Bonaparte First Nation has dismissed the claim it filed in April 2023 against the Ashcroft Terminal, which alleged that railway infrastructure development at the site had destroyed and disturbed ancestral burial grounds.
The lawsuit — which also named Crescentview Investments Ltd., the Province of British Columbia, and the federal government — claimed that the band had been misled about the scope of development at the inland port, which it said was on the site of Bonaparte’s historical village; a site which is of deep significance to the band and its members.
In November 2020, remains of a Bonaparte ancestor were dug up at the terminal site, on the Thompson River near Ashcroft. The bones were stored in a wooden box at the site — something one Bonaparte councillor described as “inappropriate” — and there were months of discussions between the band and terminal officials before the terminal agreed to return the remains to the burial site where they had been found.
In June 2021 a contingent of community members, Elders, and terminal personnel reburied the remains. However, the 2023 lawsuit cited construction and excavation activities at the site, which had disturbed human remains and other archaeologically significant artefacts.
On April 30, a news release from Ashcroft Terminal reported that after many months of respectful collaboration, Bonaparte First Nation, Ashcroft Terminal, and the federal and provincial governments had agreed to move forward outside the formal litigation process, and build sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships.
“We are pleased that Ashcroft Terminal continues to be committed to working with Bonaparte First Nation to develop opportunities for Bonaparte members, as well as archaeological collaboration at the Terminal site,” said Bonaparte chief Frank Antoine in the news release.
“The reality is that we have finally come to an agreement,” Antoine tells the Journal. “We really want to build collaboration with Ashcroft Terminal. We want joint decisions so we can sit and talk before things move forward, and to invest in future relationship moving forward.”
Antoine says that agreements have been reached around relationships, resolution, and ancestral remains. “We put the archaeological agreement in the hands of our Elders, who are building a monument for the burial sites. We just had a meeting with the terminal and a site visit with the Elders, and talked about how we will protect those sites so they’re not disturbed again.”
Antoine says that anything that gets brought up is a sensitive piece, and Bonaparte wants to be informed. “They’ve given us a good brief of what they’ve found, and we wanted to have that conversation before we moved forward. A partnership is one thing, but a relationship is another. I don’t want to be in a position of us and them.
“We’re about two-thirds of the way to an agreement. We’ll have a monument and some kind of coverage for the remains on the site, but it’s a business [site], and we can’t be interrupting that.”
Chris Shubert, CEO of Ashcroft Terminal, said in the April 30 news release that the connection with Bonaparte First Nation as community members and neighbours is an important one to the terminal.
“Throughout this process, we have remained committed to transparent and meaningful dialogue and engagement with Bonaparte, and will continue to invest the time to make this relationship beneficial for both parties,” Shubert said.
