B.C. to buy private island to protect First Nations burial ground

Cairns marking the graves of First Nations peoples who lived and worked here hundreds of years ago were found on Grace Islet, whose sale to the provincial government is nearly complete. (John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail)

JUSTINE HUNTER | The Globe and Mail

The B.C. government has reached a tentative deal to buy Grace Islet, where a private home was being constructed atop an ancient aboriginal cemetery.

It is the 12th time since the 1970s that the province has purchased land to resolve a conflict over what the law deems to be of archeological value – sites that are regarded by First Nations as sacred burial grounds.

Grace Islet was purchased by Edmonton resident Barry Slawsky in 1990, and at that time the site was known to have archeological importance. But when ancient human remains were found, archeologists investigated and found 16 burial rock cairns that would trace back at least 500 years.

Under the province’s Heritage Conservation Act, it is illegal to damage, desecrate or alter a burial place that has historical or archeological value. But Mr. Slawsky was granted a provincial permit to build his retirement home after agreeing to construct it around and above the rock cairns.

However, as construction began, First Nations expressed opposition to what they saw was desecration of a burial site.

The Cowichan Tribes drafted a civil claim asserting aboriginal title to the islet – an unusual case, if it had proceeded, because land claims are normally limited to Crown land where title has not been extinguished.

The pact, if it is finalized, would avert that lawsuit. “Our ancestors can now rest in peace on Grace Islet,” Vern Jacks, Chief of the Tseycum First Nation, stated in a news release.

The province has not stated how much it will pay for the site, which will also require remediation to deal with the half-constructed home on the islet in Ganges Harbour off of Salt Spring Island.