Wednesday October 30, 2024
Delta Optimist —
Disagreement is brewing between First Nations groups across the Canada-U.S. border in the Okanagan over collaboration on sockeye salmon restoration projects and other land claims.
The Okanagan Nation Alliance Fisheries is concerned that to bring sockeye salmon back to the Okanagan River may be in jeopardy due to funding decisions south of the border.
According to an ONA press release issued this week, they feel that a choice by the Confederated Tribes of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation — located in Washington state — left them in the lurch.
Funding from the Colville tribes for the joint projects of around $400,000 CA annually that had historically been granted to the ONA salmon efforts was cancelled this summer. The ONA calls that “short-sighted.”
“This last-minute cancellation has left our project staff scrambling, and delayed projects [and threatened jobs],” said Chief Robert Louie of the Westbank First Nation, a Syilx Okanagan Nation community.