Proposed land swap expands WFN reserves

By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: June 23, 2009 10:00 PM

A chunk of property inside West Kelowna’s boundary is about to be gobbled up by the Westbank First Nation. Chief Robert Louie says his band plans to purchase an eight-hectare, freehold property at 990 Devon Rd., hoping to have it added to reserves, in exchange for two hectares of band land lost to the Campbell Road interchange project. “If one inch of land is taken from us we’re going to get one inch or more in exchange,” said Louie. “In Westbank’s history, thousands of acres were taken from us. In the future, we’re not about to have our lands reduced in size.” However, removing one parcel of land from the reserve and adding another property is complicated, said Louie. Under the Westbank First Nation constitution and self government agreement, reserve land cannot simply be sold off to anyone.Therefore, the land being lost from the reserve must be exchanged for another parcel of equal or greater size to be added to band land, said Louie.

Currently, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation can only lease the 1.8 hectares of land on which its third climbing lane, Highway 97 onramp and roundabout are built on Bridge Hill. If the WFN cannot obtain the replacement property on Devon Road, the WFN will be unable to release the highway property to the transportation ministry, said Louie. In essence, the band would own a portion of Highway 97, he explained. “As you may expect, this is anathema to the ministry of transportation and infrastructure. We, of course (too), would be very upset should the Devon Road property not be added to our reserve lands.”

Louie explained how the proposed land swap will work.The WFN will buy the Devon Road property and transfer ownership to the provincial government in trust. The B.C. Ministry of Transportation agrees to transfer the title back to the Westbank First Nation once the ministry’s Campbell Road lands are released from the reserve and placed under ownership of the provincial government. In order for the swap to happen, the WFN and the province must jointly apply to the federal government to approve the swap. However, even before the land purchase can happen, the band membership must vote on the arrangement in a referendum, said Louie. Band members are scheduled to vote tomorrow (Thursday) between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. at the Sensisyusten Community Centre, according to a WFN bulletin. Louie was also scheduled to make a presentation regarding the Devon Road land swap Tuesday night to West Kelowna council, seeking their support for the arrangement.

In advance of the meeting, West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater said that while it is unfortunate that agricultural land will be removed from West Kelowna’s boundaries, it is not an entirely bad thing for the municipality. Think of the improvement the bridge and the Campbell Road interchange have meant to the entire Westside, said Findlater. “Yes, we’re losing a little of our municipality and a little of our agricultural land, but on the other hand, we have a very big plus in terms of transportation and connectivity in our community.” It’s also important that the municipality and the Westbank First Nation maintain a good working relationship as neighbouring governments with similar issues and concerns, said the mayor. Losing land within the boundaries forces the municipality to realize the limitations of its land base and to think differently in terms of future growth, Findlater said. “We may have to grow up, for example, rather than sprawl out on to agricultural land and hillsides,” said Findlater.