Tla’amin First Nation (formerly known as Sliammon) is a northern Coast Salish Nation located in the Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia. Their territory spans both sides of the Northern Strait of Georgia and includes the Malaspina Strait, Desolation Sound, Homfray Channeland Denman, Hornby, Lasqueti and Texada islands. 

Today, the Tla'amin community has over 1,100 members with the majority living in the main village site in Sliammon, located a few kilometers north of Powell River.

Tla'amin members have a deep physical, cultural and spiritual connection to  their territory. Tla'amin members continue to occupy their traditional territory and carry out teachings that require members to be stewards of Tla'amin lands and resources. In upholding its responsibilities, Tla'amin Nation seeks guidance from the Creator, Ancestors and from knowledge of the Tla'amin Elders to protect and manage its lands and resources.

Tla’amin ancestors lived by a traditional system of governance grounded in the Ta’ow (teachings) and Eh ah ju thum (language), which were the Nation’s unwritten constitution and influenced all forms of environmental stewardship matters, social and political relations. It is this system that has sustained the Tla’amin way of life and Tums gijeh (lands) and resources. Tla’amin’s Ta’ow includes the fundamental principle of “Tlo metsxw otl ma tuxw” which includes the concepts of sustainability and only taking enough to satisfy present needs, while leaving sufficient resources for future generations.

Tla’amin Nation has a modern-day treaty with Canada and British Columbia which came into effect in 2016.

The Tla’amin are one of three “Sister Nations” (comprising also the Homalco and Klahoose). The SIster Nations share the same ancestry, language and traditions.

On December 17, 2020, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced a decision to phase out 19 salmon farms in the Discovery Islands by June 2022. In the meantime, the decision prohibits the operators from restocking the farms with new fish.

The decision followed a comprehensive consultation process with Homalco, Tla’amin and five other First Nations, and constitutes an accommodation of their constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights to fish, as well as Tla’amin’s treaty rights to fish. According to Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Bernadette Jordan, the Nations had “provided important guidance to the minister and heavily informed the decision.” The decision also aligns with British Columbia’s earlier decision that, as of 2022, all fish farms must obtain consent from First Nations before their license can be renewed. 

Earlier this year, four salmon farming companies - Mowi Canada West (formerly: Marine Harvest), Cermaq Canada Ltd, Grieg Seafood BC Ltd and a numbered corporation (622335 Ltd BC) - filed for a Judicial Review of the Minister’s decision to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands.

The companies’ application for a Judicial Review names Canada as the respondent. However, Homalco and Tla’amin have applied to join the judicial review process as respondents alongside Canada as they will bring evidence about fish farms’ harm to economic, cultural, and ecosystem health of Indigenous Nations.

The Nations argue that they are unable to exercise their Aboriginal rights and (in the case of Tla'amin) Treaty rights to fish due to the decline in populations of all species of wild Pacific salmon and other marine resources caused by the presence of fish farms in their territory. Based on scientific evidence, including the findings of the Cohen Commission, they will show that the presence of fish farms in their territories has an adverse impact on wild salmon and other marine resources. They will argue that the removal of all stressors, including the fish farms, is necessary to prevent the extinction of the populations Homalco and Tla’amin rely on to exercise their Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes.

Both Homalco and Tla’amin Nations know the importance of healthy salmon runs and healthy ecosystems, and are committed to caring for the land and waters.

In 2005, Homalco Nation successfully took Canada to court over a federal decision to allow Atlantic salmon farming in one particular farm in the Bute Inlet, the heart of Homalco territory. Homalco first won an injunction prohibiting the transfer of Atlantic salmon to the Bute Inlet farm. Subsequently, the Judicial Review found that the Crown had breached its duty to consult with Homalco.

As part of their commitment to stewardship over their lands and resources, both Nations have operated hatcheries for decades. 

The Tla’amin Salmon Hatchery is located on the Tla’amin River north of Powell River. Its mandate is to enhance, rebuild and protect the existing salmon stocks of chum, coho, pink, and Chinook salmon in the Tla’amin, Theodosia and Okeover Rivers.

