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Snuneymuxw threatens legal action against City of Nanaimo

Snuneymuxw chief threatens legal action against City of Nanaimo, Harmac mill over pending water deal

Frustration over water rights has brought Snuneymuxw First Nation to a boiling point.

The band is threatening legal action against the City of Nanaimo, Nanaimo Forest Products and the province unless Snuneymuxw can be included in a pending water deal between those groups.

Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief Douglas White III said current water licensing grants heavily favour the city and Harmac mill while ignoring Snuneymuxw's treaty rights, and that an upcoming water deal expected to be signed by the city and Harmac excludes SFN and goes against treaty agreements.

Harmac, as a result of water licences granted by the province decades ago, is entitled to about 330 megalitres of water per day, some of it from the Nanaimo River. The city's water demand is estimated between 40-50 megalitres daily.

The city and Harmac are working on a deal, expected to be explained further after press time Monday, that would see the city pay the pulp mill for its unused water in an effort to meet the future residential and commercial needs of Nanaimo as an alternative to building a second dam, which could cost taxpayers around $60 million.

"We've done everything we can to include SFN in all of these discussions," said Mayor John Ruttan. "We have an obligation to provide water to our residents so we've approached Harmac without any intent of excluding First Nations. We're simply continuing on with a process to try and find water at an acceptable price to our taxpayers."

White said Harmac's water licence is intended for industrial use only, and any attempt to change that licence to provide water for residential or commercial use would need to be approved by the province and, according to White, Snuneymuxw First Nation based on a treaty signed in 1854.

"Snuneymuxw, and all citizens of the region, have been done a serious disservice for years by a handout of the region's massive water resources to one private interest," said White, adding that water has to be trucked to three of SFN's four local reserves at expense to the band despite a water main operating within a serviceable distance. "That handout was not consistent with our treaty and has huge impacts on Snuneymuxw. We will stand for it no longer."

White refers to the Douglas Treaty, also called the Snuneymuxw Treaty, which dates back to 1854. It was a treaty signed by James Douglas, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Snuneymuxw First Nation, and was intended to recognize the Snuneymuxw way of life in exchange for access to coal deposits. That included protecting village sites and allowing Snuneymuxw people to carry on with their traditions of hunting and fishing.

That treaty has been ignored for more than 100 years, according to White, and has resulted in conditions of widespread poverty throughout Nanaimo reserves.

"Attawapiskat is up on [Indian reserve] No. 2. It's up on [SFN's] No. 3 and No. 4 reserves where our people are living in grinding poverty and Third World conditions. These perceived improved relations between the city and Snuneymuxw over the past few years has been a lot of window dressing, and smoke and mirrors. When it comes down to it and I say I'm having a hard time seeing what's in [these deals) for Snuneymuxw, and demand some benefit for Snuneymuxw, everybody walks and it becomes a fight and that's where we're at now."

Ruttan said he was "somewhat surprised" by the threat of legal action.

"Chief White may feel that there is some grounds for it, but in my case, as a representative of the city, I can only say that before the courts would hear it they would have to know what Nanaimo has done wrong and as I sit here, I'm unable to find a single thing that Nanaimo has done wrong that would invite litigation."

 

reporter2@nanaimobulletin.com