miDden minded

On June 30, 2021, the village of Lytton burned to the ground and 250 people not only lost their homes but also their entire community. One year later a June 2022 Global News story appeared to set out some hope:

B.C. Deputy Premier Mike Farnworth said Friday that the physical rebuilding in Lytton, B.C., which was destroyed by a wildfire that ripped through the town in June 2021, would begin in September 2022. Farnworth said that work is already underway to restore utilities such as fibre optics, hydropower and electricity – Jun 10, 2022

Now, a February 2023 Global News piece explains a different reality:

Meanwhile, construction at the townsite cannot begin because archeological work is still underway. The village was built on a culturally significant site to the Nlaka’pamux Nation and the B.C. government has committed to identifying and preserving any archeological findings before any rebuilding can begin.

As home builders in BC are aware, if you dig a hole where indigenous remains may be buried (everywhere) there must be a soil screening process before construction. This pause and expense is now a standard part of doing business. The people of Lytton however, have been tragically displaced and it is inhumane to subject them to the extreme delay that archeological search over an entire township imposes. Beyond just wanting to get back to daily life, their plight now includes the stress of potential insurance coverage loss if rebuild doesn’t start by the 2 year point (4 months away).

Apparently of more urgency to Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (Ministry of Silly Wokes) is the announcement of a new round of funding to improve Indigenous cultural safety and humility in local emergency management, as discussed in the recent BC Gov News Release. Not only must first responders risk their lives, now they also have to lower their own self-regard through cultural humility training, so that they don’t hurt the feelings of the people being rescued.
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Given this bent-over-backwards-for-some approach to emergency management, it is not surprising that sifting for forgotten bones takes precedence over what should be a nonstop, wartime-like, effort to return burnt-out folk to their modest homes and community as early as possible.
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