Why reconciliation in small towns might progress more slowly than at provincial, federal level

Ask the mayor of a small town and the chief of the local First Nation how reconciliation on a local governance level is going, and you might get two different answers. 

"It's evolved and changed in a big way, and I think it's a lot more collaborative than it used to be. There's a long way to go," said Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman, citing a number of joint committees that didn't exist five years ago.

"We work very closely together. I feel that there is an ease in terms of picking up the phone between myself and Chief Nelson … and an ability to and a desire to work really closely together."

He's referring to Chief Dean Nelson, the political chief of the Líl̓wat Nation. Their unceded lands span from Whistler to Birken and the Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park, with most living in and around Mount Currie close to Pemberton — a town named for a Hudson's Bay Company surveyor. 

Nelson doesn't see the dynamic in the same way as Richman.     

"We're on talking terms. I mean, we speak different languages on things. The understanding is still not there," said Nelson.

While Pemberton has grown at a faster rate since 2016 than any municipality in B.C. that has at least 1,000 people, the Líl̓wat Nation has no say over the pace of developments — and little ability to create direct benefits on its 10 reserves, which comprise just 0.004 per cent of traditional Líl̓wat territory.

"We don't have the freedom to do what we need to help our people," said Nelson. 

"We want an equal part in it, an equal opportunity for the lands anywhere within our territory. And we're not." 

The relationship between small towns in B.C. and local First Nations can vary: some communities have detailed strategies and joint committees, others don't. The distance between municipalities and the nearest Indigenous communities can be a factor, along with the limited budgets of small towns.  

But the one common denominator is history. 

"British Columbia was settled very late, and as a result of that, the difference in power between the settlers and Indigenous people is particularly great," said Cole Harris, a UBC professor emeritus whose research has focused on colonial strategies and Indigenous displacement in B.C.  

Small towns are often on land where Indigenous settlements once thrived before being displaced by governments — often to reserves in nearby areas that were usually smaller and less agriculturally desirable than the municipal settlement. 

"There's very little agricultural land in British Columbia and more settlers are coming in. They're taking it very quickly," said Harris, recounting how the transition happened in many areas of the province in the late 19th century.