Stories passed down from elders tell how people from afar would paddle their canoes to bathe in the hot springs on the territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation.
They believed the water contained medicine, said Sts’ailes Grand Chief William Charlie.
“Our people have been using it for tens of thousands of years,” he said of the springs he called Qwólts, meaning boiling medicine water.
The steaming waters in the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, 130 kilometres east of Vancouver, could once be enjoyed for free in pools known as the Hobo Hot Springs — unlike the neighbouring Harrison Hot Springs Resort, where users of its pools must be resort guests.
But last month, the Hobo Hot Springs were mysteriously filled in with dirt and rocks, surprising the nation, the mayor and local users.
The actions have sparked an investigation by British Columbia’s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship as …