Christine Minnabarriet, head of the Cooks Ferry Indian Band, said she’s happy to see the highway reopen – because the route is not just a secondary road for the community. Minnaberriet said there are almost 400 people registered as members of the Cooks Ferry band, with 26 reserves spread across the Nicola Valley. Police, health care and ambulance services are also spread across different jurisdictions. “When a highway closes, that’s what connects us to our families and our resources and our people and our spirit,” Minnabarriet said. According to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, seven kilometers of Highway 8 were lost in last November’s atmospheric river, with 15 locations where both lanes of the road were swept away. The event caused the loss of more than 20 hectares of agricultural land, in addition to homes and properties near the river, and led to the displacement of First Nations communities. Nearly a year after last fall’s torrential rain caused catastrophic damage along the corridor, the 8 Freeway is back open to the public, with temporary repairs completed and unveiled Wednesday. Speaking at an event held on Wednesday to announce the reopening, Minnaberriet said the extreme weather occurred only months after members of the complex were evacuated due to the Lytton Creek fire. “We were devastated by this atmospheric river event, which again caused mass evacuations, displacement of our people — for the long term this time,” Minnaberriet said. “Destroyed houses, destroyed land. It displaced us from each other, our resources.” Norman Drynock, leader of the Nicomen Indian Band, noted that the community is still torn apart by the natural disaster that saw homes lost to the rising river. “We are scattered everywhere. When I arrived this way, my heart sank because houses have been lost. I used to honk at a real close friend of mine but his house isn’t there,” said Drynock. Drynock noted that the cost of fuel is “four times the cost of everything else” when closing the highway because it needed to be transported a longer distance to reach the community. Now that the freeway is open, Drynock said the community has improved access to health care, shopping and other resources. “When you drive down that road, you have to appreciate what it does for us,” Drynock said. According to provincial and First Nations leaders, several members of the band contributed to the highway’s rebuilding efforts, with Indigenous people making up 30 per cent of the 200-person workforce. Rob Fleming, BC’s minister of transport and infrastructure, said traditional knowledge has contributed to highway reconstruction and river habitat restoration, noting that First Nations knowledge “predated the department of highways and public works, as it was called in the decade 1890”. “It’s been very helpful to plan the right kind of habitat restoration, to also look at strategies around levee shielding and where areas of vulnerability are based on literally centuries of life along this corridor,” Fleming said. Minnaberriet said Cooks Ferry has seen “substantial employment participation” for the highway reconstruction. “I’ve heard over and over in the past month about people who work on the highway, who are so proud to be contributing, not just watching strangers come in and do the work,” Minnaberriet said, taking time to thank the flag bearers, workers, environmental and cultural observers who worked on the project. “You have plunged into destruction and changed in your home. You have felt the pain, you have mourned the loss, and yet you appear again and again.” Marcel Shackelly, head of the Shackan Indian Band, noted the partnership between First Nations and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. “In all the work that’s happened on Highway 8, it seems like we’ve made a lot of leaps forward in understanding how to work together. So if we continue on this path, supporting the principles of UNDRIP, we will find a way forward,” Shackelly said. Highway 8 is now open to the public, but the ministry said motorists should remember it is still an active construction zone as crews continue to work on permanent repairs. Travelers are asked to drive with respect for the communities living along the road.
