News Release: Splatsin Breaks Ground on $3 million-dollar Housing Development

• June 30, 2021
• • News Releases

Splatsin held a groundbreaking ceremony last week to shovel the first mound of dirt for a new 10-unit housing development – the first of its kind in over 20 years. Announced earlier this year, the project is being funded by a $2,975,500 grant from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Rapid Housing Initiative Program which has committed $1 billion to projects across the country.

Following singing and drumming and a blessing of the land where the units will be constructed, Christian spoke to a crowd of fellow band members, Councillors, Splatsin staff, and media.

“We haven’t been able to build new homes in our community for over 20 years,” said Christian. “Long before Europeans moved to our land, we had our own type of dwellings known as pit houses. Our homes were built in such a way that the families interacted with each other. In some ways, these subdivisions represent that – our people all in one area living together.”

The development will house 10 Splatsin families, relieving some overcrowding situations on-reserve, while allowing others to return to the community.

“Housing will shelter and provide comfort and warmth to our little ones and our families,” said Christian. “That’s what it’s intended for. In the world, we keep forgetting that it’s the children we need to invest in. We need to continue investing in things like housing and schools.”

Christian added that the homes represent an effort to bring back some of the things that were taken from band members at residential schools, including language and culture.

Construction of the new homes on Lassertie Drive is expected to be completed by the end of the summer before school starts. Families will be moving in right away.

Community members are asked to stay away from the site during construction throughout the spring and summer. There will be heavy machinery, numerous work crews, and potentially dangerous tools at the site. Anyone not involved in the construction of the project should not enter the construction site for any reason at any time of day. Band members with questions about the project or about the construction site itself can contact the Administration Office at (250) 838-6496.

The Splatsin People reside on reserve lands adjacent to the City of Enderby to the south and across the Shuswap River to the east, within the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc, the largest Interior Salish-speaking First Nation in Canada. Their traditional territory stretches from the B.C./Alberta border near the Yellowhead Pass to the plateau west of the Fraser River, southeast to the Arrow Lakes, and the upper reaches of the Columbia River encompassing 180,000 square kilometres, 32 communities, and a population of 15,000 people. The Splatsin and Secwépemc has total jurisdiction and title to all of their people, lands, and resources and have not surrendered, ceded, or released them to the government.

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Media Contact

Dudley Coulter, Director of Communications
Office: (250) 838-6496 ext. 705
Cell: (250) 306-1541