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Restoration and revitalization by Gwawaenuk, Watson Island, B.C.

Chief Charlie Williams is working on an extensive program of revitalization and has the village site of Hopetown, B.C., on Watson Island, coming back to life, “We began August 20, 2010, with a team of archaeologists and experienced assistants, with the main purpose of starting to dig in sensitive areas containing human remains, then remediation of sites containing fuel tanks,” says Chief Williams.

It’s a large team of archaeologists and labourers working under Hartley Odwak’s Sources Archaeological & Heritage Consultants, and the project got legs once the remediation of decrepit fuel storage facilities was approved by INAC. The ultimate purpose is to revitalize a community that was in a moribund state of existence. The Hopetown project has a planner in Cari St. Pierre who has a close association with the Gwawaenuk of Hopetown since 2004.

The chief says, “The project came about after two years of community meetings long before the men and equipment began to assemble, and we had the usual minor glitches to deal with. There was a muddle of things including a decrepit electrical generation system, a lot of 45 gallon fuel drums, and a major clean-up of the village site.” Essentially the Gwawaenuk people of Hopetown are dealing with a six-acre village site on Indian Reserve property that was their home due east of Port Hardy since time immemorial. 

The project is  assisted on the environmental responsibilities by HAZCO Environmental and that company hired nine people from the First Nations to assist in remediation of a 4,000 year old site of human habitation, and First Nations are on hand to supply first aid personnel. The process is geared toward completion by October 31, 2010.
 

"Then we move to the community planning phase, and that will take seven years to complete,” says Chief Williams. The chief notes, “Hopetown was kept alive by Henry Speck, an elder of Gwawaenuk who never gave up the site. Because of Henry we are able to be in Hopetown doing the right thing by our nation.” 
 

The community will be revitalized by new technology in green energy to supply cleaner energy to new housing and community facilities. Project manager St. Pierre says, “This energy system will be a hybrid green energy system applicable to remote areas, supplied by Energy Alternatives.”

St. Pierre notes that the project includes remediation of an important creek on Watson Island, “bringing the creek back to Salmon-bearing standards. That is an exciting prospect in its own right.”

Hazco Environmental engaged in Hopetown revitalization

Hazco Environmental won the bid to work in Hopetown, B.C., on the restoration of foreshore, reclamation of a valuable creek, and soil remediation of about 4,000 CM of fuel-contaminated soil. Mike Torney is the Hazco person in charge of the project, “It’s clean-up of contaminated soil from leaky fuel tanks and 45-gallon fuel drums, and the amount of the material is found at a depth that would fill about 600 tandem-truck loads of soil.”

Torney explains, “The soil is screened on-site and all of it is put on a picking table to be closely examined by archaeologists. It’s a lot of work, and nothing can leave the site without going through the process.” The soil is barged out of Hopetown (on Watson Island, somewhat adjacent to the east of Port Hardy), “and taken to the Hazco Mount Waddington Bioremediation facility in Port McNeill.”

The re-mediated soil is used by the Mount Waddington landfill operators who use it as covering material. Meanwhile, back in Hopetown, Hazco will back-fill the hole left by soil remediation while recyclers take away the oil drums and tanks. Torney says, “The project involves a lot of logistics due to the remoteness of the location, and communications are an issue as well as the need for barging everything.” It is, however, “a beautiful site. I’ve been there both summer and winter.”

The Hopetown community was kept alive by Henry Speck, Kwakwak'awakw (Kwakiutl) carver with over two decades of carving experience. Henry and his wife were the only two permanent residents. Another concern for Hazco is the foreshore that was crumbling and threatening the existence of valuable midden sites. (Midden is by definition “a mound of domestic refuse containing shells and animal bones marking the site of a prehistoric settlement.” )
 

“We are responsible for rebuilding the foreshore to protect the midden sites, and we are restoring a creek to salmon-bearing standards. The project is geared toward completion by end of October or mid-November at the latest. Hazco has seen a busy year in 2010 working on First Nation environmental remediation projects. These kinds of projects compose a growing portfolio of First Nation work in Hazco’s sphere of operations.

