Indigenous leader calls for changes once Lytton is rebuilt

By Nikitha Martins and Renee Bernard and Robyn Crawford

Posted July 11, 2021 11:02 am.

Last Updated July 11, 2021 10:04 pm.

LYTTON (NEWS 1130) — One First Nations leader tells NEWS 1130 he is hoping that once Lytton is rebuilt, it won’t look, or be governed, the same way.

Chair of the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council Matt Pasco says it’s time to rethink how the municipality, the regional district and the First Nations community work – or fail to – work together.

He suggests some jurisdictions shouldn’t exist anymore.

“Sometimes organizations overreach on their authorities, and they don’t really have that authority. And these conversations need to be had,” he says. “When this country was built, nobody asked about our jurisdiction. They just tried to wipe it out. That’s why we have this concept called reconciliation and the need to go back and rebuild.”

Pasco adds he would like to see jurisdictional changes between the different layers of government that now oversee the town and surrounding lands.

And he also believes the way trains move through the region is ripe for change.

“Out of these conversations … with the federal government and the provincial government — I think that there’s gonna be some innovative concepts that come out of it on how to make rail traffic safer,” he says.

“We need them quickly. Because … [climate change] is not going to go away anytime soon. So we need very clear answers. And I do believe some real innovative thoughts are going to come out of this and but only because we’ve been pressing upon the need for change.”

A team of investigators is being sent by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada to find out whether a train is to blame for the wildfire that all but completely destroyed the village last week.

At this time, the fire is believed to be human-caused, but exactly how has yet to be determined.

Pasco adds it’s also vital the lines drawn between the regional district, local civic leaders, businesses, and the First Nations communities get erased, and reconstruction goes full steam ahead without bickering over who pays for what.

“So we need to rebuild those communities. We need to get people back in homes, children back to school, the elderly feeling like they’re comforted and feeling safe in their communities, all those things need to come into play. But that won’t happen without us being very clear that those known jurisdictional pieces need to be debated.”

Pasco says rebuilding together would give new meaning to reconciliation.

“We can’t have the same jurisdictional problem that resulted in the same tragedy and then the events that occur after the tragedy.”

Pasco was left frustrated during the fire that destroyed the town, when his office was not receiving any information from Emergency Management BC or the regional district about evacuations.