The Ktunaxa Nation Council (KNC) today distanced itself from a proposal to engage Ktunaxa citizens in an Impact Management and Benefits Agreement concerning the Jumbo Glacier Resort proposal.

A Feb. 26 letter to the KNC from Arnold Armstrong, Glacier Resorts Ltd. board chair, expressed a “desire to have a collaborative relationship between Glacier Resorts Ltd. and L.P. (Glacier), proponents of the Jumbo Glacier Resort (JGR) project” and the KNC and Ktunaxa Nation citizens “with respect to the project and an Impact Management and Benefits Agreement (IMBA).”

Armstrong notes “Glacier understands that the Ktunaxa Nation desires to build its internal capacity. An IMBA will assist the Ktunaxa Nation do just that.

“Glacier believes that exchanging information and experiences in informal informative sessions with the Ktunaxa citizens will be helpful to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion. We will be able to provide answers that the Ktunaxa citizens may have and clear up any misunderstanding or ‘myths’ about the JGR project.”

Ktunaxa citizen Rob Louie says he will serve as a conciliator between JGR and the Ktunaxa Nation.

“There are a few things we need to do here. First, we need to hear more from the Ktunaxa citizens, especially those that support Jumbo Glacier Resort’s plan that would include an Impact Management and Benefits Agreement. We also need to have an internal conversation about our spirituality vis-à-vis economic development,” Louie stated in a March 8 media release.

“Finally, it is important to note that at one point (JGR) and my Nation had a meeting of the minds when it came to the Impact Management and Benefits Agreement. I want to get us back to that common ground.”

Contacted by e-KNOW to comment on the JGR proposal and Louie’s press release, the Ktunaxa Nation Council provided the following media statement:

“The Ktunaxa Nation Council is not engaged in or considering any type of negotiations with Jumbo Glacier Resorts Limited on an Impact Management Benefits Agreement in relation to the building of a ski resort in Qat’muk.

“The Ktunaxa Nation Council, which is governed by an Executive Council comprised of elected leadership from the four Ktunaxa communities in Canada, will never waiver in its steadfast pledge to keep Qat’muk free from permanent development.”

Armstrong stated in his letter: “Despite the past years of litigation, we believe that we all agree that the experience should lead us to a desire to try to reconcile. It is in the spirit of reconciliation and good faith that we formally wish the engage the Ktunaxa citizens. The provincial Crown may re-enter at a later stage in accordance to the duties it may have now or later.”

A legal scholar among other professional credits, Louie will be conducting two information sessions, one in Vancouver for off reserve residents there, on March 10 and another in Cranbrook on March 24 at the Ktunaxa Nation Council building.

Armstrong described Louie as a “senior Ktunaxa leader who has an impressive professional background, experience and cultural sensitivity.”

“We will rely on the spiritual principles of respect, open-mindedness and willingness. After the information sessions are complete, I will be meeting with the elected officials of my nation,” Louie explained.

Lead image: The old sawmill site that would be about the centre of the proposed ski resort, 55 km west of Invermere in the upper Jumbo Valley – or Qat’muk – home of the Ktunaxa Nation’s Grizzly Bear Spirit. e-KNOW file image

– Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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