Every time I write about David Yeagley, I find a new piece of information about Canadian Indians that is not particularly flattering (to the Indians). I'm not saying that the issues regarding American and Canadian Indians are the same, but they are often similar, although things are more extreme here.
The CBC reported that British Columbia homeowner Louise Allix has to pay $35,000 for having archaeologists assess her property for potential "heritage" artifacts. She wasn't even aware that her property was considered a heritage site until she decided to build a house on it. Regarding heritage sites, the CBC diplomatically writes, "the province keeps the database of sites that are reported to them by First Nations and other interested parties," but doesn't specify who those other interested parties are.
So, I can come to my own biased conclusions (albeit with some backing, this is B.C. after all and I've reported on the B.C. land claims issues that unraveled during the Olympics) that most of this reporting comes from First Nations people. In fact, here is a quote from former chief of the Nanoose First Nation:
Buyer beware. That land you are buying may be of historical importance to First Nations...Heritage can be preserved or destroyed. And the biggest problem that we've had is that it's been destroyed.So far, there are 38,000 heritage sites in B.C., with 2,000 added each year. That is 38,000, and growing, possibilities for "heritages" to be destroyed.
Mrs. Allix's property dig uncovered "part of a human skull...a dog skeleton, several arrowheads and a hand-carved pin." This is the "heritage" that the B.C. government and Indians are jealously guarding.
Part of the problem, of course, is that Indians can claim as a heritage site any place where they believe some artifacts (or bodies) are buried. Given the nomadic nature of many Indian tribes, any part of B.C. can potentially be a heritage site – as the yearly reports of 2,000 sites indicate. It is time that the B.C. government took a firm stand and simply refused to cave in to the atrocious demands of Indians-gone-amuck. Before they know it, there will be no land left to defend.
