A Green Party MLA has introduced a private member’s bill aimed at protecting Indigenous sacred sites such as burial grounds and heritage objects.

Adam Olsen, the MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, said in a statement late last week that the bill represents a first step toward recognizing that Indigenous burial and sacred heritage sites should have the same respect and protection as non-Indigenous sites.

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Olsen, a member of the Saanich Nation, was involved in the effort to protect Grace Islet from development on top of a First Nations burial site.

He said his aim is to make sure a similar development never happens again.

Earlier versions of the bill were introduced six times by Maurine Karagianis, the former NDP MLA for Esquimalt-Royal Roads, when the B.C. Liberals were in power.