Caroline Elliott: B.C.’s odious plan to give public property in Victoria to Indigenous groups

A little more than 50 years ago, members of B.C.’s NDP government gathered in the provincial capital to introduce the British Columbia Day Act, creating a statutory holiday to celebrate the province and its history. Now, B.C.’s current NDP government is negotiating a treaty that would give parts of that same capital away.

In 1974, NDP MLAs rose in the Legislature to advocate for the adoption of B.C. Day, saying it would enable British Columbians to “remember the great people who have helped in making this country what it is.” They encouraged citizens to “get together and celebrate the origin and the history of our province.”

These displays of provincial pride are a far cry from B.C.’s NDP government of today.

In the very same Legislature where her predecessors called upon British Columbians to honour their past, one NDP MLA came under fire last year for using the terms “settler,” “colonizer” and “uninvited guest” to refer to non-Indigenous British Columbians. Premier David Eby himself has referred to British Columbia’s “original colonial mistake,” while government guidelines suggested the phrase “British Columbians” is exclusionary.

Across the street from the Legislature at the Royal B.C. Museum, a similar sentiment was behind the NDP’s highly-criticized 2021 attempt to “decolonize” the beloved Old Town exhibit, which had previously celebrated B.C.’s pioneers in a way that would have made the NDP of the 1970s proud.

And now, B.C.’s NDP government is negotiating a treaty that would hand over tens of millions of dollars of prime land in the heart of the province’s capital, threatening public access, eliminating democratic oversight and opening Victoria’s historic centre for unregulated development that could change the face of the iconic city forever.

The late-stage treaty negotiations are with the Te’Mexw Treaty Association, which represents five Indigenous groups on Vancouver Island, including the 600-member Songhees First Nation in the Victoria area.

Maps show plans to transfer two provincially owned properties to the Songhees as treaty lands in fee simple (among many other land transfers to the other four Indigenous groups). These include a large area beside B.C.’s picturesque Legislature, and a large waterfront property on Wharf Street across from Bastion Square. These downtown properties have a combined assessed value of $47 million.

The two downtown properties are in addition to the planned transfer of the enormous $48 million federal Hatley Park property and castle that is currently the site of Royal Roads University (known to non-Islanders as a filming location for the X-Men movies). Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park will also be transferred in fee simple.

It is unknown what the Songhees First Nation might do with these properties, but what is clear is that no local bylaws or zoning rules will apply. This opens the land in and around Victoria’s picturesque inner harbour, and potentially other lands contemplated in this treaty, to unrestricted development of any kind.

Public access is not guaranteed, either. Euphemistically described as a change that “could take some getting used to,” a 2024 consultation summary notes that, when it comes to lands previously accessible to citizens, “there may be limited access or even no access for public use.”

In exchange for these giveaways, the government points to “certainty” as a key treaty accomplishment. However, it appears that even this one tangible public benefit is itself not guaranteed.

Instead, the treaties are referred to as “living agreements” that are “capable of evolving over time” indicating they can be expanded on in perpetuity rather than resolving matters with finality. The treaties also provide a mechanism for new properties to be added to the deal in the future.

Legal certainty is also far from guaranteed. The nearby Esquimalt First Nation is already suing the federal government for offering the Hatley Park property to the Songhees First Nation, and not to them.

Public property ought to be used and managed for the benefit of all British Columbians. With tens of millions of dollars in land transfers, undisclosed cash payments, few guarantees of public access, continued uncertainty and zero restrictions to protect Victoria’s cherished heritage aesthetic, it is not clear how the government has advanced the public interest at all.

The treaty, which has yet to be finalized and then approved in the Legislature, stands in stark contrast to the pride in B.C. expressed by the NDP in that same building decades ago, when they created a holiday in the province’s honour.

“The (B.C. Day) holiday,” as one NDP MLA said at the time, “should be dedicated to the pioneers who built the colony of British Columbia into the great province it is today.” Now, instead of honouring the province our predecessors built, today’s NDP appears more interested in giving it away.

National Post

Caroline Elliott is a B.C.-based policy advocate and advisor. She has a PhD in Canadian government and democratic theory.