For most people, it’s just another highway through the South Okanagan.
For Osoyoos Band Chief Clarence Louie, it’s a daily reminder of land his community says was taken more than a century ago.
After years of negotiations, the Osoyoos Band is working with the province of British Columbia on a land claim swap that could re-draw where the reserve starts and ends.
Rather than seeking the return of highways that now cross reserve land, the band is negotiating for a patchwork of Crown land of comparable value, including culturally significant sites and an ancestral burial site.
“They want the highway that goes through our reserve,” Louie said. “They are demanding it. We want our old reserve lands back. Call it a land swap.”
The proposal would allow the highways to remain open while returning other Crown land to the band.
Louie says the biggest misconception is that nearby homeowners could lose their property.
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“Property owners have nothing to worry about,” he said. “No private property has been on the table. No one needs to be concerned about their private property.”
Instead, the negotiations focus entirely on Crown land.
For Louie, however, this isn’t simply about replacing acres.
“Natives didn’t have churches,” he said. “We had landmarks, like Spotted Lake — that’s our church. We want our churches back, and we want our grave sites back.”
Those spiritual and cultural connections are why some of the land being discussed includes places of historical significance.
B.C. Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Spencer Chandra Herbert says negotiations like these can avoid years of uncertainty in the courts.
“You actually get more done when you work together. When you find mutual interest you get more out of it,” he said.
Louie hopes this agreement proves historic land disputes don’t have to pit communities against one another. Instead, he says, they can be resolved through negotiation, protecting public highways, leaving private property untouched and returning Crown land that carries generations of history.
Fugging fn turd eaters
I need that money to pay for my healthcare
no thanks, you get enough
Larry Whitman – Meanwhile I know guys from the Osoyoos band who make six figures working at the Dividend-Lakeview Gold Mine. It’s funny how you white trash goofs talk a big game but you never actually spit any facts
The glue sniffing, gas huffing crew always want something …..except jobs, siding and sobriety ……YAWN
Is the crown land inside the boundry of the new District of Okanagan Falls, does it contain utility or infrastructure on the land, if so this may need to be part of a larger discussion with the new mayor and council
Wait until you MAGA KKKonservative goofs see what First Nations and the NDP are cooking up right now. You weak little whiteboys are going to f**king love it 😂😂
When the white settlers immigrated to Canada they spread their filthy diseases like wildfire. Now their descendants spread their diseased misinformation on the internet. They started off with spreading their own physical diseases and now they spread their own mental diseases. Just take one look at the comment section on Global BC
Doug Brekfaust – bla bla bla… the funniest thing is you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. You just keep repeating the same hate filled disinformation that every other racist KKKonservative in BC does when they go on the internet these days. All of your ‘facts’ are just fabricated and spread like a disease on the internet by mentally ill people just like you. The good news is First Nations people in BC are currently winning and miserable racists like you are currently losing. I guess that’s why you’re on the internet 24/7 crying like a little bltch about First Nations people. Too funny 😁 😂
A sck for a buck, a fock for five
FNS don’t
have a word for possession so how can they own anything
Love that traditional “Sweat Lodge”.
Is that two layers of plastic trap made in China over it!
Didn’t know the FN knew how to forge and hammer out aluminium coal shovels and buckets. Good job. They look exactly like the ones made in China these days. LOL
Looks like a manure or silage
heap! Just like home eh JV? Lol The stewards of the land up holding and demonstrating their sacred traditions.
Thanks GOBAL news for the truth
for once.
Hey Jay V, big Big BIG yawn! And all you’ve got is the usual racist insults, false accusations, slander and anti settler rhetoric. You’ve become quite boring these days .
Maybe post some counter facts?
Maybe start posting that 1998 SCC ruling again that really means nothing or more made up verbal history about sacred this and traditional that. Eye roll.
All you’ve got now is BC DRIPa and that is one election away from being voted out!
So bring it on!
At Jay: “ our current NDP government have politicians that are actually decent enough“. You mean the same NDP MLAs of which 90% of them three months ago were to going to suspend or amend DRIPA? 🤭
Yeah JV good luck. It was only two greens and 7 NDPs, 5 of whom were FNs.
The NDP an only won by 380 votes last election. And thats before the current debt, deficit, forestry, and DRIPA debacle.
