British Columbia First Nations Set a Higher Bar for Collaborative Marine Response Preparedness Available to Purchase

Until recently, Canada's marine oil spill preparedness and response regime has excluded Indigenous governments, even though First Nations are often the first responders on-scene when incidents occur. First Nations communities bear a disproportionate risk from marine pollution, because they rely on the health and integrity of their ecosystems for food, livelihood, and cultural practices. Recognizing these disparities, a group of First Nations¹ from the North and Central Coast of British Columbia (BC) have been driving a process to enhance their role in preparedness and build capacity to support marine incident response.

This paper and presentation will highlight accomplishments from five years of collaborative planning and will also identify areas where additional work is needed. Lessons learned through these ongoing initiatives may help advance the role of Indigenous communities as equal governance partners with other governments to advance government-to-government collaboration in the context of marine incident preparedness and response.