A basket purchased in the 1970’s was returned to the Lil’wat Nation during a land-blessing ceremony for the new Harrow Road housing development in Pemberton on Sept. 24. Event coordinator Wendy Hainstock gave Lil’wat Nation elected leader Maxine Bruce the basket back at the end of the traditional blessing.
Bruce and Roxanne Joe led the land blessing with a song. They were joined by the children of Xetólacw Community School, who sang “Wind in the Meadows,” and “The Welcome Song.”
Bruce said she did not know she would receive the gift at the ceremony. It was an incredibly emotional moment for her to see a little bit of reconciliation in process.
“We are in the very beginning stages of the meaning of reconciliation,” she said. “I don’t feel it coming. I am always trying hard to put reconciliation at the forefront and to be as positive as I can. We still don’t have our land back. That one small gesture just shocked me.”
Hainstock explained to Pique her uncle, Robert Hainstock, was a lifetime educator, but grew up in traditional Coast Salish territory.
“He spent his school breaks travelling around the world studying and learning from other cultures,” she said.
Robert purchased the hand-woven cedar basket in the 1970’s in the Mount Currie area. Both the red and black bark is from the cherry tree; the red turning to black after being buried for a year. It is then dried and woven into cedar.
When Robert Hainstock died, he left behind a collection of baskets from different First Nation cultures. Now, the basket has returned to its rightful owners.
“We wanted to return and gift the basket back to the Lil’wat Nation as a gift of appreciation for blessing the land and site of the new Harrow Road Affordable Housing and Community Hub Project,” said the younger Hainstock. “Our family has worked in the non-profit, education, and community health for years, and we have high hopes for the space operated by Sea to Sky Community Services.”
Located at Harrow Road and Highway 99, the 63-unit, five-storey building will feature a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, with 30 per cent allocated for market rentals, 50 per cent for “rent geared to income,” and 20 per cent for low-income households. The 9,000-square-foot bottom floor will be used for SSCS’ new offices—in which they will run 28 of the 40 programs they offer throughout the Sea to Sky—with the rest of the space slated for commercial uses. SSCS now hopes to build the development in just two years.
Pemberton’s mayor and council previously adopted a two-year permissive tax exemption for the build, and also agreed to waive associated development fees totalling $311,383.
Director of housing at SSCS, Jessie Abraham, previously told Pique getting the land blessed before turning the sod was incredibly important to them.
During the ceremony, everyone was given a cedar leaf. Bruce asked attendees to channel their positive intentions into the leaf. She urged people to choose a spot on the site and to leave the leaf there after the ceremony.
At the beginning of the event, Bruce said the Lil’wat Nation’s involvement in the project was an important step for both communities.
“I come from generations and generations of Lil’wat people,” she said. “My blood is deep with this land. I really put my heart into being an environmentalist. We have the opportunity to change things in a really positive way. Being invited to this event really touched my heart.”
The elected leader drew attention to her "Every Child Matters" necklace, and stressed that protecting the next generation has always been a focus of hers.
“Sea to Sky Community Services focuses on the children and focuses on such a big issue that we are all experiencing in this valley around housing,” said Bruce. “We are all just human beings. We have this opportunity to start this new housing project in a very positive way.”
Mayor Mike Richman said he was pleased and excited to see the start of the development.
“It has been a long haul to get here,” he said. “It represents some new hope, some beginnings. It represents a very small piece of reconciliation. It represents change.”
Richman said affordable housing is needed in Pemberton more than ever.
“We all know that more and more people are discovering our valley,” he said. “We know that the growth that’s pushing its way up the corridor is in ways inevitable. We spend a lot of time planning how we will manage that growth and how we make sure services keep up. There are folks leaving our community that have been here for years because they can’t find a place to stay.”
