| March 10,
2004
Mr. David
Hutchcroft, Heritage Resource Specialist
Archaeology and Registries Services
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
PO Box 9375, Stn. Prov. Govt.
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9M5
FAX: 250-952-4188
RE: Heritage Site Alteration
Permit Application 2003-123 by Mr. Gidon Minkoff
DfRu-002, Walker’s Hook, Salt Spring Island (Permit File 21100-20/2003-123)
Dear Mr.
Hutchcroft,
The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
are in receipt of Mr. Gidon Minkoff’s application for an amendment to his Site
Alteration Permit 2003-123 at DfRu-002, Walker’s Hook, Salt Spring Island, and
herein pronounce our final judgment upon Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. and their
proposed development atop our ancestral village and cemetery at Syuhe’mun.
The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
made a direct request to the Archaeology and Registry Services Branch, letter
dated April 15, 2003, to decline Mr. Minkoff’s original application for a site
alteration permit. At that time, no preliminary archaeological or environmental
studies had been completed by Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. to responsibly guide
their proposed development of their aquaculture fish hatchery. The Hul’qumi’num
Treaty Group office were concurrently reviewing three separate government
referrals relating to this proposed land-use development, including a
subdivision application from the Salt Spring Island Trust and Ministry of
Transportation, a waste management act approval application from the Ministry of
Water, Land and Air Protection, and a heritage site alteration permit from the
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. In concern of direct infringement
upon our aboriginal rights at this significant archaeological site and
traditional use location, the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group had specifically
requested that preliminary archaeological and environmental studies be completed
by the developer, as stated in writing to Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. on February
10, 2003, to the Salt Spring Islands Trust Committee on March 5, 2003, and the
Ministry of Transportation on April 1, 2003. In our April 15, 2003, letter to
the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, we stated it would be
‘imprudent’ for British Columbia to permit the destruction of our archaeological
heritage for the convenience of an industrial waste filtration system prior to
any environmental approval to dispose of its industrial waste at this sensitive
ecosystem on Salt Spring Island.
On April
24, 2003, upon the subsequent approval of Mr. Minkoff’s site alteration permit
by the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and without any further
consultation or accommodation of our stated First Nations’ interests at
DfRu-002, Mr. Ray Kenny outlined his reasons for decision:
- The
permit application is for site alterations under Section 12 of the Heritage
Conservation Act (HCA) and is not an application for the construction of
the waste filtration system.
- The
attached letter of April 22, 2003, from Gidon Minkoff to Dave Hutchcroft
indicates that the applications to the Ministry of Water, Land and Air
Protection (WLAP) and the Ministry of Transportation are contingent upon
receipt of a Site Alteration Permit (SAP). In the former case, tests for
seawater intake and seawater infiltration cannot be performed as required by
WLAP without a SAP. In the latter case, the subdivision approval is for lease
purposes.
We
understand that two wells had already been installed at DfRu-002 in the summer
of 2002 by Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd., in violation of the Heritage
Conservation Act (1996), for the explicit purposes of performing seawater
tests to apply for a Waste Management Act permit. Although Mr. Minkoff claims
now not to have been aware of the DfRu-002 archaeological site at Walkers Hook
at that time, we understand that he had contracted archaeological consulting
firm, Millennia Research Ltd., Victoria, in the summer of 2002, who informed
him of the DfRu-002 site and recommended that Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. complete
an AIA study prior to any site development at Walkers Hook.
Further, we
understand that the purpose of the site alteration permit was to construct the
waste filtration infrastructure for the fish hatchery’s final operational
systems, not for the purposes of performing any preliminary seawater testing. We
argue that the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management’s reasoning to grant
an SAP upon Mr. Minkoff’s argument that preliminary seawater testing for a WLAP
permit was contingent upon receipt of an SAP is based on false
information. The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group finds it disturbing that the
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management would seriously consider the
statements of a developer, rather than consult its own government agency, WLAP,
to clarify British Columbia’s own information and provincial regulations on this
matter.
The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
have been consistent in our stated interests to British Columbia that Sablefin
Hatcheries Ltd. complete a preliminary archaeological impact assessment study (AIA)
as a valuable land-use planning tool to responsibly guide the long-term
conservation of our archaeological heritage at Walkers Hook. We believe that
Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. had a responsibility under the Heritage Conservation
Act (1996) to identify all recorded and unrecorded archaeological resources
on the proposed subdivision property prior to construction of the fish hatchery
building, roads, wells, and sewer filtration system. We have previously
identified to the developer and Salt Spring Islands Trust and Ministry of
Transportation that a large ‘inland’ archaeological site, DfRu-006, is located
on Mr. Henry Caldwell’s property, District Lot 65. Ms. Beth Hill in the 1970’s
defined this inland site as a network of aboriginal trails and inland shell
middens adjacent to fresh-water springs leading from Walkers Hook to Long
Harbour. As inland archaeological sites are a rare, poorly-understood type of
archaeological site recorded in the southern Gulf Islands, we argued it was
necessary to define the boundaries of the DfRu-006 archaeological site (or
network of inland sites), in an AIA study prior to approval of Mr. Caldwell’s
subdivision application.
