Coastal First Nations President Marilyn Slett is pushing back on B.C. Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer’s assertion that the alliance is “just an advocacy organization,” calling his comments in a video and on social media, “disinformation.”
“We’re a coalition, an alliance of communities that have very ancient and old relations amongst each other, that ties us together,” said Slett, who is also the chief of the Heiltsuk Nation. The alliance includes nine First Nations in B.C.’s north coast region.
Fulmer’s video begins by decrying the influence of foreign money in B.C. politics, juxtaposing images of Canadian flag-burning and pro-Palestinian protests in Vancouver with speeches by Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, elected president of the Haida Nation and a Coastal First Nations board member.
“Time and again, we keep hearing that Coastal First Nations are opposed to any pipeline and will stop any development,” Fulmer says in the video. “But here is the thing: the Coastal First Nations is just a name, like Coke or Nike.”
Fulmer goes on to say the organization is officially known as the “Great Bear Initiative Society” and is actually a political advocacy group set up with millions of dollars in funding from “left-wing American and international foundations.”
The Coastal First Nations (CFN) is a registered non-profit. When asked for a list of donors through a spokesperson, the organization responded that it fulfils the transparency requirements through B.C.’s Personal Information Protection Act, but is also committed to respecting donor privacy and will not release information without consent.
Slett acknowledges the non-profit receives some foreign donations, but says the organization’s board, which consists of elected and hereditary leaders from nine coastal communities, is the decision-maker at the alliance.
“There is no funder, whether it’s government, philanthropic, or corporate, that directs our position or activity,” she told Black Press Media Tuesday (Jan. 27). “CFN takes direction only from the leadership of its member nations.”
Coastal First Nations also takes issue with the idea that it is opposed to all development and oil pipelines. The organization says its advocacy is specifically focused on opposing heavy oil tanker traffic in its nation’s waters, something banned since 2019 by federal law. This subject has been in the news recently with Alberta’s push for a new oil pipeline to the North Coast.
Slett also says this type of “misinformation” has real consequences for her members. She has experienced online harassment through direct messages and emails and efforts have been made to dox the people who work for the organization.
Fulmer defended his statements in a phone interview with Black Press Media Tuesday (Jan. 27), saying that the common link between the Coastal First Nations and the other protesters shown in his video is foreign funding. He wants to ban this type of funding for organizations engaged in politics.
His company, based in Vancouver, is also a funder of Coastal First Nations initiatives.
Fulmer & Company, the investment firm he owns that, among other things, owns nearly three dozen A&W franchises in western Canada, donated to the Coastal First Nation’s Great Bear Rainforest Carbon Project. Fulmer stands by this decision.
“As a company, we believe in conservation,” he said. “We are a British Columbian company, not a foreign company, a British Columbian company, and we invested in a conservation project we believe in.”
Asked if he thought the Coastal First Nations should be dealt with on a government-to-government basis — Prime Minister Mark Carney and other federal officials met with the organization’s leaders earlier this month — Fulmer repeated that it was the foreign donors he is concerned with, dismissing questions about the organization’s remit.
“I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here,” he said. “If our government takes money from foreign organizations, that should be disclosed too. It doesn’t matter.”
But Slett and the Coastal First Nations are concerned about how their organization is characterized, and in a written statement, called for Fulmer to apologize.
“Spreading this type of disinformation sows division between First Nations and other British Columbians and serves to further inflame existing tensions,” the statement from Slett reads. “In a time of heightened political conflict across the continent, this is irresponsible and dangerous and could result in real harm to our communities.”