Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

TOLD TO HIT THE ROAD – The Kwanlin Dün First Nation has gone to court seeking the removal of these vehicles from this land in the Marwell area.

Old vehicles impeding redevelopment: KDFN

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation is planning to develop the site of the “old village” in the Marwell industrial area of Whitehorse,

By Emily Blake on August 15, 2017

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation is planning to develop the site of the “old village” in the Marwell industrial area of Whitehorse, but there are still old vehicles and structures on the lot.

Now, the First Nation is taking legal action to have the property cleared.

The First Nation recently filed a statement of claim in Yukon Supreme Court.

It claims that Tim Smith is trespassing on lot 226, the site of the old village, by keeping personal property there.

It asks for a permanent injunction to prevent Smith from trespassing and for an interlocutory injunction requiring him to remove his things.

Many Kwanlin Dün citizens used to live in the old village, and the First Nation still owns and pays property taxes and servicing charges for the lot.

Once the Whitehorse Indian Reserve No. 8, the 282.3 acres granted to the First Nation were on a flood plain next to sewage outfall.

The residential area was moved to its present site in the McIntyre subdivision of Whitehorse after an agreement in 1986 among the First Nation, the city and the federal and territorial governments.

The subdivision west of the Alaska Highway was originally part of a larger development constructed to meet an expected population boom from the Alaska Highway Pipeline, which was never constructed.

As part of this agreement, Kwanlin Dün agreed that no further residential development would take place on the old lot. And by the 1990s, the residential relocation was complete.

But since that time, people have abandoned junk and old cars, pickup trucks and SUVs on the lot.

As well, a couple of structures have been built for people to keep warm while working on the vehicles.

The suit claims this includes Smith.

Since 2008, the suit alleges, he has used the property to store derelict vehicles and personal property, and may occasionally sleep in one of the structures during the summer.

This became an issue around 2013, when Kwanlin Dün established a draft conceptual plan for lot 226, including opportunities for commercial and light industrial activities.

To move forward with the development plan, the First Nation says, it must clear the land and remediate any environmental contamination.

This year, Kwanlin Dün gave notice of the clean-up, alerting citizens that items needed to be removed from the lot by June 26.

But the First Nation claims that despite advising Smith since 2013 that his alleged use of the lot was unauthorized, he has refused or neglected to remove his personal property.

The suit claims that this has interfered with Kwanlin Dün’s possession of the land and that it has suffered damage and loss. That has included being unable to clean up and remediate the property. 7

Smith has not responded to the suit, and the claims against him have not been proven in court.

A case management conference is set for the case for Aug. 23.

Kwanlin Dün is asking that the matter be resolved by trial. Or that a court order be issued and allow it permission to dispose of the property if Smith does not do so himself.

The City of Whitehorse is also currently working on a plan for the Marwell neighbourhood, and received input during a plan-a-thon workshop in June.

Topics of focus included re-establishing the boat launch and having more services in the area.

Comments (10)

Up 12 Down 2

yukon56 on Aug 20, 2017 at 11:10 am

It's FN land. Clean it up and sue him for the cost. Simple.

Up 21 Down 2

Dave on Aug 20, 2017 at 9:32 am

You know what gets a little old is this Orwellian territory that's developed within the last 20 years where everyone is equal but some are 'more equal' than others. The rest of us are supposed to walk around with permanent smiles plastered on our faces while not pointing out what's going on. The system is doing its best to quash people's ability to express anything but the approved 'party line', however at least you can still write a comment to the Star to point out the irony of what's going on sometimes. However the shamers even try to attach racism labels to that.

Up 20 Down 6

bb on Aug 19, 2017 at 9:52 am

WTH people. KDFN is trying to clean up their mess down there and is seeking a court injunction to get rid of a squatter who is trashing the place. They want to do something nice with the property.

Bashing them over gladue reports and making snide comments about ill-behaved / special needs students makes you look like a bunch of losers just waiting to vent some of your poison onto others. It gets old.

Up 11 Down 8

Takuarm on Aug 18, 2017 at 9:23 pm

the comments here says a lot about latent racism in Whitehorse.

Up 9 Down 9

Roger on Aug 18, 2017 at 1:53 am

Liberal government kicked in any money yet to clean up the mess?

Up 23 Down 20

timesall on Aug 17, 2017 at 9:10 pm

Just curious. will KDFN ever be compensating students that have suffered in their studies by having poorly behaved FN students in the classroom? I'm fine with normal Whitehorse citizens being a distraction... but KDFN is special for some reason... so do we all get compensated?

Up 41 Down 18

Pondering on Aug 16, 2017 at 3:04 pm

I wonder if they'll have to get a Gladue report? Maybe due to past life experiences he'll get to keep 1/2 the old vehicles on the property. If your ethnicity can get a year taken off a drunk driving sentence and have years taken off a murder rap than certainly it should count to be able to keep a few of your old Junkers around. Removing them is certainly going to cause hardship for him and could lead to unnecessary pain and suffering, also maybe he's expressing himself through these wrecks and this action will supress his creativity.

Up 37 Down 5

canon2000 on Aug 16, 2017 at 9:11 am

Can any members from KDFN just go and make a mess with no consequence ?? Who pays for the environmental mess that needs to be cleaned up?? Who was the chief when this deal was signed ???

Up 34 Down 3

Just Say'in on Aug 15, 2017 at 11:57 pm

Hey Whitehorse Star.
The Mackenzie Pipeline was an Oil Pipeline and was never slated to come anywhere near Whitehorse. It was destined for the Mackenzie Valley as it's name indicates.

The pipeline that was to come through Whitehorse was the Foothills Pipeline and was a Natural Gas Pipeline, not oil, from the North Slope of Alaska (Bearing Sea area). Just to keep History straight.

Up 33 Down 3

Hugh Mungus on Aug 15, 2017 at 3:22 pm

That site is super contaminated with hundreds of old vehicles, fuel, oil and god knows what else. It'll cost a lot of money to get it up to development standards.

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