The provincial Archaeology Branch provided the following update to the Village:
Two Heritage Conservation Act permits were issued to support archaeological work for Lytton's rebuild in 2022. On June 27th, 2024, B.C. amended these permits. Residents will see no change to how the archaeological permits work.
The changes to these permits include:
- The permit was extended from June 30th, 2024, to March 31st, 2025, to allow residents to continue activities under these permits.
- The permit was transferred from a representative within the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness to the Ministry of Forests, given the stage of recovery.
This change will not impact Lytton residents, as the permit still allows homeowners to sign onto the permits and work with a qualified archaeologist.
At this stage of recovery, a Technical Working Group, consisting of Lytton First Nation, the NNTC, and the Archaeology Branch, will continue to exchange information and work with the Village of Lytton.
The Kumsheen Heritage Committee (KHC), which had been supporting this work, is no longer required for this work and was dissolved.
Residents will see no change to the way they submit proposals to do work under these permits.
Contact
To learn whether their property has an archaeological site on it, residents are encouraged to contact the Archaeology Branch via LyttonHCA@gov.bc.ca. Homeowners will receive property-specific advice as to what activities can occur immediately, and whether they need to work with an archaeologist.
Archaeology grant
To learn more about the $5,000 archaeology grant to assist owners, please visit /node/180. The program will be funded from the $17.6 million grant from the Province of B.C. for rebuilding Lytton
The Archaeology Branch wishes to thank all Village of Lytton and Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness representatives for their participation on the KHC these past few years.
Any questions about these changes can be directed to the Archaeology Branch at LyttonHCA@gov.bc.ca.