Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.VICTORIA – The latest race-based closure of a BC provincial park was announced with minimal information for the public: “Sunset View Campground is closed from July 9 to July 14 for a cultural event.”The campground is in Green Lake Provincial Park, one of the more popular camping sites in the Cariboo region, and the closure arrived at the peak of camping season, with no specific reason or identification of the cultural event given. The opposition critic objected that the closure went beyond a simple reservation of sites for the event.“BC has some of the most magnificent parks and campgrounds in the world, and everyone deserves to be able to enjoy them, no matter their identity or background,” said Linda Hepner, BC Conservative parks critic. “Given the worrying trend of the NDP restricting access to provincial parks based on indigenous ancestry, there must be room for indigenous people to use parks for cultural events while keeping campgrounds open for everyone to enjoy.”The restricted information comes as the BC NDP government deals with public backlash over a series of indigenous-only closures at another popular BC park, Joffrey Lakes near Pemberton. This year’s indigenous-only closures were extended to a week in June and most of September.The closures are not nearly enough, according to a May 27 statement from the Lílwat Nation. They had demanded 22 days in April and May, a week in June and most of the fall, Aug. 23 to Oct. 5.“These dates were not requests,” said Dean Nelson, “political chief” of the Lílwat.Note that in addition to several layers of provincial and national indigenous lobby organizations, lavishly compensated by taxpayers, individual bands are adding more local administration to make demands. In August, we will see whether this demand is backed by direct action, similar to a two-hour blockade of Highway 99 near Pemberton last summer..The park restrictions catch public attention, but they are minor compared to the unfolding transfer of authority under a “consent agreement” with the Tahltan Nation to allow the Eskay Creek gold and silver mine to resume operations with an open pit in the “Golden Triangle” region of northeast BC.Among other riches, this region is considered to hold about three-quarters of the copper resources in all of Canada. The BC Geological Survey estimated in 2021 that the total value of metals in the Golden Triangle was $1.2 trillion.A freedom of information request by BC’s Public Land Use Society revealed that the “consent agreement” with the Tahltan on reopening two mines has evolved into a “foundation agreement” covering an area of more than 10% of the province and 70% of the Golden Triangle. The heavily redacted documents indicate that the federal government is involved in the foundation agreement, which is based on Section 7 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).This is part of the NDP government’s sweeping reconciliation project, variously called “land use planning” and “shared decision-making” with some of the 200-odd BC First Nations who have asserted broad territorial claims but not proven them in court. It’s a group where the governments have apparently decided that an Aboriginal Title case would be decided in their favour, having barred provincial and federal lawyers from arguing “extinguishment” of Aboriginal Title in all cases.The Tahltan have consented to allow the reopening of the Eskay Creek mine and the expansion of operations to an underground phase at the Red Chris copper and gold mine near Dease Lake, which generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2025. The federal government kicked in $500 million to the project in a little-noticed part of its latest deal with BC to construct a new oil pipeline and supertanker terminal for Alberta oil.Scott McInnis, BC Conservative critic for indigenous relations, said the Red Chris deal not only ceded final authority to the Tahltan but gave it to one of the richest bands in BC after lucrative revenue-sharing deals for the two mines.“The Tahltan had the legal and financial resources to negotiate a deal of this scale,” McInnis said. “Most Indigenous groups in BC don’t have anywhere close to that same capacity.”On top of that, Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson recently announced a $2 million grant to the Tahltan for “capacity building.”Tom Fletcher has covered BC politics and business as a journalist since 1984.tomfletcherbc@gmail.comX: @tomfletcherbc
