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An evolving partnership

On Nov. 27, Parliament formally recognized Quebecers as a “nation united within Canada.
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On Nov. 27, Parliament formally recognized Quebecers as a “nation united within Canada.” This was hailed, generally, as a good thing because it usurped a Bloc Quebecois motion that was pending and found support from all parties, thus limiting further debate over Quebec’s unique status within Canada. It was another great Canadian solution, allowing everyone to apply their own interpretation to a motion that begs for further explanation.

Closer to home, there may be some debate brewing over First Nations’ unique status within B.C., or at least within the Sea to Sky corridor.

Premier Gordon Campbell has travelled a long way on First Nations issues during his five-plus years in office. From a controversial referendum on treaty negotiations in 2002 he has become the first premier in B.C.’s history to openly advocate for First Nations’ rights. He was an architect of and has been a strong supporter of the Kelowna Accord, which was intended to help all First Nations across the country. It was negotiated with the previous Liberal government in Ottawa but has been shelved by the Conservatives. As well, in an effort parallel to the exhausting treaty process, Campbell has championed deals that have provided land and in some cases specific rights to individual First Nations in B.C. These efforts have been aimed at advancing the treaty process and providing First Nations with the tools to determine their own future.

And among the First Nations that are seizing the opportunity to determine their own futures are the Squamish and, to some extent, the Lil’wat Nations. The Squamish Nation has been particularly active. The Squamish have partnered with Larco to develop a successful shopping mall next to West Vancouver’s Park Royal. Park Royal itself and the Greater Vancouver Sewage Plant are on land leased from the First Nation. The Squamish are also partnering with Concord Pacific to develop housing on land at Porteau Cove. They did have a deal with Ledcor to assume control of the proposed Ashlu run-of-river hydro project, although that development is currently on hold. The Squamish will also play a role in the Garibaldi at Squamish resort, if that project gets going. And the Squamish and Lil’wat are partners in the cultural centre that is taking shape, however slowly, in Whistler.

One of the catalysts to this activity is a growing population of young people under the age of 20. Another is the 2010 Olympics. The Squamish and the Lil’wat were included in the Olympic bid from the start and, along with the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh, are active partners in planning and hosting the Games. In fact, it will be argued by some that the First Nations’ involvement in the Olympic bid was crucial to Vancouver’s narrow victory over Pyeongchang, South Korea when the IOC awarded the 2010 Games in 2003.

The Squamish and Lil’wat have leveraged their support of the Olympics just as Vancouver and Whistler have done. VANOC’s procurement policy encourages aboriginal businesses to bid on contracts and guarantees a percentage of business to First Nations companies. Resource Business Ventures, a Lil’wat construction company, has worked on the Nordic centre the past two summers and has gained the skills and expertise to win additional contracts. Thus the Games have not only provided First Nations with employment but training and skills that can be used long after the Olympics are over.

And of course there are the 300-acre land banks that Whistler and the Squamish-Lil’wat have negotiated as part of their Olympic legacies. Whistler must use its land bank for social housing, while the provincial government has not put any land-use restrictions on the Squamish and Lil’wat lands.

Some of Whistler’s 300 acres will be utilized in the athletes’ village. Exactly what the Squamish and Lil’wat want to do with their land has been difficult to pin down. They have identified the former highways works yard on Highway 99, opposite the original entrance to Alta Vista, and land above the Rainbow property as sites they would like to develop for housing, but those sites together are far less than 300 acres.

Last week, through a story by Pique’s Alison Taylor, we learned of plans for a golf course in the Callaghan Valley, on 150 acres of leased Crown land, and a surrounding residential development that would utilize 100-150 acres of the Squamish-Lil’wat Olympic legacy lands. The golf course was not a surprise to Whistler council; the residential development was. This week Whistler council unanimously opposed the development. But it seems unlikely that will halt it.

With all due respect, what is needed here, on all sides, is a little more openness.

First Nations were opposed to some of the legacy trails proposed for the Nordic centre, so those plans were tabled for later discussions. The Squamish and Lil’wat obviously have a strategy for the future, as can be seen throughout the corridor, but exactly what that strategy means in the Callaghan or elsewhere has been difficult to determine.

The province has made substantial efforts to advance relations with First Nations but has been less than candid about how those relations may affect nearby communities. For instance, various departments within the provincial government know and have known about the First Nations’ plans for the Callaghan but only a bare minimum of information — a couple of low-detail maps — have been made public.

Whistler, meanwhile, has its own land use plans but they are being made less and less relevant by surrounding developments. Perhaps those plans should be reviewed in the context not just of what is going on within municipal boundaries but also throughout the corridor.