NEWS RELEASES

OTTAWA ON — The Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI) is proud to release a new Indigenous Rights and Relationship Building Spotlight video featuring the Tsuut’ina Nation. The video highlights the Nation’s leadership in land stewardship, including wildfire resilience and community-based forest management, and in strengthening capacity, engaging youth, and advancing long-term sustainability rooted in the cultural values and self-determined priorities. It also shares how the SFI Forest Management Standard supports the implementation of many of these priorities and values, such as mitigating undesirable impacts of wildfire.

“We want to make sure that the resources in our forests are there for many, many generations to come,” said Tanis One Spot, Executive Director of Lands Administration for the Tsuut’ina Nation. “If we can do things a little bit better today and tomorrow, it will be good for the environment and good for everybody. That’s what makes us stewards of the land.”

For many years, Tsuut’ina Nation has worked closely with SFI-certified organization West Fraser Cochrane, formerly Spray Lakes Sawmills, on land management consultation within its Traditional Territories and land management planning as the Nation advances toward SFI certification. One of their priorities has been wildfire mitigation efforts to reduce the risk near the community. In fact, the Tsuut’ina Nation enhanced these efforts and facilitated professional forestry skills development, equipment acquisition, forestry crew employment, mitigation of wildfire risk, and more with support from an SFI Community Grant, as well as CCI Group of Companies and West Fraser Cochrane.  This work aligns closely with Objective 10 of the SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard, which focuses on fire resilience and awareness to limit susceptibility of forests to undesirable impacts of wildfire and to raise community awareness of fire benefits, risks, and minimization measures.

“We are so grateful for this opportunity to help share the Tsuut’ina Nation’s story as it relates to their community, their youth, and their commitment to their lands.  We look forward to counting Tsuut’ina Nation amongst SFI-certified First Nations, and we welcome collaboration as they advance their self-determine priorities,” said Kathy Abusow, CEO of SFI.

Another priority highlighted in the spotlight video is the importance of education; engaging youth on the land and sharing knowledge from Elders. The Tsuut’ina Nation has several programs to reach young community members and teach them about land stewardship and the opportunities that exist in the forest sector, helping build the knowledge and skills needed to care for their forests.

The Tsuut’ina Nation video is the newest installment in the SFI Indigenous Rights and Relationship Building Spotlight series, which highlights Indigenous leadership, conservation, and collaboration across North America. The video brings together key voices from the community, featuring Steven Crowchild, Indigenous Governance & Treaty and Inherent Rights Consultant for Tsuut’ina Nation; Tanis One Spot, Acting CEO & Executive Director for Lands Tsuut’ina Nation; Ellery Starlight, Head Chief for Tsuut’ina Nation; Shad Manywounds, Conservation Manager for Tsuut’ina Nation; Tyler Two Guns, Fire Chief for Tsuut’ina Nation; Joah Onespot, youth from Tsuut’ina Nation, and Jason Mogilefsky, Forestry Manager and Community Engagement Coordinator for West Fraser Cochrane.

View the full spotlight and explore the series playlist here.