Abstract

In the summer of 2004, the Wet'suwet'en experienced difficulties in establishing a balance between cultural heritage resource management (CHRM) and economic development. With the acquisition of federal funding necessary to complete a cultural interpretive centre, the Moricetown Band began the initial steps to construct the centre in the Moricetown Canyon, an area rich with sites dated to 6000 B.P. Unfortunately plans for the project did not include CHRM. Subsequently, the Office of the Wet'suwet'en intervened and performed a salvage excavation that resulted in the discovery of thousands of artifacts and human remains. Accordingly, the project plans had to be changed leading to complications.Provincial and federal policies that govern CHRM on Reserve Lands failed to mandate the necessary steps that would have avoided this situation. As a result, due to their ongoing reactionary nature, lack of planning for CHRM, and insufficient community and hereditary consultation, the Moricetown Band has lost a significant portion of their initial funding for their project. Ironically, in the process to construct a cultural interpretive center, the Moricetown Band has destroyed significant amounts of their cultural heritage. It will also suggest potential steps for avoiding such situations in the future.