It’s time to bring Lisa home, say supporters

By Alexandra Mehl Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Nanaimo, BC - It’s been 21 years since Lisa Marie Young went missing, precisely the age she was when she was last seen in the early morning of June 30, 2002 in Nanaimo.

Since 2003, Lisa Marie Young’s family, friends, and community members have gathered for an annual walk to honour her memory as they search for answers.

On the morning of Sunday, June 25, they gathered, once again, meeting outside of the Nanaimo RCMP detachment.

As the crowd walked together, Lisa Marie Young signs were held above, walking to Maffeo Sutton Park to meet at Nanaimo’s Lion Pavilion. Red dresses danced in the wind, as Lisa’s family, friends, and community members spoke in honour of the Tla-o-qui-aht woman and in search of answers.

Inspired by Lisa Marie Young’s love for music, local artists performed songs throughout the day.

“Every year we do a walk and a gathering in honour of Lisa, and her mom, so nobody will forget,” said Carol Frank, Lisa Marie Young’s aunt. “People that don’t know her story will learn something today too. It’s really important.”

“It’s really uplifting and brings us strength,” said Frank when seeing the community gather. “There’s a lot of people that I’ve gotten to know over the years and so each year they come in support of Lisa.”

“We all just want answers and to bring Lisa home,” she added.

According to the Native Women’sAssociation of Canada, Lisa Marie Young was last seen getting into a vehicle with a man who drove a burgundy Jaguar car who offered her a ride to get food and agreed to return her.

The last text message Lisa sent read, “Come get me. They won’t let me leave.”

Lisa Marie Young’s disappearance continues to be investigated and is being treated as a homicide, reads a Nanaimo RCMP statement.

Cyndy Hall, friend of Lisa Marie Young, started advocating for Lisa when her mom, Marlene Joanne Martin Young, passed away.

“It makes me so happy because there’s such a huge turnout,” said Hall. “It just shows that it’s not just Lisa’s loved ones that want her to come home, it’s the community.”

Hall said it would mean the world to her, Lisa’s family, and friends if they found her.

“Of course we want justice, but first off, we want Lisa to come home because Lisa is all alone and she died alone. So now it’s time we bring her home,” said Hall.

At the event, Nanaimo mayor Leonard Krog read a proclamation that declared June 25th, 2023 Justice for Lisa Marie Young Day and June 30, 2023 Lights on for Lisa.

Lights on for Lisa encourages people to “leave their patio lights on in support of the day she was reported missing,” shared Krog.

“The longer without Lisa, the harder it is,” said Hall.

“Since the night Lisa disappeared, 21 years looks like 252 months, 7,665 days, 183,960 hours, or 11,037,600 minutes,” said Carolann Bora, sister of Lisa Marie Young. “All of these separately are equivalent to 21 years and show how long Lisa’s loved ones have been in a state of grief and loss.”

“Without the support there’s a real possibility that Lisa’s case would fade, making it less likely for loved ones [to have] closure and/or justice,” said Bora.

“Over the years, investigators have received hundreds of tips, have interviewed as many people, conducted numerous searches, and have diligently followed up on old and new information,” said Reserve Constable Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP in a statement.

“If you have information that you have never shared with police, now is the time to do so. It’s never too late,” said O’Brian.

Information can be reported with Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345.

Inland Resources

By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor

Vancouver, BC - The Nuchatlaht are heading into the summer celebrating a court ruling on theirAboriginal title over northern Nootka Island, while knowing that work lies ahead to satisfy a requirement to prove where exactly their territory lies.

The decision came from the B.C. Supreme Court earlier this spring, on May 11, as Justice Elliot Myers found that the small First Nation satisfies the legal test to be granted title over their territory on Nootka Island.

The ruling heavily relied on the Tsilhqot’in decision from the Supreme Court of Canada in 2014, which set out the need for a First Nation to prove exclusive and continued occupation of an area to be recognized withAboriginal title. The Nuchatlaht case hinged on proving this occupation from 1846, the date that the British Crown assumed sovereignty over the First Nation’s territory.

