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VICTORIA — When the New Democrats concluded a secret agreement with the Sunshine Coast shíshálh Nation a year ago, they included commitments regarding private land that remain secret to this day.

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The 44-page agreement was withheld from the public until after the 2024 provincial election and not released until January of this year.

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The province provided the shíshálh with $104 million over five years, the transfer of six square kilometres of Crown land, and committed to expedite exclusive decision-making and Aboriginal title for the nation.

But even then, significant passages were redacted, including two full-page schedules detailing tracts of private land that were also targeted for acquisition and/or protection.

Other blanked out passages left one guessing as to what exactly was up. For instance: “The province recognizes that the (blank) lands are invaluable to the shíshálh Nation and is committed to work collaboratively with shíshálh Nation to seek to ensure the protection of the (blank) lands for future generations.”

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Also: “The province has (blank) provided funding directly to shíshálh Nation to allow the shíshálh Nation to attempt to acquire the (blank) lands on a willing-seller, willing-buyer basis and to cover due diligence and transaction costs and expenses, including fees and taxes.”

The latter commitment was set out in a separate Lands and Funding Agreement, which was also kept confidential.

The province further agreed to “make reasonable efforts to purchase the (blank) lands within 18 months” of the signing of the agreement on Aug. 16, 2024, meaning by February of next year.

The secrecy combined with the sense of urgency generated a lot of questions when the government organized two online information sessions about the agreement in March of this year, months after the deal was struck behind closed doors.

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Sunshine Coast residents wanted to know what the government was hiding behind the redactions.

What private land and how much private land was included? What would it cost to acquire those lands and transfer them to the Indigenous nation? What would then be the status of the formerly private land? Would the public still have access?

The ministry of water, land and resource stewardship responded to the more than 300 questions posed by the public with written assurances and explanations, some more persuasive than others.

Most of the redacted passages “relate to commitments made by the province to support shíshálh Nation in protecting certain privately owned land parcels,” said the statement from the ministry. “These lands hold significant cultural importance for shíshálh Nation.”

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“Information on the current property owner or owners is being kept confidential, so as not to divulge the location of the lands being discussed, given that they are extremely sensitive cultural sites (and) to safeguard these lands from any potential disturbance or desecration.”

The ministry said it was also standard practice “to not release information about private property owners during sales to protect their interests as well.” I’m guessing that protection would only apply if the private land owners had already been approached with offers to purchase.

There was no word from the ministry on what those purchases would add to the total cost of the agreement. “We do not have an estimate of the potential cost to protect some of these parcels yet.”

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The province also tried to assure Sunshine Coast residents that owners of private land had nothing to fear from the move to expedite recognition of Aboriginal title within the traditional territory of the shíshálh Nation.

“The recognition of Aboriginal title by B.C. will respect and protect private lands — private landowners will have the same rights, privileges, and obligations that they do now,” the statement read in part.

“The province does not include fee-simple lands in any land return agreement except on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.”

Negotiations on recognizing Aboriginal title had not yet begun, so “it is too early to determine the scope of a potential shíshálh Aboriginal title agreement (and) it is not possible to answer detailed questions about what will be in such an agreement.”

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As for the secrecy that had characterized the negotiations up to this year, the New Democrats now promised that “negotiation of an Aboriginal title agreement will require engagement with local government, interest holders, overlapping First Nations, and the public.”

Believe it when you see it, as they must be saying on the Sunshine Coast.

The NDP’s assurances on private property can be seen in a different light in the wake of the recent B.C. Supreme Court decision that questioned what remains of private property title once Aboriginal title has been recognized.

Justice Barbara Young, thinking out loud, suggested that in such cases “the hardship will be borne by non-Indigenous Canadians.” Her findings may make it difficult to sell private land in the part of Richmond where she recognized Aboriginal title.

On the Sunshine Coast, the New Democrats maintain that the only transfers of private land will take place on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.

But if the province fails to overturn Justice Young on appeal, the unwilling-to-sell owners of private property could someday find their land captured by a court-finding of Aboriginal title.

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