PLUS Executive Director Warren Mirko writes for the Hub:
To the alarm of property owners on Vancouver Island and beyond, federal and provincial governments are endorsing ideas that undermine confidence in established property rights by suggesting private land remains subject to unresolved Indigenous claims. At the federal level, the Government of Canada is funding a public campaign that challenges the legitimacy of private land ownership today.
Canadian Heritage recently provided $230,000 for a travelling exhibit that portrays private landowners and businesses as continuing beneficiaries of the historic Esquimalt & Nanaimo (E&N) Railway land grant, while inviting the public to reconsider the protection afforded to private property.
The Great Land Grab, developed by the Vancouver Island Local History Society and the Nanaimo Museum, has begun touring public venues across Vancouver Island. The exhibit—currently in Cowichan—says the government is responsible for “the big giveaway” while relying on federal funding to deliver the message, proof that in Canada we sometimes pay for the rope used to hang ourselves.
Read the full article at the Hub: