BC Ferries investigating after construction damages First Nation midden on Hornby Island | 24CA News
BC Ferries is investigating what went unsuitable after staff doing building on Hornby Island partially dug up a First Nations midden and lower down a mature arbutus tree.
Middens are mounds of shells, bones and Indigenous artifacts, and are protected against injury or excavation beneath the B.C. Heritage Conservation Act.
On Monday, island residents engaged in a heated trade with BC Ferries workers, a part of which was captured on video by island resident Julian Laffin.
“I was shocked, first to hear that the large arbutus was cut, seeing as I thought they were a protected species in B.C., especially one that size,” he advised Global News.
“And then also when I arrived to see that area had been all dug up and excavated to try and remove the stump, and (they) just made a total mess of it … Most of the people there were upset, it was emotional for sure.”
In the video workers might be heard apologizing to islanders. The deliberate work was meant to trim again a number of timber in help of the set up of an improved cistern to supply water to a BC Ferries terminal, workers might be heard saying.
“It’s a big mistake, we’re trying to understand where the breakdown happened because this is not what we intended,” a employee might be heard saying. “We had a breakdown with the contractor and that’s where we are at fault.”
In a press release, the Okay’ómoks First Nation stated the midden, often called Clack da oo (Shingle Spit), is a “well-documented, significant archeological site” on the location of a significant ancestral settlement.
“This village site, like many others in our Territory, has suffered irreversible impact in the past, including the recent disturbance of ancestral remains at a nearby private development,” the assertion reads.
“We are very disappointed whenever we hear that work is being done in our Territory without following our Cultural Heritage Policy. Our policy protects our cultural heritage in ways that the Heritage Conservation Act does not.”
The assertion goes on to say the nation takes it as its obligation to guard ancestral stays and cultural heritage in accordance with its personal cultural beliefs and stewardship obligations.
It stated it’s nonetheless working with BC Ferries to know precisely what occurred on the website.
Speaking at BC Ferries’ annual basic assembly, ferry service CEO Nicola Jimenez stated he was “concerned and frankly disturbed” that the midden was disrupted.
“We’ve sent teams up to the location in order to work with the local First Nation and the community and also to understand ourselves where our processes broke down such that this work began without the proper approvals and awareness within the company that it was happening.”
Brian Anderson, vice-president of technique and group engagement for the ferry firm stated it held a gathering with native Indigenous leaders Wednesday to stroll the location and to develop a path ahead.
“We’ll be supporting the nations in the coming days in those deliberations to see how to move forward,” he stated. “Clearly the parties were upset — including ourselves, this is something we take seriously.”
Anderson stated the work on the website was imagined to contain trimming a number of together with some restricted floor works, however that one thing went unsuitable within the pre-planning stage.
“Our requirement to ensure that any ground disturbance or tree removal consider a written project plan that includes a review of any potentially cultural or archeological significance be factored in. That did not occur and that is a failure,” he stated. “I am deeply disappointed and frustrated. We are responsible for ensuring the stewardship of the lands and the waters.”
Anderson stated BC Ferries will conduct a full investigation into what went unsuitable, and is constant to work with the First Nation on the way to remediate the location.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
