‘The Nation has had enough’: Problems persist at abandoned ferry dock on Kwantlen reserve land
Posted January 4, 2020 6:51 pm.
Last Updated January 5, 2020 9:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — An abandoned ferry dock on reserve land has become a harbour for drugs, drag-racing and aggression and the Kwantlen First Nation is asking the government to step in.
In 2009 the Golden Ears Bridge made ferry service between Fort Langley and Maple Ridge obsolete.
More than a decade later, the dock remains.
It has attracted drug dealers, parties of up to 250 people and has become a site of “increasing aggression,” according to Brenda Knights, CEO of səýeḿ, the Nation’s business organization.
Drag-racing on Glover Road has become a problem and Knight says an elder in the area tried to put a stop to the speeding cars out of concern for his grandchildren.
“He approached them and was assaulted by one of these people that was drag racing. Obviously that was quite concerning to the community.”
Knights says they have been in contact with the Langley RCMP about the persistent issues.
“When you have that kind of vacant infrastructure, it is going to attract the wrong kinds of people. It needs to get cleaned up so we get positive traffic there.”
Meanwhile, Kwantlen First Nation has hired seven-day-a-week security at its own expense.
“That’s coming at a cost to the Nation. It’s frustrating, but it certainly has helped. We would like to stop doing it and not continue with those costs, but our fear is if we stop, those same people will come back and cause disruption in our community.”
She says they are still waiting on the province to follow through on it’s promise to dismantle the dock.
“Every year we keep getting told that it’s going to happen this year and each year it doesn’t happen. We are kind of at our wits end. We’re not sure how to get attention to get this thing removed.”
Knights says they were initially happy to see the ferry service go, since it was intrusive and put on the Kwantlen reserve land without consent.
“But here we are now, it’s 2020 and we still have this infrastructure and we’re not sure when it’s going to get taken care of,” she explains. “The Nation has had enough and wants this dealt with once and for all, to bring peacefulness back to the community.”
