We Wont Stop

This week’s teaching comes from Jared Qwustenuxun Williams of Quw’utsun, who has generously shared an important message about the ongoing struggle to restore Indigenous food systems and the challenges faced in the wake of a recent ALC decision.

As allies, it is our responsibility not only to listen, but also to amplify and stand alongside these efforts. The work of restoring Indigenous agricultural practices is not only about honouring history—it’s about protecting food sovereignty, climate resilience, and collective futures.

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Let's talk about this ALC decision,

For anyone new here I'll get you up to speed. You see a while ago I made a post and wrote an article about our Indigenous Food Systems project taking place in the Quw'utsun and Xwulqwselu Estuary. This project is the first of its kind in western Canada and it's a unique opportunity for us as Quw'utsun and First Nations people to showcase that we were strong agriculturalists and not just hunter gatherers. Our nation was documented growing  many vegetables, including camas, by the early colonists in the 1850s. Now I can understand that this information might seem counter intuitive to people who have been raised in the Western Education system which, until very recently, taught that Indigenous people were little more than wild hunter gatherers with little connection to agricultural or aquacultural practices. But this is all the more reason we need this project to set the history straight.

My home nation of Quw’utsun, which spans across southern Vancouver Island and up the Fraser River on Mainland British Columbia, grew numerous crops and managed many seafood production sites. Now the area of interest for this topic is an area in the Quw'utsun and Xwulqwselu Estuary, which was a hot spot for a many of our agricultural products namely Camas, Silverweed, Clover, Bare-stem desert parsley, crab apples, along with a host of aquacultural structures like duck nets, salmon weirs, and shellfish gardens.

Now after over 100 years of our nation being removed from our territory and forced onto reserves, while colonists altered our food production site at the Quw'utsun and Xwulqwselu Estuary by intentionally cutting it off from the river and sea with a dike and converting into a hay field for local live stock, we have a chance to return to what we once had. We have an opportunity to produce local Indigenous foods the likes of which western and colonial menus have never even imagined. Foods that prevent diabetes, foods that requires no additional water or fertilizer aside from what the land and sea provide, foods that regenerate the land itself while making the people who eat it stronger, foods that can turn blue carbon into food instead of climate change.

Now that you are up to speed I can tell you the rest of the story. Last year, heck maybe even in 2023, the Nature Trust of BC and Ducks Unlimited Canada who currently own the land in the Estuary put in a proposal to the BC Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to remove a portion of the dike that lies within the Agricultural Land Reserve. When this proposed dyke removal came to light a group was formed to fight this request to take out the dike. A group which named itself the ‘land keepers stewardship society’. As anyone who works in Indigenous Land Justice can plainly see, a name like that invokes all kinds of emotions. Namely a strong opposition to the land back movement, and in essence an expression of fear on behalf of the people who created and joined this society that their land was being taken away, or why else would they call themselves land keepers? So this group filed a legal petition for a judicial review of the authorization granted by the Province of BC Inspector of Dikes office.

Then came the site visit to Cowichan. The ALC came to the Estuary to look at the project. The date they came was not planned very far in advance and had no consideration for the timeline that Cowichan Tribes (CT) was working on as CT was hosting a well advertised open house that date. This left only staff from Nature Trust and Ducks Unlimited to lead the ALC on its site visit.

When the ALC members got to the site things got a little gray. I've heard two sides to what was said and I wish I was there to see it myself. But here is what I've heard. They asked how we, as the project team, were going to deal with the racism. How were we going to manage the public backlash on Cowichan? To which our delegates stated that wasn't any of our, or their, concern. They also asked what we were going to do with the weeds. Alluding to the Indigenous crops that were going to be put on site. Or the abhorrent comments of, “how does Cowichan Tribes know camas can be grown in the area? Where is the evidence?” followed by “Camas cannot grow here”. I should note here for clarity that none of the ALC commissioners are educated in Indigenous Agricultural Systems.