We believe that there is a
very high potential that the development of Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. fish
hatchery building, services and roads prior to any archaeological assessment may
have irrevocably destroyed unrecorded inland archaeological resources at Walkers
Hook.
In I.R.Wilson Consultant
Ltd.’s January 9th court-written report for their site alterations at
DfRu-002, Walkers Hook, between April 29 – May 20th and August 12th,
Ms. Margaret Rodgers and Andrew Hickok (signed on their behalf by I.R.Wilson),
indicated that in their professional opinion an archaeological impact assessment
study was not necessary as the “nature and extent of the site was relatively
well-documented”.
The DfRu-002 site had been
last surveyed by archaeologists thirty years ago in 1974 during the provincial
government’s Gulf Island Archaeological Survey. In our review of Stephen
Cassidy and Brian Seymour’s survey field notes, the DfRu-002 site was last
visited over less than a half day period on February 28, 1974. Their visit to
DfRu-002 was in addition to their survey and mapping of four other
archaeological sites on Salt Spring Island from the Athol Peninsula to Walkers
Hook. Based on their estimated 1974 site area of 400m length x 80m in width, the
DfRu-002 was recorded as the fifth largest of the 756 archaeological sites
substantively recorded during the provincial government’s Gulf Island
Archaeological Survey (Acheson et al. 1974:Appendix). The DfRu-002 site at
Walkers Hook is only eclipsed in size by the relatively well-documented
archaeological sites such as False Narrows (DgRw-004) and Shingle Point
(DgRv-002). The DfRu-002 is comparatively far larger in size than many other
relatively well-documented archaeological sites in the southern Gulf Islands,
such as Helens Point (DfRu-008), Pender Canal (DeRt-001 and DeRt-002), Montague
Harbour (DfRu-013), Dionisio Point (DgRv-003), Harbour House (DfRu-004) and
Georgeson Bay (DfRu-024).
On February 28, 1974, the
DfRu-002 shell midden site was briefly described and sketch mapped by provincial
archaeologists. No subsurface tests were conducted to systematically define the
site boundaries or to accurately assess the integrity of archaeological deposits
at DfRu-002. No test excavations were directed to explore the nature of the
archaeological site, and no artifacts or other chronological information were
collected to analyze the DfRu-002 site’s antiquity and culture history.
Therefore, in contrast to
I.R.Wilson Consultants Ltd. court-prepared statement, the nature and extent of
the DfRu-002 site was not relatively well-documented, but relatively
undocumented at the time of Mr. Minkoff’s application for a site alteration
permit. Based on Mr.Minkoff’s choice to forego the expense of AIA study at the
one of the largest recorded archaeological sites in the southern Gulf Islands,
we are furious that the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management recklessly
allowed Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd.’s development to blindly proceed to develop at
Walkers Hook without any accurate baseline information about DfRu-002 site’s
exact size, depth, stratigraphic nature, complexity, integrity, antiquity,
chronological range, content, scientific, cultural and/or public significance,
and, importantly, knowledge of the presence of ancient human remains.
In receipt of Mr. Minkoff’s
original application for a site alteration permit, dated March 11, 2003, the
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group did not feel it credible to spend time commenting on
the salvage-oriented archaeological methodology proposed by I.R.Wilson
Consultants Ltd.
We understand that an
application for a site alteration permit generally provides a detailed
scientific research methodology that describes the scope of proposed impacts to
an archaeological site, and outlines the theoretical and methodological research
design to mitigate the destruction of archaeological data, such as systematic
data recovery (excavation), analysis of collected data, and post-excavation
recommendations, such as archaeological monitoring. The research design for a
site alteration permits are generally contingent upon the analysis of data and
recommendations deriving from primary archaeological planning studies such as
archaeological overview assessments (AOA), archaeological inventory studies (AIS),
and archaeological impact assessments (AIA). Essentially, a research design is
a theoretical model and methodological plan that guides the scientific
collection, analysis and interpretation of archaeological data deriving from a
research project. As archaeological sites are understood to be fragile,
non-renewable cultural resources, the preparation of an academically-sound
research design is key to the conservation and sustainable management of
archaeological sites threatened by irreversible destruction from land
development.
