Denise O'Connor speaking at the 2024 UBCM Convention in Vancouver. (Photo via UBCM)
The mayor of Lytton is once again asking the Provincial Government to help residents who want to rebuild the Fraser Canyon community more than three years after much of it was destroyed in a wildfire.
Denise O’Connor says while the community is eager to move forward, residents continue to face significant barriers because of archaeological work that is required.
“Our understanding is that the Chance Find Procedure – which is when you are digging and you find something, you report it – is everywhere else in the province but in Lytton, we have a Heritage Permit that we’ve had to take out with the Province that states in it that we have to have delegated archaeologist working,” O’Connor said.
“It’s causing nothing but grief for our residents who are trying to rebuild. We are stumped.”
Speaking on NL Newsday, O’Connor also said that the Heritage Permit has limited the number of archaeologists who are able to work in Lytton.
“With the Chance Find, any archaeologist that is certified and qualified can do that work but there is strict criteria around which archaeologists can work under this permit,” she added “Up to about a year ago there was only one [archaeologist] on the permit but we did find another one, so there are now two, but their capacity is full.”
“That’s another issue now in that when a property goes to rebuild and they are trying to hire an archaeologist, they archaeologist says ‘I can’t. We are maxed.”
While details about the artifacts that have been found to date have not been made public, O’Connor says the Village has been led to believe that there have been about 7,000 items that have been recovered.
Archaeological costs are too high
O’Connor said while the Village of Lytton supports the rights of local Indigenous communities and the protection of heritage sites, the costs that residents have to bear are too high.
“Quotes people are getting are anywhere from $26,000 to $46,000 for archaeology, out of pocket,” O’Connor said. “We had one resident who was quoted $82,000 for their property. They cancelled their building permit. They’re not coming back, and there are still some property owners that are trying to decide what to do.”
“The people have been rebuilt, that have done the archaeology, they’ve taken money out of their content insurance. For example, I had one person say ‘I gguess the money I had planned to buy furniture for my house with, I’m putting into archaeology.'”
The fire on June 30, 2021 killed two people and destroyed 90 per cent of the properties in Lytton, which at the time was home to around 200 people.
Over the past few years, O’Connor says there has been extensive work done to remove debris as well as to remediate and backfill properties ahead of the rebuild.
But speaking at this week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver, O’Connor said just 15 residential building permits and seven commercial or mixed-use permits have been issued.
She also said just 15 properties have cleared the archeological process, and to date only three homes have been rebuilt.
“The people of Lytton have been patient for far too long,” O’Connor said. “While we appreciate the overall support from the Province to help rebuild Lytton, the costs and process delays related to the archeological work are major barriers to getting people back into their homes.”
At the UBCM convention, O’Connor asked the Province to streamline the archeological process and to also cover those costs for residents.
“We respect the importance of archaeological preservation, but the pace of the work and the additional expenses should not burden or fall on the shoulders of our residents who have lost so much,” O’Connor said. “The B.C. Government needs to step up, show its support to our village, expediate this process, and cover these costs so that residents can move forward with rebuilding and healing.”
Request for meeting with Premier Eby ‘met with crickets’
O’Connor also revealed that she has twice requested a meeting with Premier David Eby to discuss the issues – once in April and once in July – but notes those requests have been “met with crickets.”
“We didn’t have things happening particularly around the archaeology process and the costs that residents were facing to have archaeology done on their properties, and in April the response came back to my letter but no mention of the request for a meeting,” O’Connor said. “The July letter that we sent, to date, I have not received any kind of response.”
“It’s frustrating, its mad, and you start feeling defeated after a while, but I have to stand up for my constituents.”
Radio NL has reached out to the Ministries of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness and Environment and Climate Change Strategy as well as the Premier’s Office for comment.
