00:03:36.540Well, that seems to be what was reported in the news.
00:03:42.220And, you know, it's some suggestion that right now the university is leasing the land from the federal government for a minimal amount.
00:03:50.640And it seems that once the land gets transferred to Aboriginal title, it seems that there's a suggestion that the university may be able to buy back.
00:04:05.960And that's very concerning because using the university is a form of public use.
00:04:14.640And that's where the concern lies, that the public has had access to all this government land, whether it be federal land, whether it be provincial land.
00:04:23.100But now the public is going to be losing their right to use this land.
00:04:34.120So what are the long-term implications of this?
00:04:37.680Obviously, this is yet another example of a land case gripping your province.
00:04:43.420We know about the Kowitian tribes decision.
00:04:47.460What is the sort of long-term implications of this?
00:04:50.720Is this the idea that First Nations will be responsible for the land, for conserving the land?
00:04:57.720How is there any guarantee that the land will actually be conserved, for example?
00:05:02.120What are your concerns regarding this long-term?
00:05:05.580Well, I think you just hinted at one of the concerns there.
00:05:08.920What are the long-term consequences and how will this land be used?
00:05:13.420And we have heard from discussion papers that local bylaws will not apply to the newly acquired Aboriginal private land.
00:05:25.440And this is a specific concern amongst the vicinity of Victoria that we're currently talking about.
00:05:33.780And the concern there is there is some waterfront property right in the downtown core of Victoria and the inner harbor.
00:05:41.860And right now you have like heritage character protection bylaws, but what does that mean?
00:05:50.060Like when the land turns to private land under Aboriginal title, those bylaws to protect the heritage character will no longer apply.
00:06:00.900So that will open the doors to new development, could open the doors to high density development.
00:06:07.780And that is a huge concern for the public.
00:06:11.860Absolutely. What would happen if the British Columbia government simply decided to stop negotiating with these First Nations and refuse to recognize any of these claims to land, which they don't already operate in?
00:06:29.280What would be the consequence if the B.C. government just said, no, we're not participating in whatever this really is?
00:06:35.940First of all, the provincial government should be listening to the public, right?
00:06:42.960And our official opposition caucus is calling on the premier to halt these land transfers
00:06:51.540because they are of utmost concern right now, and that needs to be done.
00:06:58.480And the other thing is that what needs to be done, this provincial government,
00:07:02.080this in the fall session, they should be adopting MLA Scott McInnes' private member bill,
00:07:08.420which is the Aboriginal Title Transparency Act, which shows any stage of negotiation regarding
00:07:15.200land transfers in this province. So the public will get notice of what's at stake. The public
00:07:21.220needs to be involved. And so there needs to be a halting of these land transfers by the Premier.
00:07:28.040the aboriginal title transparency act needs to be passed and the the provincial government
00:07:35.080needs to call back the legislature so we can repeal drip out right away
00:07:38.540are you hearing from first nations people in your province about their thoughts regarding
00:07:47.480these transfers i'm guessing i'm guessing there isn't complete unanimous support among first
00:07:54.620nations for this i don't see how this personally leads to more reconciliation for example what are
00:08:01.640you hearing from first nations people regarding these land transfers well there's a there's few
00:08:08.860examples there's one recent example where one indigenous group is now suing or applying for
00:08:15.600injunction to stop a land transfer because they feel that they're entitled to that land and so
00:08:23.080there is disagreements amongst different indigenous bands in this province. And that really highlights
00:08:34.360the concern and the level of concern with this provincial government. Provincial government
00:08:38.760doesn't seem to be listening to anyone, is on a straight path of doing what they want,
00:08:44.920because they think they can do what they want with land.
00:08:47.400this seems to me to be the inevitable outcome of these endless land acknowledgements it was only
00:08:57.060it was only a matter of time right until when until we went from saying the land belongs to
00:09:03.760such and such first nation until we actually gave it back and now it seems it's actually happening
00:09:09.000what is to prevent a first nation 10 years in the future from reopening whatever land
00:09:16.940they're receiving now to go ask and demand more of it it seems like this could just keep going
00:09:22.180and going until it's fully stopped right with uh these treaties um they call them uh many
00:09:30.180refer to them as living agreements that means that once there's a treaty signed that doesn't
00:09:35.780mean that that's it uh the treaty can be reopened into the future in terms of uh other potential
00:09:42.300land as well. So has this had a major impact on property values in your province yet?
00:09:52.780Well, you touched upon the Cowichan case, which is a little bit different from a treaty
00:09:58.540negotiation. It involves a court decision. And I represent the constituency of Richmond,
00:10:04.780Queensborough, which has all of that Cowichan decision land in it. And I can tell you those
00:10:10.860people that live within the affected land they are very concerned and uh from there there has been
00:10:18.380limited uh activity in terms of uh real estate in terms of the realtors that i've spoken to
00:10:25.500and tell me about that area and uh so and there has been significant issues there's a industrial
00:10:33.740company in inside my constituency that has had problems getting a land loan and improving their
00:10:41.900business so this does cause issues significant issues and because it's causing significant
00:10:49.980issues this provincial government really the premier needs to put a halt halt to these land
00:10:56.060transfers right away that are causing significant issues so is this purely ideological or is it
00:11:05.020political as well does the ndp seem to think that this is going to help them politically
00:11:11.340obviously they have some ideological drive to just hand away public land but clearly there must be
00:11:19.100something political in this is is it is this going to help them in any way
00:11:23.660Well, from what I see, when I'm viewing their ideological lens, I view that as a political lens. I see that as their political agenda, their ideological agenda, because if you look at the opinion polls in terms of the opposition to these land transfers, it's huge.
00:11:47.000It's not just a small minority. There was a recent poll and the polling showed about 61% of the people in British Columbia were against these types of land transfers.
00:12:01.920Well, before we wrap it up, I just want to hand over the floor to you again, just to clear up what you think might be the biggest misconception regarding these land transfer cases, these treaty negotiations, and your party's position on it.
00:12:20.220I'm sure you're receiving some pushback from from activists who claim you don't care about reconciliation or whatever they might be saying.
00:12:29.020But what do you think people are getting wrong about this that they really need to be made aware of?
00:12:35.260Well, when we're talking about these examples of some of these land transfers coming up, these are only a small example of what's to come.
00:12:48.920There are 150 other Indigenous bands across British Columbia that also have claims.
00:12:59.420And so, and one example is that we've seen revealed in the media about Northwestern BC, there's been a revealing of a land claim from the Tall Tan Nation.
00:13:12.960And they are claiming essentially about 10% of British Columbia's landmass, 23.7 million acres.
00:13:24.380And that also concerns $1.28 trillion of mineral wealth.
00:13:33.280And so these examples that we're seeing in Victoria are just a small example of what the future holds.
00:13:42.960and what types of issues the future holds.
00:13:45.160So the magnitude of the issues are huge for the future.
00:13:50.260So when you're looking at one example,
00:13:52.900you have, if there's issues around examples
00:13:56.280and it's gonna be a bigger issue even into the future
00:13:59.020by magnitude, you have to create a halt.
00:14:02.800The premier needs to put a halt on the current examples