Khelsilem and Mindy Wight: Reconciliation is Building Something Better For Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Communities
Critics of the Sen̓áḵw project want to define reconciliation, but they unfortunately leave out many important facts. Read the "directors-cut" oped we couldn’t fit into the Vancouver Sun.
A 700-word version of this op-ed was published in the Vancouver Sun on September 20th, 2022. Here is the longer original version with more details.
One day in the not-so-distant future, the community that includes Vanier Park, the Kitsilano Indian Reserve, and the adjacent streets around Burrard Street to West 1st Avenue to Creekside Park will be described as the Sen̓áḵw neighbourhood of Vancouver.
This future reflects the truth and history of this land, which saw the Government of Canada confine our ancestors to small patches of land and were allocated only 80 acres in this area. Then, in 1913, Squamish parents and children were forcibly removed when the land was annexed by the City of Vancouver and the Federal and Provincial Governments. It took nearly a century for a small fraction of this land to be returned to us. Only after a decades-long legal battle and a 2003 court decision did we see a small 10.5-acre portion of Sen̓áḵw returned to the Squamish People.
History and context matter. Imagine a world before contact where a population of over 100,000 Squamish people enjoyed secure housing, childcare, healthcare, healthy and accessible nutrition, and meaningful work. Continue to imagine that by 1913, when we were forcibly removed from the Sen̓áḵw village, our population had declined to around 300. Today, we are 4,100 people, and the residential and commercial development at Sen̓áḵw is our plan to help rebuild the Squamish Nation after a century and a half of Canadian policies that devastated the quality of life for the Squamish People.
The way our Nation will provide for our people on the lands of Sen̓áḵw will be done in a unique and innovative Squamish-led way. The Squamish Nation is not required to follow municipal regulations, policies and standards, the development application process, or even seek municipal approval for our lands at Sen̓áḵw. If you ask why, it’s for the same reason the City of Port Moody doesn’t have to follow the City of Vancouver’s rules: these are our lands within our jurisdiction, not the City of Vancouver.
As a government, we understand the benefits of this project for our people but also realize the positive impact it will have on our neighbours. The development of Sen̓áḵw – planned to be constructed in four separate phases – comes about because of a unique collaboration between the Squamish Nation and the City of Vancouver through a services agreement that addresses the needs of the development, but also a commitment to significant public benefits.
Through this agreement, we have committed to direct public contributions or commitments to practices aligned with city policies and will purchase services from the city at the same rates. In addition, our project team has worked with Metro Vancouver and the Parks Board to ensure the project positively contributes toward Vancouver’s goals of becoming a more inclusive and sustainable community.
Recently, a few critics of the development and services agreement have questioned the legitimacy of this project to contribute to reconciliation. They fail to acknowledge an unprecedented achievement and the extensive list of benefits the Squamish Nation chooses to contribute to the city. These benefits include environmental excellence, including the aim to achieve net zero operational carbon across the project’s lifecycle and increased investments in Sen̓áḵw Park and protect it from rising sea levels.
In addition, our project will contribute over $28 million for service upgrades that will serve the broader community and $15 million to a new public transit station to better connect the broader community to the rest of the city. This will be complemented by the more than 50,000 square feet of public amenities, including park space and indoor and outdoor recreation space on the unused lands beneath the Burrard Bridge. Even with these contributions, the Nation will still pay for other shared infrastructure through its property taxes.
Our government is acutely aware of the region’s need for more affordable housing. Sen̓áḵw helps to address this through 6,077 new rental homes rather than opting for a condo development. We commit to 20 percent of the units being set at rents below or average market rents and rents no higher than 30 percent of the median total income. This generates 1,215 affordable rental apartments that would otherwise not be produced. This will all be supported by social infrastructure, including a childcare facility for up to 75 children and roughly six acres of dedicated publicly accessible spaces, including parks, plazas and spaces for recreation and sport.
This sustainable community breaks precedence with bold and innovative approaches. We see highly dense but low vehicle development as the future of our city, with plans for only 848 vehicle parking stalls. Instead, we’ll design 4,477 secured bike parking spaces that are easily accessible from the Burrard Street Bridge bike lanes.
The nature of reconciliation is to start with the truth: it’s about time First Nations can create value from the tiny parcels of reserve lands we were left with after past racist governments seized nearly everything. But it’s also about Indigenous Peoples influencing Canada positively, as much as Canada has had a profound impact on Indigenous Peoples. We’ve had to change and sacrifice so much of who we are and give up so much of what belongs to us for Canada to exist. Our development of Sen̓áḵw is as much of a benefit to the city as it is a tool to create wealth from our lands that will enhance the entire community.
Its legitimacy as an effort of reconciliation is evidenced by the broad collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments, but also through the net positive impact, we will have on Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Chair Khelsilem, Chairperson of the Squamish Nation Council
Mindy Wight, CEO of the Nch’ḵay̓ Development Corporation
Thank you for sharing this