YouTube: Great Bear Rainforest / ProvinceofBC

A group of First Nations in British Columbia signed an agreement to protect their territory from logging.

The deal bars development on about 85 percent of the Great Bear Rainforest. Logging can occur on the remaining 15 percent but only under strict conditions.

"Over the last 10 years we have worked with stakeholders and the Province to complete a common land and marine use vision for both the Great Bear Rainforest and the Great Bear Sea," Dallas Smith, the president of the Nanwakolas Tribal Council, which represents six Native governments, said in a press release. "We are happy that we have also developed tools like strategic engagement agreements and reconciliation protocols to help us continue down a path towards true respect and reconciliation.”

First Nations singers at the ceremony to announce the Great Bear Rainforest agreement on February 1, 2016. Photo by Pronvice of British Columbia via Flickr

“Over the past decade we have demonstrated that strong and empowered Coastal First Nations communities, along with the recognition of our Aboriginal title and rights in our territories, are key to the development of a healthy coastal economy," added Chief Marilyn Slett, the president of the Coastal First Nations, an organization that represents nine Native governments.

First Nations in British Columbia never ceded their lands in treaties or other agreements and their aboriginal rights have been recognized in the courts.

Get the Story:
Deal protects huge swath of central B.C. coast from logging (AP 2/1)
Great Bear Rainforest agreement creates 'a gift to the world' (CBC 2/1)
Logging banned in most of B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest (Postmedia News 2/1)
Final agreement reached to protect B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest (The Globe and Mail 2/1)
Great Bear Rainforest pact is a ‘jewel in the crown’ of Canada’s protected areas (The Globe and Mail 2/2)