The Malahat Nation is praising the provincial government for stepping forward to buy a chunk of the former Bamberton industrial site near Mill Bay in order to advance the treaty process.
The province announced Friday that it paid more than $9 million for 230 hectares that will form part of the Malahat Nation’s treaty lands once a final agreement is reached.
Scott Fraser, minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, said Vancouver Island lacks a supply of Crown land available for treaty settlements, so the government took the unusual step of buying private property to move the talks ahead.
“We’re doing things differently,” he said. “Part of my mandate is to address the bottlenecks within the treaty system.
“I mean, we’d be deadlocked forever and ever and Malahat would never achieve treaty if we didn’t think out of the box on this one.”
The Malahat Nation, which has about 340 members, is in final agreement negotiations on a treaty with B.C. and Canada.
Malahat Nation Coun. Matt Harry credited the province for taking an “open-minded” approach in helping the nation triple the size of its land base.
“I think they were really good to deal with,” he said.
Coun. George Harry said the additional land will provide important economic and training opportunities for the Malahat people.
“It’s such a huge step forward,” he said.
The nation’s former council and executive announced three years ago that it had acquired 525 hectares at Bamberton, which is the site of a former cement plant and quarry about 40 kilometres north of Victoria.
But current chief executive officer Renee Racette said the complicated arrangement was in danger of going sideways before the province intervened to purchase part of the property.
“We would have lost the land and we would have lost millions of dollars in our down payment,” he said. “It would have been disastrous.”
She said the nation owes the province a “debt of gratitude” for stepping up to help protect the renamed Malahat Lands. “They’ve really come forward to say: ‘Let’s reconcile. Let’s figure out solutions.’ They’ve been a real partner in a way that I’ve never seen before.
“I think our community can’t help but thank them and give them much praise for their outstanding work in this unique situation.”
