Lands, Resources & Treaty Rights
Our Rivers
Healthy Waters - Healthy People
The rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands are the lifeblood of FNFN territory. We have been and will always remain river people. Every one of our ancestral village sites are located on a critical river, lake or tributary. The rivers were once our highways. Our people would travel the rivers by boat most of the year and by dog-team and later ski-doo’s in the winter. Lakes throughout the territory would provide enough fish to feed our families all year long.
The Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) Water Strategy has been developed with support from the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia in order to ensure proper functioning and ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems in FNFN territory. Grounded in extensive community input, the FNFN Water Strategy articulates our vision for water use and management in FNFN territory, prioritizing traditional use and Treaty rights alongside ecological integrity. The primary risk to the achievement of this vision is the intensity and density of industrial development in our territory, particularly in the natural gas and forestry sectors, but with climate change as another increasingly important factor.
One of the primary purposes of this FNFN Water Strategy is to set the framework for FNFN to actively engage in protecting water and improving water governance in FNFN territory. A second critical purpose is to reconnect our people with the waters again. Community members expressed a desire for this Water Strategy to strengthen community connection to and presence on the rivers, and expand community-based water monitoring, management and restoration efforts, so that in the future our members will have faith that they can again “dip their cup” and drink directly from the land without worry.
Our Water Strategy identifies Fort Nelson First Nation’s Water Vision, which identifies that we will do everything in our power to ensure that now and for future generations:
- Abundant, clean and trusted water will be available for ecosystem function and to support FNFN well-being and way of life, throughout our territory;
- Wildlife and vegetation have unimpeded access to and clean, healthy water;
- Access to safe drinking water, at home and on the land, is a fundamental right for FNFN members;
- Navigation through and across water will remain viable and safe for our members;
- Water management will adhere to natural laws and FNFN cultural laws and norms;
- FNFN members will be directly involved in the protection, management, and monitoring of our waters and effects on those waters;
- FNFN has the right to co-manage decisions related to the use, management, diversion, and disposal of water in our territory; and
- Decisions about water management will be made in a precautionary fashion.
Through extensive engagement with FNFN community members and application of their vision, values, and principles, five priority water values were identified to provide direction and focus to the FNFN Water Strategy:
- Healthy Rivers and Aquatic Ecosystems – We will protect, maintain and, where necessary, restore the hydrologic integrity and aquatic well-being of our territory to ensure the health of the land, animals and people.
- Safe Drinking Water at Home and on the Land – We will have access to clean, safe, and trusted drinking water in our community and on the land.
- The Contribution of Water to FNFN Cultural Well-Being – We will sustain our cultural well-being through our deep ties to the water resources within our territory and ensure appropriate access to culturally important waterways and sources in our territory.
- FNFN Stewardship of our Watersheds – We will meet our stewardship obligations to the rivers that sustain our neighbouring nations in the Liard and Hay River Basins.
- FNFN Co-Governance in Water Management – FNFN will regain a central role in water governance within our territory in collaboration with and support from the governments of Canada and British Columbia.
Fort Nelson First Nation perspectives on water.
Deer River water flow documented on September 2008 and September 2012, showing the change in water levels.
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