In I.R.Wilson Consultant
Ltd.’s March 11 permit application prepared on behalf of Mr. Minkoff, there is
no archaeological research design. There was no scientific theory or methodology
prepared to guide the construction work atop of the archaeological site at
Walkers Hook. Based on the lack of this scientific foundation, there is no
means for I.R.Wilson Consultant’s Ltd. to now evaluate, analyze or interpret
whatever data they may have collected during their construction project at
DfRu-002. Permitting the destruction of non-renewal archaeological deposits at
DfRu-002, the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management made no attempt
whatsoever to protect public interests and ensure that we could learn from the
archaeological work performed at DfRu-002 and that it could contribute to our
broader academic understanding of First Nation history in British Columbia.
The only
methods proposed in Mr. Minkoff’s site alteration permit consisted of raking
artifacts from the backdirt of an excavator. Against Mr. Ray Kenny’s reasons for
judgment, Mr.Minkoff’s site alteration permit was clearly not for the purposes
of heritage conservation, but business-driven interests to clear archaeological
deposits prior to industrial development. We understand that it is the role of
the Ministry and archaeological consultants to ensure the professional
documentation of archaeological deposits, not to facilitate the development of
archaeological sites. This isn’t archaeology, this is land development under
the guise of archaeology.
As observed
during HTG staff inspection of the DfRu-002 site, there were no trained
personnel for the first two and a half days of the fieldwork to monitor the
activity of the backhoe operator. Although it is stated in Mr. Minkoff’s permit
that either Mr. I.R. Wilson, President, or senior archaeologist Mr. Terry
Clark, would be directing the monitoring and test excavations at DfRu-002, we
are not aware that neither of those two individuals ever visited Walkers Hook
during the project. Against the stated requests of the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
to the Ministry, letter dated April 25, there were no professional consultants
accountable on site who had demonstrated experience in the identification of
ancient human remains. Two young, untrained field assistants from the Penelakut
Tribe had been hired to be responsible for raking backdirt and the collection of
artifacts and human remains.
In our
April 25 letter to the Ministry, the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group further expressly
stated that if any articulated or unarticulated human remains were
discovered that all work in the immediate vicinity would cease and that our
First Nations’ be immediately consulted. On April 30, 2003, we understand that
Ms.Rodgers notified you of the discovery of ‘possible’ human remains during
trenching activity at DfRu-002. Neither yourself at the Ministry, Mr. Minkoff
the permit holder, or I.R. Wilson Consultants Ltd. notified our Hul’qumi’num
Treaty Group or Penelakut Tribe office. On May 1, 2003, based on reports of the
discovery of human remains by local residents of Salt Spring Island, our
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group staff, Mr. Joey Caro and Mr. Eric McLay, made a
surprise inspection of the DfRu-002 site and discovered that human remains,
including a burial feature (Burial Feature #1) had been already excavated and
removed from the sewer trench. Our HTG staff observed that Ms. Rodgers was
excavating horizontally into the west wall at the base of the trench to remove
large human skull fragments within intact archaeological shell deposits. Our
HTG staff requested Ms. Rodgers to stop digging sideways undercutting the wall
profile outside the parameters of the trench and to cease the excavation of
ancient human remains embedded in the wall profile, as outside the conditions of
Site Alteration 2003-123. Additional human remains were discovered by our HTG
staff in the sorted backdirt pile at the north end of the trench, later
associated with the discovery of a second intact burial feature (Burial Feature
#2).
On May 6th,
it is illustrated in the DVD video of the construction work at Walkers Hook,
that Burial Feature #1 was completely excavated and removed by I.R.Wilson
Consultants Ltd. staff. A 1.5 m x 1m unit was excavated outside the east wall
of the trench parameters to systematically recover one complete and one
partially complete adult individuals. The excavation of Burial Feature #1 had
been completed by Mr. Minkoff and I.R.Wilson Consultants Ltd. without any
consultation or formal agreement on protocols and procedures with either the
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group or Penelakut Tribe. The excavation of Burial Feature
#1 had been completed outside of the conditions of Site Alteration 2003-123;
specifically, the illegal excavation of archaeological deposits outside of the
trench parameters, and the excavation and removal of articulated human remains.
This non-permitted activity is the second documented violation of the
Heritage Conservation Act (1996) at DfRu-002 by Mr. Minkoff,
President of Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. In concern for the breaking of customary
law of the Penelakut Elders, however, it was agreed that Mr. Minkoff would
immediately apply for a permit amendment that would specify in writing the
Penelakut Elder’s conditions for the excavation and removal of human remains.
In mid-January 2004, the
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group again heard reports that Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. were
conducting unregulated development activity at Walkers Hook. As confirmed
by your field visit to the DfRu-002 site on January 13, as reported in your
letter dated January 16, 2004, Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. had drilled four new
wells atop of DfRu-002 in December 2003. These four new wells were in addition
to the two test wells and four test wells already installed at Walkers Hook.
