B.C. forest industry bristles at proposal to reduce compensation in First Nation land transfers

B.C.’s key forest industry group is critical of a pre-election government effort to limit compensation to forest tenure holders when land is transferred to First Nations as part of reconciliation efforts.

A confidential government briefing document and presentation leaked this week refer to a commitment to transfer 400 parcels of Crown land to First Nations.

However, due to “continuing fiscal constraints,” the documents outline proposals to limit, through changes to the Forest Act, the amount of compensation owed to companies or entities that hold timber rights on those parcels.

Timber companies support reconciliation efforts, understanding that “those need to happen,” but any effort to curb compensation for cutting rights is unfair to an industry struggling with so many other issues, said Kim Haakstad, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries.

“Our position has been, and we were pretty open with government about this before the election, that we think this proposal should not go forward,” Haakstad said. “We think it is not acceptable to have us pay for these costs, especially at this time when the sector is in a deepening crisis.”

Haakstad said she first learned of the proposal in early August, when parties signed non-disclosure agreements regarding the proposal.

She said she is only talking about the matter now because contents of the documents have been made public by Victoria legislative reporter Rob Shaw, first on the Northern Beat news website.

Haakstad added that the only information that COFI and some of its members have is in the briefing document and presentation, the latter of which was dated Sept. 10, less than two weeks before Premier David Eby called a snap election.

This week, speaking as NDP Leader, Eby didn’t release details about what parcels of Crown land are included in the list of 400, how much land is involved or what compensation might be.

Answering questions from reporters, Eby said the list comes from “very public, discussed agreements with treaty First Nations,” with some that have been signed more than a decade ago under previous governments.

The documents, Eby said, are about proposals to reduce the cost of making those transfers.

“Look, even (B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson) agrees, and there’s not a lot we agree on, but we agree that agreements with First Nations are part of the path forward for the province,” Eby said.

“When we enter these agreements, sometimes there are transfers of Crown land, and to drive down the cost of that, so that taxpayers aren’t bearing the cost of that, is absolutely crucial,” Eby added.