Extensive flooding has closed the
In-SHUCK-ch Forest Services Road (FSR) for the second time this year, leaving
many residents of the First Nations community stranded and complicating funeral
arrangements for a local elder.
Gerard Peters, In-SHUCK-ch chief
negotiator, said it is always an issue when the road is impassable, but it is
particularly troubling this time.
“One of the elders in my community
has just passed away. The thing is we’ve got to get him home, and it’s causing
all kinds of concern among the community, especially among the elders, that we
can’t take care of our dead.”
Logging companies use the FSR to haul
timber, and approximately 250 members of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation live along the
road, which parallels Lillooet Lake and runs south to Harrison Lake.
Peters said he has been trying to
call attention to the poor condition of the FSR for years now, but it is now
time for change.
At a Tuesday meeting with provincial
and federal chief negotiators, Peters officially identified the FSR as a treaty
issue.
“…The roads and its needs for
improvement must now be addressed in the context of treaty negotiations,
because I’m not getting any movement anywhere else,” Peters said.
He said local government has done all
they can to deal with the intermittent road closures, and now it’s time higher
levels of government got involved.
“I think that it’s necessary for
Canada to step up to the plate, as well as B.C., to ensure safe travel,” said
Peters.
“Canada has a fiduciary responsibility
for looking after the interests of Indians.”
Samahquam Chief Keith Smith has lived
off the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Services Road, in the Baptiste Smith region, for
most of his life. Smith said the severity of flooding varies from year to year,
but this year, higher snow pack and recent hot temperatures have caused water
levels to rise rapidly.
He managed to travel the road Monday
morning, leaving the community at 6 a.m., about three hours before the road was
officially closed.
“I have a four wheel drive, so I was
relatively high enough,” said Smith. “It still came over my bumper.”
The forest service road is the only
way in and out of the community for most people. Smith said there is an
alternate route from the Lower Mainland, but it is a longer trip, and is used
mainly by 4x4s. So when the main road becomes impassable, residents are trapped
and logging operations come to a standstill.
Smith said his main concern is for
elders in the community, many of whom have medical conditions and are unable to
make medical appointments.
In an emergency, Smith said they have
to call Pemberton Clinic and have them send a helicopter into the area.
Lizzie Bay Logging is a joint-venture
partner of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, and together they have been contracted by
the government to maintain the FSR.
When the road floods, as it did last
weekend, they haul in material to fill in eroded sections of road. But this is
just a short-term fix.
Norm LeBlanc, owner of Lizzie Bay
Logging, said the flooding of the FSR should be taken seriously because it is a
major road, and it has been neglected for years.
Peters also pointed out the FSR is
close to the Lower Mainland, Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor, and would be
ideal for economic development, but the poor road conditions are preventing the
community from building and developing the area.
What’s more, the area lacks
connection to the hydro grid and landline telephone service.
“You’ve got the looming 2010, with
world attention to the region, and you’ve got a significant population that’s
very ill served by infrastructure that other British Columbians take for
granted,” said Peters.
But Peters is quick to point out that
he doesn’t expect the government to immediately develop a paved, two-lane
highway in the area. Rather, he thinks the road bed should be elevated by about
one metre for two strategic kilometres along the FSR, so when high waters do
come, people can still travel safely on the road.
Tuesday afternoon, LeBlanc said
engineers were onsite inspecting the road to determine if it was safe for
travel yet.
“When it’s deemed to be safe, and
we’ve rebuilt it to the standard that’s required. It’ll be opened back up to
the public.”