The transfer of 60 hectares of land back to local First Nations was celebrated at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission on Tuesday (June 17).
The Leq'á:mel, Máthxwi, and Semá:th (LMS) Society held a community celebration honouring the Í:xel Sq'eq'ó (Together We Paddle) Land Back Agreement, with speakers, food, performances, music and children's activities.
The return of land to the three First Nations was finalized this year after the agreement was signed in 2021 by the LMS Society, City of Mission and the province.
The agreement returns 60 hectares of land, which sits adjacent to the grounds of the former St. Mary’s Residential School, to LMS. The lands have been subdivided, with nearly 50 hectares to be leased to the City of Mission to co-manage with the LMS Society for public use as a community park and recreational area. Two parcels are planned for residential and commercial development by LMS.
Leq'á:mel councillor and LMS Society board chair, Darrel McKamey, opened the speeches, followed by Leq'á:mel Chief Stacey Goulding, Máthxwi Chief Alice McKay, Deputy Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Mary Sue Maloughney, City of Mission Coun. Jag Gill, and a video from Mayor Paul Horn.
McKay said the work with the City of Mission and other levels of government provides a model for other nations to get back land. She also reflected on her personal connection to the land.
"I walked this land .., as a residential school survivor. We had to walk here, we had to go to the grotto, we had to climb a hill to go to a cross – that was part of our daily ritual. So I know this land very well. It's sad but it's good, because now we're all standing here and we're celebrating and we're looking at the future and what we're going to do with this land," McKay said.
Meanwhile, McKamey said the LMS Society was formed with the common goal to reclaim vacancies of traditional territorial lands while further rooting community-to-community relations and building a previously absent relationship with the City of Mission. He said LMS believes in paddling together — from which the name of the agreement stems.
"If we all were in one canoe, pulling on each side in the same direction, we will not just succeed but we will exceed expectation and reach those destinations in time frames never imagined," he said.
The society began investigating the work required to make the land transfer a reality in late 2011 and was met with complication and red tape, McKamey said.
"This began with the fact that up until 2023, Indigenous nations in Canada were not allowed to own fee-simple land. Think about that for a second ... Still today, colonialism is alive, as is oppression of our people — albeit slowly improving. And B.C. has proven to be leaders in that [but] there's still a long road ahead," he said.
Both McKamey and McKay emphasized that the word reconciliation insinuates there was a relationship to begin with. However, he said real relationships have been formed with the City of Mission.
"We are creating new relationships and not mending one that previously existed. ... we are not foes, we are neighbours. And with the effort, trust, equality, respect and dignity required for success in any meaningful relationship, we are becoming great friends and allies," McKamey said.
McKamey said the lands need to acknowledge and recognize the suffering that children of residential schools endured. He said when development on the lands begins, the society will speak with all parties and levels of government to ensure a monument recognizing the stolen children, survivors, and those who never made it.
