The Sechelt Indian Band (SIB) and Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) are officially joining forces to protect the Chapman Creek and Gray Creek watersheds.
The SIB and SCRD reached an agreement for joint management of the watersheds, which SCRD directors and band councillors will sign in late September.
"This is a show of unity," said SIB chief Stan Dixon at the SCRD's infrastructure services committee meeting June 2.
The watersheds are within both the band's traditional territory and the SCRD's potable water service authority.
However, the provincial government has the ultimate authority over allowing or disallowing development projects in the watershed, under the Significant Project Streamlining Act.
The watershed agreement will send a message to the province that the SIB and SCRD will collectively demand the authority to gain control over management of the water supply, said Gibsons' Mayor Barry Janyk.
"It's basically drawing a line in the sand and saying we expect you to honour this," Janyk said in a phone interview.
No similar accord exists between local governments and First Nations throughout the province of this breadth and scope, he added.
Adrian Belshaw, SCRD director for Roberts Creek, called the agreement "groundbreaking."
"It's significant not just for the local community, but for the whole province," Belshaw said. The SCRD and the SIB have been working on the agreement for at least five years and the band was interested from the beginning, added Belshaw.
"We were pretty clear on both sides we wanted to do this," Belshaw said. "Having the Sechelt Indian Band on board is a huge benefit to us."
A committee of three SCRD directors and three band councillors will make recommendations to the SCRD board and band council on how to manage the watershed and on the creation of laws and bylaws, the agreement states.
"It's exciting, but we really can't celebrate until we actually get control of the watershed," Belshaw said. "But this is an important step along the way."
SCRD director Celia Fisher said the protection of the watershed is one thing all local governments have agreed upon.
"[The agreement] will maybe give us more clout and status when we go to Victoria," Fisher said.
The agreement reads: "The Band and SCRD agree to pursue, assume and exercise: (a) the right and authority to approve or disapprove any activity within the watershed, (b) the right and authority to disallow any activity within the watershed."
The next step for the two groups is to sit down with Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA elect Nicholas Simons to request the provincial government consider them in decisions surrounding watershed use, Janyk said.
Simons said the agreement shows good communication and sees it as an opportunity for good discussion within the local community.
"This is an expression of the will of the community," Simons said. "I believe local control of the watershed is something we're all striving for."
Being a New Democratic Party member, his role as opposition in the legislature is to ensure the local community gets its views expressed, he said.
"The province needs to recognize the watershed agreement is a result of community involvement," he said.
The agreement will be valid for five years. The SIB and SCRD can amend it or extend its term through mutual consent.
