Purchase of islet saves B.C. First Nations burial site

Paddler approaches Grace Islet with mansion being built during a protest in August 2014. Photo: Rabble.ca, Gary McNutt.

B.C. gov’t and partners acquire property from private owner who was building a home atop graves

By Sarah Petrusco, The Province, January 15, 2015

The B.C. government announced Thursday it will buy the controversial Grace Islet property, where a luxury home was being built over a First Nations burial ground.

The purchase is in a partnership with First Nations and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“It can sometimes be challenging to balance the need to protect archeological sites while respecting private property rights. I want to thank all parties for agreeing to work together on a solution,” B.C. Forests Minister Steve Thomson said in a press release.

Native group lays claim to Stanley Park, Galiano and Saltspring Islands

The small Hwlitsum band was formed in 2000 after its chief, Rocky Wilson (pictured here), won a 15-year Supreme Court fight to regain his full Indian status.
Photograph by: Ian Lindsay , Vancouver Sun files

MARK HUME, The Globe and Mail, Dec 9 2014

Large pieces of Stanley Park, Galiano Island and Saltspring Island are being claimed by a small Indian band that has largely been ignored in British Columbia, although its main village once came under fire from the British Navy.

In a notice of claim filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Chief Raymond Wilson and a group he identifies as the Hwlitsum First Nation seek the return of key lands and financial compensation for loss of access to what it claims as its traditional territory.