Cheam First Nation Council Resolution Opposing Bridal Veil Mtn Resort

October 12, 2023

Honourable Bruce Ralston
Minister of Forests
PO Box 9049 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
FOR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Dear Minister Ralston,
Thank you for the opportunity to touch base briefly and connecting me with some Ministry staff after the STSA-BC G2G Executive Meeting on October 10, 2023, at Sq’ewqéyl regarding the joint referral process of the Cascade Skyline Gondola Project and Bridal Veil Mountain Resort. I wanted to follow up on the Cascade Skyline Gondola Project. As we discussed, our Project has been in a very challenging review and approval regime under the Adventure Tourism Act for going on almost 7 years since we first contacted Provincial officials. This project resides completely within our Traditional Territory and fully supported and endorsed by local community governments, including the City of Chilliwack and District of Kent, as well as having equity partners with several First Nations. In other words, the Cascade Skyline Gondola Project is broadly and deeply supported with letters of support and other public statements on the record in your Ministry.

Recently, another overlapping project, Bridal Veil Mountain Resort (BVMR), was proposed through the Mountain Resorts Branch (MRB) process. It is a very large ski resort proposal almost identical to a project proposed by Resorts West in 2004 that was rejected by the Stó:lō and the broader community of Chilliwack. This new version was resurrected by the same proponents who brought it forward in 2004.

Despite the MRB knowing full well that our project was already in the approval process, they accepted an Expression of Interest in January 2021 without understanding that this same proposal had already been soundly rejected almost 20 years ago and without acknowledging that Cheam First Nation had already been on record against a ski resort in our Traditional Territory.
It is important to emphasize that no consultation was done by MRB with Cheam, the Pelólxw Tribe, or any other stakeholders in the community prior to accepting the EOI from BVMR. They did, however, understand that acceptance and subsequent approval of the BVMR project would result in extinguishing our Project on our Traditional Territory, which we see as an egregious act of disrespect and lack of consultation.

In addition, MRB and FLNRORD officials acknowledged in a phone call with us in January 2022 that they “did not know” that the BVMR proposal was essentially the same project, backed by the same proponents, that has been rejected by the Stó:lō and Chilliwack community in 2004. They failed to do any due diligence to understand just how extensive the opposition would be to this proposal. If they had consulted Cheam First Nation, or other First Nations and municipalities, they would have been advised as to the very controversial nature of the BVMR project. There has been no explanation for such short-sighted decision-making and lack of due diligence by the Province.

On September 22, 2023, we received a letter from Tami Fur advising us that the Cascade Skyline Gondola Project would now be put into a “competitive bid” process with BVMR. This is totally unacceptable to the partnering First Nations and, I would suggest, to the broader communities of Chilliwack and Agassiz. We encourage you to reach out directly to the Mayor’s office of Chilliwack and District of Kent if you want additional direct comments regarding opposition to BVMR.

It should also be noted that a Preliminary Referral process was already undertaken by the Province comparing both projects and seeking comments from all stakeholders back in February 2021. This process was originally promised to take 6 to 8 weeks. It took almost 6 months to complete. It resulted in no decision being made on which project would be allowed to move forward. This has resulted in unnecessary delays that have severely impacted our Project’s costs and timelines.
In short, Cheam First Nation strongly opposes this additional and redundant step of another comparison, competitive review by the Province. There is nothing to be gained from it. It further delays our very broadly supported Project with damaging consequences that continue because of Province’s delays and ad-hoc decisions.

Please see the attached Council Resolution, which states the following:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
1. Council requests the Province take steps to reject the BVMR proposal immediately; and
2. Council requests the Province move forward with the Cascade Skyline Gondola Project to honour the economic goals of the Cheam First Nation and the Pelólxw people.
As a follow-up to the STSA-BC G2G Executive Meeting, we need to schedule a meeting with you to discuss the above in more detail. Our desire is to correct a very grievous situation that the Province has now created that does not support reconciliation. The Province is frustrating and endangering Cheam’s economic development and the opportunity to have a Stó:lō interpretive cultural centre connected to our Project. The Province must reconcile its illegitimate jurisdiction and continued failure to acknowledge that Cheam, and the Pelólxw Tribe, has never ceded or surrendered title to our lands, rights to our resources, or authority to make decisions within our Territory.
We urgently request to meet with you and the Ministry so that we can discuss these serious concerns and develop a path forward.

Sincerely,
Chief Andrew Victor

Attachment: BCR 2341 Consent for CSG Opposition to BVMR.pdf