Documentary tells the story of a forestry company looking forward seven generations to manage lands

Officials with an Indigenous-owned forestry company in British Columbia insist they are not tooting their own horn.

But when an opportunity presented itself for Ntityix Resources, owned by Westbank First Nation, to get its story out via a documentary, they jumped at the opportunity.

The result is a 22-minute film released earlier this month and now being shared on social media platforms.

The film, titled tmixʷ: A Holistic Commitment to Our Forests, delves into Ntityix Resources’ approach to sustainable forest management.

It was created by the Indigenous Resource Network (IRN), a group launched to provide a platform for Indigenous leaders, business owners and workers who support Indigenous inclusion in the resource sector.

The IRN aims to create opportunities to promote and share economic development and self-sufficiency for Indigenous people across the country through storytelling, advocacy, education and partnership building.

Mic Werstuik, the CEO of Ntityix Development Corporation, which includes Ntityix Resources, said IRN representatives were the ones who had the idea to make the documentary and approached Westbank officials.

“It didn't cost us anything and it's good PR to get our story out there,” he said. “We just told our story. It's kind of a nice thing, but it's not something that we intentionally went out and wanted to do. We're not going to go sort of scream at the top of our lungs and say, ‘look at us and try to do what we're doing’.”

Ntityix Resources, established in 2006, utilizes traditional knowledge and modern forestry practices to protect their environment. And in the process, they generate economic opportunities for its community.

“They wanted to do a story on us about how we manage the forest,” Werstuik said of IRN. “And we agreed. We do things different on the land base.

“And that's one of our strategic objectives from our community and our board of directors is to tell our story. We can quietly do our own thing and mind our own business, but if nobody knows about it, then it doesn't make any sense.”

Werstuik said even some Westbank First Nation members are not sure of all the work the local forestry company does.

Werstuik said Westbank reps were not necessarily thinking of what spinoff benefits would be created by participating in the creation of the documentary.

“We provide services and if other First Nations are interested, we can help them,” he said. “Other First Nations, if they don't have quite the capacity that we do we can help. If it happens, great. But none of this was done with sort of an over-all marketing objective or anything like that. It was just done to get our get our story out there.”

And that doesn’t necessarily mean Werstuik is hoping that Ntityix Resources will become a model for others to follow.

“It just puts the word out there for us,” he said. “Other First Nations, they can pick and choose what they want to do. This is just the way we do things on licenses and forest lands that we have license over and manage.”

In the film, Dave Gill, Ntityix Resources’ general manager of forestry, said there are a lot of priorities within the company.

“Profit is one of them,” he said. “But it’s not the top priority. Our top priority is to manage the forest in a way we can make it more resilient and healthier than it is today.”

Gill believes these values make the company significantly different than others in the province that are not mandated to do so.

The documentary details how Ntityix Resources has a Seven Generation Plan, not only looking ahead to the immediate future but also mindful of what its lands will look like for seven generations down the line.

Werstuik also said some in the industry would have been familiar with how Ntityix Resources operates.

“A lot of people already know what we do because we go to conferences,” he said. “And we have a lot of contacts within the network of forestry in British Columbia. So, a lot of people know what we do and we work closely with our own tribal council and the bands that are affiliated with our tribal council. So, we take what we speak about as a Nation and we try to implement how to interpret it and implement it on the ground.”

The film tmixʷ: A Holistic Commitment to Our Forests can be viewed here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7JudKBLAo

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.