Article content

An internal B.C. document has revealed the extent of the province’s plans to cede more than 120,000 hectares of Crown land to First Nations control, including prominent landmarks around the provincial capital of Victoria.

Article content

The total proposed cessions are more than twice the size of the City of Toronto, or 300 times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. What’s more, they would all become “treaty lands”; a special territorial designation that is not subject to local zoning controls.

Article content

Article content

Article content

In the case of Victoria, this means that some of the most prime development land in the city could become Indigenous-controlled properties exempted from local bylaws, approvals and building codes.

Article content

Article content

“Local government bylaws do not apply on treaty lands,” reads a May 2024 consultation paper published by the B.C. government.

Article content

That same document warns that the land transfers may “take some getting used to,” as they cover public lands that could end up sealed off from public access.

Article content

“Once those lands become treaty lands, there may be limited access or even no access for public use,” it reads.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The document itemizes 20 planned land transfers to First Nations as “contingent liabilities and contractural obligations.”

Article content

The proposed cessions are part of modern treaty negotiations that stretch back to the 1990s in some cases, but the Public Accounts show that the lands are now officially on the books as government liabilities.

Article content

One B.C. government outline on modern treaties, published in 2023, explained that one of their primary goals is to “return lands to First Nations.”

Article content

Article content

The largest of the itemized cessions is 35,290 hectares earmarked for the Kitselas First Nation and 45,789 hectares for the Kitsumkalum First Nation. Both are located near Terrace, B.C., and comprise a total membership of about 1,500 people.

Article content

Article content

In many of the transfers, First Nations stand to receive territory well beyond the size of their existing reserve lands. And, unlike reserve lands, these would effectively be held as fee-simple territories.

Article content

Among the most valuable cessions is the 1,916.7 hectares set aside for the Te’mexw Treaty Association, a coalition of five First Nations on Southern Vancouver Island.

Article content