“We always hire locally and concentrate some of our effort on skills development. These days these communities are all about building new capacity.” He says it’s good for Hazco, where he has worked for the past eight years of his 15 years in environmental remediation. “It’s good for everybody.”

Community revitalization by Kwicksutaineuk on Gilford Island

Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Ltd. provided the consulting engineering services on the infrastructure being built on Gilford Island. Jurek Bzowski was the project engineer, and Jurek says, “We worked on the water and wastewater management system and the power generation system. The remoteness presented some challenges, but the contractors figured it out.”

 The Gilford Island community water problems had to be resolved and a new sewage treatment system had to be installed. “The community laid out a new subdivision and now they have good water in place to allow a return of members.” Jurek sees the project as, “Pure progress. They have turned an exodus into an influx.” 

Under the Kwicksutaineuk leadership of Chief Bob Chamberlin the Gilford Island community revitalization began with rearranged layout of housing at foreshore, and construction of brand new houses in the subdivision. Derik Ewen of Ewen Contracting is acting general contractor, “We have three houses under construction. They will be in lock-up condition by the end of October,” and all six will be ready to accommodate new owners in March, 2011.

The work on other housing and community development will ensue beginning next spring. Gilford Island is revitalized by a process supplied by Slegg Lumber, and Layne Ward, Contract Sales, works closely with Richard Maris, Slegg North Island Representative, on projects like this. Ward calls it a logistics effort between customer, in this case, Kwicksutaneuk Nation, and General Contractor, Ewen Contracting, and the gentlemen from Slegg.

“Richard gives me the game plan,” says Ward, operating in the Cumberland branch of Slegg, “and I assemble delivery of all the components.” The Cumberland branch is become an important assembly point for Slegg Lumber in delivering building products to North Vancouver Island customers. “Everything is on-site in Cumberland and the logistics are much better for our North Island customers since this branch opened two years ago,” says Ward.

They have 50 employees and all the trucks, cranes, and equipment to deliver housing packages like the six going up in Gilford Island this month. “These construction sites are practically remote, and it all gets there on time, I get a list on Monday, I quote by Tuesday, the purchase order is delivered in the day or two after, and the goods are booked for delivery Friday.” The Slegg family owns the Slegg Lumber and affiliated companies that operate outlets on the west coast. Layne Ward and Richard Maris have each had life-long careers in the lumber business.

Sources Archaeology specializes in Kwakwala speaking region

Hartley Odwak has made a specialization of the archaeology on the Inside Passage as it relates directly to the Kwakwala speaking people. “I began Sources Archaeology in 1997,” says Odwak, “I became interested in recording the sites of the First Nations and their ancestry on North Vancouver Island.” It serves more than posterity. “”We solve problems with archaeology, by searching about where people were, and how long they have been there.”
 

They also preserve a knowledge stream that might just disappear in the face of change, be it weather, human interaction, and in the case of Hopetown, B.C., the revitalization of a community that thrived well past first contact with the industrial age. “We often work to catch something before it’s gone, and in some cases you have one chance at gaining information from years gone by.”
 

INAC consented to funding when the Gwawaneuk leadership needed foreshore middens studied and archaeology conducted at the same site in their community of Hopetown as the soil remediation work currently underway by Hazco Environmental. “These are my favourite projects,” says Odwak. “The Band comes to us with a proposal under their direction and control and they tell us, ‘Here’s what we want done,’ and we proceed under their direction.”
 

For Odwak it’s about the research. “We specialize in what used to be known as the Southern Kwalguilth, the Kwak’awak’wakw people,” with a focus on these First Nations, which span from Quatsino to Fort Rupert to Hopetown, and beyond. “It’s a proven 5,000 year human history in the community,” says Odwak. New carbon dating from the site is intended to prove this. “We’re finding a lot of animal bones.”