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The Wei Wai Kum (Campbell
River) Indian Band has built a position as 'engine in the local
economy' at the heart of the city of Campbell River, B.C., on
Vancouver Island, and the savvy Indian Band leadership in the region developed
this essential role over the past decade. Indeed, credit belongs to
the CRIB for rejuvenating the shores and shopping districts of the Vancouver
Island city and adding essential services to meet a growing demand
from locals and especially tourists.
Now these movers and shakers at CRIB
are working on negotiations to build two brand new 100,000 sq ft.
retail stores, including a Home Depot and a Wal-Mart, across the
street from each other, on what is called the Old Island Highway (but
what has become a main urban thoroughfare along the shore beside the
Strait of Georgia).
CRIB is furthermore in the planning
stages to supply 92 new houses nearby, after various instruments are
put in place including return of affected Reserve property from
leaseholders or INAC. “That’s still two years away,” Pollard said.
“We’re in the processing to reverting (the property) back to reserve
status.”
Slightly less than a decade ago the
Indian Band built a seaside outdoor mall that has become part of a
destination resort package including a popular shopping centre and
tourist site. The mall was built around the Wei Wai Kum Gallery of
Art and carving, and an adjoining sea walk takes strollers to and from
Wei Wai Kum Cruise Ship Terminal in one direction and the Discovery
Harbour Marina in another .
Meanwhile the Indian Band maintains an
attractive neighbourhood nearby and community facilities including
CRIB offices, a Big House, a meeting hall, and a CRIB health centre
with family services attached; everything's within walking distance
of the Discovery Centre Mall. It is a beautiful and prosperous set-up
and one way CRIB is building on success.
“We are thrilled," said Chief Bob
Pollard, Campbell River Indian Band, "We can see daylight at the
end of a long tunnel,” he told local media, "because the
contracts to build Home Depot are just about finished," while
the dialogue with Wal-Mart and the development department of the city
of Campbell River continues.
Highway
19A is the old Island Highway that ran through the CRIB I.R., and winds
through Campbellton (northern end of the city) to take traffic to the
top of the island. In fact two First Nation Bands claimed adjoining
Indian Reserves in the neighbourhood (many B.C. Indian Reserves are
small parcels of a few hundred acres, and in this case the disputes
were settled in 2002).
The Old Island Highway ran past an
area of shore also under legal dispute, although this time the
dispute is with the city and others,
and this is called the Tyee Spit. This prime real estate was recently
nothing but a log sort, and now is multi-million dollar ocean frontage,
and land clearly identified as Reserve property (until 1905), which
juts into Strait of Georgia directly across from Quathiaski Cove on
Quadra Island.
If it sounds like a maze of issues
preventing action, well, this is not necessarily the case, because
the players see everything developing nicely. They are saying so
because the projects will build on success that started around the
first undertaking at Discovery Harbour Marina.
The marina that developed at the
center was always intended to accentuate a growing tourist economy of
Campbell River. Discovery Harbour Marina owned and operated by the Campbell
River Indian Band is one of Campbell River's three marinas after the
Indian Band invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a
seawall and top grade facilities, including a large mooring space to
allow 700 vessels of all types to dock.
Finally, as of last year, the Wei Wai
Kum Cruise Ship Terminal became a regular port of call to the 'pocket
cruise ship' industry, which delivers ships with up to 500 passengers
at time during the summer tourist season, and the terminal can handle
small cruise traffic (like Jim Pattison's yacht) that courses along
the Inside Passage, often north to Alaska.
Campbell River city councillor Andy
Adams said while the city council has yet to see the final agreements,
nevertheless he views these developments as 'positives,' "for an
expanded economic base and new job opportunities in light of the recent
layoffs at the sawmill and mine. I think this is great news for the
community and the band,” said Adams. “They may not pay as much as
resource jobs, but they can provide secondary or even primary
incomes. It’s better than nothing.”
This forward looking activity occurs
in the face of a recent lawsuit about the aforementioned Tyee Spit.
On March 31, the CRIB filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against
the city, province, and federal government to regain ownership of
Tyee Spit, including financial damages.
Mayor Roger McDonell said the city
will vigorously fight the lawsuit if it proceeds to trial. Chief Pollard
countered by saying the city was named on the lawsuit because it has
legal title to the spit. “This has been a contentious issue for the
band for a number of years,” the chief said. “We hope it won’t affect
our relationship.”
The Indian Band is represented by
Pollard and councillors Dean Drake, Tony Roberts Jr., Curtis Wilson, Gerry
Roberts and John Henderson, who are also seeking financial damages. “The
city is in discussions with the province and federal governments, and
intends to rigorously defend the city’s ownership of this important
property,” Mayor Roger McDonell said in the news release, adding
that, “This issue has been brewing for 80 years.”
It has become more contentious in the
last couple of decades of rapid development, with the city trying to
hang onto the land. In 1994, the city purchased Tyee Spit from
TimberWest for $1.7 million, and since spent more than $2.25 million cleaning
up and developing the spit (with help of various levels of
government) as public parkland.
The CRIB case states, the Indian Band
disputes the 1921 sale of the Tyee Spit to the International Timber
company, saying, it was conducted improperly and was not in the best
interests of the Indian Band. The land, part of the original reserve,
was sold for $13,500, with the money distributed to the Campbell
River Indian Band through the federal government.
The intent of the sale was to build a
sawmill on the spit and to use it as place to store logs; instead,
however, this was never carried out, and a northern part of the spit
was leased in 1922 to Ned Painter who operated a fishing lodge.
By car, Campbell River is 264 km north
of Victoria and 153 km north of Nanaimo. The scenic route is via
ocean-side Highway 19A, leaving Highway 19 at the Miracle Beach exit.
BC Ferries leaves for Nanaimo from both its Horseshoe Bay terminal
(about 1 ˝ hours) and the Tsawwassen terminal (2 hours).
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