Digger of graves unearths bones of contention SHANNON MONEO http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060320.BCGRAVES20/TPStory//
NORTH SAANICH, B.C. -- When Simon Smith was born 67 years ago, his destiny was sealed. Like his father and grandfather before him, he would hold the honoured position of gravedigger for his Coast Salish people. When he was 25, his father told him he was ready to dig the graves, in spiritually significant spots chosen either by the deceased before death or by the family. Since then, Mr. Smith has dug dozens of graves by hand for relatives and friends. "My family's been doing it for hundreds of years," Mr. Smith said, of the male-only duty in his Tsartlip First Nation. "Why we were chosen, I don't know." His only son, 46-year-old Simon Jr., began digging graves at age 19, joining the long family tradition in what has recently become not simply an act of preparing a burial site, but also the solemn duty of reburying human remains discovered when construction equipment disturbs unmarked graves. In the Coast Salish language, shum-ul-a means grave. In the past five years, as municipal projects and residential and commercial development have flourished on southern Vancouver Island, the word has come to be associated with pain for aboriginals. "Our gravesites are always being desecrated," said Mr. Smith Sr., who is a retired construction worker and the eldest of about 20 aboriginal gravediggers in the Victoria area. He believes too many people consider profit first, and consequences second, when they are involved in construction or development projects. "I'm pretty sure European people wouldn't want to see us go to Ross Bay [a Victoria cemetery] and dig it up and put in a shopping mall," he said. Mr. Smith Jr., also a construction worker, shares his father's worries about the treatment of sacred aboriginal grounds. "They were never to be disturbed again. It was their final resting place. There's been too much disturbance." Father and son say they have recovered close to 200 remains in places such as Parksville, Saanich and Pender Island. All have been in areas where housing or resort accommodations were being built, Mr. Smith Sr. said. But he believes many more are not properly reported by developers. He declined to say exactly how many reburials he has done, but said there have been fewer than 20. Reburials are delayed because the aboriginal bones are studied and carbon-dated for scientific reasons. When the scientists finally finish the work, there will be dozens of reburials. Part of the secrecy about reburials comes from fears that if disturbed gravesites are identified, grave robbers may appear, hunting for artifacts, Tseycum First Nation Chief Vern Jack said. The 61-year-old chief wants to sit down with the provincial government to find solutions for what he believes are continuing desecrations of native burial sites, either by thieves or unchecked development. "We've been accommodating developers," said Mr. Jack, an elected chief for the past 16 years. But laws do exist, with the archeology branch of the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, as the starting point. The provincial Heritage Conservation Act contains rules that apply to Crown and private land, and provides for fines up to $1-million for breaking the rules. The branch's provincial heritage registry lists more than 23,000 archeological sites of past human activity, going back 12,000 years for aboriginal life and 200 years for non-aboriginal activity. According to branch manager Ray Kenny, developers should follow "due diligence" and obtain information from the branch for identified sites. "It's like BC Hydro -- check before you dig," he said from Victoria. If human remains are found because of road work or building construction, or even natural erosion, the coroner's office and police are called. If the remains are contemporary, the coroner's office takes the lead. If not, and if the remains are determined to be aboriginal, the relevant bands will be contacted and gravediggers such as Mr. Smith Sr. are dispatched to the site. The Smiths and Chief Jack believe there should be more consultation between developers, government and native people, such as what is happening with a municipal project a few kilometres north of Victoria International Airport. There, a one-kilometre oceanfront section of West Saanich Road was carefully dug up with a backhoe in February. That work is being followed by the surveillance of another 700 to 800 metres of the busy road as sewer-line work progresses. The Coast Salish had a settlement in the area 4,000 years ago; elders knew the site existed, even though it wasn't identified in archeology maps. So when the municipality of North Saanich began construction on the sewer line, Mr. Smith Sr. was asked to be present in case human remains were unearthed. A midden -- a heap of discarded shells and animal bones -- was found in late February, with layers of shells up to a metre thick. Animal bones, needles and awls were also recovered. "Where there's middens, you'll find something else," Chief Jack noted. "If we find bones, we have to move our ancestors away to accommodate a sewer line." Shane Bond, an archeologist with Victoria-based I. R. Wilson Consultants, hired by the municipality to oversee the work, said because the midden site is so large, there "definitely will be something else found." A different scene played out last summer when the Smiths spent several weeks on Pender Island, at a resort development built on a 4,000-year-old Coast Salish village. There they worked through piles of bones allegedly excavated, then moved, by the site's developer. The developer was charged under the Heritage Conservation Act for allegedly altering the site without a permit, Mr. Kenny said. The case is still before the courts. "There was really a lot of bones," Mr. Smith Sr. said of the site, where more than 140 bodies were reassembled. It was an emotional experience for the Smiths. "They [the dead] were there, watching us, making sure we take care of their bodies," his son said. And the work will continue, with 19-year-old Simon III waiting in the wings for his father to tell him that he, too, is ready to carry on the family line. Special to The Globe and Mail [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/