Vision Statement

The Tahltan Stewardship Initiative (TSI) will support the Tahltan Nation to assert self-determination and fulfill our inherent stewardship and caretaking responsibilities for our Territory. The preliminary vision is:

“The Tahltan Nation will fulfill its inherent stewardship responsibilities for all lands, water, air, wildlife, fish and natural resources in Tahltan Territory.”

Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. The TSI will help the Tahltan Nation to plan for and manage our land, water, air wildlife, and natural resources. It will ensure we take care of Tahltan Territory now and for future generations.

By conserving wildlife, managing economic development, protecting our environment and relationship with the land (including culturally significant areas) and asserting jurisdiction over Tahltan Territory, we will advance our role in and refine shared decision-making processes.

Key Strategies

The Tahltan Stewardship Initiative (TSI) team has developed three key strategies to help achieve the TSI vision:

1

Refine shared decision-making relationships with British Columbia and with Canada for Tahltan Territory and establish recognition and understanding of the three governments and their respective roles and responsibilities in decision-making;

2

Ensure the Tahltan Central Government has the internal capacity to support decision-making, manage operations and engage communities for land stewardship decisions; and,

3

Ensure decisions are made based on Tahltan knowledge and worldview, local knowledge and science.

Background

The Tahltan Stewardship Initiative (TSI) is a forward-thinking approach to our ongoing responsibilities to affirm and progress self-determination. The opportunity to further advance shared decision-making for land, water, wildlife and natural resource decisions in Tahltan Territory has arisen from the Province of British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). This legislation brought forward in 2019 intends to harmonize provincial laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). This means recognition of the Tahltan right of free, prior, and informed consent regarding lands, water and natural resource use, the preservation of Tahltan culture, traditions and ceremonial practices, and the right for Tahltans to participate in decision-making matters which effect their rights will be supported in this framework.

Recognizing the timing of this opportunity and building upon the progress of previous work, the TCG is supporting TSI to advance Tahltan interests. The message from the Nation is clear: Tahltans have never ceded or surrendered our lands and continue to exercise our rights and jurisdiction over Tahltan Territory. The Nation is vested with the sacred responsibility to manage our lands and resources for the benefit of all Tahltans.

Initiatives that have contributed to this work include:

Explore the timeline and click on The dates to learn more…

1980s

The Tahltan Ancestral Study with Elders 

1987

Resource Development Policy  

2003

Out of Respect Report 

2005

Formation of the Tahltan Heritage Resources Environmental Assessment Team (THREAT) 

2013

The Shared Decision Making Agreement with the Province of British Columbia

2015

Lands Department formed within the TCG

2016

Wildlife Department formed within the TCG

2017

The Klappan Plan and the Klappan Management Board

2018– 2021

The Collaborative Stewardship Framework with the 3 Nations and the Province of British Columbia

2019

Culture & Heritage Department formed within the TCG 

2020

Fisheries Department formed within the TCG 

Each of these projects and efforts has helped to advance the Nation and support our unified goals founded on principles of mutual respect, recognition, and reconciliation of Tahltan rights.

Together, we work to protect the environment, safeguard our culture and heritage, ensure shared revenues and other benefits from sustainable development, and strengthen the well-being of our Tahltan Nation family.

Meet the Team

The TSI Steering Committee

We would like to introduce our TSI Steering Committee, which reports to the TCG Board of Directors, and is responsible for overseeing the initiative, providing guidance, and ensuring technical and governance work is coordinated and progressing.

Steering Committee members will use their expertise, leadership direction, legal obligations from government-to-government agreements, and community direction to plan and make decisions to guide the TSI to success for the Nation.

Cheri Frocklage

Sandra Marion

Lance Nagwan

Ombrielle Neria

David Rattray

Kyle Risby

Westin Creyke

The TSI Project Team

The TSI Project Team supports the TSI Steering Committee and delivery of the initiative.

Christine Creyke

Alanna Quock

Norm MacLean

Ryma Aneliunas

Respect

There were no written laws in our history. The rules we lived by were taught to us from childhood and were based on respect. We were expected to respect ourselves, to show respect for others, to show respect for all things in our world, and to show respect for our environment. In this way we believed that our world would be in harmony, and we would live along and healthy life. – Tahltan belief