Manitoba’s largest First Nation is concerned a housing development planned for The Forks might compromise archaeological evidence and belongings of cultural and spiritual significance at the national historic site, and says it hasn’t been adequately consulted in the lead up to the project.
Peguis First Nation met with The Forks in May about its concerns, but the First Nation says it’s unclear how or whether it will be accommodated and consulted in a formal process, said Mike Sutherland, Peguis’s director of consultation and special projects.
“We’re not against development,” he told CBC News last week. “But let’s do this right, because if they unearth ancestors, artifacts, we want to be there to monitor that and make sure they’re not damaged.”
The Forks says it agrees conversation and consultation are necessary to make sure it’s moving forward properly and respecting the area’s significance as an Indigenous meeting place of more than 6,000 years.
It says it has hosted public consultations over the past decade and welcomes ongoing conversations with Peguis.
The Railside at The Forks project has long been advised by its heritage advisory committee, which has always had Indigenous representation, including an elder, according to Zach Peters, communications manager for The Forks.
Following an an investigation into the housing site in 2017, which didn’t find many archaeologically significant artifacts, Peters says the advice and consultations culminated in a decision to construct housing without basements or underground parkades.
That’s intended “to leave as much and preserve as much of the history in the ground as possible,” Peters told CBC on Wednesday.
“The archaeology of this place and the history of this place is what’s important to The Forks.”
Artifacts ‘belong to the Indigenous people’
The Forks announced in March it would break ground on the first phase of Railside at The Forks this summer.
Seven developers, including The Forks, are building 10 apartment and condo buildings northwest of The Forks Market, on land that’s currently used for parking.
The ground floor of each building is reserved for business space, while the upper floors will house a combined total of more than 300 suites.
The Forks expects construction to get underway in August or September.
It’s chosen to first develop the southernmost part of the parking lot, as studies have suggested it’s the least archaeologically rich section of the site, Peters said.
The Forks Renewal Corporation hired InterGroup Consultants to do an investigation into the presence and density of “heritage resources” within the proposed development area in October 2017.
The investigation involved excavating 13 trenches, each four metres deep, within the proposed building footprints. InterGroup’s report says the study found few archaeologically significant items.
Investigators recovered items including animal remains, pottery and stone materials, beneath a layer of debris left over from an abandoned rail yard.
The Forks heard a variety of academic and cultural views during the consultation process that ranged from calling for an extensive archaeological dig to leaving the ground untouched, Peters said, and opted for the latter, in consultation with the advisory committee.
Peguis’ archaeologist, Garth Sutton, says the plan to avoid basements and underground parkades does put his mind at ease, but he wants monitors from the First Nation present during construction to make sure they’re engaged in the process and that procedures are followed, especially in case something is discovered.
Sutherland agrees people from Peguis should be there to monitor, but he’s also urging The Forks to engage Peguis and other Indigenous groups in a formal consultation process, which hasn’t happened yet, he said.
“If you want to build, it has to be done properly with ceremony, and archaeological work has to be done there,” he said.
“If you unearth a village, if you unearth ancestors, teepee rings, or whatever it may be … it’s better to do it beforehand than having the full excavation come in after the fact.”
He expects artifacts will be found at the housing site, given its proximity to the Red River and the fact more than 500,000 artifacts were discovered in a dig at the site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which faced extensive criticism over its handling of the search at the time.
Sutherland worries about where any artifacts would end up.
“They belong to the Indigenous people of this land, people that came here,” he said, and items like “pipes and personal belongings of spiritual elders and leaders … have to be repatriated.”
Amendments to legislation needed
Both Sutherland and Sutton say Manitoba’s Heritage Resources Act, which guides processes in the province’s Historic Resources Branch, must be updated to include consultation and engagement with Indigenous communities.
Sutton says archaeological work is often completed without community consultations and the artifacts are removed from the region.
“It kind of cuts off the communities from their past, essentially from their heritage, and we have to kind of stop doing that,” Sutton said.
Sutton said Peguis has met with Manitoba’s culture and heritage minister about making amendments, which he hopes will include language on collaboration and consent with Indigenous communities.
A spokesperson for Glen Simard told CBC the minister will continue to consult with Peguis and listen to its ideas and suggestions as The Forks project moves forward.
Meanwhile, The Forks says conversations with Peguis are ongoing, but it hasn’t decided whether people from Peguis will be allowed to monitor construction.
An archaeologist with The Forks will be on site and can stop the housing project if crews discover something, Peters said.