PokeStopped! Indigenous cemetery's PokeStop removed

Two months after complaints PokemonGOplayers weretrampling on indigenous graves, aPokeStopin a traditional burial ground in Prince Georgehas been beenremoved from the online game.

KymGouchiewas visiting her father's grave in July when sheencountered dozens ofPokemon GOplayers traipsing through theLheidli T'ennehFirst Nation's cemetery.

'Absolutely absurd...and very disrespectful'

"To have a PokeStopthere and to have peoplesearchingaround in the burial groundsis absolutely absurd ... and very disrespectful," said Gouchie, one of several people who complained to the game's creator,Niantic.

APokeStopis an in-game checkpoint, a location whereplayers enter andclick on their deviceto collect prizes and items available at that stop

"It's sacred there..My dad, my uncles, my cousin, my greatgrandmother are all buried there," said Gouchie, who noted the game's creators didn't consult with members of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation or ask permission.

The traditional cemetary home to graves,an outdoor altarmand clan carvings is located in a popular riverside parkwhere theLheidliT'ennehonce lived, before their village was burned to the groundin 1913and their community forcibly relocatedto reserve land.

"It should not happen. It should not be on their map," Gouchiesaid two months ago.

'Players are walking on graves of my community'

Don Bain, a LheidliT'enneh member and executive director of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, also complained.

"Players are walking on graves of my community." he wrote in an email to Niantic.

Niantichas now apologized, but only for the delay in responding to complaints.

"It has taken us longer than we would like to review your request," the company wrote in an email Wednesday night. "We have removed the PokeStop/Gym in question. You should see these changes reflected soon."

Gouchiesaid she's happy.

"I just figured it was a matter of time before they would do what was right. And here we go."

"Some people wanted PokeStops because it brought business," she said. "We didn't want people traipsing through the ... sacred burial sites. People go there to pay their respects, but not to play a game."