Last best hope for first nations burial site

By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun, November 18, 2009

Cowichan Tribes to meet with B.C. culture minister for help to save a cultural treasure

Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Kevin Krueger will meet Thursday with Cowichan first nations in an attempt to resolve a 17-year impasse over the fate of a burial ground and archeological site on land owned by a Duncan real estate developer.

An archeological survey completed earlier this year confirmed that one feature at the Somenos Creek site dates to a Coast Salish culture that existed almost 1,000 years before the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The earliest dated material from the site is 4,600 years old, while the burial ground is 1,900 years old and was in use for 800 years, according to dating by archeologists.

Thirty-one of 33 test excavations conducted in 2007 were positive for material of archeological value.

Larger excavations completed by University of B.C. archeologists in 1994 revealed a shell midden and recovered a number of "exotic artifacts" including obsidian microblades from Oregon, evidence of far-flung networks of commerce plied by the ancient inhabitants of B.C.'s West Coast.

Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group negotiator Robert Morales called the site, known to the Cowichan people as Yey'um'nuts (spring bubbling from the ground), an "ancestral site of the first order."

The meeting between Cowichan representatives and Krueger is the last best hope for a deal to save the site from development, but B.C.'s Archeology Branch told Cowichan Tribes Chief Lydia Hwitsum in a letter last July that no funds are available to purchase the land.

Developer George Schmidt is frustrated about the seeming impossibility of a resolution to the dispute. His four applications to rezone the land for development have failed, as have attempts to barter a deal with local first nations.

"This has been going on for a long time," he said. The graves were discovered in 1992 by a local resident who saw bones protruding from a trench created by a bulldozer as he was walking his dog.

The six-acre site known as Lot B would be worth as much as $3 million if not for the presence of the burial site and ancient building foundations, he said.

Schmidt says he has spent about $500,000 to fund archeological research and geophysical surveys on the site and has paid about $150,000 in property taxes since he purchased the former farmland as part of a 100-acre parcel. Schmidt's Timbercrest Estates has built about 300 homes on the rest of the parcel to date and could put up another 20 on Lot B.

"My relationship with the Cowichan people is pretty good, but we just haven't come to any resolution," Schmidt said. "They don't want to see it developed and they haven't got the money to buy it."

"The provincial government either has to buy it or let us develop it; they can't let it carry on like this," Schmidt said. His last compromise offer to the Cowichan Tribes would have preserved about half the site.

But the plan would have extended development to within three metres of one of the oldest features on the site, possibly a hearth or the foundation of a building, said Dianne Hinkley, land research director of Cowichan Tribes.

There are more than just graves at stake, she said.

"That land is very close to Quamichan, an ancient village that is still in use today," she said. "According to the archeological evidence, Quamichan once extended right through the area."

"Many ancient stories are associated with the creek, the lake and Quamichan village," Hinkley explained. That ancient people set Yey'um'nuts aside and used it as a cemetery for hundreds of years makes it a sacred place to the Cowichan.

"Countless generations," she said. "It's the same as any place where people are buried, once a person is buried you aren't supposed to go and dig them up and disturb them. That's not unique to the Cowichan people."

Within the known burial area is an unusual diversity of grave types, including cremations, a boxed burial and multiple -- possibly family -- burials, according to archeologist Eric McLay, who participated in UBC-led excavations in 1994.

The scattered presence of boulders customarily placed over graves by first nations of the site's known periods of occupancy indicate that graves may in fact be scattered throughout the area and are not just concentrated in the known "cemetery" site.

For Hinkley, not knowing is reason enough to keep the bulldozers and builders from their work.

"Once they build we will never know what is there," she said.

Hinkley believes the provincial government can help find a way to preserve the site, even if cash is scarce.

"There are a lot of possible solutions that haven't even been explored," said Hinkley. Tax credits or a land swap could be offered if a cash purchase is not possible, she said.

"The first thing we have to do is decide we are going to preserve it, then talk about how we are going to do it," she said.

Krueger declined to comment in advance of the meeting.

rshore@vancouversun.com

PROTECTED IN PERPETUITY

The province has used acquisition three times in recent years to protect culturally significant first nations sites and burial grounds. Many others have been destroyed by roadbuilding and development.

Xa:ytem (Hatzic Rock)

In 1993, this sacred Sto:lo transformer site and 5,000-year-old village was purchased by the provincial government for $1 million after a 14-home subdivision was proposed for the 18-acre property. The Sto:lo manage a cultural interpretive centre, complete with a longhouse, at the site today. Xay:tem was designated a national historic site in 1992.

Craig Bay

The remains of 165 people were unearthed at the site of a 4,000-year-old village in 1994 just ahead of a condo project owned by Intrawest Development. The Sna-naw-nas (Nanoose) First Nation attempted to block the development in court, but when they were unsuccessful the B.C. government purchased the 12-acre waterfront site for $7.8 million and designated it a park.

Departure Bay

Excavations unearthed ancient remains of more than 80 people as preparations were being made to build a three-storey condominium. The Snuneymuxw First Nation halted work on the project and intensely lobbied the provincial government for assistance in buying the land. The land was purchased with help from the Crown for $3 million and is cooperatively managed by the Snuneymuxw and the province.

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