NDP cabinet agreed to co-develop land-back legislation with First Nations
The B.C. NDP government has committed to hand over approximately 400 parcels of public Crown land to First Nations, while promising just days before the snap election that it would change the law to limit compensation to forest companies affected by the losses.
The revelation is contained inside briefing documents labelled “confidential” but obtained by Northern Beat. The briefing is dated Sept. 10, less than two weeks before Premier David Eby called a snap election. Anyone who wanted to see the material was forced by government to sign a non-disclosure agreement to remain quiet during the election period.
“One mechanism used to advance reconciliation is through the return of Crown lands to First Nations under treaties and other negotiated agreements,” reads the document, titled “Forest Compensation Framework.”
“Presently, there are approximately 400 parcels committed for transfer through Treaty and reconciliation agreements.”
An intended outcome listed in the backgrounder document is to “support timely and predictable First Nations land returns by addressing financial considerations that may otherwise create delays.” It does not identify the parcels of land or disclose their combined size. It does, however, describe the “ongoing fiscal constraints” of the government’s $13-billion budget deficit as “substantial barriers to completing land returns” with First Nations.
The proposed solution is to change the compensation rules to make it cheaper for government to remove the logging rights from forest companies on land earmarked for First Nations by, in some cases, not compensating the companies at all.
The documents show the Eby cabinet approved the policy in July.
Voters have not been told of the decision in the election campaign, nor was it included in Wednesday’s BC NDP forestry platform.
Last election, the Eby government hid $100M reconciliation deal from voters
Until now, the government has not revealed the total number of Crown land parcels it has privately agreed to give to First Nations communities.
The NDP government has been heavily criticized in recent years for keeping the public in the dark over land transfer agreements, limiting public access to provincial parks in the name of Indigenous reconciliation and making secretive reconciliation agreements that impact local governments and businesses that are not revealed until so late in the process that the deal is already done.
Just before the 2024 election, the governing NDP struck a secret deal with the shíshálh Nation on the Sunshine Coast for six square kilometres of public land and $104 million in compensation, but withheld details from voters until after the election was over.
The BC NDP says some of the 400 parcels may have already been disclosed through treaty and reconciliation agreements that have been negotiated over many years, including the Lake Babine Incremental Treaty Agreement, the Komoks First Nation Incremental Treaty Agreement and the 2023 Cheslatta Carrier Footprints Back on Our Land Land Transfer Agreement.
“Making agreements with First Nations is how the government resolves outstanding land claims and brings certainty to the land base,” the party said in a statement to Northern Beat.
“This has been the approach for decades and is critical to unlocking the economic potential of the province and bringing certainty and opportunity to First Nations.”
Only forestry companies who agreed to gag order were briefed
The sheer scope of the land in question is likely vast.
August’s public accounts documents disclosed 135,425 hectares of Crown land — the equivalent of half of Metro Vancouver — is already set aside for just treaty agreements alone. The 400 Crown parcel figure goes beyond that to include less formal “reconciliation agreements” the NDP government has made outside the treaty process as well.
Forest companies were blindsided by the confidential plan in early September. Those that signed the NDA to get basic details now cannot speak publicly about any of this during the election.
The move to limit compensation to forestry companies comes at a time when the NDP is publicly promising to try and stem job losses and mill closures in the sector.
However, the documents make clear the government’s rationale for the change is to cut the cost of land transfers to First Nations by limiting how much it pays forest companies to remove their pre-existing logging rights.
That move could have a sizable impact on jobs in a forest sector already reeling from softwood lumber duties and fibre supply shortages.
Companies will lose forest tenure without compensation
The briefing details a plan to amend the Forest Act in the spring 2027 session of the legislature.
“The Forest Act (the Act) currently requires government to pay compensation for all impacts to harvesting rights arising from Crown land deletions for ‘First Nations purposes’ (e.g.: land transfers as committed under reconciliation or Treaty agreements), creating inconsistencies with compensation rules that apply to other land-use purposes for the public good (e.g.: ‘access’ and ‘non-timber production’),” read the document.
“Given ongoing fiscal constraints, these provisions create substantial barriers to completing land returns.”
The briefing reads that “Provincial Crown land has become a primary reconciliation tool with First Nations” and that “an important aspect of these land returns is the removal of the forest tenure harvesting rights from the identified areas or parcels to ensure land is transferred unencumbered.”
One proposal would add First Nations land transfers to an existing list of roads, pipelines, parks and conservation areas that allows government to reduce timber harvests without compensation to the forest companies. It would also mean tenure holders would not necessarily be compensated until cumulative reductions exceed five per cent of their annual allowable cut.
Another proposal would remove the current six-year maximum on special-purpose land designations, allowing compensation to tenure holders to be withheld indefinitely.
Cabinet agreed to co-develop ‘Land Return’ legislation with First Nations
None of the government’s plans were included in the BC NDP’s forestry platform, released Wednesday in its ongoing election campaign.
The BC NDP told Northern Beat the documents were merely “a draft proposal.”
“This was a set of draft ideas from the ministry that they were seeking feedback on from stakeholders,” it said, citing “pre-decision legislative proposals.”
But the documents contradict that description.
In an accompanying confidential slidedeck presentation titled “where we are in the legislative process”, the government outlined how cabinet had already approved a “request for a decision” in July to move forward with these legislative changes.
It described the current stage as sharing the final policy intentions with First Nations to help develop the written legislation over the fall and winter.
Put more plainly: the Eby cabinet had already given its green light to proceed.
And voters are being asked to judge its forestry promises in the ongoing election without being shown what the party actually intends to do upon being re-elected.