The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group were not consulted about this proposed development
or their impacts by either Mr. Minkoff, I.R. Wilson Consultants Ltd.. This is
the second violation of Mr. Minkoff’s conditions for Site Alteration Permit
2003-123, and the third contravention of the Heritage Conservation Act (1996)
by Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. at the DfRu-002 site. The present application of a
second permit amendment is the direct result of this incremental destruction and
illegal development activity atop of our archaeological heritage.
We observe that the drilling
of these four new wells follows a typical pattern of Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd.
development activity at Walkers Hook. In 2002, without the benefit of a
heritage site alteration permit, Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. drilled two seawater
test wells atop of DfRu-002. In February 2003, prior to receipt of a
subdivision approval and without the benefit of any preliminary archaeological
inventory study, Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. proceeded to clear land and construct
their fish hatchery building. In March 2003, without benefit of either an
archaeological or environmental impact assessment studies, Sablefin Hatcheries
Ltd. applied for a site alteration permit for the construction of the waste
filtration system prior to any approval under the Waste Management Act to
dispose of their industrial waste at this location. With the initial discovery
of ancient human remains, Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. proceeded with their
construction without any notification of any First Nations’ against our stated
interests and against Mr. Minkoff’s permit conditions. With the presence of
intact burial features stalling development plans, Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd.
proceeded to remove these burial features without benefit of a site alteration
permit amendment and without any consultation or agreements on protocols with
the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group office or Penelakut Tribe government. With the
failure of its filtration system without proper hydrogeological studies,
Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. installs four new wells at Walkers Hook without any
consultation with our First Nations and outside of the conditions of Site
Alteration Permit 2003-123. In the absence of any enforcement of the repeated
violations of the Heritage Conservation Act, the Ministry of Sustainable
Resource Management allowed Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. to apply for a second major
site alteration permit amendment, herein under discussion.
In order to review this
permit amendment, the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group requested on February 15, 2003,
further archaeological information from Mr. Minkoff in order to make an informed
decision. On Februrary 29, Mr. Minkoff replied to our office unfortunately
declining to provide any further archaeological information. It is clear that
Mr. Minkoff and I.R.Wilson Consultants Ltd. are deliberately withholding this
information from our Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group-membership. After nine months
have passed since fieldwork, it is hard to fathom that no detailed site map,
catalogue of human remains, catalogue of artifacts, description of cultural
stratigraphy or carbon-14 analyses have been completed. All that is available
to evaluate the past archaeological work is the two-page January 9th
report by Ms.Margaret Rodgers and Mr. Andrew Hickok of I.R.Wilson Consultants
Ltd. (signed by I.R.Wilson). In this report, it is evident that I.R.Wilson
Consultants Ltd. are deliberately exaggerating the extent of disturbance at the
site. It is obvious that they are deliberately devaluing the nature and
significance of this archaeological site for the sake of their client and their
company’s business interests against the Penelakut Elders court case in the
Environmental Appeal Board.
Thus, in
final judgment, the Chiefs of the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group declare that we will
fiercely defend against any further physical destruction to our ancient village
and cemetery site at Walkers Hook. Our Hul’qumi’num First Nation-membership are
fully prepared to protect against any further desecration of our Ancestor’s
remains at Syuhe’mun. Our Hul’qumi’num people will never allow British Columbia
to permit the destruction of our archaeological heritage for the commercial
benefit of Sablefin Hatcheries Ltd. on Salt Spring Island.
The
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group demands that the Ministry reject this permit amendment
application to Mr. Minkoff. We demand that British Columbia enforces the
numerous violations of the Heritage Conservation Act by this developer
and his archaeological consultant. We demand that the Ministry rescind its
recent permit reporting extension to Mr. Minkoff and order the developer to
provide the Ministry and our First Nations’ with all requested archaeological
information immediately.
The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
is deeply dismayed that we cannot rely on the judgment of the Ministry of
Sustainable Resource Management to defend our First Nations’ and publics’
interests in heritage conservation. We look forward to the future when the
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management begins to meaningfully consult and
accommodate our First Nations’ aboriginal rights concerning our archaeological
heritage in British Columbia. We look forward to the day when British Columbia
values our First Nation heritage as an equal part of Canadian heritage.
Respectfully,
Robert
Morales, Negotiator
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group
cc.
Honourable
Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia
Honourable Geoff Plant, Attorney General of British Columbia
Honourable George Abbott, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada
Honourable Iona Campagnolo, Lieutenant Govenor of British Columbia
Ms. Carol James, Leader, NDP British Columbia
Mr. Dan Goodleaf, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, Canada
Ms. Nancy Bircher, Provincial Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia
Mr. Phillip Fontaine, Assembly of First Nations
Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of BC Indian Chiefs |
