The Ktunaxa Nation Council is pleased the British Columbia government has taken steps resulting in the dissolution of the Jumbo Glacier Resort Municipality, by introducing Bill 26 in the provincial legislature.

The 2013 incorporation of this ‘town with no people’ (with an appointed mayor and council), was an affront to all residents of British Columbia.

The Ktunaxa Nation Council opposed the Jumbo development for nearly thirty years, as its proposed location was within Qat’muk, an area of vital cultural and spiritual significance. The Ktunaxa have a stewardship obligation and duty to Qat’muk.

In 2020, the announcement of the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in Qat’muk put an end to Jumbo Glacier resort development, but the “fake municipality” was still extant, until this
week.

“The Ktunaxa Nation Council thanks all those who stood beside us during this long, protracted fight, and those partners who stand with us going forward,” said Ktunaxa Nation Council Chair Kathryn Teneese. “In some ways the hard work is over, but in other ways, it is just beginning. I am relieved to see that Bill 26 also rescinds the provincial government’s authority to incorporate a mountain resort municipality without residents in the future. This will help to ensure accountability by all governments in the province and the voices of all British Columbians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, are heard.”

You can read the Qat’muk Declaration at www.ktunaxa.org/qatmuk.