Lheidli T'enneh Sign Over Land to University

Thursday, July 20, 2006 10:38 AM

Chief Dominic Frederick and Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley sign land transfer as the Premier, MLA’s, University President Don Cozetto and Lheidli T’enneh elder Frank Frederick witness the signing

UNBC’s landbase has just about doubled, thanks to the Province and the support of the Lheidli T’enneh.

Together, they have signed over 248 hectares of Crown land within traditional Lheidli T’enneh territory. The value of the land transferred to the University is worth approximately $2.5 million dollars.

The parcel is part of the 370 hectares the Lheidli T’enneh had identified as property that was to be included in their treaty setlement package.

(click on photo of Premier to see Premier outline area given to University)

UNBC had been using the land as an outdoor lab for research on a variety of subjects including the mountain pine beetle and will continue to do so. The "greenway" trail system will be used for athletic training in connection with the Northern Sports Centre while the trail system will continue to be open to the public.

Lheidli T’enneh Chief, Dominic Frederick is pleased "The Lheidli T’enneh welcome the new agreement betwen the City of Prince George, the provicnail government and UNBC. This extension represents an acknowledgement of the land that we hold and demonstrates the willingness of UNBC and the municipality to work together with government to find an arrangement that weorks for all of us."

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Thursday, July 20, 2006 10:38 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 20 2006 11:56 AM

Great. More land for the next generation to claim an unfair settlement on. Nothing is ever final.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 20 2006 11:57 AM

Can you imagine the fuss when they discover a huge gas discovery under that land.

Posted by: Big_B on July 20 2006 12:27 PM

yamadamabitch-and-whine-a-lot,

Without looking at the final agreement, I can't comment on gas rights, but you know as well as I that if industry finds oil on anyone's property, Aboriginal or not, they will get it somehow.

Just ask all the farmers in ALberta wiht Oil wells on their property.

They get squat.

Posted by: trusted on July 20 2006 2:04 PM

Not so Big B, and yamadoodlebug has a good point.
What would constitute the difference between oil and gas?
Check it out before you become Mr. Big B know it all!
Even lots of B C people hold land rights to resource exploration discoveries in Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
Come on-need somebody to come on that is knowledgeable as to these rights.

Posted by: owl on July 20 2006 2:54 PM

I really thouhg most people knew that mineral rights do not come with property ownership.

Here it is from the "horse's mouth".

http://www.em.gov.bc.ca/private_title/default.htm

you might also get a kick out of this one from last year.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2005/04/19/CompanyGrabsMining

Here is a question of First Nations land claims and mineral claims ...

http://www.firstnationsdrum.com/Spring2005/BizMining.htm

Posted by: trusted on July 20 2006 4:54 PM

Not dealing with mining and mineral rights.
Not staking claims.
Information not coming from the right horse's mouth.
Oil and gas-NOT minerals.

Posted by: owl on July 20 2006 7:53 PM

The horse's mouth I refer to is the BC government which has the rights to subsurface "minerals" under federal law.

"minerals" is the broader us of the term as identified on the government page in the first paragraph. They are not my regulations, nor are they my words.

Here they are:

"Whether on provincial Crown or private land, the Province owns most minerals (which includes coal, petroleum and natural gas). Rights to explore and develop Crown minerals are obtained as a form of tenure issued by the provincial Crown, which remains the owner of the minerals.

This means that people who own �private property� like a house or a piece of land, do not own the subsurface rights. This is standard throughout Canada."

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on July 20 2006 9:00 PM

Whatever. Fact is lots of oil and gas royalty gets paid to the bro's up in Ft Nelson and Alberta. Some smart lawyer argued that the bro's used to tar some missionary, and therefore they have tradition rights to all petroleum, no matter where it is.
Anyway, it ain't over if the land has something under or on it.

Posted by: Perambulating Penman on July 21 2006 3:50 AM

A careful eye must now be kept on UNBC to make certain its future uses for that land are compatible with the interests of the wider community. Campbell and Kinsey might very well have had big smiles on their faces because it means UNBC now has a new source of revenue. Besides, universities sometimes are quite high-handed, as is the case with the arrogant University of B.C. not giving a hoot about how development out there impacts everyone else in Greater Vancouver.

Posted by: Big_B on July 21 2006 9:27 AM

Thanks Owl,

Well Trusted. Your response?

Posted by: trusted on July 21 2006 9:48 AM

Yama is correct. Royalties are paid-and I will find out just what the oil and gas rights consist of.
Have to wait until I talk to someone who is in receipt of monies from this source.
Possibly grandaddy rights which cannot be removed.
They are passed on through wills to direct relatives also.
Surely someone out there knows what these payments consist of.

Posted by: trusted on July 21 2006 9:49 AM

Sorry-forgot to mention-not B C.

Posted by: owl on July 21 2006 9:53 AM

Perambulating Penman .... At first I was going to refer to you as PP, but then thought differently ... :-)

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I am not expecting too much immediately, but once the economic climate is right, then the "using the land for reasearch" could easily become "building a research park". Not that they should not do that. In fact, they should but there have been no takers on past attemtps. Something for the new president to work on since that is one thing which did not succeed under Jago. Not to slight him at all since he did very well in other areas.

In addition, once some residential developments are openend up along Tyner Blvd overlooking the city, I would expect there might be a market for student and faculty housing, similar to that in UNBC's endowment lands. Slap them on UNBC property with a 99 year lease, and you have a steady income. Or perhaps, they could lease out 120 acres to the PG Golf club similar to the one at UBC and the profs could continue to study sustainable planting in a northern climate while golfing.

Posted by: Simple Simon on July 21 2006 10:17 AM

99 year leases aren't very nice. Remember the Musqueam reserve incident a few years ago in Vancouver? I understand the First Nations people in Kamloops developed a housing project on Indian land there. Some one told me they weren't "selling" beecause of that Vancouver incident. Any know-it-alls out there, feel free to give me an update on sales there. I also think banks don't feel quite comfortable giving out loans for "leased land" development. But the federal gov't. does. Enlighten me, you all- knowing- contributors.

Posted by: Perambulating Penman on July 21 2006 4:19 PM

Something else that would be nice to hear from UNBC is what opportunities are expected for university grads in PG and elsewhere in the north as the anchor of the economy, forest products, goes down the sewer. Yes, there will be a need for people with PhDs working as traffic controllers showing people the way out of town.