Mon Dec 7, 8:09 PM
By Keven Drews , The Canadian Press
KAKAWIS, B.C. - Members of a Vancouver Island First Nation occupied the site of a former residential school Monday as part of an effort to "claim back" the land from a Catholic missionary order.
More than 60 members of the Ahousaht First Nation - including elected and hereditary chiefs, elders and students - gathered on a large grass field at Kakawis, which is located on Meares Island in Clayoquot Sound.
The land, which is owned by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was once the site of a residential school. More recently, it housed an alcohol and drug-treatment centre, but the facility has been moved.
The band wants to develop a $63.5-million resort on the property.
On Monday, band leaders led prayers and traditional songs and then read a statement proclaiming aboriginal rights and title to the land, while students participated in traditional dances in front of a cedar fire.
No one from the order was present.
"We want the society to know we're making a stand in our traditional territory," said John Frank, chief councillor of the Ahousaht First Nation.
"There is nobody else who's going to get this land but Ahousaht."
The band and the order were negotiating a sale, but talks broke down, and the order began negotiating with a third party.
In November, Ahousaht threatened to occupy the site.
The band argues the land is part of its traditional territory, and members gave it to the order about 100 years ago, "allowing use of the site until that purpose no longer met their needs."
"This is our land," said Vera Frank-Little, an Ahousaht member who said she attended the residential school between 1950 and 1955. 'It's time we took a stand and let them know what's rightfully ours."
Frank-Little said she has family members buried on the island.
"We know what is our," she added. "They've got to know, too."