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White Rock’s Memorial Park receives archaelogical permit

Step comes three months after project shut down by SFN cease and desist order
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File photo White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin and Semiahmoo First Nation Chief Harley Chappell exchange views after Chappell presented a cease-and-desist order at the Memorial Park site on Sept. 14.

Three months to the day after White Rock’s Memorial Park project stalled, the city announced it received a provincial archaelogical permit.

In an email to media Thursday, city communications manager Farnaz Farrokhi linked to an update statement on the city’s website.

It says the permit follows “three months of consultation” with the Semiahmoo First Nation and the province.

Next step is to carry out an archaelogical impact assessment, which the city “hope(s) to begin shortly.”

The statement says the city will continue to engage and consult with Semiahmoo First Nation regarding archaeological concerns as they relate to Memorial Park “and other capital projects.”

The project was shut down Sept. 14, when Chief Harley Chappell and SFN council members Joanne Charles and Roxanne Charles presented a cease-and-desist order to Mayor Wayne Baldwin at what was to have been an official ground-breaking ceremony at the site, adjacent to the White Rock Museum and Archives.

They said at that time that SFN had not been consulted during the project design process, and that archaelogical protection protocols had not been observed on land that is traditional SFN territory.