Crown–Coastal First Nation governance of the Great Bear Rainforest: An introduction to my research

This article introduces a 2011 Master’s thesis that undertook two objectives. First, it assesses whether the Coastal First Nations, a coalition of First Nations on the coast of British Columbia, have acquired a share of governmental decision-making authority for three types of decisions: land use zones, ecosystem-based management (EBM) operating rules, and approval of operational plans. Second, it provides an overview of the unique government-to-government process that evolved for the resource management for British Columbia’s North and Central Coast, and the framework for shared decision-making that has been established between the Crown and the Coastal First Nations regarding the three land use planning decisions under investigation.