Joffre Lakes Park reopening briefly for Labour Day long weekend
Posted August 30, 2023 11:12 pm.
Last Updated August 30, 2023 11:13 pm.
B.C.’s Joffre Lakes Park has been closed to allow for harvest celebrations by two First Nations, but it will temporarily reopen for the Labour Day long weekend.
BC Parks says the park will then be inaccessible again for a three-day period from Tuesday September 5, while it and the Province continue to chart out a plan that will provide space and privacy for cultural activities of the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua.
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BC Parks says reservations will be open from Friday, Sept. 1 until Monday, Sept. 4. It adds that people with previously booked reservations will be contacted and fully refunded.
On Aug. 23, the Lil’wat Nation and N’Quatqua First Nations announced they were jointly shutting down public access to Joffre Lakes Park for the harvest celebration.
The month-long closure of the park, 35 kilometres east of Pemberton, is happening in a time of reconciliation to assert their Title and Rights to their unceded territory, the Nations said.
“Joffre Lakes Park is located within the shared, overlapping unceded traditional territory of the Lil’wat Nation and N’Quatqua First Nation,” the Nations said in a joint statement earlier in August. “These lands have been used and occupied by the Lil’wat and N’Quatqua since time immemorial.”
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At the time, B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change George Heyman said the ministry was searching for a compromise, but — if reached — it wouldn’t come before the end of August.
With files from Pippa Norman
