Splatsin Elder struggles to stop tubers from accessing his private property

Photo: Kelsie Kilawna

Nathan Kinbakset 

As you drive down Cliff Avenue in Enderby, you come to a bridge that passes over the Shuswap River. On any given summer day, you are likely to see cars lined up along the Splatsin First Nation roadside. 

Over the years, it's become a hotspot for locals and tourists – a pit stop for tubers to jump off. 

What most don’t know is that the riverfront and adjacent area floaters have been parking on is private – owned by Splatsin elder Nathan Kinbasket.

Kinbasket has asked the public to access the beach on the other side of the river, and to respect his land. 

Kinbasket says the issue began when his grandmother allowed the public to access the waterfront because locals didn’t have a place to swim.  

“The problem is, a long time ago, back in my grandmother’s day when we still had that wooden bridge here, she let the public come swim here,” he says. “Because they didn’t have Barnes Park or anything, so out of the goodness of her heart, this was a swimming spot.”

The city built the Enderby Lions swimming pool for the public at Barnes Park, but years later many still believe that Kinbasket's land is for public access. He says river floaters have destroyed his many attempts at posting warning signs.

“We have dug a ditch so cars couldn’t go in there and we put posts in too, but some people came in with a 4×4 and pulled them right out,” he says.

Kinbasket is trying to keep an open mind and says that if he fences off the land to stop the parking, then the community members won't have a safe place to walk.

“I don’t want them to get hit or run over,” he says. “I really don’t want to put anyone in jeopardy. So I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard place.”

Kinbasket is also pursuing legal action with B.C. Highways for allegedly widening the road onto his property, which he says was done without consent.

“The highway is encroaching,” he says, gesturing toward where the highways paved over his land. “Last year, they paved all this… they put this road here without anyone’s permission.”