Indigenous Youth Reflect on BC’s First Coastal Marine Strategy

We need to do better for our coasts.

We didn’t know each other growing up, but all three of us lived near the coast. As kids, we each swam, canoed, and harvested the waters with our families.

Now, with how polluted the water is, it’s not always possible.

In Nanaimo, where Kevin is from, sands his mother remembers as being beige, almost white, are now gray.

In Chilliwack, an elder told us, “it never used to be like this.” The water has become more of a slough, contaminated by the sewage treatment plant.

All British Columbians living near the coast can probably envision an aspect that has drastically changed over the past few years.

Up until now, BC was one of the only coastal regions in North America that didn’t have a designated law or strategy to direct its coastal protection and management. Without this tool, BC hasn’t been able to adequately address the extensive development and activities taking place within coastal areas.

When fishing operations, infrastructure, and waterfront development are approved separately, there’s no way for us to understand how all of these activities cumulatively affect our coasts and oceans.

In 2020, the BC government acknowledged that coastal management needs to be revamped. Furthermore, it acknowledged that it needs to do so in partnership with coastal First Nations, who have been stewarding these waters since time immemorial, to do so. At long last, the province began co-developing BC’s first Coastal Marine Strategy in partnership with First Nations.

In March 2023, all three of us participated in the Coastal Marine Strategy Indigenous Youth Summit hosted by the First Nations Fisheries Council, Clear Seas, and the Government of BC.

We were encouraged to see that BC has started taking steps to address the mounting threats that impact our coastal ecosystems and communities, and brought together Indigenous youth to be heard. We are the future stewards of our coast, and our voices must be at the table.

It’s becoming abundantly clear with each passing year, though, that change is not coming fast enough. The release of BC’s first Coastal Marine Strategy is a promising step in the right direction, and one that we hope will gain momentum in the years ahead.  

Whether you are Indigenous or not, we must work together to do more to protect our coasts. We are relieved that there is a greater sense of urgency, and that more people are starting to get involved in protecting the coast for generations to come.

We must come together to take serious steps to repair our relationship with the land and water, and acknowledge the connection between life on land and life on water, before it’s too late to undo the damage we have caused.

We didn’t know each other growing up, but the coast has brought us together, to fight for it, because our future depends on it. Now, with the implementation of BC’s first Coastal Marine Strategy, our hope is that rights holders, government, stakeholders, and the public will come together to be united in our work for a healthy, thriving ocean.

Written by: Crystal Lewis, Kevin Good, and Tea Rosa

Crystal Lewis, (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh), Kevin Good (Snuneymuxw and Tseshaht), and Tea Rosa (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Stó:lō) are Indigenous youth activists based in Vancouver on the unceded, traditional, and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.