Sen̓áḵw (Squamish Nation) | 11 Towers | 171m | 58fl | U/C

[Repthe250]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Others might call it a nice cheap bachelor pad. I support housing options, even if they're not options I would personally choose.

I doubt it will be cheap, let’s be real. It’ll be $2400 a month.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Repthe250

I doubt it will be cheap, let’s be real. It’ll be $2400 a month.

I'll be real, it'll be comparably cheap to the other units and inline with market rates for the square footage. Construction isn't free

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Repthe250

I doubt it will be cheap, let’s be real. It’ll be $2400 a month.

Just across the Burrard Bridge you can get a 430sqft 1br for $2300, I don't know why you think it would be $2400 for a 291sqft studio.

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van...709975422.html

[jollyburger]

Here comes Tower 7

March Community Construction Update
Squamish Nation noise variances still in effect for concrete pour works and Saturday general construction activities January 27th to May 18th 2024:

Set-up activities for concrete pours are now permitted to start 45 minutes prior to the overall commencement of construction activities on weekdays and Saturdays. Set-up activities are now permitted to occur at 6:45AM on weekdays.
Set-up activities to occur 45 minutes prior to general construction work, set-up activities are now permitted to occur at 7:15AM on Saturdays.
General – All Phases
Gate 1 on West 1st and Fir Street remains the primary entrance to the site for construction traffic.
Gate 2 on Chestnut Street remains the secondary entrance.
On site work to begin on construction access to Creekside Drive to commence.
Construction – Phase 1
Shotcrete walls for District Energy Plant foundation to be completed.
Tower 1 Level L1 Western concrete slab to be formed and poured.
Tower 2 Level 2 & 3 concrete slabs to be formed and poured.
Tower 3 Level 5 concrete slab to be formed and poured.
Exterior Curtain Wall panels continuing to arrive at the storage yard.
Construction – Phase 2
Removal of contaminated soils continues.
Bulk excavation and shoring of Tower 7 footprint continuing Phase 2.

https://senakw.com/construction-timeline

[jollyburger]

Above the bridge deck now

[seamusmcduff]

Great article calling out those like Gordon Price who think they get to decide what is and isn't indigenous.

https://macleans.ca/society/sen%cc%9...b5w-vancouver/

To Indigenous people themselves, though, these developments mark a decisive moment in the evolution of our sovereignty in this country. The fact is, Canadians aren’t used to seeing Indigenous people occupy places that are socially, economically or geographically valuable, like Sen̓áḵw. After decades of marginalization, our absence seems natural, our presence somehow unnatural. Something like Sen̓áḵw is remarkable not just in terms of its scale and economic value (expected to generate billions in revenue for the Squamish Nation). It’s remarkable because it’s a restoration of our authority and presence in the heart of a Canadian city...

What chafes critics, even those who might consider themselves progressive, is that they expect reconciliation to instead look like a kind of reversal, rewinding the tape of history to some museum-diorama past. Coalitions of neighbours near Iy̓álmexw and Sen̓áḵw have offered their own counter-proposals for developing the sites, featuring smaller, shorter buildings and other changes. At the January hearing for Iy̓álmexw, one resident called on the First Nations to build entirely with selectively logged B.C. timber, in accord with what she claimed were their cultural values. These types of requests reveal that many Canadians believe the purpose of reconciliation is not to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty, but to quietly scrub centuries of colonial residue from the landscape, ultimately in service of their own aesthetic preferences and personal interests.

That attitude can cast Indigenous people in the role of glorified park rangers—and even then, with limits on their authority...

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by seamusmcduff

Great article calling out those like Gordon Price who think they get to decide what is and isn't indigenous.

https://macleans.ca/society/sen%cc%9...b5w-vancouver/

I found that article to stretch it a bit too far. I think people are against density because they are NIMBYs and not some take on reconcilation (even though these projects directly involve that issue.)

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I found that article to stretch it a bit too far. I think people are against density because they are NIMBYs and not some take on reconciliation (even though these projects directly involve that issue.)

The article addresses settlers critiquing decisions on these projects for not being truly "Indigenous."

