VANCOUVER—Mike Ridsdale’s voice shook as he spoke about ancient artifacts that could be destroyed as construction of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline continues, through the traditional lands of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

“Where our ancestors used to be laying, (they’ll be) shoved to the side and made into a pile of dirt,” Ridsdale said.

Under provincial heritage rules, companies can apply for permits that allow them to develop land, but that could also destroy heritage items.

And as the CGL pipeline moves forward — tracking a 670 km path from Dawson Creek to Kitimat — Ridsdale says his nation feels powerless to protect these historic items.

“We need legislative tools for First Nations to have a better say in what is happening on the ground,” said Ridsdale, environmental assessment co-ordinator at the Office of the Wet’suwet’en Nation near Smithers, B.C. “If not, then we are going to lose our culture.”

Provincial and company documents show that in the past decade, more than 100 stone artifacts, some from the pre-contact era, have been unearthed by archaeologists in the pipeline pathway, many on Wet’suwet’en traditional land.

Findings include small stone tools, thought by some experts to have been used thousands of years ago in tool-making or hunting. Similar stone artifacts are on display in museums across the province.

Artifacts and other heritage materials have become a flashpoint in the ongoing dispute between the Wet’suwet’en people and CGL. Just two months after a dramatic clash where activists at an access point on Wet’suwet’en land refused to allow RCMP to clear the site, members of the Unist’ot’en — a clan of the Wet’suwet’en people — claimed they found four ancient artifacts on a CGL construction site.

Work on the site stopped temporarily, and BC Oil and Gas Commission, the provincial energy regulator, claimed that the artifacts may not have been found in their original location. The company later said that they had not done a close inspection of the construction site due to weather.

Ridsdale explained that the types of stone artifacts found could have been buried hundreds of years ago as part of traditional ceremonies, where “special songs and prayers” are used in traditional burial ceremonies to create a bond between the person and their tools.

“That bond is broken when they take that artifact out of the ground, without doing the proper protocol, (like) saying prayers to release the spirit from the artifact,” Ridsdale said.

Archeological assessment documents show that many similar artifacts to the ones found at the Uni’stot’en camp have been located throughout Wet’suwet’en territory.

An October 2014 report by B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office indicated that there were more than 80 previously recorded artifact sites within a kilometre of CGL’s proposed pipeline route.

The report also indicated field testing unearthed many more new finds that resulted in the identification of 30 new heritage sites in an area that would be impacted by the pipeline’s path in 2014.

More groups of artifacts, ceremonial sites, as well as trees which have been traditionally marked by Indigenous people — known as culturally modified trees — were found and recorded.

A report summary said there would be a “moderate to high likelihood that some archeological resources would be adversely affected,” which would be “permanent” as well as “irreversible,” if construction continued.

While the proposed CGL pipeline had been rerouted to avoid impacts to some artifact sites, others remained in its path — or close to it.

According to Ridsdale, the artifacts are evidence that his ancestors continued to use the Wet’sutwet’en traditional land over hundreds and thousands of years.

Under B.C.’s Heritage Conservation Act (HCA), a company can apply for two types of permits, issued by the Archaeology Branch of the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD).

A Section 14 permit allows a company to do tests within a heritage area, while a Section 12.4 permit allows them to do construction. Both permits allow for the possible damaging of heritage sites.

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A spokesperson from the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission confirmed that some archeologists working for CGL have a Section 14 permit, and that CGL has submitted three applications for a Section 12.4.

According to Rick Budhwa, principal of Crossroads Cultural Resource Management based in Northern B.C., this type of permit means that heritage materials can be irreparably damaged or destroyed.

“With a Section 12, we are not just altering a site, we are destroying the site,” he said. “Archaeological sites are non-renewable.”

While all permit holders must have a procedure in place to cease work in an area if they find an artifact, Ridsdale says that isn’t enough to protect what could be hiding under the soil.

“They’re using bulldozers and heavy rock material — how are you going to see any cultural heritage here?” he asked. “Unless you find a body and dig up some bones, you’re not going to see anything.”

While the HCA requires field studies before natural resource projects are approved, not all areas of a proposed development are required to be closely inspected, and assessment can be done without anyone ever going to the site.

According to a FLNRORD spokesperson, CGL hired archeologists to first conduct a “desktop” survey of the area. This involves consulting maps, reports, prior assessments and other information to determine how likely it is that an area would have been used by past societies.

Some archeologists say these types of surveys are insufficent in determining if artifacts are present.

Joanne Hammond, assistant CEO at B.C.-based Skeetchestn Natural Resource Corp., said that not all ancient cultures used the land in the same way, so it is difficult to guess the potential of finding artifacts in an area.

She said the factors that determine if an ancient society used the lands can “differ enormously.”

A spokesperson for BC Oil and Gas has said that CGL will stop work if they encounter any more artifacts, and have a plan in place to handle those artifacts if that happens.

Lannea Parfitt also said that there had been “rigorous” consultation with Indigenous people prior to the project being approved.

“During the environmental assessment, Indigenous communities were invited to provide input and (participate) in traditional knowledge sharing,” Parfitt said.

Ridsdale disagrees that consultation took into account the concerns of the Wet’suwet’en — and is also worried about construction on areas that have not been studied closely.

For this reason, the Wet’suwet’en are again drawing attention to the potential destruction of what they consider valuable heritage.

In October 2019, they called on Doug Donaldson, minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, to order CGL to cease and desist construction, claiming the company had begun to destroy parts of an ancient trail where their ancestors were buried, along with other artifacts.

Ridsdale said that a cease and desist order is the last resorce the Wet’suwet’en have under the HCA to protect their heritage.

Without that, he said, “our heritage will be destroyed.”

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