Several people have been blocking access to the site of the former Kispiox Forest Products sawmill in South Hazelton.
Sherry Wright says she’s the spokesperson for the Nikate’en and Niisto Gitxsan house groups. She says they’ve seen equipment and the dismantling of the site of the old mill and want answers from the Gitxsan Treaty Society (GTS) and the Gitxsan Development Corporation (GDC).
Wright says the site is on the Nikate’en traditional territory where about 10 people have been blocking access since Sunday.
“We have not had any financial details or financial audits presented to our chiefs, and our request for an all-chiefs meeting to be set up was denied,” says Wright.
Rick Connors is the President & CEO the Gitxsan Development Corporation. He says the issue has been fueled by misinformation.
“The request to me specifically in writing has been to provide financial data, which our financial data has been posted on the website everytime our audits are done and completed,” says Connors.
He says the old mill site is now owned by Gitxsan Forests Inc with hereditary chiefs as shareholders. Connors says the mill has seen significant damage and vandalism and has become a liability.
“I’m dismantling the mill,” says Connors. “That equipment will be taken down and will be sold for scrap.”
“They’re very much negatively impacting our ability to conduct business. They’ve lost us a couple of contracts already,” says Connors.
He says they have Gitxsan Safety Services equipment stored behind the lines that he says is needed to help with eight crews that are currently fighting wildfires. Several Gitxsan jobs have also been affected, says Connors.
With over 60 hereditary chiefs in the Gitxsan Nation, Gordon Sebastian, the executive director of the GTS, says it’s not cheap to hold a meeting through “our office at this particular time.”
“I don’t know anything about the mill or why Nikate’en (Hereditary Chief) is doing it,” says Sebastian.
Wright says they’ll leave the site as soon as an all chiefs meeting is set up, preferably at the site.
She says their aim is to stop the dismantling of the mill. She also alleges the GTS and the GDC don’t recognize their jurisdiction.
Connors says he’ll commit to attending an all-chiefs meeting.
“I don’t see the purpose of it. We will not be calling the meeting because it’s not our meeting, it’s not my agenda. This just took me by total surprise Sunday afternoon.”