The nominating committee for the Haida Gwaii land use plan has met twice to confirm the criteria that will be used to select representatives for the community planning forum, and to review applications. Based on these discussions, the nominating committee has come to agreement on the interests or perspectives that require representation, and the proposed seats to ensure that representation occurs.
The next step of the nominating committee will be to confirm the representatives for each of these seats, which should be done by June. Recognizing the difficulty of meeting during the busy summer months, it has been decided there will be a first informal and brief meeting of the community planning forum in July, but the first official meeting of the forum will not be held until mid-September. The objective of the July gathering will be to confirm representation, to outline and confirm a meeting schedule, and to provide some background information for participants to read over the summer.
Here are the 15 interests which will be represented on the community planning forum:
• Haida cultural values/traditional use
• Labour (forest-based)
• Small business forestry
• Aquatic eco-systems
• Terrestial eco-systems
• Major forest licensees/tenure holders
• Tourism A (cultural heritage tourism/eco-tourism)
• Tourism B (commercial tourism, sport fishing lodges, guide outfitting, bus tours, lodges, hotels)
• Non-timber forest products industries/opportunities
• Public recreation
• Public interest
• Council of the Haida Nation
• Provincial government
• Skidegate and Old Massett band councils
• Local government - island elected officials
• There will also be non-voting seats at the forum to provide opportunities for mutual learning and sharing of information with respect to the interests and perspectives of island youth and elders.