By Cindy E. Harnett, Victoria Times Colonist, 3 December 2006
Ben supported efforts by members of the Songhees and Tsartlip First Nations to protect this cave and other indigenous heritage sites threatened by the Bear Mountain development
Mayor wants landowners to be honest about finding native treasures
Langford Mayor Stew Young is calling on property owners to come clean if they unearth buried native treasures.
He also wants to create a $300,000 pot of provincial money for an archeological assessment fund.
A person’s first response upon finding a native artifact is “I’m not going to tell anyone about it,” Young said. “We want to take the fear out of it.”
Young is seeking $330,000 in provincial funding, of which $30,000 would be used for a brochure explaining the significance of First Nations artifacts and what to do upon finding them. The remaining $300,000 would go toward the archeological-assessment fund.
That pot of money would grow by way of a $100 fee the municipality will charge for every new lot created.
The Langford mayor said property owners, if they come across a midden or cave, don’t want to find themselves in the kind of dispute that has gripped Bear Mountain Resort, Langford and
First Nations since the discovery of a native cave near the resort on Skirt Mountain.
“I want to take the confrontation out of this stuff,” Young said.
But he may have just ignited another controversy.
The Times Colonist reported yesterday the three stakeholder groups, after two weeks of negotiations, are considering a small First Nations casino at the golf resort.
Supporters of the idea said it would create jobs and allow First Nations to share in revenues with nearby municipalities.
Young said the proposal is contained in an agreement initialled by the municipality, developer, and First Nations. Providing economic development for First Nations, “is going to make relationships better,” he said.
But talk of bulldozing the sacred cave at the heart of the conflict and building a casino is considered “hypocritical” by some and “obnoxious” by others.
According to the Nov. 21 agreement in principle, First Nations will “hold a healing ceremony at Sacred Cave, after which development will proceed.”
If any artifacts are discovered they will be displayed in Bear Mountain village.
Wendy Edwards,Tsartlip lands manager, said she’s deeply disappointed at the news and is concerned about “how it looks.”
First Nations will provide guidance to their chiefs during a meeting on the Tsartlip reserve scheduled for Tuesday.
“We want the cave protected and that’s so much more important than anything else on the table right now,” Edwards said, yesterday.
“The casino shouldn’t even be on the table at the same time as the cave.”
Taiaiake Alfred, University of Victoria indigenous governance program director, said it’s unlikely the proposal will garner support and confirmed some community members are “pretty upset.”
“There’s the hypocrisy of identifying the cave as a sacred area and then selling it for money,” said Alfred.
“They are participating in the systematic destruction of sacred spaces.”
Songhees Chief Robert Sam in one report called the compromise a “trade-off” but Cheryl Bryce, Songhees land manager, who spearheaded protests about the cave’s destruction, is confident it’s a compromise that won’t fly.
“I am sure the community is not going to be supportive of this. How could they be?” Bryce said.
Ben Isitt of the Social Environmental Alliance called the casino proposal a crass and obnoxious attempt by the landowners to shift focus away from the cave’s protection.
Before any proposal for a casino is considered, B.C. Lottery Corp. must first conduct a marketplace assessment and gage consumer demand.
The last assessment on southern Vancouver Island in 2005 showed no such demand.
