The Fraser Fort George Regional District has no authority to shut down a campground on the north shore of Summit Lake because it's on treaty land, the defendants in a lawsuit are contending.
In responses recently filed in B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George, Bernard Dale Chingee and Justin Harris Chingee say they are members of the McLeod Lake Indian Band and so are beneficiaries of Treaty No. 8.
Moreover, in accordance with a so-called adhesion agreement reached with the federal and provincial governments in 2000, they say any member who prefers to live apart from the band's reserve lands "has the option to select land in severalty to the extent of 160 acres."
And they say that in August 2008, the provincial government conveyed the site to them in accordance with the agreement.
In April 2011, they secured the first of two three-year temporary use permits from the FFGRD to operate Loons Haven Resort on a 3.24 hectare (eight acre) site on Caine Creek Road.
The second expired in May 2017, and according to notices of claim filed against the two on June 26, "there currently exists no permit or approval which would allow any use which is not in compliance with the regional district zoning requirements."
The FFGRD is seeking court orders to shut down a campground and compel the defendants to remove all buildings, campers and equipment and to remediate the site back to its previous state and, if they fail to do so, authorization for the FFGRD to carry out the work at the defendants' cost.
However, the defendants claim the FFGRD's bylaws "constitute an unlawful infringement of treaty entitlement."
"But for the Bylaws, the Defendant would be free to exercise his treaty entitlement to the Lands as he saw fit, whereas the Bylaws purport to restrict him to only those uses and activities that are zoned for and approved by the Plaintiff's regulatory processes," they further allege. "This is a more-than-significant dimunition of the Plaintiff's treaty entitlement."
According to a FFGRD staff report presented to directors when the second permit was issued in April 2014, the campground holds 22 double-occupancy campsites for recreational vehicles and tents along with day use and boat launch facilities.
In 1999, band members voted 96-per-cent in favour of the adhesion to Treaty No. 8, which itself dates back to 1899. Under the adhesion, the band received close to 20,000 hectares of land and $35 million in cash.
But about two dozen of the 420 band members opted to seek land outside the community-held reserve under a unique provision called "land in severalty." It allows each member to choose 160 acres of Crown land with the reserve lands in turn reduced by 128 acres for each selection.
The allegations made by both parties have not yet been tested in court.
Both the FFGRD's statements of claim and the responses are posted with this story at pgcitizen.ca.
