De Jong desperately trying to head off trouble between natives and developer
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
Friday, November 17, 2006
VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberals' new relationship with first nations faces its
first major test today, and from an unexpected quarter.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Mike de Jong spent much of Thursday afternoon
trying to defuse an emerging confrontation between natives and a developer at a
resort near the provincial capital.
He's asked the parties to meet again today, hoping they can back away from a
showdown that threatened to escalate into a full-scale native blockade.
"Disputes are inevitable," de Jong told reporters. "The test of the new
relationship is how we manage to try to resolve these inevitable disputes."
But the minister's cooling tone couldn't disguise his anxiety about the trouble
at Bear Mountain, in the hills west of Victoria.
Bear Mountain is the site of one of the richest, most impressive
golfing-residential-and-hotel resorts in B.C.
Since spring it has also become known for an emerging dispute with the
Songhees, the native band whose traditional territory includes a chunk of the
capital including the Inner Harbour and the site of the provincial legislature.
The Songhees complain that the burgeoning resort is encroaching on territory of
cultural significance to them. They've marked a sacred cave as well as possible
burial sites.
They've enlisted other neighbouring bands and threatened to blockade
the resort if their concerns aren't addressed.
The response from Bear Mountain CEO Len Barrie was distinctive, to say the
least.
"You know if we want to blow up a cave and put up a hotel, we will," Barrie
told the Victoria Times Colonist in May. "I bought the property, I own it, and
we have the mining rights, so what?"
The opening sentence of the follow-up editorial in the Times Colonist said it
all: "If the developers of Bear Mountain are looking to create a confrontation
with first nations, they are going about it the right way."
Fortunately, cooler heads saw a way out. A process was put in place to provide
for archeological assessment of the site, monitored by the natives.
The story retreated from the news, until this week. "Natives' sacred cave
destroyed," said Thursday's headline. "Developers at Bear Mountain committing
cultural genocide, aboriginal leaders charge."
Not so, insisted Bear Mountain. The cave was covered up to protect it. Other
changes were proceeding under the scrutiny of the archeologist.
But by midday the thing was spiralling out of control. Natives, arriving to
inspect the site with reporters and cameras in tow, were turned back by
security guards.
Project developer Les Bjola presided over a media event of his own, lining up
workers in front of the cameras, and claiming, "These are the people that are
going to be out of work."
Unknown to the developer, key first nations leaders -- Judith Sayers of the
First Nations' Summit, Shawn Atleo of the Assembly of First Nations, Stewart
Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs -- were in the capital on another
matter.
After a plea by the Songhees, they diverted to Bear Mountain and joined in the
open-air media event.
Phillip minced no words, as is his style. The issue was protection of culture,
of the "sacred," he declared. As it was at Oka and Ipperwash, he added, naming
two of the most poisonous showdowns over native lands in Canadian history.
It fell to a grim-faced minister de Jong to try to communicate the gravity of
the situation to reporters, without inflaming it.
The key, he said, was "respect."
Did he deplore the lack of respect on the part of the developer?
De Jong passed on the question, saying only "surely it will be possible amongst
those of good will to settle on a manner in which the work can be done that is
satisfactory to all."
Privately, the Liberals must be seething. They've invested a huge amount of
effort and political capital in the new relationship.
Premier Gordon Campbell -- who is in China this week -- has put his own
credibility and reputation on the line.
Earlier this year, at Stewart Phillip's invitation, he addressed the annual
meeting of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. Phillip reciprocated with an
address to the annual convention of the B.C. Liberal party.
He referred to the premier in tones that have rarely been invoked by anyone in
this province, never mind a native leader.
Quote: "Premier Campbell has proven himself to be an exceptional extraordinary
visionary leader . . . I've seen an incredible change in this individual, in
this man, over the last few years, that really speaks well for the future."
That was two weeks ago. Thursday, he was at Bear Mountain warning that, if the
situation continues, B.C. could have another Oka, another Ipperwash, on its
hands.
As for the developer, he may think that, as a businessman, whatever he says and
does, the provincial government will be on his side.
It won't be.
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