Dec 3rd, 2014
Dear CARLA WILSON / Victoria Times Colonist
Article Included Below
SHERRY BRYDSON
LONGVIEW-VANTREIGHT FARMS OWNER CAVEAT EMPTOR : TRESPASS
The Subject Of Private Properties Now Subject To Land Claims
COWICHAN TRIBES CLAIMS GRACE ISLET & VANTREIGHT FARMS SERVED NOTICE
please remember that we have laid claim to the Vantreight Farms
in Saanich : SEP 13 2014
Also
We have also made our statements about Grace Islet
... And, we have forwarded this information to
BC's Shqw'qwal A-in Chut Atleo
huy'ch'qu'
Ralph SQYX / Peace & Harmony Trust : P&HT 2014 Energy Declaration
SHERRY BRYDSON
LONGVIEW-VANTREIGHT FARMS OWNER CAVEAT EMPTOR : TRESPASS
Dear
Thank you for receiving this friendly communication on this matter of the September 2014 BCSC Vantreight Farms forced sale decision. We / Kwa'mutsun Nation Head Of State per Stitumaatulwut Hwuneem Ruby Peter wish to advise you that the Vantreight Farm properties are attached to our global claim at the United Nations & its September 2014 Credentials Committee; where we have updated our 2013 Notice of Intent to challenge Crown Canada's claim to nationhood status; and, wherein, by the principles of Free Prior Informed Consent [as we have advised you in our previous meetings at Vantreight Farms] Original Indigenous Peoples are the paramount governing body of the day in these territories (i.e., Rocky Mountain Cree Nation and TIF); specifically, Vantreight Farms is trespassing on sovereign indigenous lands. Thank you / huy'ch'qu' for reviewing this information. And, you are invited to contact this writer Ralph Charles Goodwin (SqYx) for further information at 1.778.433.3908 / 1.250.709.1809 or (preferred at our EMAIL) Phoenix Thunderbird Rising STAGEGATE VORTEX RIGHTS OF THE CHILD Tubeta Ts'ena-Water Is Life
The Subject Of Private Properties Now Subject To Land Claims
COWICHAN TRIBES CLAIMS GRACE ISLET & VANTREIGHT FARMS SERVED NOTICE
Dear Mom Ruby Kwa'mutsun Nation: FPIC : Redemption of Birth Certificate :
Please Note:
Willie Seymour has laid claim to Grace Islet for Cowichan Tribes
while reading through this articlePlease Note:
Willie Seymour has laid claim to Grace Islet for Cowichan Tribes
please remember that we have laid claim to the Vantreight Farms
in Saanich : SEP 13 2014
Also
We have also made our statements about Grace Islet
... And, we have forwarded this information to
BC's Shqw'qwal A-in Chut Atleo
huy'ch'qu'
Ralph SQYX / Peace & Harmony Trust : P&HT 2014 Energy Declaration
"It has taken months for the provincial government to
respond to public outcry over a luxury home being built on a First
Nations cemetery on Grace Islet, near Saltspring Island.
Now, a
notice of title claim has been announced by Cowichan Tribes and the
Ministry of Forests has confirmed it has a mandate to resolve the issue
with First Nations and the landowner. It has also appointed two
mediators to work with landowner Barry Slawsky and First Nations
leaders.
“We’ve been trying to work with the ministry and
landowner but now it’s at the point where we are moving to assert
aboriginal title and rights to this land,” said Cowichan Tribes Chief
William Seymour.
He said Minister Steve Thomson called to tell him
about the mandate and the mediators, but Seymour was cautious about
whether it will lead to action.
“It’s come to a point where we’ve
been forced into this,” said Seymour, noting the law firm Woodward and
Co. are representing the band. He said the claim is meant to right a
government wrong, not set any precedent for asserting rights on private
land.
The claim states that by granting private ownership of Grace
Islet, the Crown infringed on aboriginal title over an area exclusively
occupied by Cowichan prior to contact, a known burial site and
registered archeological site. It claims descendants of the Cowichan
Nation are entitled to the land.
“Elders from the beginning have
talked about Ganges being a known harvest area. There is a very good
possibility they have direct ancestors buried there [on the islet],”
Seymour said.
The Tribes, seven bands in the Cowichan Valley area,
are one of several local First Nations groups with an interest in Grace
Islet and who have said they are pursuing legal action. A group of
advocates from Saltspring Island has raised more than $9,000 for the
Penelakut First Nation to seek a legal opinion on protection of the
islet.
Slawsky, an Alberta businessman, bought the small island
from the previous landowner in 1990. In 2006, exposed human remains were
found on the islet by kayakers and determined to be ancient bones.
First Nations burial cairns were also identified by archeologists and
the islet was deemed a cemetery.
In B.C., burial grounds established before 1846 fall under the Heritage Act, not the protection of the Cemeteries Act.
Slawsky obtained site alteration permits from the archeological branch (in the forests ministry) to continue building.
But
permit violations and claims of grave desecration, such as building on
top of cairns, incited protests from First Nations, local governments
and the public.
Slawsky is out of the country and could not
comment on the legal action or what kind of resolutions he’d be open to.
His Victoria-based lawyer, John Alexander, said he is not involved in
his client’s dealings with the province but was aware the parties had
met. If the aboriginal title claim was to be filed, it could have huge
implications for British Columbians and sway public sentiment against
First Nations, Alexander said.
“It would be the first direct
aboriginal title claim of private land,” he said. “It will certainly
drive away investment and alarm homeowners.”
Gary Holman, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, has been pressing the government to act on Grace Islet for years.
“They say they’re talking, but as they’re talking the house is being built,” Holman said.
Holman
spoke to Thomson a few days ago and was told that while the province
cannot expropriate the land for public use under the heritage act, it
might be able to do so under different legislation.
“They say they have a mandate, which is good. But how are they going to act on it?,” Holman said.
Thomson’s office said it had no comment as discussions were ongoing.
©
Copyright (c)
The Victoria Times Colonist
Original source article: B.C. moves to resolve Grace Islet dispute