They may be motivated by NIMBYism in part, but there is also a clear cultural arrogance there, directly quoted.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I found that article to stretch it a bit too far. I think people are against density because they are NIMBYs and not some take on reconcilation (even though these projects directly involve that issue.)

The Hardwick quote from the days of yore was so brutal to re-read.

[chowhou]

[deleted]

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I don't have a super strong opinion on this, but I imagine a lot of people acknowledge and recognize First Nations reserves having autonomy and protection because they are intended to be a place where First Nations rights and culture and way of life can be protected (at least in theory) from the "European neoliberal settler colonial way of life". We hear this rhetoric over and over that First Nations need control over their own fisheries and lands and forests and watersheds to protect their way of life from industrial fishing and property development and logging and pipelines. However, if First Nations are going to use their specially protected lands to more or less engage in the same cultural practices done in the surrounding Canadian jurisdiction, namely real estate development and property management, and do it in a way that even Canadian jurisdictions would restrict, what's the point?

The point is that ultimately settlers are still trying to control the decision-making powers of Indigenous peoples on their own land. The maintenance of that paternalistic power structure, where we always ultimately know "best," is what they are rightfully rebelling against. We left them scraps that eventually turned out to have value and now we have the gall to say that they aren't using them how we would prefer. Well, we have 99% of the rest of the city land to have it our way so maybe we should shut up for once.

These developments are providing homes the city needs, and most of the criticisms just centre around NIMBY thinking anyways. Disingenuously trying to use indigeneity as a tactic against them takes it to a new low.

[chowhou]

[deleted]

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by chowhou

In the least charitable terms, we all live under a "paternalistic power structure that thinks it knows best for us" called the federal government (yes, even First Nations). The Indian Act which bestows these rights on First Nations is ultimately the federal government deciding what's "best" for First Nations. Unless you're an avowed anarchist, we do indeed entrust power in the state to know what's "best". Maybe you're against that?

Maybe it's just me, but recently I've personally had a hard time reconciling a particular group of people who I believe act and think identically to me having a different set of rights, especially when some them having that set of rights (namely autonomy) enriches them (MST nations) but for others it results in poverty (northern reserves).

Regardless, I'm a big fan of the results (if for no other reason than showing that without regulation, the free market supports highrises in Kitsilano), but the ends don't necessarily justify the means.

I'd see this akin to any level of Canadian government owning property and developing it. Something like Canada Lands Development on old military bases.

[chowhou]

[deleted]

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Those developments (for better or for worse) still require the approval of local governments, see the Jericho lands for example. Not only is it CLD, it's in partnership with the MST, however it's still under the CoV jurisdiction.

Also, for what it's worth, I'd prefer if non-indigenous landowners had rights closer to what FN have, not the other way around!

The CLC plays along and doesn't want to upset the locals and the City, and connect into city water/sewer/etc. But there's no question they could do whatever they wanted, City rules be damned.

[chowhou]

[deleted]

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Is that really true? The CLC is a crown corp and it's my understanding it doesn't have any particular federal rights bestowed upon it.

Even if the federal government wants to flex its muscle and do some federal government project in a municipality (or the province does for that matter), it's still beholden to the electorate. The same can't be said for reserves.

It was my understanding federal land is technically exempt from lesser government’s powers but they don’t exercise that to avoid antagonizing lower levels of government. And of course if they wanted to tear down Seaforth Armoury and built 40 story towers they’d still have to link up to municipal sewer and water lines.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Is that really true? The CLC is a crown corp and it's my understanding it doesn't have any particular federal rights bestowed upon it.

Even if the federal government wants to flex its muscle and do some federal government project in a municipality (or the province does for that matter), it's still beholden to the electorate. The same can't be said for reserves.

I should have added "and if Canada Lands parcels were a separate municipality". I just assumed federal lands did not require the same City process. I can't recall if they do or not.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Is that really true? The CLC is a crown corp and it's my understanding it doesn't have any particular federal rights bestowed upon it.

Even if the federal government wants to flex its muscle and do some federal government project in a municipality (or the province does for that matter), it's still beholden to the electorate. The same can't be said for reserves.

Sure they could.

But the City is under to obligation to, for example, allow the MST developments access to water and sewer either. But good luck opposing them in the court of public opinion.

[GenWhy?]

Agreed, I think this thread should focus on the development.