Protesters took to the water on Aug. 26 to demand a halt to the construction of a luxury home on Grace Islet. Construction was eventually halted on Dec. 18
ADRIAN LAM/VICTORIA TIMES COLONIST
Purchase of Grace Islet will save First Nations burial site
VICTORIA – The B.C. government announced Thursday it will buy Grace Islet, where a luxury home was being built over a First Nations burial ground.
The purchase is in a partnership First Nations and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Construction on the property just off Saltspring Island was halted Dec. 18.
Negotiations are underway with Barry Slawsky, the Alberta businessman who owns the property.
The purchase price has not been released. The latest B.C. assessment of the property in July 2014 said its total value is $ 735,000.
In the fall, several First Nations said they would pursue legal action to assert title rights on the land if the government did not intervene.
“Our hope was that they’d take this seriously and do something,” said Cowichan Tribes chief William Seymour, one of several chiefs who agreed in December to give the government time to negotiate a solution with the landowner.
-Victoria Times Colonist
