Family raises funds for Maple Ridge Indigenous matriarch living without reliable utilities

The family of Florence Thomas, an 80-year-old Indigenous matriarch in Maple Ridge, is raising $32,000 for a new trailer after years without reliable power or running water.

Thomas lives near Lougheed Highway in a deteriorating trailer above the train tracks. She rents a portable washroom and makes weekly trips into town for drinking water. She told CityNews that vision and hearing impairments, along with the lack of a refrigerator, have made daily life difficult.

Her family says it once lived in a house on the Whonnock 1 Reserve, but the building was demolished in 1999 because of mould. They say they were told a replacement would be built within six months, yet the property remains vacant.

The Whonnock Cultural Reclamation Society plans to place a new trailer on land donated by Kwan-Kwaw-a-pilt First Nation. Thomas’s daughter, Cynthia Jim, said the effort is intended to help bring displaced community members home.

The Whonnock 1 Reserve is under Kwantlen First Nation jurisdiction. The Thomas family alleges it has not received adequate support, while Kwantlen’s chief and council say members of the family have sought to illegitimately take control of the reserve, creating tensions. Lawyer Anita Boscariol said registered members are owed services.