So Bring on the vote! Angus Reid poll has 70% of BCers thinking DRIPA is unnecessary for T&R and 53% saying DRIPA has gone too far. 90% of all BC MLAs three month ago we’re about repeal, suspend or amend DRIPA.
That represents 90% of BC’s electorate. 90% JV. The Clock is ticking! What’s is voted in can be voted out.
Everyone else,,, please please please use Ai to fact check the above.
FN probably all be in unmarked graves at some point in time
It’s conquered land. It was never stolen. I am not a settler, That’s a racist term to me. My ancestors were settlers and nothing I could have done about that having not yet been born. Cheers
Doug Brekfaust – Spreading hate and disinformation is all you’ve got as usual. Too bad the racist KKKonservative politicians that you support won’t have a say in the matter. Too funny
The filthy diseased white people that immigrated to Canada stole these sacred sites. The good news is our current NDP government have politicians that are actually decent enough to give the land back to it’s rightful owners
When wars are fought and one side wins that does not mean the land was stolen. It means that one side were just better and stronger at fighting for what they want so first nations need to get over the fact that NO LANDS were ever stolen, they were WON.
Land claims occur all over the world. I agree that there needs to be a stop to the payouts, but in previous centuries the settlers claimed lands which belonged to different bands in the province. There was not an option for the bands to discuss who got what. We need to take Chief Louie at his word rather than relying on hearsay to guide our opinions.
As a local I don’t buy this statement in its entirety. “ No one needs to be concerned about their private property”
That may be true with regards to the land claims but it’s not true with regards to access to our properties.
It’s my understanding that if they don’t get what they want they will blockade the highways. There by cutting off access to peoples private property. This could happen on both the 97 on the north west side of the lake and the #3 in East Osoyoos .One and the same really. Nice neighbours eh?
it’s time for people to leave bc, no point on living in a uncontrolled province
I see the negotiations are in good hands. Before becoming a lifer politician Spencer Chandra Herbert Worked as an artist, and performing arts producer. 🤦♂️
Could you not find anyone less qualified?
As per the BC Govt website via an Ai search.
“the exact dollar amounts for a broader, holistic settlement are still being negotiated, the Band continues to receive interim provincial and federal funding”.
Anyone who thinks this is even partly over is making a mistake. If it’s like the other agreements the taxpayer will be demanded to pay tens of millions of dollars for them to agree to take free public land. This will be in both one time large cash payments and on going annual payments. Mostly likely all renegotiable after 10 years as per the attempted and failed K’omoks treaty. There are only 360 on reserve member in Osoyoos. 360!!!
And what does the rest of society get in return? Nothing!
Oh and how much land are we talking about here?!? Will this be contested by one or other local tribes? Does the Indian band across the border agree to this or will they be arguing that it’s their land too? Horrible incomplete reporting by this journalist.
So, did they get any money, or land in exchange for the highway already. That has been policy.
How much money has already been given to the Osoyoos band for them to build their winery and resort? Over the last 5 years, OIB has generated a total sum of nearly $120.1M in revenues from graft from these businesses.
Before we jump and give the natives everything, every time they demand things, lets look at the whole picture and do what is right. If they were never paid, or got extra moneys, then the exchange of highway land for other lands is totally reasonable. IF they already got extra benefits, then no, it is just another grab from entitled natives.
Wait for it! Just like the stalled Comox band agreement the minute it gets to legislature two or other FN bands will pop up claiming the same land as theirs and also have zero written proof to back it up there by putting this back into courts with even more uncertainty for even longer.
Canada owes First Nations nothing
No land, no money, no recognition
Time our politicians had rhe courage required to make that clear
But money will solve all and is the answer to the questions. Sacred?
CAN U INDIGENOUS PEOPLE JUST GO THE F/ K AWAY, AND NOT COME BACK ! WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF YOU. WHAT DO YOU CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY ? ALL I SEE IS TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE !! ! ALL EARS
Why, in this case, are these treaties when globally comparative to and given world history even necessary?
Yeah ok. That pond, that big rock, that dried up creek bed, oh and that big tree over there and oops and that reed bog and that tree grove too.
Yeah Yeah, all our churches sacred places . Proof? Isn’t oral history good enough?
Nope!
Man o man, why didn’t ancestors finish the job
It is shocking that we as a country allow 4% of our population to dictate land use. It is time to toss DRIPA in the garbage where it belongs and terminate all land negotiations.
More NDP treason of the people of BC and especially those in the south Okanagan.