Thesis Defence: Climate Change and Modern Treaties: A Case Study of Čaačaacı̓iʕas (Carnation Creek) Through The Lens Of The Maa-Nulth Treaty

ReAnne Kennedy, supervised by Dr. Onyx Sloan Morgan, will defend their thesis titled “Climate Change and Modern Treaties: A Case Study of Čaačaacı̓iʕas (Carnation Creek) Through The Lens Of The Maa-Nulth Treaty” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Community Engagement, Social Change, and Equity theme.

An abstract for ReAnne Kennedy’s thesis is included below.

Defences are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Registration is not required for in-person defences.

---

Abstract

Within the boundaries of the land(s) now known as British Columbia, Canada, modern treaties (also known as comprehensive land claims) aim to address the lack of historical treaties and thus support nation-to-nation relationships between First Nations and settler government bodies (Government of Canada, 2023; Sloan Morgan et al., 2018, 2019). Located on Vancouver Island, the Maa-nulth First Nations Agreement (referred to as The Treaty or Maa-nulth Treaty in this research) was signed in 2011, opening a new door to reconciliation and relationships between the five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations signatories and colonial governments; the treaty outlines self-governance and defines land provisions for Huu-ay-aht First Nations, as one of the five signatories. While self-governance provisions encompass factors such as environmental management and harvesting provisions, climate change is never mentioned within the Treaty. Yet, climate change is a concern identified in Huu-ay-aht First Nation’s Community Comprehensive Plan (CCP). This research project therefore aims to highlight the connections between modern treaties and climate change by: 1) conducting a literature review on existing policy and academic literature specific to BC; and 2) using čaačaaci̓iʕas (Carnation Creek) as a case study to strengthen the link between climate change, huuʕiiʔatḥ ḥaḥuułi , and modern treaties. Conducted through a larger community-based and Huu-ay-aht-led research project, the qualitative and quantitative data collected and analyzed for this research is driven by a theoretical framework that emphasizes huuʕiiʔatḥ’s sacred principle of hišuk ma c̕awak (everything is connected/one). As part of an 80-year watershed study, čaačaaci̓iʕas was chosen due to the plethora of data that has been analyzed specific to the place-based impacts of climate change, including the decline of salmon populations, changes in water temperatures, and slope instability. These themes are further complicated due to historic and intensive industrial logging practices across huuʕiiʔatḥ ḥaḥuułi. Complemented by semi-structured interviews to demonstrate how traditional methods are being integrated into huuʕiiʔatḥ self-governance, key themes are analyzed in conjunction with Huu-ay-aht First Nations’ history (i.e., colonialism and industrial forestry) and how the Treaty has provided tools to shift towards traditional governance. The findings indicate the need for the integration of climate change and its regional effects into modern treaties, as well as a need for local knowledges to address the effects of climate change that are most pressingly experienced and/or most concerning.