In July this year, construction crews working on the City of Kamloops Victoria Street West project uncovered ancestral remains while excavating for new municipal infrastructure. The archaeologist on site monitoring these construction activities quickly recognized the find, immediately halted work, and started making phone calls to the RCMP, the BC Archaeology Branch, and to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Ttes) Natural Resource staff. Once the RCMP and coroner established the remains to be archaeological in nature (as opposed to forensic), control of the site area was turned over to the archaeological team and Tk’emlúps leadership to determine the next steps. City staff and the construction crew secured the site and construction was allowed to continue away from the location of the burial as prescribed in the TteS Ancestral Remains Protocol that was in place well before any ground was broken on this project. Once all of the proper procedures and protocols were in place and the appropriate experts were contacted, the respectful recovery of the burial commenced. Now six months on from the initial burial discovery, the West Victoria project is nearly complete ahead of schedule.
I have chosen to briefly recount this situation to highlight a couple of important items. First, while the discovery of ancient burials is a worst-case scenario no matter the project, it does not necessarily mean the end of a project or endless delays. Over the days and weeks following the discovery of the burial I heard many comments from the public that erroneously claimed this was the end of the West Victoria project or that construction would experience excessive delays. This quite simply was not the case and the consideration that archaeological discoveries result in project cancellation or delays is the product of the bad press coverage afforded to archaeology.
My second point is related to this, which is with open communication and good preparation on behalf of the proponent, when worst case scenarios come to pass these situations are not insurmountable. The City of Kamloops staff and their archaeologists engaged with Tk’emlúps staff and leadership and were accommodating in implementing the policies, protocols, and procedures that were presented during the early planning stages. It was during this stage that the City and their contractors were provided with the TteS Ancestral Remains Protocol document that explicitly described the process for when ancestral remains were encountered. When the inevitable did happened, everyone knew precisely what to do, who to call, and what would happen next. It is never desirable to disturb the ancestors. However, by ensuring that the proper processes were in place well before breaking ground, it was possible to avoid another archaeological catastrophe while ensuring the remains of the ancestor were taken care of and offered the utmost respect due to her.
The moral of my story here is with open, honest communication and early engagement with the local First Nation communities it is possible to work together to overcome challenges and worst-case situations. The negative press surrounding archaeology is often a result of proponents being misinformed or ignorant to the overall context within which they are operating and not engaging with First Nations and other stakeholders well before sticking a shovel in the ground. The City of Kamloops, their construction contractors at Extreme Excavating, and consulting archaeologists from Golder should be commended on their efforts and respect shown not only in this situation, but over the course of the entire West Victoria project.