By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The First Nation with the least reserve land per person in British Columbia has reclaimed a swath of ancestral territory on Vancouver Island once fenced off for the federal military. The 80 hectares of land, known traditionally as te\u2019tuxwtun, or Mount Benson, was \u00a0taken from Snuneymuxw First Nation by the government in the mid-1800s and used by the Department of National Defence. It later became the Nanaimo Indian Hospital from 1946 to 1967 \u2014 a site where many Indigenous people suffered under Canada\u2019s forced assimilation policies. \u201cSnuneymuxw never surrendered our land,\u201d Mike Wyse, chief of the nation, told Canada\u2019s National Observer. \u201cWe signed a treaty that we had our understanding, but our understanding of the English language wasn\u2019t as clear… <\/p>\n
By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer The First Nation with the least reserve land per person in British Columbia has reclaimed a swath of ancestral territory on Vancouver Island once fenced off for the federal military. The 80 hectares of land, known traditionally as te\u2019tuxwtun, or Mount Benson, was \u00a0taken from Snuneymuxw First Nation by the government in the mid-1800s and used by the Department of National Defence. It later became the Nanaimo Indian Hospital from 1946 to 1967 \u2014 a site where many Indigenous people suffered under Canada\u2019s forced assimilation policies. \u201cSnuneymuxw never surrendered our land,\u201d Mike Wyse, chief of the nation, told Canada\u2019s National Observer. \u201cWe signed a treaty that we had our understanding, but our understanding of the English language wasn\u2019t as clear... <\/p>\n