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A historic agreement was announced on Friday afternoon between six First Nations, the B.C. government and the federal government.
Leaders from Wuikinuxv, Nuxalk, Kitasoo Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Gitxaała and Gitga’at Nations, Canada and British Columbia signed an agreement to establish a national marine conservation area reserve off the Central Coast.
The area, called Mia-yaltwa Ha’lidzogm hoon, means “Realm of the Salmon, Home of the Salmon” in a hybrid composite name drawn from the Indigenous languages of the partner Nations.
It covers 67 square kilometres off the coast of Central B.C.
The conservation area becomes the sixth of its kind in Canada and the second in B.C. after the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, which covers around 1,500 sq. km of land.
“This is something Coast First Nations have been working on for more than a decade,” Randene Neill, B.C.’s Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said.
The area is home to commercial activity ranging from fisheries to forestry and tourism and that will continue more sustainably, reinforcing a message delivered by the prime minister in Vancouver this week to talk about his plans for the economy.
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“The importance of building in the right way, that means in partnership with First Nations, it means building with an emphasis on sustainability as well as prosperity,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
However, the new national marine conservation reserve also covers an area already covered by a federal oil tanker ban, a moratorium that the B.C. government and the same coastal First Nations are adamant be left in place.
Critics also say this is indicative of how the Carney government continues to deliver mixed messages on energy development.
“They’ll make a speech in Ottawa, they’ll talk about how great it will be to build a pipeline to the west coast, then they’ll come to B.C. and say the opposite,” Ellis Ross, MP for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, said.
“So what is it, are you going to build a pipeline or not?”
But those who depend on a healthy ocean say it is also a vital natural resource and economic lifeline.
“The establishment of Mia-yaltwa Ha’lidzogm hoon uplifts the generational work of the Nations who have been stewarding the marine environment of the Central Coast for millennia,” a joint press release stated.
“Establishing this protected area will help marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and culturally important values to flourish. It will also support Indigenous and coastal communities, as well as the many marine sectors, including fisheries, that depend on a healthy ocean.”
– With files from Global News’ Ben O’Hara-Byrne
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
