Adam Pankratz: B.C.'s shameful race to give up public land

National Post

8 hours ago

Shame. There used to be more of it and that was a good thing. Nowadays, a lack of shame runs rampant as people gaslight the world in the hopes no one will check up on them. In British Columbia, our current gaslighter-in-chief is Randene Neill, the minister of water, land and resource stewardship.
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In a lengthy Aug. 1 Facebook post, Neill addressed recent changes to land use planning in B.C., which she claimed had been 'misunderstood.'
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The province first tried to overhaul land use planning earlier in 2024 with changes to the Land Act. The proposed changes to the act would have given decision-making powers to First Nations over public lands. However, the government continually claimed the changes were far less impactful than they would have been. At the time, the opportunity for public engagement on these enormous amendments was released in a low-key posting on the government website with little fanfare. The government did not want the public involved, but got caught when veteran journalist Vaughn Palmer began following the issue and brought it to the public's attention.
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In the face of the public reaction due to Palmer's reporting, the government backed down on its amendments to the Land Act, but not on its idea to transfer decision-making power to First Nations by other means.
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In August 2024, the NDP agreed to transfer six square kilometres of public land to the Shishalh Nation, in a deal that was only made public in January 2025. Neill, who was just elected in October, wasn't made aware of this until after the 2024 provincial election.
This summer, the government is following the same playbook. On June 3, the government announced consultations for land use planning in northwestern B.C., which covers nearly a third of the entire province. Few people would have seen the opportunity for engagement or been aware of the vast changes underway.
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While not explicitly hidden by the government, changes of this magnitude require a far, far more concerted effort to raise public awareness on the full impact of proposed land use changes. This takes years, not weeks or a few short months as with the current government timelines.
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Then, on June 26, the government signed a new land use agreement with the Squamish Nation, updating their 2007 deal. In the new deal, the province and the First Nation agreed on the boundaries of Squamish Nation 'areas of importance,' which are candidate sites for protection 'based on various cultural, spiritual and other interests.' These areas, says the deal, are a 'high priority to develop management direction for claim staking, subsurface resource exploration and development that protects the integrity of Squamish Nation's cultural and other interests.'
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Some of the Squamish Nation's areas of importance are substantially within 'municipal jurisdiction or private lands,' including parts of Vancouver. Regarding these zones, the deal stipulates that B.C. 'agrees to, at the request of Squamish Nation, participate in future discussions, including with a local government or third party, focused on protecting or resolving Squamish Nation interests….'
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It's possible that private lands will be affected down the road, but we don't know for sure. In any case, no government releases news like that just prior to a long weekend unless it desperately wants to avoid any scrutiny about a secretive process that affects public access to public (and possibly private) lands.
The government then remained quiet about land use planning until Neill's Aug. 1 Facebook post. There, she announced that online feedback surveys had been open since June 3 and would close Aug. 8. These surveys were not mentioned in the minister's initial news release and X announcement in June.
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On Facebook, Neill assured that land use plans 'do not, and will not, apply to private land.'
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'If you own private property within a planning area, your land is not included in the plan and your rights as a property owner remain the same,' she continued. 'The planning process is transparent and requires extensive public engagement to identify the values that people care about in the planning area, from industrial and agricultural to recreation and conservation uses.'
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This reeks of a government doing its best to achieve its desired Land Act changes under the guise of multiple one-off deals with First Nations without meaningful public engagement. It is being done on extremely tight timelines during the summer when, rather than reading obscure government news releases, British Columbians are outside enjoying the public lands they could soon not have full access to if Neill and Premier David Eby get their way.
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B.C.'s NDP government has done nothing to earn public trust when it comes to land use. It has a track record of obfuscation, secrecy and silence when it comes to communicating its plans to the public, which is unacceptable considering that 94 per cent of the province belongs to the citizens of British Columbia.
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Neill, Eby and the NDP are derelict in their democratic responsibility to the public interest by their rushed and secret land use actions. Shame on them.
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