The T’Sou-ke First Nation collected an award last week for its solar project on Vancouver Island, but Chief Gordon Planes isn’t looking for baubles – he wants to get the renewable energy word out to First Nations communities across B.C.
In fact, Planes believes the best way to get aboriginal communities to adopt clean energy technologies is through a First Nations-to-First Nations mentorship program that focuses on shared experiences.
On the sidelines of the Clean Energy BC conference in Vancouver last week, Planes told Business in Vancouver that First Nations have a better chance of communicating the benefits of clean energy to other aboriginal communities than industry does, because all First Nations share a common history and cultural heritage.
“What we have in common with all tribes in B.C. and across the whole country is protocol,” Planes explained. “We have a traditional territory and other tribes neighbouring us respect that.
“That protocol is our way of life; we were hunter-gatherers, we depended on the salmon and the sea and all the territories are unique in that way.
“Within that protocol is respect, and within the respect of the old ways is being able to have a dialogue with different tribes.”
In 2009, the T’Sou-ke unveiled a 75-kilowatt solar power project that provided clean energy for the band office, fisheries building and canoe shed, and hot water for 37 homes.
The installation not only shone a renewed light on aboriginal innovation, but also sent a message to First Nations throughout the province that there are reliable alternatives to the diesel generators that power many remote communities (see “Native power plays targeting business goals” – issue 1055, January 12-18).
The project was showcased to First Nations at an event in the summer of 2009, and Planes said many communities have now come back and asked the T’Sou-ke for help with their own projects.
As a result, the Vancouver Island First Nation has set up a mentorship program that includes seminars and webinars that explain how other aboriginal communities can design energy plans, access financing and move ahead with clean power projects.
“We’re sort of consultants now,” said Andrew Moore, T’Sou-ke solar program manager.
The First Nation also boasts nine members who are now certified solar technicians, which allows the community to use its own expertise to help other aboriginal communities.
“It benefits everyone if we can all be able to communicate well with the neighbouring tribes or municipalities … and find new ways to break old barriers,” Planes said.
But healthy communication between aboriginals and industry, aboriginals and government and even tribe to tribe has long been a challenge in B.C. At last week’s energy conference, Chehalis Indian Band Chief Willie Charlie acknowledged that some First Nations have yet to resolve overlapping territorial claims.
If they’re left unresolved, he said, the business community is less likely to fork out investment dollars.
“For proponents coming in, it’s very difficult for them to understand First Nations politics … I think that question needs to be answered by the First Nations themselves,” Charlie said. “It’s between the First Nations that need to come to some understanding, some agreement to deal with that.”
He added that the Chehalis, who are based in Agassiz, have worked with the nearby Douglas First Nation recently to recognize traditional boundaries and pave the way for run-of-river hydroelectric projects.
That could be good news for potential power producers in the Fraser Valley, but Planes pointed out other obstacles in B.C.’s clean power scene. One of them is the government’s proposed feed-in tariff (FIT) program that would foster emerging clean power technologies.
Unfortunately for the T’Sou-ke, the provincial government views solar power as a “mature” technology, meaning it wouldn’t be included in the FIT program.
Planes hopes that will change, but even if it doesn’t he believes that co-operation is still the key to developing B.C.’s clean energy sector.
“We’re all in this together,” Planes said. “I really truly believe as British Columbians we’re in the same canoe and we have to paddle as one.”
(See Run-of-river energy, page 6.)