The Snuneymuxw First Nation has been granted a 212-hectare parcel of land west of Nanaimo as part of a larger land transfer aimed at creating forestry jobs.
“Economically, it is going to help generate revenue for our community and our future generations — look after our young people and our unborn,” Chief Mike Wyse said Thursday.
“It’s going to be a win-win for the mid-Island region overall.”
A total of 3,094 hectares will eventually be transferred to the nation, which Wyse expects to be completed within a year. “Hopefully, a lot sooner.”
Some members of the nation, which hires contractors to log and haul wood, are already employed in forestry, said Wyse, whose son is in his fourth year of university studying for a forestry degree.
The heavily forested 212-hectares parcel of land transferred to the nation — which has 1,700 members and six reserves — is called Te’tuxwtun and is also known as Mount Benson East.
The land transfers were promised in a 2020 reconciliation agreement between the province and First Nation.
Remaining lands to be transferred include about 740 hectares on what is called Mount Benson North and another 2,097-hectare site on Mount McKay, between Nanaimo and Ladysmith.
In a statement, the province said the transfers stem from the 1854 Saarlequun Snuneymuxw Treaty, which includes a promise to “forever and always preserve and protect Snuneymuxw villages, enclosed fields, waterways, harvesting and gathering, and the rights to hunt and fisheries as they did formerly.”
The nation’s Petroglyph Development Group has business interests that include forestry, tourism, ownership in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in downtown Nanaimo and Miller’s Pub.
“Our mission is clear: continue building on our economic growth and secure a prosperous future for generations to come,” Wyse said.
The nation infuses “Snawaylth” beliefs into all its economic projects, he said. Snawaylth refers to a belief in the interconnected relationship among living things, the nation’s website says.
Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin said the transfer of Mount Benson East will allow the nation to create economic activity in forestry while also protecting wildlife.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
