The company conducting archeological work at the site of the fire-razed Village of Lytton, B.C., says it can do a better job of communicating with frustrated residents, but denies it is responsible for delays in rebuilding.
Virtually the entire town was destroyed during a wildfire in June 2021. More than two years later, little has been rebuilt, and residents took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the slow pace of reconstruction.
Lytton was built on land occupied by the Nlaka͛pamux peoples for thousands of years, including a burial site, and following the fire the province pledged to fund archeological work to preserve artifacts and heritage.
That work is being performed by AEW, a company owned by the Nlaka͛pamux Nation Tribal Council, which says it has made extensive finds.
“It’s not surprising that we’re finding a lot of artifacts, but at the same time I think we’re finding more than even what we expected,” said Peter Martell, executive director of operations at AEW.
“It’s a very high-potential site.”
A 7,500-year-old spear point and ancestral remains are among the thousands of artifacts uncovered, and Martell said the work is important because it demonstrates the existence of people in the area centuries before the arrival of European settlers.
On Wednesday, residents voiced numerous frustrations with the process, some saying they’re being kept in the dark about what has been found.
“If you had to not build a house there again, you would want to know,” Lytton First Nation member Dr. Rosalin Miles said. “Do you want to build your house on a graveyard? Probably not.”
Some residents also say they’ve been told they will need additional archeological monitoring work if they want to dig on their own properties, which they would be responsible for funding.
Lytton resident N’kixw’stn said she was quoted a price of $16,000 to do such work, while another resident showed Global News a quote suggesting work would cost more than $6,000 a day.
Martell agreed that the situation in Lytton is “taking longer than it should,” but said there have been a variety of factors at play, including floods, wildfire evacuations and contaminated soil.
But he said the archeology work was not at the heart of the slow rebuild.
“The scope and kind of remediation and reconstruction of the town is what is driving the project schedule, not the archeology work,” he said.
“All work takes time and our work is no different than the Village of Lytton work. The Village of Lytton has not stopped work on this project because of archeological delays.”
But he conceded that the flow of information to residents could be improved.
“Maybe it is a bit of a disconnect in communication as to whose role communicating with the residents is, and whether that’s actually the responsibility of the Village of Lytton staff,” Martell said.
“We did do a newsletter every quarter but perhaps we could develop better communication tools to reach out to the residents, I agree, that’s a good idea.”
As for the high dollar figures for work quoted by residents, Martell said AEW was willing to work with residents to find a way to reduce costs.
Forestry Minister Bruce Ralston said the province had provided $23 million for the archeology work, but said that details of how it is undertaken are covered by an agreement negotiated between the Village of Lytton and AEW.
“One of the commentators has described it as perhaps one of the richest archeological sites in North America. So these are profound heritage issues that the village and the residents who want to move back are dealing with,” he said.
“I understand that people, and rightly so, are concerned with the delay in getting back into their homes has taken far too long.”
Ralston pointed to progress at the village site, including the recent construction of a new RCMP station.
The BC United opposition said the NDP needs to step in and speed the process up.
“It is up to government to be clear about what those processes are, how they work and what people can expect,” Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart said.
With winter fast approaching, however, it appears unclear when residents will see significant progress on reconstruction.
Neither Martell nor Ralston were able to provide a solid timeline for when homes in the community would be rebuilt.