Kelowna Power of Forests Event Registration and Details

DATE: Saturday, October 12, 2024, 12-3:00pm (Please note the time change – it was originally scheduled to end at 3:30pm)

LOCATION: UBC Okanagan, Arts and Science Centre, ASC 140, 3187 University Way,Kelowna, BC

COST: by donation at the door

RECORDINGS: Presentations will be recorded and publicly available at https://www.boundaryforest.org approximately 2 weeks after event.

The Power of Forests project is bringing together grassroots organizations, concerned BC residents, Indigenous Peoples, and scientists to push for a new BC Forest Act. The new Act is intended to ensure that forest management on public lands focuses on the interests of communities and nature rather than on extraction interests. Under this new legislation, the primary objective of forest management will be to maintain the ecological integrity of forest ecosystems.

There is an urgent need for new forestry legislation to ensure the safety and security of BC residents. Decades of overcutting from industrial logging have resulted in enormous losses of primary natural forests in BC. The devastating outcomes include more floods, more drought, more fires, and a deadly landslide at Duffey Lake that killed 5 people. Although the BC government does not declare it, these disasters can be directly and indirectly linked to industrial logging.

Natural ecosystems function fully and flawlessly without industrialized activities on them. Fully functioning natural systems ensure our survival and are the source of what we value. Halting the loss and degradation of natural forest ecosystems and restoring forest landscapes helps enhance climate change mitigation and disaster protection. It also drives sustainable economic growth and supports livelihoods.

This is the power of forests.

Five REGIONAL EVENTS are being held in September and October 2024 in Nanaimo, Vancouver, Prince George, Nelson, and Kelowna. Details of the new Forest Act proposal will be shared at the events by Jennifer Houghton, Project Manager, The Power of Forests Project, with the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society (BFWSS). Local speakers, Indigenous People, and scientists will also present relevant regional information regarding the costs of the current system and the urgent need for new legislation. These events will empower, equip, and activate people to push our politicians into supporting a change to the legislation. The New Forest Act proposal will be available on September 6 at: www.boundaryforest.org.

KELOWNA EVENT SCHEDULE

TIME	EVENT PROGRAMME KELOWNA
12:00-12:15	Opening Indigenous Welcome – Pamela & Grouse Barnes, syilx Elders/Knowledge Keepers
12:15-12:45 12:45-1:00 Q & A	Dawn Morrison, Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty – Shift the Narrative! Fodder, Forests, and Indigenous Foodland Conservation
1:00-1:10	Break
1:10-1:35 1:35-1:45 Q & A	Joe Karthein, Save What’s Left – Transform BC Timber Sales
1:45-2:15	Break
2:15-2:45 2:45-2:55 Q & A	Jennifer Houghton, Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society – The New Forest Act & How to Get There

Coffee & tea will be provided along with a few snacks. You are welcome to bring a bag lunch.

Kelowna Speakers & Indigenous Elders

Wilfred (Grouse) and Pamela Barnes are Adjunct Professors at UBCO School of Nursing. They are Honorary Fellows at Okanagan College and facilitate cultural teaching in partnership with Kelowna Heritage Museums, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Rotary Centre for the Arts and Regional Parks. They also provide cultural competency training to many businesses and organizations.

Wilfred (Grouse) Barnes, is a syilx knowledge keeper and member of Westbank First Nation. As one of the few fluent nsyilxcn speakers he is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing the language. He serves as an Elder in Residence at School District 23, and Okanagan College. Grouse is a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance Critical Response Team and serves as a Spiritual Care Provider at Kelowna General Hospital. He also works with the Okanagan Nation Alliance on traditional lands management.

Pamela Barnes, is a syilx educator/knowledge keeper and member of Westbank First Nation. Her traditional syilx education is a lifelong journey starting with her great-grandfather Mickey Derrickson and other family and community knowledge keepers. In true syilx tradition she strives to educate and mentor the next generations in all the work she does. Pamela’s academic background is in Aboriginal government. She is one of the founders of WFN’s Sensisyusten School and currently sits on the board. She has an extensive history of serving on numerous committees and councils for School District 23, Okanagan College and UBC/UBCO.

Dawn Morrison – Dawn is of Secwepemc ancestry and is the Founder/Curator of Research and Relationships for the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Since 1983 Dawn has worked and studied horticulture, ethno-botany, adult education, and restoration of natural systems in formal institutions, as well as through her own healing and learning journey with Secwepemc and Indigenous Elders and knowledge holders. Following the time spent teaching Aboriginal Adult Basic Education, Dawn has been dedicating her time and energy to land-based healing and learning which led her to her life’s work of realizing herself more fully as a developing spirit aligned leader in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement. Dawn has consistently organized time and space over the last 18 years for transformational learning in food systems networks that have been foundational for generating a body of research to support decolonizing food systems in community, regional, national, and international networks where she has become internationally recognized as a published author on the topic. Dawn’s work on the Third Eye Seeing Methodology is focused on creating ethical spaces of engagement, that serves to balance the cross-cultural burden carried by Indigenous Peoples in the interface where Indigenous food sovereignty meets, coloniality, climate change, and the corporate control of the food system.

Some of the projects Dawn is leading include: Wild Salmon Caravan, Indigenous Food and Freedom School, Dismantling Structural Racism in the Food System, and research projects including: Mapping out and Advocating for the Establishment of Indigenous Foodland Conservation Areas, and CIHR funded Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Community Wellbeing Amidst a Pandemic, and the “From the Ground Up” Toolkit for Indigenous Food Sovereignty Train the Trainers.

Joe Karthein – Joe’s work is focused on creating radical change within the provincial government’s agency, BC Timber Sales, (or dismantle it all together), in order to uphold the province’s UNDRIP commitments, and protect the province’s endangered species, forest and water ecosystems.

Jennifer Houghton – After her Grand Forks, BC home flooded in 2017 and 2018, Jennifer became deeply involved in reforming forestry in BC. She co-founded BFWSS along with a small group of locals concerned about the damage from industrial logging to the ecosystems in the region. Jennifer has done extensive filming of the effects of the flooding on the people of the area. She spent time traveling the province listening to politicians, scientists, Indigenous people, loggers, and residents to expand her understanding of the issues. Jennifer was co-author of the BFWSS report Brighter Future for Boundary Forests: The Case for Nature-Based Forestry Supported by a Community Forest Board. She was the lead organizer of Forest March BC, forestry summits, and runs the 3.6K member Facebook group BC Forestry Reform. She continues to speak, present, and collaborate with BC grassroots groups to drive for forest management to prioritize ecosystems and local communities rather than corporate profits. She is the Project Manager and presenter for the Power of Forests project.

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

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