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1/n Today @cityportalberni held a public hearing on a rezoning on Mallory drive, at the southern extremity of the City bounded by Plywood Drive, Canal Beach, the 2nd small @Tseshaht reserve and Mallory Drive. A member of the Tseshaht community provided some interesting comments.
2/n Aside: I am pleased to see Google has recognized the community-accepted name of "Canal Beach" for the park rather than what the City had attempted to rename it to simply because some idiots couldn't contain their pre-pubescent need to find vulgarity in every sign.
3/n That said, "Polly's Point", and likely also that beach has a traditional Nuu-Cha-Nulth name that should be there too... which brings me back to the property at hand.
A member of Tseshaht community contributed his family experience and history to the hearing.
A member of Tseshaht community contributed his family experience and history to the hearing.
4/n One of the few things people outside #PortAlberni often know about the town is that it hosted the Canadian terminus for the TeleGlobe cable that crossed the Pacific Ocean. That building, which was activated in 1959, was on the site now being rezoned.
http://www.bamfieldmsc.com/bmsc-overview/history
http://www.bamfieldmsc.com/bmsc-overview/history
5/n While Teleglobe was eventually rendered obsolete there is still a small office just to the north now used by @Ocean_Networks for their state of the art science.
But the legacy of that Teleglobe line which was originally built as a telegraph from Bamfield in 1901, remains.
But the legacy of that Teleglobe line which was originally built as a telegraph from Bamfield in 1901, remains.
6/n The Tseshaht community member reminded Council (and the Community) that the Teleglobe property was expropriated from the Tseshaht Reserve. He indicated this was around 1956. Whether it was expropriated by the City, the Province, of the Federal Government isn't clear.
7/n Teleglobe started as a Federal crown corporation.
The Community member mentioned that Tseshaht people were living on the land and there was an agreement that it would revert back if Teleglobe ever left.
Obviously that did not happen. It has changed ownership at least once.
The Community member mentioned that Tseshaht people were living on the land and there was an agreement that it would revert back if Teleglobe ever left.
Obviously that did not happen. It has changed ownership at least once.
8/n This is unlike a situation where private property is expropriated, obviously. There are much deeper issues at work here.
The property has contradictory designations in zoning and OCP as both Institutional and Residential which hints at the history, and future.
The property has contradictory designations in zoning and OCP as both Institutional and Residential which hints at the history, and future.
9/n The proponent wants to change the residential zoning to Industrial which would be more inline with current use. They would like to sell or lease with that use in mind.
The proponent repeated it had "always" been used this way, even though he was hearing exactly the opposite.
The proponent repeated it had "always" been used this way, even though he was hearing exactly the opposite.
10/n There was no animosity on any side thankfully, but these are the types of conflicts that arise when dealing with decades of systemic racism. No doubt there are cases like these across the country.
11/12 It begs the Q. Was there a written agreement or did the gov at the time just wink and move on? Probably the latter.
But here again we see First Nations being forced to remind others of their very existence, even on land that colonial government 'reserved' for them.
But here again we see First Nations being forced to remind others of their very existence, even on land that colonial government 'reserved' for them.
12/End - Hopefully the Council @cityportalberni chooses to retain the current zoning and perhaps work in concert with @Tseshaht, the current owner and the Federal Government to either return the land to the reserve or have Tseshaht own it so they can do with it as they wish.
PS. The Canadian Pacific Railway originally built the Bamfield station. The Canadian Overseas Telecommunication Corporation, eventually renamed TeleGlobe, took over in Port Alberni. It was privatized in the 80s. It is now a subsidiary of Tata of India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VSNL_International_Canada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VSNL_International_Canada
