Defending Our Land: Nlaka'Pamux Nation Members Speak Out Against the Proposed Coquihalla Ski Resort

Speaker list to be announced.

6pm, September 27, 2008, Vancouver, BC

Dogwood Centre, on the corner of Georgia St.
706 Clarke Drive, Vancouver

Every August, Nlaka'Pamux people harvest huckleberries in the Coquihalla mountains, just one of the abundant traditional foods, this area provides our people.

Westscapes Development is seeking BC's approval to develop a ski resort in this area, located near the toll booths of the Coquihalla Highway. During this past August, the Friends of the Coquihalla also held a camp out to show a visible support for defending our land from the unwanted development of the Coquihalla Pass Ski resort.

Excerpts from Friends of the Coquihalla materials.

Our Future, Our Responsibility – There has been an application to the Environmental Assessment Office of BC for controlled access of the Coquihalla. The Nicola Tribes in the Merritt area are now considering how to deal with the Environmental Assessment Office, (the provincial governing agency) that has accepted an application by Westscapes Developments for 22,500 hectares for an all season ski resort in the Coquihalla Mountains.

This land includes the Upper Coldwater River and July Creek Drainages, the Juliet Mountain Range, and other areas for an all season resort by multi million dollar investors in the Coquihalla Mountains. Long before recorded history the Nlaka’pamux people have used this area of the Coldwater drainage for hunting, trapping AND gathering. It is a place of spiritual, cultural and recreational enrichment.

Friends of the Coquihalla is a First Nation group of the Nlaka’pamux Nation opposed to the PROPOSED Upper Coquihalla Pass Resort Development. First Nations use and occupy these lands along with many others. Westscapes Developments Inc. is projecting ski lifts and runs, an 18 hole golf course, residential developments and hotels to be built right in the Upper Coldwater Valley. The size of this proposed city on the hill is touted to be in the vicinity of 15,000 beds (3,300 homes) and will be supporting a population twice the size of Merritt (the closest town to the site).

The proponent has repeatedly stated that neither water quality nor quantity will be affected by the development - a bold statement under the circumstances. It is projected that the resort will use 5.5 million litres of water a day from an already at risk and seriously endangered Coldwater River Watershed. The water that flows down the Coldwater River and empties into the Nicola River melts from the winter snows in these mountains.

The grassroots people of the Nlaka’pamux Nation live, walk, harvest, hunt, fish, trap and pray all over these mountains. The Coquihalla is home to many species at risk, like the grizzly bear, grey wolf, and wolverine. The animals need to be protected, they are running out of places to live in the BC interior.

In this day and age, with global warming and shortage of water, the last thing the BC interior needs is another ski resort.