A public hearing to be held tonight, Nov. 7, at Port Moody city hall could help determine the future of six cottages in təmtəmíxwtən/Belcarra Regional Park.
The cottages were built in the early 20th century as summer homes for the family of Judge William Norman Bole, who once served as an MLA for New Westminster and gave the village of Belcarra its name, after a village in Ireland where he was originally from.
In 2017, Port Moody council granted the cottages heritage status in an attempt to discourage Metro Vancouver, which had leased the cottages to tenants as year-round homes from the 1970s until 2021, from tearing them down to expand the 1,100-acre park.
But last March, the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation requested a repeal of that protection so it can begin working with Metro Vancouver to restore the park's foreshore.
In a statement, the First Nation said it wasn't consulted when the cottages were first constructed, nor when they were granted heritage status.
It said since formalizing an historic agreement with Metro Vancouver three years ago to share management of the park, it hopes to turn the Bole property, including the judge's original home, into a multi-purpose area that "will have cultural, artistic and educational components" as well as a picnic area.
And while the Tsleil-Waututh's current vision would retain the cottages as static displays, their deteriorating condition since Metro Vancouver was granted a court order to terminate its tenants' leases could change that.
"All the cabins are in poor condition," said a statement from Metro Vancouver. "There would be an extensive cost to ensure their structural integrity."
Still, at least one local heritage advocate said the cottages' role in local history shouldn't be erased.
"The Belcarra Cottages are a fact of recent history that overlays the realities and consequences that we must all understand and undertake through reconciliation with the First Peoples of this land," said Robert Simons, a former member of the Port Moody Heritage Society's board of directors.
"Both histories exist and my concern is neither is lost."
But Mary De Paoli, Port Moody's manager of policy planning, said ceding the Tsleil-Waututh ultimate say in the future of the cottages is an important part of the reconciliation process with local First Nations.
Port Moody councillor Samantha Agtarap said much has changed since Metro Vancouver first sought to tear down the cottages in 2015.
"When we know better, we need to do better," she said.
Coun. Kyla Knowles agreed.
"This is the City of Port Moody acknowledging that these lands are of very important cultural significance to the Tsleil-Waututh Nation."
The public hearing begins at 7 p.m. in council chambers at city hall (100 Newport Dr.). It will be immediately followed by a special council meeting to consider third reading and adoption of a bylaw to repeal the cottages’ heritage status.
