Going Beyond The Surface - Combatting Misinformation On British Columbia's Proposed Land Act Amendments

Recent online posts have put a spotlight on the Government of British Columbia's proposed amendments to the Land Act to change how decisions are made to issue surface tenures over public lands. The vast majority of land in B.C. is public land administered under the Land Act. The proposed changes would allow agreements that the B.C. Government enters with Indigenous Governing Bodies ("IGB"s) under Sections 6 and 7 of B.C.'s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act ("DRIPA") to enable either joint decision-making or the imposition of a requirement to seek or possibly obtain the IGB's consent before making surface tenure decisions in the area governed by the agreement.

There is no draft legislation yet, but the government is inviting comments from the public on the proposal until March 31, 2024, through its public engagement website. Unfortunately, this engagement was not initially announced or broadly publicized, which has contributed to mistrust and