The removal of thousands of Land Title Office records from Kamloops to Victoria dominated today’s Question Period in the legislature.
Opposition MLAs, including both in Kamloops, blasted the province for the move with Kamloops South MLA Todd Stone quoting area First Nations leaders who he says are furious about not being consulted beforehand.
“A growing number of Chiefs in our neck of the woods but also beyond who are tuning into what the NDP have done here by moving these historical archives, paper based land title records, out of Kamloops, which are fundamental to land titles and the whole title discussion with First Nations and doing so almost in the middle of the night.”
Stone says Forests Minister Doug Donaldson needs to take immediate action.
“Number one the minister responsible needs to immediately halt this decision and in fact reverse it. If any historical land title documents have left the City of Kamloops they need to be brought back immediately. Secondly the government needs to immediately reach out to First Nations Chiefs and begin that very important engagement and consultation process. Thirdly there are a wide range of other stakeholders in Kamloops and beyond who also need to be engaged.”
One of the Kamloops area First Nations Chiefs quoted by local MLAs in the legislature today says there was no consultation before the decision was made to remove thousands of land title records.
Whispering Pines Chief Mike LeBourdais says land title records are crucial for First Nations rights and title in land claims.
“It is really important for us to have access to those original records because copies are horrible when you go to court. Our concerns are they did this to Prince George and all of sudden they lost all those records. So we really want to be a part of that process or not have that process at all and just leave those records where they are. If they are saying copies are fine then good come bring your photocopier and make some copies and take those to Victoria.”
LeBourdais says he will raise the issue in next week’s tribal council meeting.
“We need to have conversations on what exactly is going to go on because when we are assembling our title cases, our infringement cases, water rights, and treaty rights all of that kind of stuff. We rely on those titles. We need all of that stuff to come from the government and have that conversation about how we are going to share these resources. Once they move all that stuff we lose that ability to do that research or that research becomes more expensive.”
He says more thought should have been given to consulting First Nations well before any decision was made to remove the land title records.
