Stop secrecy in talks with first nation, say B.C. premier's critics

CAMILLE BAINS
Sun Jul 1, 2:05 PM ET
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER (CP) - Calls for Premier Gordon Campbell to stop the secrecy surrounding negotiations that could turn over a historic golf course to a Vancouver-area First Nation are growing louder.

The issue has raised the ire of people in Campbell's own riding - home to the University Golf Club - where residents fear the course will be developed into condos if the government transfers it to the Musqueam band.

Some say they voted for Campbell because he promised open government and are suggesting that they won't mark an X beside his name in the ballot box at the next election.

The province sold the golf course to the University of British Columbia for $11 million in 2003, against the wishes of the Musqueam, who claim it as their traditional territory.

The Musqueam launched an unsuccessful B.C. Supreme Court challenge to halt the sale, but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2005 that the province failed to consult the band and gave both sides two years to resolve the issue.

Scott Fraser, NDP critic for the Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Ministry, said the 48-hectare golf club rightly belongs to the Musqueam and should be returned.

But he said the lack of transparency about negotiations isn't helping a premier who appears to have made a strong commitment to resolving First Nations issues.

"If the public has more knowledge and understanding of what's going on they're going to have more acceptance of the outcome," Fraser said.

"I've heard from both the Musqueam and members of the community and they just don't know what's going on," Fraser said. "I find that that model of negotiation, that secrecy that keeps everyone out of the loop, I don't think that's the most beneficial way of achieving any kind of reconciliation."

Mike de Jong, minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, was not available for comment and has said little since rumours began swirling about a possible transfer of the golf course to the Musqueam.

Last week, Campbell would only say talks are underway between the Liberals and the Musqueam, although he suggested the government's decision to sell the golf course to the university was a mistake.

"It was wrong, the way we dealt with the golf course," Campbell told reporters.

Other areas around the province are also being claimed by various First Nations as part of treaty negotiations, he said.

Late last week, Chief Ernest Campbell of the 1,200-member Musqueam band issued a statement, saying the band and the government are in the final stages of negotiating an agreement.

"I want to assure everyone that if we do get the golf course we would keep it as a golf course until 2033," Campbell said.

Ken McGregor, the Musqueam band manager, said the First Nation's traditional territory covers a large swath of territory in the Greater Vancouver area and further.

It also includes unoccupied federal and provincial land in Burnaby, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond and as far east as the boundaries of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.

"Nobody's looking at displacing existing private homeowners," McGregor said, adding the band has looked for opportunities to achieve fair and just settlement of ongoing issues.

"Musqueam hasn't blockaded anything."

Paul Tennant, professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia's political science department, said the university is not in a position to join the anti-development chorus when it comes to the 78-year-old golf course.

Tennant said that's because the university has developed much of its land, given to the institution as part of a perpetual trust for educational and research use.

"It wasn't given for the development of private market housing, and of course, that's very profitable," he said.

The university has remained silent on the issue - for good reason.

"The university, in having used its land for non-academic educational purposes, could hardly hold the Musqueam up for using its land for condominiums as well," Tennant said.

"The private residents (living on developed university land), to the extent that they are trying to protect the golf course, are acting out of the most selfish interest."

Worldwide, golf courses are a flash point in aboriginal land issues in several countries including New Zealand and Australia and several American states because the land was systematically stripped from its original owners, Tennant said.

But he doesn't think the B.C. premier will suffer any negative fallout, and may even benefit from votes, if the government transfers the golf course to the Musqueam.

"He has brought his MLAs around to what I would consider a very positive approach to aboriginal claims," Tennant said, adding Campbell's leadership on aboriginal issues is regarded positively across Canada.

Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said land-claims issues point to a need for legislative reform.

"We need a B.C. aboriginal title and rights recognition act that would compel government, business and industry to recognize our interest in the lands and resources within our territory and more importantly, our entitlements to share in the wealth of those resources," he said.

"The issues that confront the aboriginal people in this province and across this country go far beyond the golf course and the leisure pursuits of a handful of people out in the Musqueam area."

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice, who was in Vancouver recently to discuss a proposed independent tribunal of judges to resolve federal aboriginal land claims, didn't wish to comment on the Musqueam matter, saying his government isn't part of the negotiations.

Prentice said he understands the difficulty of resolving land claims in urban areas, especially when they involve green space.