Homalco’s hatchery is located in the Orford River Channel. The operation emerged from a salmon enhancement program under former Chief Richard Harry. The hatchery has resulted in a healthy and abundant return of coho and chum to the Orford River area, and supports other habitat restoration in Homalco territory. 

Clam gardens, also known as “sea gardens”, are structures on beaches to encourage abundant growth of clams, engineered and built since ancient times by a number of Indigenous Peoples along the coasts of British Columbia, Alaska and Washington State. Clam gardens have been a part of Indigenous foodways since time immemorial. A number of Nations are reviving and restoring this technology.

“For Tla’amin, establishing “Wuxwuthin” (meaning “held back at the mouth” i.e. clam gardens), was an important activity. A notable clam garden can be found at Waiatt Bay, where rock walls, terraces and clam benches were established and can still be seen today throughout the entire bay at a “zero tide”. This location was an important spot for harvesting butter clams, a dietary staple.” - From the affidavit of Hegus (Chief) John Hackett of Tla’amin Nation

After more than 20 years of treaty negotiations with the provincial and federal Government, all parties reached agreement on the essential elements of the Tla’amin Final Agreement which was signed in the Spring of 2014.

The treaty went into effect on April 5th, 2016 and Sliammon became the self-governing Tla’amin Nation.

Tla’amin now has a treaty right to harvest fish and aquatic plans for domestic purposes , as well as the right to trade and barter fish and aquatic plants among themselves or with other Aboriginal peoples of Canada.

Unfortunately, because of the decline of salmon runs through Tla’amin territory, Tla’amin members have never been able to fully exercise their treaty rights to fish. In particular, Tla’amin members have never been able to harvest its full allocation of fish set in the treaty.

In 2012, the federal Commission of Inquiry into the decline of Fraser sockeye, led by Justice Bruce Cohen, found that “salmon farming in the Discovery Island poses a risk of serious harm to Fraser River sockeye through the transfer of diseases and pathogens”; and that such potential harm was serious or irreversible. Subsequently, the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat has concluded that all sources of harm should be reduced to the maximum extent possible for at least ten populations of Fraser River sockeye in order to provide them with the best opportunity for survival. 

In 2020, as part of consultations with the federal government, Homalco and Tla’amin Nations retained experts who documented the negative impacts on wild salmon in their territory. They documented the following:

• Sea lice physiologically impair wild Pacific salmon, harm their chances of survival and reduce population levels. In 2020, 99% of the juvenile sockeye sampled in the Discovery Islands were infected with an average of 9 sea lice.

• In the spring of 2020, 37% of salmon farms coastwide exceeded the sea lice levels that government considers safe for young juvenile salmon migrating past the farms (3 motile lice per fish). Fifty percent of the farms in the Discovery Islands exceeded the 3 motile lice limit. (Based on data published by salmon farm companies.)

• Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV) causes the red blood cells of endangered Chinook salmon to rupture en masse causing them to die. Research on wild salmon coastwide found a PRV infection rate in the Discovery Islands of 45% ‐ the highest on the coast. The prevalence of PRV on the fish farms is often between 70% to 100%; the fish farms act as reservoirs for this foreign virus and spread this harmful pathogen to migrating wild Pacific salmon. 

(summary based on Homalco and Tla’amin Submissions)

All the funds raised for the Wild Salmon campaign go to Indigenous litigation. 85% of the funds raised go to Homalco and Tla’amin Nations to fund their legal challenge. RAVEN used to levy 15% as administrative costs to sustain our operations. However, as of 2021, the 15% levy is placed into our Discretionary Litigation Fund (see below). 

If a legal challenge is terminated, and the money raised exceeds the litigation expenses, we place the remaining funds into the Discretionary Litigation Fund. We use the money in the Discretionary Litigation Fund to add funds to any of our litigation campaigns that need extra funds for any reason (e.g. to respond to a Crown motion, or to commission additional expert reports).