BC NDP land transfers could total up to 24 million acres, Conservatives warn

PENTICTON — The Conservative Party of BC says the provincial government's commitments and negotiations threaten to transfer up to 24 million acres of Crown land, along with more than $1 trillion in mineral wealth, while circumventing public oversight..The warning came Monday after the release of the province’s Public Accounts for the 2025-26 fiscal year by Finance Minister Brenda Bailey. The documents list 334,643 acres of provincial Crown land as obligations under treaty and incremental treaty agreements.The largest commitments include 113,147 acres to Kitsumkalum, 87,203 acres to Kitselas, 34,461 acres to Wuikinuxv and 23,411 acres to In-Shuck-ch.Conservatives pointed to separate media reports and disclosures showing the NDP is advancing plans that could hand over up to 96,000 square kilometres — about 23.7 million acres, an area larger than Portugal — of northwest B.C. to the Tahltan Nation, along with an estimated $1.28 trillion in mineral wealth. They questioned why that scale of potential transfer does not appear in the Public Accounts list of Crown land obligations.“The NDP is bypassing the public and eroding democratic oversight to hand over B.C.’s land,” said Steve Kooner, Shadow Minister for Attorney General. “This is a massive amount of land based on unsettled territorial claims with virtually no public consultation."."The NDP accepted the Tahltan’s territorial claims without any pushback, even though they were not legally settled. And the Te’mexw Treaty Association is under no legal obligation to continue to allow public access to their newly acquired parks. We are again demanding the Legislature be recalled immediately to repeal DRIPA," Kooner's statement continued.Scott McInnis, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Relations, said the lack of consultation and transparency is “shocking.”.“British Columbians should not have to learn from the media or a back page of the Public Accounts to be alerted to these undemocratic land transfers,” McInnis said. “The Aboriginal Title Transparency Act I introduced last spring would prevent British Columbians from remaining in the dark about these decisions, and I encourage the government to act in the public interest and pass this legislation come fall.”Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay called for an immediate halt to further transfers.“Handing over public assets at this vast scale in secret deals is a direct betrayal of our democracy that treats British Columbians, who own this province, as non-existent,” Findlay said. “And what is worse, this is only the beginning. There are still over 150 Indigenous bands in B.C. still to be dealt with. There will be nothing left of B.C. by the time they are finished. The NDP must immediately halt all land transfers, recall the Legislature to repeal DRIPA, repeal these unfounded agreements, and start the process over this time with full transparency instead of these backroom handovers.”The Public Accounts confirm dozens of modern treaty and incremental agreement tables remain active. The listed land commitments represent provincial obligations that take effect upon full ratification and the effective dates of the respective agreements. The Tahltan negotiations centre on a foundation or comprehensive reconciliation agreement tied to the nation’s asserted traditional territory rather than a finalized treaty settlement listed in the accounts. The Te’mexw talks, involving Songhees, Malahat, T’Sou-ke, Scia’new and Snaw-naw-as, are in the final stages of the BC Treaty Commission process and include the high-profile parcels identified by Conservatives.The Conservative Party of BC have repeatedly called for the repeal of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, better known as DRIPA, and for greater legislative and public scrutiny of land and title decisions.

BC NDP land transfers could total up to 24 million acres, Conservatives warn

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