West Moberly First Nations

West Moberly First Nations Chief and Council consists of a generally elected Chief and four family Councillors that are elected according to the preference of each of the main families (Brown, Dokkie, Desjarlais, and Miller). Council composition history ==Treaty Process==

The West Moberly First Nation is a signatory of the Treaty 8 but are now in discussions outside the BC Treaty Process, along with five other First Nations who have joined as the Treaty 8 Tribal Association. ==History==

Prior to 1977, In 1914, the Nation was admitted to Treaty 8 as part of the Hudson Hope Band, referred to in the 1914-1915 Indian Affairs Annual Report as "Hudson's Hope (Beaver) 116". The West Moberly Reserve 168A was established at the same time, the same size as it is today. They had not been admitted to the treaty earlier (as other nearby nations had) because the day the Treaty Commission arrived in 1899 "conflicted with the annual hunt." In 1977, the Hudson Hope Band split and became the modern West Moberly First Nations and Halfway River First Nation. Up until that point, members of KLFN had been members of the other two bands, despite KLFN having gained status in 1994. A few weeks after the blockade went up, Saulteau First Nations agreed to allow KLFN to separate from them. Treaty Land Entitlement claim negotiations were suspended by Canada in 2004, then resumed in 2006 with a second negotiation team, and the team changed again in 2008. In 2015, the Nation described negotiations as "effectively stalled". ==Demographics==

Population history ==Social, educational and cultural programs and facilities==

Klinse-Za Caribou Maternity Pen In 2014, the West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations jointly began a caribou penning project to stabilize and regrow the Klinse-Za caribou herd. The caribou populations had been devastated by industrial development in the region, including the severing of a major migration route by the construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam in the 1960s. The project is primarily run by members of the two founding nations, and involves the capture and transportation of pregnant caribou cows every March to the 15-hectare pen on a mountaintop in the Misinchinka Ranges, where they are tagged, protected, and cared for while their calves are young, and then released in mid-summer, once the calves are old enough to survive in the wild. From an initial population of 36 animals in 2014 (including some taken from the Scott herd), the herd had grown to 95 as of July 2020. The project has received funding from crowdfunding, provincial and federal government organizations, and some resource extraction companies including TransCanada, Teck Resources, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Spectra Energy. The project also receives technical assistance from Wildlife Infometrics Inc and West Fraser Timber. In less than a decade, the collaborative program had succeeded in bringing the herd back from extinction. A March 23, 2022 article in the Ecological Applications journal cited West Moberly Elders saying that caribou were once so numerous that they were "like bugs on the landscape". The herd had declined from ~250 in the 1990s to 38 in 2013, then with the program, had increased to 114. Dakii Yadze Out Of School Care Centre As of October 2019 and since at least September 2011, the Dakii Yadze Centre has operated a licensed child care program on weekdays to serve the families of West Moberly. The centre emphasizes holistic programming and play-based learning in its mission statement. Dunne-za Lodge The Dunne-za Lodge is a year-round retreat destination located on the northwest shore of Moberly Lake, with 30 acres of land, cabins that are available for rent, and a meeting space. The First Nations' website states that the lodge "is used to showcase our culture, traditions, host community events, cultural healing camps and other special events hosted by West Moberly First Nations". ==References==