Now these comments did not appear on the public record of the meeting when it was sent to our project team for review and so our team asked about it. But the ALC said that these things never happened and that if we wanted to advance with the process we had to accept the minutes as they were. But in a later zoom meeting with a member of the ALC and the Minister of Agriculture I brought up the weeds comment and the ALC rep said, “oh we were just talking about the broom on the dike.” They were worried about the weeds on the dike? The dike we wanted to remove? Also, they did acknowledge they said it in that meeting, but not in their public record of the meeting.

You might remember that back when this consultation was happening I asked everyone to write letters to the ALC urging them to allow us to take down the dike so we could restore our food systems. And I thank everyone who did, we got over a hundred letters of support. Every letter was hand written with passion and purpose and it made a huge impact on our team. But while we were hand writing our letters, the Land Keepers printed a prewritten letter in opposition and had people simply sign the bottom. If you read the report on the ALC website you can see their cut and paste letters. They got more letters in the end but most, if not all, of them were soulless carbon copies.

Before I tell you what the ALC said, which you can read in their report, I want to clarify something. First, there are no first nations members on the ALC, there is no Indigenous representation on the ALC, it is a completely non Indigenous commission operating in Unceded British Columbia. Secondly none of the members of the ALC has any education in Indigenous Agricultural practices, not one member specializes in the way this land was used for thousands of years pre contact. Thirdly, and lastly, the ALC did not perform any independent research or investigation into the application of Indigenous Agriculture. No elders were contacted, no anthropologists, no Universities. Add to that the fact that after two zoom meetings and countless letters with and from our nation the only thing that is mentioned as far as Indigenous foods in their report is a sentence about Camas.

Nothing else, as if they didn't even take the time to write down anything else we said or review the overwhelming ethno-botany, anthropological or archaeological evidence submitted to support the application.

So, what’d they say? They said they won't approve their portion of the dike to come down. They said that they believe that we can grow more food plants with the dike in place. They noted that our team's lawyer mentioned that we can take down the remaining 74% of the dike without their approval, so they didn't feel compelled to allow us to take down the portion in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). But they did have the nerve to threaten us with an investigation if we do take the down the dike that resides outside their jurisdiction of the ALR.

So, let me add all this up so we can get this straight.

A bureaucratic agency with no Indigenous representation, no Indigenous oversight, and no working knowledge of Indigenous Food systems. Unanimously decided, in their knowledge and wisdom, that our Nation must use this diked off colonially destroyed land for our Indigenous Food systems as is and cannot return it to its precolonial state.

Therefore with the possibility of removing the remaining 74% of the dike the ALC just unanimously decided to defy reconciliation and Indigenous Rights for no reason.

This is a modern example of colonization and it must end.

It's high time for a change at the ALC. It's time for Indigenous representation, time for understanding, time to move away from resource heavy climate impacting western agriculture and start reintroducing Indigenous foods to our food systems. On Vancouver Island we only produce 5-10% of our own food with this modern food systems. But pre contact we produced 100% of our food here. Food security and climate resilience need Indigenous Food Systems.

In conclusion I'll say this. We won't stop working on this, we will make this food system work and this dike will come down. For the salmon, for the food systems, for the shellfish, for the ancestors and for the generations to come, we must restore this place. Even if I have to grab a shovel and take the wall down myself.

If it ever comes to that I hope you'll join me with shovel in hand because this isn't just about Indigenous people, or Indigenous Food Systems, this is about our collective future and how we can work together to adapt and overcome the challenges that lie ahead.

I raise my hands in gratitude to all those who've helped with this project so far. I am but one person with a loud voice in a sea of people working on this. Without them, without the elders, without the ancestors, and without my family I would have nothing. So I thank them as I thank you all.

Huy tseep q'u siem nu siiye'yu

Thank you all my respected friends

As we reflect on Jared’s words, let us recognize our role. Colonization is not history—it is ongoing. Supporting Indigenous-led food systems means writing letters, speaking out, showing up, and using our voices and platforms to shift the weight of these decisions.

We are called to responsibility as allies: to support, uplift, and ensure that Indigenous food systems and voices are not silenced but strengthened.

Huy tseep q’u siem Jared for your courage, clarity, and vision. May we each take this as a reminder to act, to listen deeply, and to work together for a future rooted in justice and nourishment for all.

🧡 Kim