(ParcelMap BC; outline of 5544 Indian Road private property)
Two hectares of private land deepens mystery of 'unauthorized' landfill on Cowichan Tribes reserve
A small wedge of land between the Cowichan River and a massive "unauthorized" landfill on Cowichan Tribes Reserve #1 is adding an element of mystery to an ongoing pollution story.
The land is located at 5544 Indian Road — the same address as tribes member James Anthony Peter, who has received a pollution prevention order from the Ministry of Environment.
The order states that Conservation Officer Scott Norris attended the landfill site on Sept. 11, 2025, to serve a letter to Peter and "observed recently deposited waste on the site."
The province says it is "satisfied on reasonable grounds" that Peter:
"Has possession, charge or control of the substance, is conducting activities likely to cause the release of the substance, and controls access and activities on the site."
But neither Peter nor Cowichan Tribes owns the 5544 Indian Road property.
A land-title search shows it’s private, fee-simple property owned by Barbara Patricia Paquette — the same woman who made the news two years ago as part-owner of the new Romeo’s pizza.
Paquette also lists her address as 5544 Indian Road.
Black Press reported in 2023 that Romeo’s, on the Trans Canada Highway in Duncan, had reopened under new ownership. The article named Natalie Johnny and Quinn Smith, a young couple who met while working at Romeo’s, as co-owners, along with Johnny’s mother Stephanie Peter and grandmother Barbara Paquette.
(Black Press: https://lakecowichangazette.com/2023/12/14/business-notes-romeos-reopens-under-new-ownership-in-duncan/ )
The City of Duncan business licence for the restaurant identifies the legal name as QNK Holdings Ltd. A corporate search confirms that the same four individuals are company directors.
The Indian Road landfill has generated public interest well beyond the Cowichan Valley, with people asking how the unauthorized dump could have continued for two decades and why no one stopped it.
One of those who has taken an interest is Ron Usher, who retired last year as general counsel to the Society of Notaries Public of BC.
He says that "understanding the ownership history of the private land" is part of the greater story.
“It sounds like everybody in Duncan knew all about this," Usher said. "It must have been the biggest open secret — huge numbers of trucks driving out that road through the reserve on Indian Road. This is hardly a clandestine, middle-of-the-night operation."
BC Assessment pegs the value of the 5544 Indian Road property at $337,000, which includes $209,000 for two hectares of land and $128,000 for “buildings,” including a one-storey, 864-square-foot home built in 1957.
(A portion of 5544 Indian Road. Submitted drone image)
Seems like a bargain for riverfront property, just upstream from the Allenby Road Bridge. But the place is located immediately downhill from a landfill thought to be leaching pollutants and is accessible by road only through the Cowichan Tribes reserve on Indian Road.
Land-title documents show that Evelyn Isabel Alexander, a "sales associate" from Vancouver, had owned the property since 2005.
Paquette became a minority owner in 2013.
And just recently Alexander transferred full ownership of the property to Paquette for “$1 and natural love and affection.”
Paquette lists her address as 5544 Indian Road and her occupation as restauranteur on the documents.
She could not be reached through her Facebook page. So sixmountains.ca went to Romeo’s restaurant to ask her in person about 5544 Indian Road.
(sixmountains.ca photo)
“I have owned it for a long time and I do not wish to comment because I feel that I was wrongly targeted,” Paquette replied.
When sixmountains.ca mentioned the recent 100-per-cent transfer, she said: “Yeah, but my mother had it, but I’d like to have nothing to do with it.....”
Asked if Peter is her husband, she replied: “No.”
Then she said: “Good-bye.”
Paquette's Facebook page is no longer available.
The Crown entered a stay of proceedings last July 10 against Peter on two counts under the Environmental Management Act related to pollution and waste violations from 2019 to 2023 on Cowichan Tribes reserve #1. The Crown gave no reason for the stay.
sixmountains.ca has attempted to reach Peter through the Duncan lawyer who represented him on those charges, but has received no response. Peter also goes by the first name, Abby or Abbey, according to court records.
Provincial court records also show that a James Anthony Peter of Indian Road was fined $600 plus a victim surcharge of $90 and suspended from driving for one year in 2001 in Duncan for failing to provide a breath sample. Peter’s listed birth date is June 30, 1960, which currently makes him 65 years old.
The Ministry of Environment’s pollution prevention order dated Oct. 2, 2025, pertains to three lots on Indian Road just above the Cowichan River where dumped waste is “likely to release substances that will cause pollution.”
The three lots are legally on Cowichan Tribes reserve land, according to the pollution prevention order. Historically, the Peter family claimed the land but did not follow through with the process to be granted a certificate of possession for the lots.
(BC Ministry of Environment)
While Cowichan Tribes considers the three lots as land to which the Peter family has access, the family does not control its resources, the order says.
The pollution prevention order required Peter to cease dumping and to submit a remediation plan to the province for review and approval by November 17, but so far the province isn’t saying if that happened.
“The file is with the Ministry's Integrated Environmental Enforcement Unit for investigation, and no further updates can be provided at this time,” said spokesman David Karn.
Another question is who financially benefitted from the landfill.
A 2023 report by Sperling Hansen Associates for the Ministry of Environment noted that solid waste in the Cowichan Valley Regional District is first received at the Bings Creek Transfer Station, then shipped off-island to the Roosevelt Landfill in Washington state.
It would have been attractive for companies to dump at a landfill offering lower tipping fees and regulations, the report says.
“Assuming a tipping fee of $100 to $150 per tonne, the estimated 24,000 tonnes of waste deposited at this site could have generated $2.4 to $3.6 million in revenue.”
(Submitted drone image of 'unauthorized landfill' on Cowichan Tribes reserve)
Previous articles by sixmountains.ca on this issue:
— Federal government says First Nations have ‘limited regulatory tools’ to address pollution on reserve lands https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/6686bfe4-852c-47e6-94b0-e12dfcb38fe2
— Cowichan Tribes releases much-awaited statement on unauthorized dump site https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/110b5870-c18c-42d4-939c-4a8665722ecb
— Canadian government issued two cease-and-desist orders, including to Cowichan Tribes, related to unauthorized landfill https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/e28a3d8c-201c-416c-bf15-ca130a9c7916
— ‘Unauthorized landfill’ on Cowichan Tribes reserve thought to be two decades in the making: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/a35e0303-83a9-4242-b398-2b460610ef7d
— Dump truck driver says ‘everything and anything’ went into waste site on Cowichan Tribes reserve: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/e93bd147-4598-4838-ae9b-3b0166dd4c7e
— Pollution prevention order targets ‘unauthorized’ waste dump site on Cowichan Tribes reserve: https://www.sixmountains.ca/article/fdaaf885-11e9-432e-9041-aa3c4f965a5e
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— Larry Pynn, Dec. 8, 2025.