By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer

On June 26, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and the province of BC signed an agreement “intended to help the Nation assert its role as stewards” of their traditional land. 

The Nation reported that the agreement will allow them to protect “33 new Síiyaḿiin (cultural sites), Sneẃiyelh (cultural training areas), areas for fish and wildlife monitoring,” and the establishment of “six Special Cultural Management Areas.” It will also “increase protection for riparian ecosystems (land next to rivers, streams, and lakes), wetland ecosystems, and areas of old cedar forests.” 

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw traditional territory totals 673,200 hectares. The agreement covers 20,000 hectares, “equivalent to 50 Stanley Parks,” and spans across the Lower Mainland from North Vancouver to Howe Sound. The Peak spoke with Ravi Parmar, BC’s Minister of Forests, who signed on to the agreement on behalf of the province, to learn more. The Peak was unable to hear back from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw by the publication deadline.

“This is years of meaningful work between the province and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw that have led to this moment,” Parmar said. The agreement, he explained, builds on two modern Land Back efforts from 2007 and 2017. 

The 2007 consensus “was built into the Sea to Sky Land and Resource Management Plan,” which recognized specific areas as Wild Spirit Places under Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw protection. These places include Nsíiyx̱nitem tl’a sútich (Upper Elaho Valley), Nexw Áyantsut (Sims Creek Watershed), and Estétiwilh (West Side Sḵwx̱wú7mesh River). In 2017, the Umbrella Agreement between Whistler Mountain Resort LP, Blackcomb Skiing Enterprises LP, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Líl̓wat Nations further outlined the scope of these Indigenous lands. 

“Our people, not just today but future generations, will be able to experience the gifts that our ancestors had for us, to be able to bathe in those creeks, to have a relationship with those mountains, to be in those forests, to harvest our medicines and our tools.” — Khelsilem, council chairperson, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw

The latest agreement is “a major step forward in asserting our Nation’s role as stewards of our lands,” said Sxwíxwtn Wilson Williams, councillor and spokesperson for the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, on the day the agreement was signed. “These have been our lands for thousands of years, and the fact they are now back under our direct control provides a greater sense of security for our People and a strong optimism for our future.”

X̱ay Temíxw, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw’s Sacred Land Use Plan, will guide the approach towards safeguarding this area. The plan transforms “cultural and natural landscape values into four ‘zones’ of management: Forest Stewardship Areas, Sensitive Areas, Restoration Areas, and Wild Spirit Places.”

“We have very few places that we can call our own within our territory to practice our spiritual beliefs and our cultural practices,” Khelsilem, chair of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw, said during the signing event. 

“We have to stand together as Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people to protect those areas so that our people, not just today but future generations, will be able to experience the gifts that our ancestors had for us, to be able to bathe in those creeks, to have a relationship with those mountains, to be in those forests, to harvest our medicines and our tools.”

Parmar also emphasized that the path forward is one of “balancing economic opportunity and prosperity with environmental protection and stability.” This includes “unlocking lands that typically were not available for harvesting,” and “increasing the timber harvesting” while “protecting old growth trees,” he said. “This is forestry and reconciliation working hand in hand.”