Natives get land, lose tax-exempt status
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, December 07, 2006
VICTORIA — Negotiators for British Columbia and Canada have reached a deal worth more than $120 million with the Tsawwassen band, one of the most lucrative treaty deals ever reached in Canada.
The treaty — expected to be formally unveiled Friday and offering economic value of more than $330,000 per person to the 360 members of the Tsawwassen First Nation — promises to change the face of both the West Coast’s geography and its politics.
It is guaranteed to be controversial because it removes hundreds of hectares of prime farmland from the agricultural land reserve for industrial use and guarantees natives a share of the lucrative Fraser River salmon fishery.
To carve it out, Prime Minister Stephen Harper flip-flopped, facing down the wrath of the Conservative MP who represents Tsawwassen.
John Cummins and many of his followers, who have been longtime Harper loyalists, have argued for years that such treaties create a "racially based" fishery that turn non-native fishermen into second-class Canadians.
With an election approaching, that’s a major ideological shift in the thinking of Harper, a former Reform party member who once sided with Cummins.
Premier Gordon Campbell will also be pointing to the proposed treaty, which is expected to easily pass through the legislature and Parliament, as proof his "new relationship" with aboriginals is bearing fruit.
Invitations have also been sent out to the unveiling of another treaty Saturday in Victoria’s Empress Hotel, with the 2,000 members of the Maa-nulth First Nations on Vancouver Island.
That treaty, worth tens of millions, will involve major redistribution of the province’s forestry and fishery resources.
If all goes according to plan, it would be the third treaty in less than six weeks initialled under B.C.’s treaty-making process.
On Oct. 29, negotiators agreed to a $76-million deal with the 320 members of the Carrier Indians, who make up the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation near Prince George. The economic worth of that treaty is about $230,000 per person.
After decades of wrangling over native land claims, the three proposed treaties are beginning to suggest the enormous cost to taxpayers to settle a historic grievance.
There are about 180,000 aboriginals in British Columbia, and the three treaties proposed offer about $250,000 per capita.
If extrapolated, that suggests settling land claims will cost federal and provincial taxpayers $40 billion to $50 billion.
But that’s not cash directly to B.C. natives. The bulk of the treaties’ values are in the transfer of natural resources, land and infrastructure to first nations, who will pay taxes once treaties are fully in place.
But there will be fallout, too, particularly from B.C. environmentalists, farmers and some local politicians around the Vancouver satellite community of Tsawwassen.
To clinch the deal, Campbell has agreed to the removal of hundreds of hectares of farmland from the Lower Mainland’s agricultural land reserve, probably by an all-party vote in the legislature that will force the NDP to take a side.
Much of that valuable green space will be turned into industrial land by the Tsawwassen First Nation, which is emerging as a major partner in port development.
The removal of the land from the agricultural reserve means its value will soar, accounting for much of the urban treaty’s value.
The removal of the land from the reserve will also enable the fast-tracking of development of the Roberts Bank superport as well as surrounding transportation links, all of which the government wants to expand dramatically as part of its Pacific Gateway strategy to capture a larger share of Asian shipping.
"We could be really in for an exciting time with all kinds of political and socio-economic changes," said Tsawwassen First Nation Chief Kim Baird, who was waiting for confirmation Wednesday afternoon that the treaty would be initialled by Ottawa despite Cummins’ opposition.
The 31-year-old Baird, scheduled to deliver her second baby on Monday, gave few details of the treaty. But The Vancouver Sun obtained a copy of the poster meant to commemorate Friday’s signing of the richest per-capita treaty made yet in B.C.
"People are saying I should bring my obstetrician to the ceremony, just in case," joked Baird, who is expected to unveil the treaty Friday with Campbell and Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice on the band’s oceanfront reserve.
Although all the initialled treaties still must be passed by Parliament and the B.C. legislature, as well as by the membership of the respective first nations, the breakthroughs are welcome news for negotiators.
They were hammered last week by the federal auditor-general for spending more than $1 billion over 13 years on negotiations without creating a single treaty.
While none of the three proposed treaties is final, they look likely to become law. By initialling the proposed treaties, both the prime minister and premier are committing their governments to pass them.
Each native band will also hold its own vote. The Tsawwassen, said Baird, will vote on their treaty by midsummer and it must be approved by a majority of eligible voters.
For the Tsawwassen, two of the dealmakers that led to the treaty were a share of the commercial salmon fishery and removing the agricultural land for development.
It gives them about a one-per-cent share of the fishery, though it is in a side agreement outside the treaty, thus meaning it is not formally "constitutionalized."
More lucrative, however, is that they can now transform farmland into an industrial park of warehouses and other facilities to accommodate the expansion of the superport, the container facility that dominates the view from Tsawwassen’s beachfront community.
The port expansion is key to a $10-billion to $20-billion expansion of West Coast ports.
As part of the deal, the Tsawwassen will give up their status as a reserve under the Indian Act, meaning that over the next decade, they will begin to pay taxes as all Canadians do.
They will also be refunding the federal and provincial governments about $4.7 million in loans for the negotiations.
But Baird said it will be worth it for both her people and Canadians.
"The most crucial part is having autonomy for local decision-making," she said.
"It will allow a sort of abolishment of the Indian Act, self-government instead of assimilation.
"This allows us to retain our cultural identity and autonomy within Canada and make important contributions to B.C. and Canada."
© The Vancouver Sun 2006