McLEOD LAKE INDIAN BAND General Delivery McLeod Lake, B.C. VOI2G0 Phone (250) 750-4415 Fax (250) 750-4420 May 23, 2019 Sent by E-mail Blair Lekstrom Blair Lekstrom Consulting Lta. 1753 93° Avenue Dawson Creek, BC V1G 1E7 E-mail: bmlekstrom@amail,com Dear Mr. Lekstrom: Re: MLIB Concerns regarding the draft Caribou Agreements. Thank-you for meeting with McLeod Lake Indian Band (“MLIB") representatives on May 10, 2019. \We appreciated the frank discussions and your commitment to bring MLIB's concerns forward to the Premier in the report you deliver to him at the end of this month, In this letter, we have briefly outlined some of our key concerns regarding the draft section 11 agreement between Canada and B.C. (the “Section 11 Agreement’), and the draft partnership agreement between Canada, B.C., Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations (the “Partnership Agreement’), collectively the “Caribou Agreements’, To date, neither B.C. nor Canada have engaged with MLIB regarding these agreements, even though they have the potential to significantly impact our Nation and our constitutionally protected treaty rights (including title). Should the agreements be executed without the requisite engagement with MLIB, they will be highly vulnerable to legal challenge and termination, ‘Summary and Recommendations ‘As we discussed during our meeting with you, the Caribou Agreements: a) would likely result in widespread adverse impacts on MLIB treaty rights, including title, if not amended following meaningful engagement and consultation with MLIB; b) exclude MLIB from decision-making regarding matters that directly impact our Nation; ©) lack significant detail on critical matters; and 4) have a generally offensive tone.Accordingly, MLIB strongly opposes the Caribou Agreements being executed until: a) appropriate amendments are made to the Caribou Agreements following meaningful consultation with MLIB; and/or b) a separate partnership arrangement is executed between B.C., Canada and MLIB, that: ()) take into account the concerns and recommendations outlined herein; (li) recognize MLIB's governance and decision-making authority over caribou recovery and management throughout our Territory; (ii) recognize MLIB's active restoration efforts, including its restoration of traditional trails that transect the lands covered by the Caribou Agreements; and (jv) include provisions to address the economic impacts of the agreements, including on MLIB forestry jobs and business activities. We also strongly recommend that B.C. and Canada ensure that forest tenures held by other Indigenous Nations that are party to one or more of the Caribou Agreements, including Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations, are moved or incorporated into the scope of the Caribou Agreements to ensure that caribou recovery efforts also apply to those tenured areas. ‘Our specific concerns regarding each of the Caribou Agreements are outlined below: Section 11 Agreement MLIB's concerns regarding the Section 11 Agreement include the following: a) Lack of consensus decision-making with Indigenous Nations i, Both B.C. and Canada have committed to fully implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples, and have adopted important principles to guide their relationships with Indigenous Nations. Section 7.1 of the Section 11 Agreement, which merely provides for engagement and, “where appropriate” consultation, falls far short of these standards and commitments. ji, The Section 11 Agreement should be amended to focus on collaboration, with clear ‘commitments to seek to reach consensus decisions throughout ss. 7.1 and 7.2. b) Inadequate incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge i, Allthe plans (including the Federal Action Plan, Herd Plans, Joint Southern Mountain Caribou Work Plan and Provincial Caribou Recovery Plan) contemplated in the Section 11 Agreement should be developed based on “best available information’, which incorporates Indigenous peoples’ knowledge. ii, Similarly, “Structured Decision Making” should also be based on “best available information’ (thereby also incorporating Indigenous peoples’ knowledge therein). ii, ‘The *British Columbia - Canada Caribou Recovery Science Committee” established under the Section 11 Agreement should also include Indigenous membership to allow for incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge in this committee's work. iv. Updates and amendments to plans and strategies should have Indigenous involvement; sections 5.1.1 (Joint Southern Mountain Caribou Work Plan) and 5.2.2 (Federal Recovery Strategy) of the Section 11 Agreement should be updated accordingly. Page 2v. _ MLIB Indigenous knowledge can also be incorporated through MLIB members working as conservation officers, and B.C. should make training, employment and equipment opportunities available to MLIB members to that end, b) Lack of certainty in contractual commitments i, Section 4.1 and 4.4 of the Section 11 Agreement should be deleted as these provisions incorrectly state that this agreement does not create any new duties on Canada and B.C., nor create legally binding obligations between them, ¢) Lack of details regarding caribou recovery i. B.C. and Canada must work with MLIB’s technical team in determining current Population estimates, provincial recovery targets, sustainable population levels, shared recovery objectives, new protected areas and conservation measures. ji. BC’s commitment to increase Southern Mountain Caribou Habitat (in s. 5.4) should have specified goals indicating how much habitat is to be added during the term of the Section 11 Agreement. il, Specific timelines should be provided on the frequency of “regular intervals” for the use of adaptive management in modifying Herd Plans (in s. 5.6.3). d) Inadequate information sharing with Indigenous Nations i, The information referred to in section 9 of the Section 11 Agreement should also be made readily available, at no charge, to Indigenous Nations ii, Any information that is provided by an Indigenous Nation in confidence must be kept confidential; if Canada or B.C. are required by law to disclose any such information, they should first provide notice to the Nation that provided the applicable information, and give them a reasonable opportunity to apply for legal protections for such information, if required, before any disclosure thereof. il, To ensure ongoing transparency, reporting should be more frequent than a single time during the five year term of the Section 11 Agreement; ideally reporting should be done on an annual basis (see s. 11.4) e) Lack of Funding for Indigenous involvement i. Funding should be provided to support indigenous Nations’ role in reviewing (amending) and overseeing implementation and adaptive management related to the Conservation and Recovery Measures (s. 5.7). Partnership Agreement MLIB's concerns regarding the Partnership Agreement include the following: a) MLIB excluded from being a party to the Partnership Agreement i. MLIB should either be: 7 added as a party to an amended version of the Partnership Agreement (which amendments take into account the recommendations outlined herein), and provided the same rights as the Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations have been provided (including commitments to deep consultation under s. 12(c)(iv)); or 2. engaged in drafting a separate and stand-alone partnership agreement between MLIB, B.C., and Canada, with at least the same rights as those Page