Haida Gwaii leaders meet with Chinese officials in bid to attract more overseas visitors

By Chuck Chiang

Tourists from Asia could become a major driving force for tourism in some of B.C.’s coastal First Nations communities as early as next summer.

That’s the vision of Haida Gwaii Hereditary Chief Roy Jones Jr., who, along with other First Nations representatives, met with Chinese officials in Vancouver earlier this fall to drum up business links between B.C.’s Indigenous community and overseas markets

For Jones, the reason for pursuing the business of Chinese consumers is simple – jobs, especially for the younger members of First Nations communities.

“It would make a great difference for the younger generation who have little opportunity right now,” Jones said. “We’ve got nature, which is a great resource we can capitalize on, and I strongly believe that, if we got in there real quick, we can start seeing different opportunities even as early as next year if we work through the winter on this.”

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The fur is set to fly in Nanaimo this weekend, with an open house to kickstart campaigns for a seal, sea lion and sea otter commercial fishery in British Columbia. FurCanada, a Vancouver Island company, hopes the event on Dec. 14, will raise awareness about the overpopulation of seal and sea lions which are decimating B.C.’s endangered and threatened chinook salmon stocks. 

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FurCanada’s open house will kickstart campaigns for a seal, sea lion and sea otter commercial fishery in British Columbia.

By SeaWestNews

The fur is set to fly in Nanaimo this weekend, with an open house to kickstart campaigns for a seal, sea lion and sea otter commercial fishery in British Columbia.

FurCanada, a Vancouver Island company, hopes the event on Dec. 14, will raise awareness about the overpopulation of seal and sea lions which are decimating B.C.’s endangered and threatened chinook salmon stocks.

Thomas Sewid, who is President of Pacific Balance Marine Management, which is the organization leading the development of the seal, sea lion and sea otter industry estimates that of the 27 million chinook smolts produced a year in the Salish Sea (wild and hatchery) the pinnipeds are consuming about 24 million of them.

The hunting of seals and sea lions has been banned on Canada’s West Coast for more than 40 years. Fisheries and Oceans Canada estimates there are 105,000 harbour seals in B.C. coastal waters, roughly 10 times the number recorded in the early 1970s.

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Many firms wary of deeper involvement, but those that have committed are in for long haul

By Chuck Chiang | November 21, 2019, 6:00am

For the few non-Chinese-Canadian B.C. companies that took part in the recent China International Import Expo in Shanghai, there is a sense that general Canadian interest for doing business with the Chinese market continues to be low due to continuing Ottawa-Beijing tensions.

But for these companies that have already taken the plunge, there are also no plans to pull back even given the continuing transpacific chill.

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