Hearing into rail corridor status concludes

by Staff Writer - Vernon Morning Star posted May 27, 2015 at 1:00 PM
Local communities and the Okanagan Indian Band are waiting for a judge's decision.The Supreme Court of B.C. civil hearing for the Okanagan Indian Band bid for an injunction into the sale of the rail corridor from Coldstream to Kelowna concluded Wednesday afternoon. "The ruling and reasons will be given by the judge on the morning of June 1," states a release from the group of jurisdictions who want to purchase the corridor, including the Regional District of North Okanagan, Lake Country and Kelowna. "Local governments will respect the ruling of the court and will issue a response once the result of the hearing is known." The OKIB asserts that 22 kilometres of the rail line that runs through the Commonage reverted to reserve land when it ceased to be used for railway purposes and cannot be lawfully sold. The Commonage Indian reserve was created in 1877 by the Joint Indian Reserve Commission, but the band says federal and provincial officials eliminated the reserve a decade later.