No replies to this topic

[obscurantist]

The government needs to do more to protect archeological sites under pressure from a red-hot construction industry -- including helping landowners pay the high cost of preserving buried history, say First Nations groups, backed by B.C. municipalities and the NDP opposition.

Esquimalt-Metchosin NDP MLA Maurine Karagianis has drafted a motion asking the province to better protect culturally significant First Nations locations, ranging from spiritual places to gravesites. Thousands dot the B.C. coastline and often pre-date European settlers by centuries.

The cost and responsibility for protecting historical sites rests on landowners under the B.C. Heritage Conservation Act. But the act is also vague, and not protective for First Nations people, said Karagianis.

First Nations have long complained the act falls short on enforcement. For instance, they say nobody is watching what is dug up at construction sites across the province. It's up to landowners or developers to file a report if they stumble upon a significant artifact during construction. ...

Karagianis said many developers would rather "bury the evidence" and risk a fine than slow down a project. The fines are typically small, despite the $1 million maximum listed in the legislation. A South Pender Island hotel received the largest fine in the history of the Heritage Conservation Act last week -- $50,000 -- for using ancient shells, human bones and other fragments from a nearby First Nations site as material to resurface a road four years ago.

The issue was also thrust into the public spotlight last May, after the Songhees and Tsartlip First Nations threatened to blockade the upscale Bear Mountain golf resort in Langford because construction of a road threatened to destroy a cave of spiritual significance. After a public spat, and a series of mediated meetings, Bear Mountain agreed to stop work and pay to have the cave examined by archeologists. ...

It's not just private developers that are wrestling with the archeology policies. Municipalities are also struggling with the issue as they dig new pipes and roads to accommodate increasing populations.

North Saanich council sent the provincial government a letter earlier this month asking for $485,000 to cover the costs of preserving 15 sets of bones from Tseycum First Nation, discovered when municipal crews started digging a sewer line in February 2006. ...

North Saanich has worked closely with the Tseycum First Nation, and both sides are united in asking for provincial support. "We're really happy with the mayor and council right now -- it's a really big change for the positive," said Tseycum chief Vern Jacks. ...