Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission Receives Grant from Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
September 25, 2017
According to SEITC Chairman Frederick Olsen, Jr., “Leveraging the unified voice of over 100,000 Tribal citizens to demand their rights under the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights, which Canada has adopted and confirmed, will change the dialogue from how we can mine the Sacred Headwaters to should we mine the Sacred Headwaters. “ The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (formerly known as United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group) is comprised of sixteen federally recognized Tribes of Southeast Alaska whose mission is to create a unified voice for Indigenous peoples across the international border who are facing impacts from development and industrialization rapidly occurring in our region. Member Tribes include Chilkat Indian Village (Klukwan), Chilkoot Indian Association (Haines), Craig Tribal Association, Douglas Indian Association, Hydaburg Cooperative Association, Organized Village of Kake, Organized Village of Kasaan, Ketchikan Indian Community, Klawock Cooperative Association, Metlakatla Indian Community, Petersburg Indian Association, Organized Village of Saxman, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Central Council), Wrangell Cooperative Association, Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. The region encompassing Southeast Alaska and Northwest British Columbia is the world’s last and largest intact temporal rainforest. Four major pristine rivers, the Alsek, Taku, Stikine, and Unuk feed the salmon forest and sustain local communities. British Columbia has embarked on a massive initiative to develop several large open pit mines in the Canadian headwaters of these crucial rivers. The new NW Transmission Line and BC Hydro project power these mines. “The SEITC ‘s ultimate goal is to get both the federal governments to act under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and invoke an International Joint Commission to govern the transboundary region,” said Kristina Haddad, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s Director of Wildlife & Landscape Conservation. “Meanwhile, these mines are rushing through development and permitting.” To address this gap, this SEITC project will leverage the ability of the sovereign indigenous governments on both sides of the border to enter in government-to-government relationships design to create cross-border unity in opposition, remove the mining company’s social license to operate, and to require consultation and consent of Alaska Natives and Canadian First Nations. $20 million was awarded by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to more than 100 organizations, that have been awarded for wildlife and habitat conservation, to aide in the defense of indigenous rights, and to support innovative grass roots efforts aimed at combating climate change and solving complex environmental issues. During remarks delivered to a recent climate change conference at Yale University, hosted by former Secretary of State John Kerry’s Kerry Initiative, LDF Founder and Chairman Leonardo DiCaprio announced the grants, saying: “We are proud to support the work of over 100 organizations at home and abroad. These grantees are active on the ground, protecting our oceans, forests and endangered species for future generations – and tackling the urgent, existential challenges of climate change.”
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Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews
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