Thanks to a recently settled pilot agreement, brand new legal protections are going into place to provide protection for sacred, spiritual and ceremonial heritage sites on Crown lands within Stó:lō Nation territory.
This agreement is the 1st ever of it’s kind and it was developed by the Provincial government and the S’ólh Téméxw Stewardship Alliance.
As a result of this agreement, 45 heritage sites have legal protection and it also outlines a consensus-seeking, shared decision-making process between the STSA and the Province for ongoing heritage-site management.
Heritage sites that have artifacts, features, materials or other evidence of humans living there that seem to predate 1846 automatically are protected by the act.
After going through negotiations, the STSA and the Province entered into this agreement to protect sites that hold either spiritual or cultural meaning.
This agreement will last for one year and both parties will talk before it expires to determine how effective it was and whether or not it will be extended, amended or allowed to conclude.
