Tsawwassen land treaty negotiated
First nation, governments reach first-ever urban agreement.
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, September 04, 2006
A historic agreement has been reached between the federal and provincial governments and the Tsawwassen First Nation, promising settlement of a centuries-old land dispute and paving the way for a major expansion of the west coast's trade links to Asia.
Shortly before noon on Aug. 24, negotiators from all sides rose in a boardroom on the Tsawwassen reserve and shook hands, signalling they had reached British Columbia's first-ever urban treaty, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
It will now go before the Tsawwassen native voters for final approval, as well as provincial and federal cabinets. Votes in Canada's Parliament and the B.C. Legislature will follow, likely early this fall.
Passage is all but assured, however. Tsawwassen Chief Kim Baird, Premier Gordon Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen Harper all support the deal reached by their appointed negotiators, so will advocate it be passed into law.
The new treaty offers in excess of $60 million to the 348-member band and a valuable chunk of coastal farmland, being rezoned for industrial use to expand the Roberts Bank superport. The deal is an important victory for all three leaders. Campbell is getting the first tangible proof his "new relationship" with the province's aboriginals is working. Once passed, the treaty also clears the way for first nations and their partners to build more roads and container facilities around the Roberts Bank superport, essential to the Liberal government's ambitious plans to expand trade to Asia.
Harper, who faced the wrath of native leaders when he scuttled the $5.1-billion Kelowna accord, will be able to show his minority government will negotiate with natives on what the federal Conservative government calls a "case by case" basis.
Tsawwassen's chief, who has led the recent talks for her people, has extracted some other major concessions. Aside from the $60 million in benefits, she has managed to achieve a guaranteed right for her community to fish on the Fraser River and even extracted a last-minute $1 million to buy more crab licences.
Controversy, however, is sure to follow for all three leaders in the days and weeks ahead, as the treaty is dissected.
To make the deal, federal negotiators have essentially agreed to give the Tsawwassen a guaranteed quota of the Fraser River's lucrative Salmon fishery.
While that quota -- roughly one per cent of the fishery -- is subject to conservation laws and sits in a side deal, not actually within the treaty, it will be seen as enshrining a "race-based" fishery. Led by Conservative MP John Cummins, commercial fishermen have fought that idea and expected the prime minister to oppose the policy, supported by former Liberal governments in Ottawa.
For Campbell, the controversy will come with the removal of land from the province's Agricultural Land Reserve, the land bank created in the 1970's to contain urban sprawl, protect green space and ensure the Lower Mainland retains the ability to feed itself.
The treaty expands the Tsawwassen reserve from its current size of 290 hectares to more than 700 hectares. But the extra land, about the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park, comes from Crown holdings in the agricultural land reserve.
The Tsawwassen -- whose name means "the land facing the sea" -- have plans other than potato farming.
Baird has said about half of the land needs to come out of the ALR so it can be used to build container storage sites and other facilities for the expanding superport nearby. She had warned not getting the land industrialized was
"a deal breaker" for the treaty.
Normally, it would be the Agricultural Land Commission that would rule on the rezoning. But, faced with the complexity of the treaty deal, the provincial government believes that may not be the best process. It isn't saying how it will proceed, but the provincial cabinet could rezone the land itself.
The government's intent will be clearer in the weeks ahead. Campbell is expected to hold an "open cabinet," allowing British Columbians a chance to see the premier and his cabinet ministers discuss and vote on the treaty.
As for Tsawwassen's 35-year-old chief, she will now be trying to convince most of her community to vote for the treaty.
Baird will certainly be criticized by some aboriginals for making some major concessions: She has agreed to the Tsawwassen relinquishing their Indian reserve status and the tax benefits that entails. Meanwhile, in a decade, the Tsawwassen Indians must also begin paying income tax, like other Canadians.
But she believes the financial windfall the treaty brings will bring her victory.
Aside from more than $60 million that will flow into her impoverished community once the treaty is signed, Baird has engineered a plan to have the reserve linked into future port development.
And the new treaty land, worth about $15 million as farmland, will skyrocket in value once taken out of the land bank.
After centuries at society's margins, the Tsawwassen now have a treaty that will make them some of the best-heeled owners of waterfront on the West Coast.
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
Author
Topic: Tsawwassen land Treaty. Precedent for others to come. (Read 2871 times)