RELEASE: Grizzly Champion Award Recognizes Coastal First Nations
VANCOUVER - September 16, 2017 -- For those of you not at the Grizzly Bear Foundation's fundraiser Night of the Grizzly, we are pleased to announce that we awarded the inaugural Grizzly Champion Award to the the Coastal First Nations.
The Grizzly Champion Award recognizes and rewards outstanding Canadian individuals or groups who have advanced the well-being of grizzly bears either through education, research, conservation, or advocacy.
The Grizzly Bear Foundation wanted to recognize the first-ever recipient of this award, the Coastal First Nations, for an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the well-being of grizzly bears through their efforts to terminate the hunt of grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest. Their years of passion and dedication has truly made a difference to the grizzly bears of BC, and has inspired us all.
The Coastal First Nations have been working for a full ban on grizzly bear hunting since 2012. This November 30th brings a provincially recognized termination of the grizzly bear hunt in the Great Bear Rainforest, though further details of how this policy will be implemented are yet to be announced. November 30th also marks the ban of trophy hunting across the rest of British Columbia, again with details to be determined.
Present to accept the award was Doug Neasloss of Kitasoo/Xai-Xais First Nation, Alena Ebeling-Schuld of the Coastal First Nations' Central Coast Bear Working Group, and Jennifer Walkus of Wuikinuxv. The award was presented by Grizzly Bear Foundation Chairman Michael Audain and Vice-Chair Stuart McLaughlin.
More information on the Coastal First Nations and the work they've done in the Great Bear Rainforest can be found at their website, http://coastalfirstnations.ca/ and the Bear Working Group's project page Bears Forever, at http://www.bearsforever.ca/.
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
