Natives' 'sacred' cave destroyed Developers at Bear Mountain committing cultural genocide, aboriginal leaders charge Louise Dickson and Bill Cleverley, with files from Jeff Rud Times Colonist
Thursday, November 16, 2006 http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=80cd36bf-4bc7-435f-bc53-925c62355551 CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist Cheryl Bryce, the Songhees First Nation land manager, inspects what is left of a cave that is held sacred by many lower Island aboriginal people. The cave is on private property on which a road will be built to access part of the Bear Mountain project and was excavated under the supervision of government, archeologists and native representatives. The provincial government and Bear Mountain developers are committing cultural genocide by destroying a cave on Skirt Mountain that is sacred to aboriginal people, the land manager of the Songhees First Nation charged yesterday. As dump trucks roared in the background, Cheryl Bryce stood at the cave entrance, now clogged with tree stumps. A subterranean lake has been drained and filled with tires. Natural vegetation has been scraped off the top of the cave. "This angers me. It really, really angers me," said Bryce. "At the same time, I'm really, really heartbroken and saddened to see this kind of destruction to this sacred land ... to me it's another form of cultural genocide to take away what is rightfully ours, to take away that connection we have to our spirits and our ancestors." Bryce and Tsartlip Chief Chris Tom complained that First Nations were not consulted about archeological assessments of the site by companies hired by the City of Langford and by Bear Mountain Resort. They said they were shocked to discover last week that the province approved removing the roof of the cave and draining the lake to complete the assessment. "Their methodology is insane and horrific," said Bryce. "To damage a site to prove there might be some physical evidence -- We know we used it and how sacred it is. There's evidence all round this mountain of use and occupation." Langford Mayor Stew Young said "There's been consultation [with First Nations] all along. They've been able to consult with the archeologists we hired. They've been with them every day. They've been allowed to have somebody on site every single day -- a representative from their band." Young said he has done everything he promised. "I wrote a letter to the chief and said 'if you have any problems let's go out for dinner.' I invited him out for dinner, three or four months ago. ... I had no response." Bear Mountain project developer Les Bjola said the company has followed regulations to the letter. "We've hired the two best archeological firms in the city of Victoria and we've been operating under the direct supervision of the ministry -- and I mean hands-on direct. We have done nothing that wasn't officially supervised and sanctioned by them." Asked if First Nations representatives were on site, Bjola said, "We paid them to be there every day." Bjola said the geologist and the safety officer both declared the cave unsafe. The roof was removed "because it was going to fall in anyway." Justine Batten, director of the archeology branch in the Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Arts, said the Songhees "were consulted throughout the process." The ministry was in touch regularly with Songhees representative Norm Pearson, she said. Bryce said she met with members of the government's archeology branch who told her sacred sites are not accepted as archeological sites. "They said they cannot protect sacred sites, they could only protect anything that shows physical evidence of occupation or use." Batten said the cave will not be rebuilt. For the first time, members of the media were taken to the cave yesterday. Bryce led the excursion up a steep path through forests of arbutus, Douglas fir and Garry oak to the damaged entrance. "That was huge," said Bryce. "It's sacred enough we keep it a secret. We do not share this with people who do not have indigenous family rights to it. But right now, we need people to know and we need their support because this is not right." Even though it has been severely damaged, the cave is still a sacred site First Nations want to protect, she said. At a morning press conference Tom called what has happened to the cave "a slap in the face to all First Nations." All the chiefs and council will be called together to discuss what action they will take, he said. Young noted the site is on private property. He said Langford had spent $30,000 on the archeological efforts. Bear Mountain has spent well in excess of $300,000. The land is adjacent to Bear Mountain Resort, but resort owner and former NHL player Len Barrie struck a deal with the owners to build the road through the forested land to provide a second access route to Bear Mountain. 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