Meares Island

I ended up on Meares Island my first full day back in Tofino. Walking around in the rain I reflected on the meaning of this place, to me personally, and to Clayoquot Sound / BC / Canada..

This is a shot of it I took last fall from Tofino;

After pulling into Tofino late one night last week I ran into a few friends who run a traditional First Nation paddling business - Tla-ook Cultural Adventures - and they invited me out the next day. It was misty and a little rainy, and I was underdressed, which felt like a proper induction to this place...

My friend Giselle (normally I change people's names, but since this is also a business plug that seems silly) lead four tourists and I (I qualified as a local!) on a paddle in a large dug-out canoe across part of Clayoquot Sound to Meares Island, where she guided us on a hike through the old-growth temperate rainforest. The paddle, hike, and stories are fantastic, even for someone who's spent a lot of time here. If you haven't done it yet - you should.
Why is there old-growth temperate rainforest here? It's not a mystery (unless you want to dig deeper into people's hearts, and the nature of the decisions we all make between money and wealth), it's a neat story that hasn't ended yet.

Giselle explained to us how, in 1984, Tla-oh-qui-aht and Ahousat people, and local environmentalists, got a heads up that MacMillan Bloedel was coming to clear-cut parts of Meares Island. When the loggers showed up in their boat they were greeted by First Nations leaders and environmentalists. Giselle's father was there, and as the boat pulled up First Nations leaders sang traditional welcome songs. The loggers were told they were welcome to visit Meares Island, but their chainsaws and tools were not.

The loggers left. Lawyers were called and injunctions filed, by both sides. This lead to the Meares Island court case ( MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. v. Mullin, 1985 CanLII 154 (BC CA) ). Another First Nations friend and I had a conversation about this case last November. He said that the case, which was decided in favour of the First Nations involved, was not decided on the basis of s. 35 of the Constitution. But I was skeptical.

In university we; a) mainly deal with Supreme Court cases, just because. And b) there is a feeling, totally unspoken, pervading all discussions of law in relation to First Nations people - that they have the rights they now have "because we gave it to them" - through s. 35 of the Constitution, and because Trudeau was a hell of a good guy. It's just not true.

There was already a body of law developing recognizing First Nation's interests in their lands, both on and off reservation, as a "pre-existing legal right not created by the Royal Proclamation...the Indian Act...or any other executive order or legislative provision." The Meares Island case is the turning point in that line of cases.

When you're out here you can feel it, this isn't the concrete streets of Ottawa or Victoria, and for governments to try to ignore the power and authority of First Nations over their land, here, where it's not only continuous, but palpable - would be ridiculous. The fact is they have their rights because they control their land, today. The source of their rights is them, not us (there's a lot of pressumptions there, about who's reading, this, and who I am.. :).

The Judge in the Meares Island case described the case's relevance as:

Meares Island is important to MacMillan Bloedel in this way. MacMillan Bloedel has gone through all of the necessary steps to obtain permission to cut. If it is stopped here there is worry that it will be stopped elsewhere. Meares Island has become the front line in the dispute over Indian title. It has also become central to the dispute between the logger and those who favour the preservation of wilderness areas.

Meares Island is important to MacMillan Bloedel not because of its trees, but because it is where the line has been drawn. It has become a symbol.

...

The Indians have pressed their land claims in various ways for generations. The claims have not been dealt with and found invalid. They have not been dealt with at all. Meanwhile, the logger continues his steady march and the Indians see themselves retreating into a smaller and smaller area. They too have drawn the line at Meares Island. The Island has become a symbol of their claim to rights in the land.

The Tla-oh-qui-aht and Ahousat people were seeking an injunction against logging while their actual case was prepared for trial - a case deciding their rights. The injunction was granted, halting logging on Meares Island (they won). The subsequent case deciding their rights never went to trial, instead a treaty process was initiated, which is ongoing today (for some First Nations).

Professor Hamar Foster (UVic) explains the relevance of the case well in a paper on First Nations litigation: 

... Legally, however, the turning point was the Meares Island decision. For the first time, a BC court ruled that the matter of aboriginal title was sufficiently important to justify issuing an injunction against logging. In that case, Seaton, JA wrote that "the proposal is to clear-cut the area. Almost nothing will be left. I cannot think of any native right that could be exercised on lands that have been recently logged … The Indians wish to retain their culture on Meares Island as well as in urban museums."

and Professor Foster continued...

I think that something else Justice Seaton said in 1985 in the Meares Island case is instructive. Responding to the argument that halting logging on the island would render investments throughout the province uncertain, he agreed that there was a problem with forest tenures and aboriginal title that had not been dealt with in the past. But he did not agree that this meant that the courts should back off. “We are being asked to ignore the problem as others have ignored it,” he wrote. “I am not willing to do that.” This passage is not quoted in the recent Haida decision, but I rather think that it helps to explain that case and a number of others.

There's just a funny energy in this place, it's a powerful place, a place of turning points. It always has been for me. It's a place of lines in the sand, and there's lots of sand to draw lines on. I posted this picture on fb recently, and my brother said, "end o' the road, brother - fitting no?"

I set out on my first real journey away from home when I was nineteen, and hitchhiked across Canada. After pushing through all those boundaries of fear and self-doubt - I finally got here, the end of the Trans-Canada highway, and that was the point where I became a man, my own person. Two days ago I finally bumped my status back up to 'practicing' - I am now a "Renegade Environmental Lawyer, employed by the Universe" ;) living in Tofino BC. This little place has been the seat of change for First Nations, environmentalists, been the centre of the end of logging as we knew it in Canada (in 1993) - and may be the centre of more change yet: the end of the present mining regime in Canada? More postive change for First Nations? The end of open ocean fish farms?
Who knows what wonders the future holds...

And yeah, you heard right - I've finally decided to live in Tofino. It's been 19 years in the making - what the hell was I waiting for?

I can't wait to get to Meares Island again, to spend time with my mountain pal and the energy of change...