A First Nation in B.C.’s Fraser Valley is calling out the provincial government for what it says are delays and a lack of clarity on approval for a proposed gondola project.
The Cascade Skyline Gondola project, modelled on the Sea-to-Sky Gondola, would offer visitors a panoramic view of the Fraser Valley. The Cheam First Nation has been working for eight years on the proposal and has invested up to $6 million.
That figure includes the recent purchase of the Bridal Falls Golf Course, which would serve as the gondola’s base.
“We feel like this project really is working towards that balance of maintaining environmental protection and restoration, and it’s the same with our people and our community,” Cheam Chief Darwin Douglas said. “We are working to rebuild, to find health and prosperity. So the project is really integral to what we see as our future.”
The Cheam First Nation says the project could create hundreds of jobs for locals, and would serve as an example of economic reconciliation.
But while the nation has invested significant time and resources into the proposal, it feels like the province has not been keeping up its end of the bargain.
“This is a project that should have a really simple process to approval, and we have been delayed constantly because of different bureaucratic processes or just a lack of clarity on just what it is we need to do to move forward,” he said. “It seems to us like that’s a sign of disrespect for our people and our initiative.”
The nation believes one complicating factor is another project proposed in the same area, the Bridal Veil Mountian Resort. That project would also include a gondola.
“What we are looking at doing is developing an all-season destination resort, and we see that resort as a benefit for everybody, First Nations, including Cheam,” resort president Robert Wilson told Global News. “We see that as a huge benefit for the valley, it becomes an anchor tourism attraction for Chilliwack, but the whole Fraser Valley.”
The Bridal Veil proposal envisions a ski resort covering more than 44 square kilometres, an area larger than Whister-Blackcomb, and Wilson said it is actively seeking First Nations partners.
The two proposals once overlapped, but the nation says it has since scaled its plan back.
In a statement, the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship said it was “working through the complexities” of both projects.
It said the proposals are being adjudicated under separate policies by two ministries. It is reviewing the Cheam project, while the Tourism Ministry is reviewing the Bridal Veil project.
“The Cascade Skyline Gondola Project team has reduced the project scope and the ministry is currently reviewing this, however, the two proposals are still within the same area and are proposing the development of tourism and recreation infrastructure,” it said.
“There are also extensive Indigenous, environmental, public recreation and natural resource interests in the area which are being considered. ”
Both projects are in close proximity to several other First Nations, who the province is also consulting with.
It added that it had previously notified both proponents that their proposals would be best evaluated through a singular competitive process, but that it was now reviewing the implications of the Cheam First Nation reducing the scope of its proposal.
Douglas, meanwhile, said the nation is set to get started as soon as project approval comes through.
“We are absolutely ready to go,” he said. “We are very close to being shovel-ready.”