As PLUS legal advisor Geoffrey Moyse, KC, recently explained on Global News, the province is entering entering into treaties that will turn about 1500 acres of provincial park into private holdings for two bands on Vancouver Island – and its not legally required, but a political choice.
This area is one of the only parts of B.C. covered by historic treaties, but the government has chosen to voluntarily tack on additional modern treaties in order to give the bands more land.
The terms of the deal have been known to band members for some time, but are still withheld from the public. We cannot know for certain what protections, if any, would be in place to ensure unimpeded public access to Discovery Island and Sooke Mountain Provincial Parks in the future. Once the parks are private lands, it’s the bands who make the rules.