Image Credit: Flickr / Province of B.C.

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Concerns about indigenous veto over Crown land need more dialogue

Feb 15, 2024 | 5:55 AM

LAND ACT CHANGES will either shut down B.C. businesses or are a natural evolution on the path toward reconciliation, depending which side of the argument you’re on.

Todd Stone and BC United insist the result will be a de facto indigenous veto over public land. The B.C. Wildlife Federation says the amendments will “profoundly affect the ability of British Columbians to steward, access, and enjoy every inch of the province for recreation and business, while delivering effective veto power, disregarding the concepts of natural justice and procedural fairness.”

Says the Fraser Institute: “Make no mistake, this change will have massive consequences for B.C.”

The Land Act governs access to and use of Crown Land, which is roughly 95 per cent of the province. Tens of thousands of tenures permit such uses as communications towers, agriculture, mining leases and rights of way. Those worried about the plans to change the act say the NDP would give veto over that 95 per cent of the province to five per cent of the people.

Some First Nations spokespersons say objections to the changes are over-stated and “fear-mongering at its worst.” And Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, discounts any concerns.

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According to Cullen, there’s no veto in the amendments. They are, he says, simply a “reset” of the consultation process in line with DRIPA, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

But the issue isn’t just with content, it’s about process. The NDP government slid in notice of its intentions without any official announcement, not even a news release. The result is that few British Columbians are even aware of the impending changes, despite a March 31 deadline for written submissions.

That’s not acceptable. Proper public dialogue is needed, and that must include a substantial extension to the deadline in order to give British Columbians a chance to understand, and to weigh in on, this important issue.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.