Timeline for Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks

The first federal Indian Agent arrives on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Indian reserves are established.

The settler Canadian town of Tofino is established in Tla-o-qui-aht territory.

From 1909 until the Meares Island Tribal Park Declaration in 1984, Tla-o-qui-aht decision-making in their territory was heavily disrupted by Canada.

In a context of increasing colonial alienation of Tla-o-qui-aht lands and resources, and the confinement of Tla-o-qui-aht people to reserves, the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia meets with the Tla-o-qui-aht hereditary chiefs (Ha’wiih) at the village of Opitsaht on Meares Island. Chief Joseph observed that the island was not large. “I have 221 Indians and this place is too small,” he reportedly said. “When there is another generation of people, three hundred years from now, there will be no timber for them at all. It is all taken up by… settlers who surround the reserve all round, and pretty soon there will be no room.” (ICE Report, p. 88)

Establishment of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, without the consent or input of affected Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. The Long Beach Unit of the park overlaps with Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation territory.

Friends of Clayoquot Sound (FOCS) is founded as a non-profit society dedicated to the preservation of Clayoquot Sound’s environment, the ancestral gardens of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. http://focs.ca/

Two logging companies, MacMillan Bloedel and B.C. Forest Products, announce plans to clear-cut Meares Island, based on a tree farm licence granted to them by the British Columbia government nearly 30 years earlier. Widespread opposition to the proposed logging by both Tla-o-qui-aht and non-Indigenous environmentalists prompts the government to convene a planning team, which spends 3 years examining options (New York Times, May 17, 1985).

MacMillan Bloedel walks out of the planning meetings and comes up with its own plan to clear-cut the majority of the old growth temperate rainforest on Meares Island. The British Columbia Ministry of Forests approves MacMillan Bloedel’s plan.

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and their allies prevent logging of Meares Island.

• April 21: Clayoquot Band Council (now Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation) issues the Meares Island Tribal Park Declaration.
• Fall – prepping camp in Heelboom Bay
• Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation members erect a blockade to prevent the landing of logging equipment on Meares Island at a place called C’is-a-qis (Heelboom Bay). The blockade ultimately lasts 5 months.
• November 21: loggers attempt to land at C’is-a-qis. Elected Chief Moses Martin tells them that they’re welcome ashore, but they must leave their chainsaws on the boat because “this is not a tree farm – it is our garden; it is a tribal park.” The loggers soon leave.

Meares Island court case launched by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

• March – British Columbia Court of Appeal grants an injunction, overturning an earlier British Columbia Supreme Court decision and halting all plans to log Meares Island until the land issue could be resolved. This is the first time that a court told British Columbia that it did not have legitimate jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the court rejected the environmentalists’ request for an injunction. The injunction granted to the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation relates directly to the jurisdictional conflict and land title issue, and it remains in effect to this day.

The British Columbia government issues permits to MacMillan Bloedel to clear-cut more than two thirds of Clayoquot Sound’s rainforests, sparing only Meares Island. Protests draw about 11,000 people, leading to nearly 900 arrests as protesters block the logging roads (ref: Nat. Geog., Oct 8, 2020).

IISAAK Forest Resources is formed as a joint venture between MacMillan Bloedel (later Weyerhauser) and Tla-o-qui-aht, Ucluelet, Hesquiaht, Toquaht and Ahousaht First Nations.

Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Region is designated by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), and Parks Canada sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to remove 86.4 hectares of land from Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and add this land to Esowista Indian Reserve. This land becomes the base for the Esowista Community Expansion Project at Ty-Histanis. Ty-Histanis includes more than 100 homes, heated by geothermal energy and designed with swales and overflow ponds to mimic the hydrological functions of the original sphagnum bog ecosystem.

Designation of Ha’uukmin Tribal Park, the second of the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks, in the Ha’uukmin (Kennedy Lake) watershed.

Tla-o-qui-aht and neighbouring Nuu-chah-nulth nations acquire 100% ownership of provincial forestry tenures in Clayoquot Sound through the Iisaak Forest Resources company. However, the company remains constrained by provincial forestry regulations that favour industrial timber production. Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks promote an alternative vision of stewardship and forest relationships based on Nuu-chah-nulth law and values.

Land use & care (management) plan for Ha’uukmin Tribal Park developed through an extensive consultation process and a series of workshops that engaged Tla-o-qui-aht, neighbouring First Nations, other local communities, governments, environmental groups, industry, and technical experts.

Canoe Creek run-of-river hydroelectric project established in Ha’uukmin Tribal Park.

West Coast Wild Zipline Ecotours launched in Ha’uukmin Tribal Park

Esowista and Tranquil Tribal Parks declared.

Tla-o-qui-aht Ha’wiih (hereditary chiefs) issue an expanded Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks Declaration.

Haa-ak-suuk run-of-river hydroelectric project established; five additional eco-friendly hydroelectric projects are planned for Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks, for a total of seven projects.

Opposition from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and environmental groups forces Imperial Metals to back down from exploratory drilling for the proposed Fandora gold mine in Tranquil Tribal Park.