The B.C. NDP government has publicly announced an agreement it signed last summer that aims to settle Aboriginal title over an area that spans more than half a million hectares of the Sunshine Coast – the delayed revelation sparking concerns from private homeowners in the region.
Under the agreement signed in August, the province and the shíshálh Nation promised to formalize a decision-making process by this fall that recognizes and implements the First Nation’s rights and title. The deal, announced late last month, also promises within five years to reach agreement on exclusive decision-making by the shíshálh over matters that are not yet defined.
Sean McAllister, director of the Pender Harbour and Area Residents Association, said Monday he is distrustful of the deal that was signed without public disclosure prior to the October provincial election.
“I believe it’ll really be a cloud on all our [land] titles on the Sunshine Coast,” he said in an interview.
Prior to the election, the NDP government faced a backlash over some of its efforts to seek reconciliation with First Nations. It was forced to abandon its proposed Land Act amendments, which would have paved the way for joint decision-making with Indigenous communities on public land that covers 94 per cent of the province.
Legislators later admitted that they had failed to do adequate consultations with the public, including thousands of tenure-holders.
The Land Act changes were particularly contentious in parts of the Sunshine Coast, where the province has spent more than two decades working to resolve conflicts between the shíshálh and the broader community over private and commercial docks and boathouses. Last summer, the government announced a resolution that effectively shields existing facilities from new rules imposed by the First Nation.
Mr. McAllister said the wider deal with the shíshálh on land title should have been revealed at that time, but it would have raised difficult questions for the NDP during the election campaign about private property rights.
He pointed to the precedent set last spring when the province formally recognized the Haida Nation’s Aboriginal title to all of Haida Gwaii. That agreement includes a commitment from the Haida to leave privately owned lands unchanged and under B.C. authority, but the details were left to be negotiated.
“I have some grave concerns as to how you can have Aboriginal title in existence, with just a statement from the government saying they’ll protect fee simple title,” said Mr. McAllister, a retired lawyer.
B.C.’s Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Christine Boyle, said those concerns are unfounded.
”This won’t impact private property rights,” she said in an interview Monday. Ms. Boyle said the announcement of the deal was delayed by five months to allow time for the First Nation to hold a community celebration.
Echoing comments that were made after the government backed down on the Land Act changes, Ms. Boyle promised to do a better job in consulting with the broader public: “I understand that members of the community want to see more engagement from us on this, and that’s something we’re committed to.”
Under the Aug. 16 agreement, the province and shíshálh will “negotiate and attempt to reach an agreement recognizing shíshálh Nation’s aboriginal title” within their traditional territories that are identified in an attached map. The territories cover a large section of the Sechelt Peninsula, 50 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
Robin Junger, the lawyer representing the Pender Harbour residents association, said the province’s move to recognize Aboriginal title to a broad region, as it did last year in Haida Gwaii, is problematic because there is no legal model to show how private land rights can fully exist with Aboriginal title.
“And while I think many people did not care much about Aboriginal title being acknowledged on Haida Gwaii, if it’s now coming to the mainland with Sechelt as a beachhead, it may start getting a lot more attention and concern,” he said.
He noted that the Supreme Court of Canada, in its landmark 2014 Tsilhqot’in decision, ruled that Aboriginal title “encompasses the right to exclusive use and occupation of the land,” and that “the title-holding group has the right to choose the uses to which the land is put and to enjoy its economic fruits.”
Lenora Joe, chief of the shíshálh, did not respond to an interview request on Monday.