Since 2016, səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) has been leading a project, in collaboration with the Province of BC, to update the water quality policy that applies to səlilwət (Burrard Inlet). This policy is called the Water Quality Objectives, and redefines what constitutes a clean Inlet.
This summer 2025, visit Gastown in downtown Vancouver to see a series of benches featuring Tsleil-Waututh artists Olivia George, Candace Thomas, and Jordan Gallie that display some of the research and results of this work in a highly visual way.
The updated səlilwət Water Quality Objectives is the first water quality policy in BC that has been co-approved by the Province and a First Nation. It aims to protect Water Values, including seafood consumption by humans at rates relevant to coastal First Nations.
səlilwətaɬ assembled a multi-sector Roundtable, including representatives from First Nations, all other levels of government, industry, non-governmental organizations, academics, and health authorities to contribute to this important work. Updating this policy was a priority in TWN’s 2017 Burrard Inlet Action Plan.
səlilwətaɬ have been stewards of the Inlet since time out of mind. In less than 200 years following European settlement, our marine foods in səlilwət were wiped out, contaminated, or made inaccessible. At least 700 contaminants were detected in səlilwət between 1971 and 2016. They enter from more than 600 points around the Inlet’s vastly altered shoreline. These include provincially-authorized wastewater discharges, raw sanitary sewage overflows, storm sewer outfalls, marine vessels, and others.
Tsleil-Waututh Nation produced a “Restoring a Healthy Inlet” Storymap that explains how the flow of rainwater to the ocean carries urban and industrial runoff and is a major contributor to pollution in səlilwət.
It’s a goal of Tsleil-Waututh Nation to once again be able to harvest healthy, abundant wild foods.
Many historical and ongoing activities have contributed contaminants to the Inlet, so everyone has a role to play to help clean it. As a result of our stewardship efforts to date, we are seeing a return of marine life to the Inlet, including herring, dolphins, and orcas. We all need to do more, so that we can once again safely harvest clams from səlilwət.
