B.C. may buy Grace Islet home to settle First Nation land dispute

Saltspring Island residents together with First Nations elders took to the water Tuesday to demand a halt to the construction of a luxury home on Grace Islet, in Ganges Harbour, August 2014.

JUSTINE HUNTER, The Globe and Mail, Dec 02 2014

The B.C. government is looking at buying a partially built home on a private island to head off a dispute that has First Nations threatening legal action to protect an ancient burial ground.

Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, confirmed on Monday he has sought Treasury Board approval to give the province the option to purchase Grace Islet, where Edmonton resident Barry Slawsky is in the process of completing his retirement home.

Protesters disrupt construction over First Nations burial ground on islet off Saltspring Island

Saltspring Island residents together with First Nations elders took to the water Tuesday to demand a halt to the construction of a luxury home on Grace Islet, in Ganges Harbour.

 ‘You would never do this to your ancestors,’ chief tells workers

By Sarah Petrescu, Victoria Times Colonist August 27, 2014

The sharp roar of saws and a generator coming from a construction site on Grace Islet Tuesday morning was too much for Tseycum Chief Vern Jacks.

After paddling in the Cowichan Tribes big canoe over to the small island in Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island, where a luxury home is being built over a First Nations burial ground, he stood on the shore and yelled to the workers: “You would never do this to your ancestors. Think about your kids, your family.”

Fury grows over house at islet burial site near Saltspring Island

RCMP officers warn protesters near Grace Islet on Friday.

by Sarah Petrescu, Times Colonist, August 1, 2014

Saltspring Islanders have stepped up their efforts to halt the building of a luxury home over a First Nations burial ground on Grace Islet.

About 30 boaters blockaded the main dock on the islet and prevented workers from getting to the job site on Friday morning, prompting a warning from the RCMP.

“The community really came together,” said Joe Akerman, a Saltspring resident involved in the protests. “We’ll continue every effort to stop this construction.”

Earlier in the week, protesters stopped a shipment of supplies from being delivered at the dock by standing in the drop-off spot and then marched through town.