Lytton residents say archaeology work the latest roadblock to rebuilding efforts

N'kixw'stn James has set up a teepee on what remains of her property in Lytton, B.C.   

The 78-year-old elder from Nlaka'pamux Nation lost her home to a 2021 wildfire that swept through the village.

More than 27 months after the disaster, James says she still doesn't know when she is returning home.

"I have been homeless," says James, who has been living as an evacuee at a senior residence home in Merritt, B.C., around 100 kilometres east of Lytton. 

Frustrated by the protracted rebuilding work, James erected a teepee on her property.

"I am making a statement. My ancestors have had their teepees, their longhouses in Lytton for centuries," she said.

Lytton residents rallied on Wednesday in protest of repeated delays to rebuild their community.

"The question to government is what is your plan?'' said Opposition B.C. United MLA Jackie Tegart, who represents the Fraser Canyon community in the legislature.

"That's the question I ask every day.''

Archaeologists say thousands of artifacts have been uncovered as they dig below what was Lytton.

But for those who lost their homes and businesses in the village, that careful research has been one more roadblock to the rebuilding process, Lytton Mayor Denise O'Connor said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

When gold miners arrived in the area in 1858, they began building on the site of the Nlaka'pamux First Nation village and its burial grounds, and as the village grew, the nation's history was lost or obscured.

The site is protected under B.C.'s Heritage Conservation Act.

Lytton's council awarded a provincially-funded contract in March 2022 to the consulting firm AEW for archaeological and heritage monitoring. The firm was formed in 2017 by the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal member communities.