Property owners in Victoria B.C. might have the opportunity to pay a reconciliation tax. .A council member motion before the city’s Committee of the Whole would allow residents to pay a voluntary “reconciliation contribution” to local First Nations..“In consultation with the city’s chief financial officer, we have determined that it’s administratively simple for the city to create an opportunity for residents and businesses, if they so wish, to contribute an additional voluntary amount based on their property taxes to be provided alongside the city’s reconciliation grant to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations,” councillors wrote, as first reported by True North. .Property owners could contribute amounts equal to 5% or 10% of their property taxes, or an amount of their choosing, which was proposed by Victoria mayor Lisa Helps and other councillors..Owners would have the opportunity to opt in each year, and would not be obligated to make a contribution just because they did the previous year. The motion also said the city is unable to issue charitable tax receipts for the contributions..In its 2022 budget, the City of Victoria implemented a five-year reconciliation grant worth $200,000 that would go to both the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. .The decision was a gesture to recognize that the wealth generated by the city in the form of property taxes comes from Lekwungen lands, and that “reconciliation and decolonization must involve more than words. Reconciliation must also include actions,” wrote councillors. .Councillors cited the discovery of indigenous child graves at residential school sites in B.C. to justify the optional tax..Rachel Emmanuel is an Ottawa Parliamentary reporter for the Western Standard
