Joffre Lakes Park near Pemberton, BC is set close its gates to non-indigenous visitors yet again, this time for 32 days beginning on September 2.Despite that bringing this year's total to 68 days, the Lil'wat Nation and N'Quatqua have claimed it's not long enough.The Ministry of Environment and Parks recently refused to comply with the nations' demands for an August 22 to October 23 closure, offering the reduced timeframe instead. The nations responded by accusing Victoria of engaging in a "continuation of olonial decision-making that disregards our authority and obligations to our lands.""The province’s actions run directly counter to UNDRIP, which British Columbia has enshrined in law, and they openly contradict the Supreme Court of Canada’s rulings affirming Indigenous Title and Rights, as well as Canada’s constitutional commitments," the Lil'wat and N'Quatqua wrote in a joint statement.."By minimizing and dismissing our clearly stated direction for Pipi7íyekw, the Province demonstrates that it does not respect our jurisdiction, our stewardship responsibilities, or our role as the rightful decision-makers in our unceded territories."They described the move as "a profound violation of our trust and an affront to the very principles of reconciliation the province claims to uphold.""[Joffre Lakes Park] is not the property of the province. It lies within the unceded territories of the Líl̓wat Nation and N’Quatqua," the nations continued. "BC Parks should have been proud to take this opportunity to demonstrate real and meaningful reconciliation. Instead, they continue to hold onto paternalistic approaches that disregard Indigenous stewardship and decision-making."They demanded the province "immediately retract this unilateral announcement and engage with the Líl̓wat Nation and N’Quatqua in good faith," adding that, "reconciliation cannot and will not exist so long as governments continue to make paternalistic, colonial decisions about our lands without our consent."The park was closed to the public from April 25 to May 16, and again from June 13 to 27 to give First Nations time to "connect with the land."
