Joffre Lakes Park to close again as province continues negotiation with First Nations
CTV
Joffre Lakes Park will close to the public again Tuesday, as the province and First Nations continue negotiations about how to move forward with reconciliation on the site.
Joffre Lakes Park will close to the public again Tuesday, as the province and First Nations continue negotiations about how to move forward with reconciliation on the site.
On Aug. 24, the Lil'wat and N’Quatqua First Nations, who call the park Pipi7iyekw and say they have occupied and used the land since time immemorial, announced the park's closure. It was temporarily reopened for the Labour Day long weekend in what Lil'wat chief Dean Nelson described as a gesture of goodwill.
"I’d like to express my appreciation to the Lil’wat Nation for their engagement this week as we actively work with them to ensure there is space and privacy for cultural practices,” said Environment Minister George Heyman in a joint statement issued on Friday evening.
“As these conversations continue, it is our commitment to finding solutions that meet all our interests and promote reconciliation of First Nation rights and title. We are optimistic that through conversations, a solution can be met.”
The First Nations said the closure was meant to protect privacy in the popular park for traditional harvesting and spiritual activities.
Their announcement references a variety of legal grounds for asserting the nations' right to close the park, including the goals of the provincial park's Visitor Use Management Strategy and its Management Action Plan, as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Supreme Court of Canada's Tsilhqot'in decision affirming Indigenous land rights.
“We will be in further conversations with the Province over the coming weeks to support reconciliation and the Nation’s long-term interests in the area,” Nelson wrote in Friday's statement.
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