The purpose of the gathering are the following:

  • To strengthen one another and build relationship through the sharing of experience, food and
  • To co-author declarations about good governance, environmental security and responsible economics in the practice and spirit of
  • To share ceremony for the enhancement of bio-cultural heritage that will benefit all of

This Gathering will build on various initiatives and will showcase such communities as the Heiltsuk of The Great Bear Rainforest with their recent Self-Declaration of Aboriginal Title. There will be presentations by FSC Canada on Free Prior and Informed Consent and Rath & Company on Post- Chilcotin legal strategies among others. There will be an evening performance by singer song writer Ta’Kaiya Blaney and key note speakers including Marilyn Baptiste and Moses Martin. The gathering will be hosted by Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks at the Tofino Botanical Gardens and Tinwis Conference Center and will be co-delivered by Plenty Canada and the Halalt Coast Salish Nation with support from The David Suzuki Foundation, The Christensen Fund, Tamalpais Trust and Tides Canada.

© C.Roy

Tla-o-qui-aht and the resort municipality of Tofino plan to commemorate the occasion with a Reconciliation ceremony at Naachaks, within The Esowista Tribal Park, on March 13th 2016.

Find more on the actions of the Halalt First Nation here.