Photo: Luc Rempel

Splatsin community members at blockade of Bruhn Bridge construction project on Monday

The mayor of Sicamous is crediting fast action from council for ensuring a speedy resolution to a two-day First Nations blockade of the R.W. Bruhn Bridge rebuild project.

At Wednesday's District of Sicamous committee of the whole meeting, Mayor Colleen Anderson said she and council have been extremely busy working to resolve the two-day blockade, erected on Monday by the Splatsin First Nation.

“I just want to thank our community for their patience and understanding in the last couple days and I do want them to know that when things like this come up, we are not sitting by watching it happen,” she said.

“We are literally in the trenches trying to figure out how to make it all come back together again.”

She went on to thank the rest of council for their quick decision to reach out to the provincial government for attention to the issue.

“I think that if we hadn't taken those steps, I'm not sure that it would have been resolved yet,” she said. “We were fortunate, because Victoria's in session right now, so we hit some key people that were in the room and I think that was a big help.”

Coun. Ian Baillie also spoke about the issue and said he heard lots from residents concerned about the blockade.

“Obviously, this week, people were quite concerned about the closure of the bridge,” he said.

“People were extremely concerned about that and concerned about the message that was sending in terms of how we would deal with those situations, because from my point of view, it was not a legal closure of the highway. ... I certainly hope that we're going to be able to have some further discussions with our partners about that and how that's impacted Sicamous.”

Ministry 'pleased' it's over

The Splatsin First Nation erected a blockade of the $260 million R.W. Bruhn Bridge replacement project at 10 a.m. on Monday.

They said the blockade was a response to “structural exclusion,” of the Splatsin Development Corporation by AECON and Emil Anderson, the contractors in charge of the project.

A Ministry of Transportation and Transit spokesperson said collaborative discussion between all parties helped resolve the blockade in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

“The Ministry of Transportation and Transit is pleased that, after two days of collaborative discussion, the parties have developed a mutually agreeable solution to address issues raised,” the ministry said in the statement.

“The ministry acknowledges and appreciates the patience and cooperation of Sicamous residents and the travelling public.”

The blockade was taken down by Splatsin at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.