By Jill Sperling

Province to collaborate with Nicola First Nations to manage Nicola watershed

Mar 23, 2018 | 5:04 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — For the first time in B.C. history, the province and local First Nations will be working collaboratively to manage one of our most essential resources, water. 

The five chiefs of the Nicola First Nations met with the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Scott Fraser, in Merritt Friday. 

Upon the signing of the Nicola Watershed Pilot Memorandum of Understanding, a partnership was created between the First Nations and the Province to manage the Nicola watershed. 

“The province and us, the local First Nations, have committed to looking at how we can manage and take care of our waters and our territories together collectively as partners,” said Chief Aaron Sumexheltza of the Lower Nicola Indian Band. 

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The collaboration is expected to improve upon current approaches to water management, as well as the relationship between the province and Indigenous governments. 

“We have an opportunity now to stand up our law, our traditions, our culture, and who we are as a people,” said Upper Nicola Indian Band Chief Harvey McLeod. “I see this as a small stepping stone to that. I’m really looking forward. It’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to take a lot of open-mindedness on both sides to come up and stand in a place where we can both acknowledge one another.” 

The Nicola watershed has experienced a variety of water management issues in recent years, from spring flooding to extremely low flows in the summer. 

“I think it’s been ground zero for a lot of challenges with water,” Fraser said, “whether it’s been floods and drought, water quality issues … the valley, the watershed here has seen it all. It’s a natural fit for the MOU to be signed, and this agreement, this cooperation to come together.”

“We’ve been here for a long time, and through the partnership I think we can manage the waters in a sustainable way to address and take care of the water for everyone,” Sumexheltza said. 

The next step in the process is to form a committee, bringing together the Nicola chiefs, representation from the province, and stakeholders in the valley. 

“The input will go towards developing strategies toward protecting the water for the future and future generations,” Fraser said adding, “We’re hoping this MOU we signed today will form the basis for other communities in other parts of the province who can do the same thing.”