Penticton Indian Band adds its opposition to development on Skaha Lake

The Penticton Indian Band is adding its voice to an effort to save a piece of South Okanagan waterfront from development.

The band announced its opposition to development of Sickle Point, located on the west shore of Skaha Lake below Kaleden, in a press release issued this morning, Nov. 26.

The five acre waterfront property recently came on the market at an asking price of $3,150,000. A Kaleden community citizen’s group has been trying to raise funds to purchase the property, which was partially developed several years ago.

The group would like to see the site, which has 1,700 feet of shoreline on Skaha Lake, restored to its riparian state and turned into a nature park.

“Our position at PIB as members of the Syilx Nation, is that we are the original title holders to this area and we are absolutely against any type of development,” band councillor Suzanne Johnson said.

“We support conservation. We support Syilx practices and management. It’s a place where our people have had a presence for thousands of years. It’s an important cultural site; it’s an important environmental site."

The band stands in opposition to development of the property with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and the community of Kaleden, calling it one of the few remaining wetland and semi-natural habitats along the western shore of Skaha Lake.

Johnson said the band will “vehemently defend our title and rights and reject any proposed developments at the site."

“That’s an important message for any developer wanting to purchase this land to understand,” she said.

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