Researcher Supports On-reserve Land Ownership

Frontier Centre in the Media where Joseph Quesnel shares his thoughts about On-reserve land ownership, as reported on the Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation website.

A Prairie-based researcher says a proposal in B.C. to allow Nisga’a band members to own their own land is an idea worth studying.

Joseph Quesnel of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy says allowing individual residents to own land fee simple will allow them to enter the modern economy.

Quesnel explains that homeowners will then be able to use their property as security for things like business loans or to build equity.

He says this idea differs from others in the past because in this case the individual will be free to sell their property to anyone, even non band members.

He notes the Nisga’a are under modern treaty rules, though, and new legislation will have to be passed before bands across the country can do the same thing.

"What’s different is because the Nisga’a are under the modern treaty, the title to the land is not held by the Crown. They were able to negotiate it so the land went to the First Nation government involved. So it’s easier in that sense, but I don’t think that there’s anything to prevent the enactment of a law at a federal level, or a significant amendment to the Indian Act, that would allow First Nations to opt into kind of a land ownership act," Quesnel says.

Quesnel says the Nisga’a government will still be able to control land use, and any new residents will still be subject to Nisga’a law.

He thinks the federal government could come on board with the idea, if enough bands across the country show interest.

Featured News

MORE NEWS

When Did Canada Become “Turtle Island” – And Why?

When Did Canada Become “Turtle Island” – And Why?

Changing a country’s name never raised any eyebrows when it involved third world colonies transitioning to sovereignty, as occurred when many in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere after World War II did so. But such transformations have been virtually non-existent when...

Justice, Or Racial Politics?

Justice, Or Racial Politics?

In a case that has generated enormous news coverage in Manitoba the government of Manitoba and federal government have agreed to spend $20,000,000 each on a search of the landfill site, where it is suspected that the bodies of indigenous women were dumped by a...