“In my opinion the plaintiff has demonstrated an intention and capacity to control the land I found it occupied in 1846,” stated Myers in his recent ruling.

As the first court decision to apply the Tsilhqot’in case - and the firstAboriginal title decision since British Columbia adopted the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2019 –the case is expected to lead the way for other First Nations seeking recognition of their territory under Canadian law.

“With this victory Nuchatlaht hope to clear a path for others to follow,” said Tyee Ha’wilth Jordan Michael in a press release issued from the First Nation after the ruling was released.

The case analyzed a collection of local groups who used northern Nootka Island in 1846. Evidence presented by the Crown’s expert witness Dorothy Kennedy lists five groups that occupied the area at the time, all of which Myers determined had amalgamated with the Nuchatlaht to form a ceremonial confederacy.

The province argued that one group, the Shuma’athat, was separate from this confederacy at the time, but this was not an issue for Myers in his decision.

“If the Shuma’athat (or any other group for that matter) merged with the Nuchatlaht after 1846, the Nuchatlaht are the proper claimant group for that territory,” stated the judge.

First submitted to the court in January 2017, the title claim encompasses 20,000 hectares on the northern half of Nootka Island off Vancouver Island’s west coast. But Myers declined to grantAboriginal title to this whole area, noting “too many gaps” to prove that all of this area should belong to the Nuchatlaht.

Myers quoted Philip Drucker, whose 1951 study of Indigenous people of Vancouver Island’s northwest coast was frequently cited in the court decision.

During his time with Nuu-chah-nulth-aht in the 1930s and 1940s Drucker observed how coastal people heavily relied on ocean resources, rather than venturing far inland.

“It is scarcely to be wondered at, what with the ruggedness of the mountainous terrain and the dense tangle of vegetation, that the native population for the most part frequented the woods but little,” wrote Drucker.

But, like other Nuu-chah-nulth, the Nuchatlaht’s use of cedar was historically foundational to its culture. The trees’ bark provided material for clothing, cedar planks were used for homes, and sections

Culturally modified trees – or CMTs –within the claim area composed a large portion of the Nuchatlaht’s evidence for the court, including the identification of 8,386 CMTs by archaeologist Jacob Earnshaw. This evidence lies an average of 845 metres from Nootka Island’s coast, but the largest cluster of CMTs, numbering 2,358 examples, sit approximately 1.5 kilometres inland. These trees were harvested from 1541 to 1969, according to the archaeologist’s findings. In his testimony Earnshaw said that CMTs would be found anywhere in the claim area.

“[I]f these deep, inland areas were to be consistently surveyed, large cedar harvesting areas would continue to be identified,” he said. This didn’t appear to satisfy the judge, who determined that the only “direct evidence” of occupation specific to Nuchatlaht in the claim area were village sites, including Lūpȧtcsis, where the Nuchatlaht confederacy congregated in the summer.

“With respect to the interior, there is almost no evidence of use by the Nuchatlaht,” wrote Myers in his decision. “Further, Dr. Drucker said that the Nuu-chahnulth treated the interior and coastal areas differently in terms of ownership and had far less knowledge of the interior.”

After over 50 days in court and six years since the title claim was first filed, the case has proven to be a significant drain on resources for the Nuchatlaht, which has less than 170 members. But the First Nation intends to continue in its battle for title over the territory that members have considered home for countless generations.

“We need to take this victory and continue fighting for recognition of our rights,” said Councillor Mellissa Jack.

“We’re not going anywhere, we know what’s ours,” said Nuchatlaht Councillor Erick Michael. “This isn’t just about Nuchatlaht, but about every First Nation.”

The Nuchatlaht plan to apply to the B.C. Court ofAppeal over Myers’decision to decline awarding the entire claim area.