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The Roberts Bank Superport is located within the core territory of Tsawwassen First Nation land. The Vancouver Port Authority (VPA) has stated that it wants to expand the port facilities which have been operating since 1970.

The letter is in response to VPA's expressed intentions of consulting TFN regarding the port's expansion plans. In the letter, Chief Kim Baird advised that the First Nation does not support any expansion or further development of the port and ancillary facilities and cannot do so unless Aboriginal rights and title are recognised and past harms resolved. The chief also wrote that any expansion of the port would further negatively impact their Aboriginal interests and as such, Canada and the VPA must fulfil their constitutional obligation to consult with the First Nation by seeking consent and accommodate its social, economic and cultural interests.

The groups included, among others, the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities, End Legislated Poverty, the Tenants' Rights Action Coalition and the Downtown Eastside Residents' Association.

"Clearly, recent cuts are deepening poverty, rather than reducing or eradicating it," says Lesley Moore of End Legislated Poverty.

Among many demands, the groups want the provincial government to restore funding to welfare, health, child care, legal aid, women's organisations, and education, and to reverse the mass re-assessment of disability clients. They also want 1,100 units of social housing that were cancelled to be restored, as well as a commitment to build at least 300 new units at the Woodwards site.

The groups say that in order to properly fund necessary social programs, the B.C. government must allow for higher deficits in the interim and/or must revoke some of its tax cuts.

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