Hosted by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs with support from the Law Foundation of British Columbia and Legal Services Society of British Columbia

First Nations House of Learning University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia, Canada

The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is hosting a three-day legal conference exploring traditional resource rights, or cultural and intellectual property rights issues affecting all Indigenous Peoples. The target audience will be BC First Nation community members and workers, representatives from Indigenous Peoples from around the world as well as the traditional resource rights and academic communities.

The conference is tentatively focused on exploring and clarifying the following three questions within an international context:

What is indigenous cultural and intellectual property? What rights do BC First Nations want recognized? Can BC First Nations communities develop heir own system(s) for protecting traditional resource rights?

This is a new and developing area of law that is not widely understood yet t affects Indigenous Peoples where they live and on a daily basis. The World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization hope to introduce draft amendments on Indigenous Peoples' knowledge during the TRIPs review in 2000.

The conference format will consist of an international level overview, an exploration of how such issues are being dealt within different jurisdictions by using three-member panels and an attempt to demonstrate how different issues are experienced at the community level with case studies.

Planned panels include:

Ecotourism Panel
Does ecotourism benefit local communities? Does it benefit the environment? Or does it perpetuate patterns of power and dominance that are destructive of the environment and of the people?

Art Panel
The cultural designs and motifs of our communities communicate our ideas and beliefs. Can such images be "owned" by a community or by an artist? What are the consequences when they are expropriated and mass-produced? Can the current legal tools of copyrights, patents and trademarks protect the cultural integrity of such images?

Forest Resources Panel
What are Forest Resources? How can Forest Resources be protected? Does such protection afford "sustainable management"?

Repatriation Panel
The repatriation of cultural objects is important to many communities. This session will ask how are different communities dealing with repatriation? What are the obstacles? What are the strategies?

Nonlegal Instruments Panel
Are there alternatives to the legal system that communities can use to protect their territories? Alternatives include non-legal, market-related measures. This session will introduce such measures like investment screens, shareholder advocacy, consumer action and product certification.

Oral History Panel
Songs, dances, names and stories tell us who we are. What happens when oral history is shared? What happens when there is a breach of confidentiality? Should there be more community control of research projects? What are the ways to protect oral history?

International Human Rights Overview
A brief look at international human rights and the effectiveness of international efforts like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

International Biodiversity Overview What do international efforts like The Convention of Biological Diversity and the Rio Declaration mean at the community level? This is meant to be an overview of what is happening on the international level.

What is Article 8(j)?
Article 8(j) of The Convention of Biological Diversity obliges the signatories to essentially acknowledge the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), traditional lifestyles and sustainability, the promotion of the idea of consent in the use of TEK and the idea of benefit sharing and customary use. This is a closer look of what Article 8(j) means at the community level.

Medicinal Plants Panel
The value of medicinal plants go beyond health. The cultural and spiritual values of the knowledge of medicinal plants cannot be discounted. What happens when medicinal plant knowledge is shared? Is it ethnobotany? Can one simply separate the medicinal qualities from the cultural context?

Sacred Sites Panel
The major issues for Sacred Sites include unrestricted access; site protection; privacy; and the integrity of the ecosystem. What strategies can we learn from those communities who are willing to share their experiences?

Biopiracy Case Study
What is biopiracy or biodiversity prospecting? How does it impact Indigenous Peoples' rights in terms of Intellectual Property Rights laws? Are such laws adequate or appropriate? What examples or instances can we learn from?

Biodiversity Panel
Biodiversity conservation is becoming more and more difficult. Technological change and the commercialization of biological resources have raised fundamental scientific, economic, socio-political and ethical questions. This panel will discuss their experiences and answer questions based on their experiences.

Declarations
How can communities respond to the growing concerns regarding Intellectual Property? One way is through the use of Indigenous Peoples' declarations. This proposed session will help those who are interested, considering and/or planning on drafting such a declaration.

International Legal Review
A review of the importance and relevance to communities of legally binding international agreements like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; The World Heritage Convention; and the Rome Convention.

TRIPs Review
An examination of the Gatt Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). Why is this important at the community level?

Repatriation Case Study
This proposed session is meant to be a follow-up to the Repatriation Panel discussion and will look in detail how one community has dealt with repatriation. What did they do in order to be successful in the repatriation of their community objects? What are the problems that they are encountering?

Drafting a Community Intellectual Rights Act
In 1994, a Third World Network discussion paper (Nijar 1994) suggested the concept of a community intellectual rights act. The idea of the act would be to prevent the "privatisation and usurpation of community rights and knowledge through existing definitions of innovations." This proposed session will look at the purpose and the thinking of how such an act would work at the community level.

Nonlegal Instruments Case Study
This proposed session will explore how nonlegal instruments have been used at the community level. Did the community use investment screens, shareholder advocacy, consumer action or product certification to protect their territory? What were the considerations? What were the benefits? What were the costs?

Do Pharmaceutical Agreements Work?
There are several companies who have embarked on extensive bioprospecting expedition programs. Some have signed Pharmaceutical Agreements with Indigenous communities. Some of these agreements are made under the auspices of The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) Program which is a U.S. Government funded effort to promote equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits in the context of integrated research and development toward drug discovery, biodiversity, conservation and economic development. Do these type of agreements work?

We invite you to forward any suggestions you may have about the proposed sessions, possible panel speakers, resource people or appropriate papers and documents that would be suitable for inclusion in the conference kit.

We will be updating our website with links to sites and papers related to the conference theme. As well, we will be using an email list to keep those who wish to be kept informed. To subscribe to the list send an email to email below with the words "Subscribe Protect" in the subject line.

The resources of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs are limited but we are committed to delivering this conference as a public service to all Indigenous Peoples. If you are in a position to contribute to or support this timely initiative in any way, we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance for your assistance.