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.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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