Tla’amin Nation executive council members are standing by their concerns about a development at šɛʔaystən (Emmonds Beach) desecrating a sacred archaeological site, after a statement from the developer last week denied he had done anything wrong.
On March 11, in a media release, Tla’amin stated that a developer had carried out tree cutting, blasting and bulldozing and caused major desecrations at a sacred ancestral burial site north of Powell River.
In response, the developer, Shitao Lu of Sunshine Coast Distillery Inc, issued a statement March 12 disputing the Tla’amin statement and denied his company had done anything to disrespect the site.
However, the nation confirmed it has a third-party archaeological document that states the lands within and immediately near the protected site were disturbed by work last month, and executive council members say the latest desecration is just one of several recent disturbances by property owners in the region. Tla’amin is looking to correct the situation by entering into a power-sharing agreement with the province under the Heritage Conservation Act.
The document, prepared on February 28, 2021, states that the archaeologist observed a rock bluff on the site had been “all but destroyed,” and that heavy machinery use and logging were underway.
According to the document, which was shared with the Peak, the developer’s agent (former Tla’amin hegus Clint Williams) was informed that the developer’s work violated the Heritage Conservation Act, and would need to stop immediately. The disturbance was reported to Tla’amin’s lands manager, and a violation report was filed with the provincial Compliance and Enforcement Branch last month.
The document also states that last fall Tla’amin told the developer that impacting the area at Emmonds Beach was not allowed until an archaeological study was completed, at which point the nation recommended an archaeologist complete this work.
On October 8, 2020, the proponents contacted Tla’amin Nation requesting approval to impact an area at Emmonds Beach, according to the archaeologist.
That statement contradicts another detail in the developer’s statement, which claimed the developer never sought permission to disturb the area.
“This never happened and we don’t even know what it means,” stated Lu.
Erik Blaney, a Tla’amin executive council member, told the Peak that the developer has been told numerous times.
“There’s currently a number of burials that are missing, so the developer started work out there, and they were told not to and now we’ve got six burials that the archaeologist hasn’t been able to locate, and we’re just trying to figure out where those ones are,” said Blaney.
According to the archaeologist, it is unclear whether the burials were removed historically or recently.
Sacred sites exist throughout Tla'amin
The Emmonds Beach area is a uniquely special archaeological site. However, Blaney explained that other sacred archaeological sites exist throughout Tla’amin Nation’s traditional territories.
“About 90 per cent of all shell midden that we’ve excavated in our traditional territory has contained human burial remains, so a lot of people look at shell midden and think it’s just a garbage dump, where the natives dump their shells,” said Blaney. “In the last couple of years we’ve had a couple of sites that have been desecrated by people building in the [qathet] regional district area.
“There’s no permitting process in the regional district, and that’s caused a lot of issues with people digging either septic fields or tanks and foundations, and these are within registered archaeological sites.”
Dillon Johnson, also a Tla’amin executive council member, said the nation is looking to enter a section 4 agreement with the province under the Heritage Conservation Act, which would give the nation authority to grant permits and levy fines within Tla’amin territory.
“The problem has really been the complete unwillingness of the province to activate provisions within their own legislation,” said Johnson. “There’s been the ability for the [BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development] to enter into section 4 agreements under the conservation act since 1985. That’s been built into the provincial legislation, and they’ve never given it life, despite all of the thousands of examples of these desecrations happening throughout BC over the years.”
Johnson said that needs to be backed up by adequate resources from the ministry.
“What that requires really is a dedication of resources and a mandate from the top down to the staff within the archaeological branch to say this is a priority, enter into these agreements with First Nations and give them the authority to take over some of the compliance and enforcement authorities,” explained Johnson. “So permitting, investigations and enforcement, these things are authorities that could be delegated, rightfully, to the First Nations who will do a better job, I think, of paying attention to these things and responding and permitting.”
As well, said Johnson, better education is needed for settlers about recognizing and respecting sacred archaeological sites.
“We should work together,” he added. “We need to collaborate and come up with some actions we can do together as three local governments here to build more archaeological site considerations into development permitting and to educate the settlers and the landowners around here as to what their responsibilities are.”
Hegus looks to restore trust
In a statement to the Peak, Tla’amin hegus John Hackett said restoring trust with the developer is critical.
“This includes having Tla’amin Nation staff overseeing any future work, and full compliance under the Heritage Conservation Act,” added Hackett. “If compliance is not possible, we are prepared to purchase the land back in order to protect it. This land should have been a reserve in the first place due to its significance to Tla’amin people.
“Most importantly, we need to make it right with our ancestors and are consulting elders and knowledge keepers about ceremony to repair the harm.”
Meanwhile, a Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development spokesperson confirmed the ministry is looking into the matter.
“The province is aware of the alleged contravention of the Heritage Conservation Act and promptly initiated an investigation,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Peak. “A stop-work order has been issued to the landowner and contractors in order to protect the subject property from any further activity while the investigation is underway.”
The spokesperson said the ministry is unable to provide further details in order to preserve the integrity of its investigation.
Companies convicted of an infraction under the Heritage Conservation Act are liable for a fine of up to $1 million.
