Published in Lower Island News (Victoria), December 2006
Earlier this year, I wrote about the need for progressives throughout the CRD to organize a regional force for change. This need was clearly demonstrated in November 2006, when the Bear Mountain Development Group provoked an ugly confrontation with local First Nations.
This dispute centred around a cave near the summit of Skirt Mountain in Langford, which members of the Songhees, Tsartlip and other local First Nations call Spaet Mountain (pronounced ‘Spay-et’). In May 2006, Songhees Lands Manager Cheryl Bryce informed the Bear Mountain Development Group that local Aboriginals considered the cave a sacred site and asked that it be protected.
However Bear Mountain CEO Len Barrie, a former NHL hockey player, arrogantly declared: “If we want to blow up a cave and put up a hotel we will.” (Times Colonist, 25 May 2006, p. A1). You may recall that Barrie circulated a letter to Saanich South voters in May 2005 urging the election of a ‘business-friendly’ government.
Throughout the summer of 2006, attempts by Bryce and others to arrange a meeting with Barrie were refused, and in September 2006 Bryce was formally banned from the Bear Mountain property. This prevented her from assisting the BC Archeology Branch in identifying Aboriginal cultural heritage sites on the mountain.
This disrespectful treatment of a responsible official of the Songhees First Nation amplified tension.
In November 2006 the BC Archeology Branch approved construction in the vicinity the cave, ostensibly to determine it “archeological value.” Barrie followed through on his threat and sent in bulldozers, which tore the roof off the cave and drained a subterranean lake. When Bryce and others ascended the mountain to stop the destruction, the Bear Mountain management instigated several hundred construction workers—threatened with the loss of employment—into a standoff with a small group of Aboriginals. One Tsartlip man was assaulted. Also present at the cave site were First Nations chiefs from across BC, in Victoria for the funeral of Frank Calder (CCF-NDP MLA for Atlin, 1949-1975), the first Aboriginal elected to a Canadian legislature.
This incident is appalling on many levels, most notably for the spectre of racism and contempt toward Aboriginals. Non-Aboriginal workers were incited toward vigilantism, by an employer pandering to the worst instincts of young workers desperate to retain employment.
The really scary thing is the amount of power that Len Barrie and his Bear Mountain colleagues wield. Backed by millions of dollars in investments and wooed by a billion dollars in potential revenues, the stakes are high. Langford Mayor Stewart Young has granted a virtual ‘carte blanche’ to the development group. Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe has completed architectural work at Bear Mountain. The BC Heritage Conservation Act has facilitated rather than prevented ‘greenfield’ expansion into Aboriginal heritage sites. The federal Liberal Party, in its ‘Made-in-BC’ election platform last winter, pledged $5-million to a new highway interchange proposed for the luxury resort.
Bear Mountain is prepared to bulldoze anyone and anything that stands in its way.
The proposed Savory Road Connector could forever alter the landscape and character of Spaet Mountain. This highway, designed to ease traffic congestion caused by Bear Mountain, would carve its way from the Trans-Canada Highway near Florence Lake up the southeasterly slope of the mountain. It would destroy Douglas Fir, Garry Oak and Arbutus forest, a natural ravine that feeds Florence Lake, and other Aboriginal sacred sites.
Len Barrie and his cohorts have gone far enough. Certainly we can provide adequate employment in the CRD without destroying sacred sites and endangered ecosystems. Certainly we can establish a firm urban containment boundary. Certainly we are wise enough to leave the remaining forested areas on Spaet Mountain alone.
Stand up to Bear Mountain
Published in Lower Island News (Victoria), December 2006
Earlier this year, I wrote about the need for progressives throughout the CRD to organize a regional force for change. This need was clearly demonstrated in November 2006, when the Bear Mountain Development Group provoked an ugly confrontation with local First Nations.
This dispute centred around a cave near the summit of Skirt Mountain in Langford, which members of the Songhees, Tsartlip and other local First Nations call Spaet Mountain (pronounced ‘Spay-et’). In May 2006, Songhees Lands Manager Cheryl Bryce informed the Bear Mountain Development Group that local Aboriginals considered the cave a sacred site and asked that it be protected.
However Bear Mountain CEO Len Barrie, a former NHL hockey player, arrogantly declared: “If we want to blow up a cave and put up a hotel we will.” (Times Colonist, 25 May 2006, p. A1). You may recall that Barrie circulated a letter to Saanich South voters in May 2005 urging the election of a ‘business-friendly’ government.
Throughout the summer of 2006, attempts by Bryce and others to arrange a meeting with Barrie were refused, and in September 2006 Bryce was formally banned from the Bear Mountain property. This prevented her from assisting the BC Archeology Branch in identifying Aboriginal cultural heritage sites on the mountain.
This disrespectful treatment of a responsible official of the Songhees First Nation amplified tension.
In November 2006 the BC Archeology Branch approved construction in the vicinity the cave, ostensibly to determine it “archeological value.” Barrie followed through on his threat and sent in bulldozers, which tore the roof off the cave and drained a subterranean lake. When Bryce and others ascended the mountain to stop the destruction, the Bear Mountain management instigated several hundred construction workers—threatened with the loss of employment—into a standoff with a small group of Aboriginals. One Tsartlip man was assaulted. Also present at the cave site were First Nations chiefs from across BC, in Victoria for the funeral of Frank Calder (CCF-NDP MLA for Atlin, 1949-1975), the first Aboriginal elected to a Canadian legislature.
This incident is appalling on many levels, most notably for the spectre of racism and contempt toward Aboriginals. Non-Aboriginal workers were incited toward vigilantism, by an employer pandering to the worst instincts of young workers desperate to retain employment.
The really scary thing is the amount of power that Len Barrie and his Bear Mountain colleagues wield. Backed by millions of dollars in investments and wooed by a billion dollars in potential revenues, the stakes are high. Langford Mayor Stewart Young has granted a virtual ‘carte blanche’ to the development group. Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe has completed architectural work at Bear Mountain. The BC Heritage Conservation Act has facilitated rather than prevented ‘greenfield’ expansion into Aboriginal heritage sites. The federal Liberal Party, in its ‘Made-in-BC’ election platform last winter, pledged $5-million to a new highway interchange proposed for the luxury resort.
Bear Mountain is prepared to bulldoze anyone and anything that stands in its way.
The proposed Savory Road Connector could forever alter the landscape and character of Spaet Mountain. This highway, designed to ease traffic congestion caused by Bear Mountain, would carve its way from the Trans-Canada Highway near Florence Lake up the southeasterly slope of the mountain. It would destroy Douglas Fir, Garry Oak and Arbutus forest, a natural ravine that feeds Florence Lake, and other Aboriginal sacred sites.
Len Barrie and his cohorts have gone far enough. Certainly we can provide adequate employment in the CRD without destroying sacred sites and endangered ecosystems. Certainly we can establish a firm urban containment boundary. Certainly we are wise enough to leave the remaining forested areas on Spaet Mountain alone.
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