A private landowner is donating two regional district lots to the original keepers of the land.
For the past few decades, Penelope Harris has owned the two parcels of undeveloped forest in the Willow River community. She never spent any time with the land, owning it as an investment property. On Wednesday, she handed it over, every pebble and twig, to the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation (LTFN).
"We believe this is the first time a property owner in our territory has gifted the nation with private land," said LTFN chief Clay Poutney.
"I wanted the land to be taken care of," said Harris, who lives in Abbotsford but came to Prince George on Wednesday for a ceremony of thanks at the House Of Ancestors (Uda Dune Baiyoh) conference centre. "It was made so easy for me. I'm delighted. I just wish I had more."
Although the gesture was a personal one, Poutney said the impact was symbolic on a national level.
"What Penelope is saying, in effect, is that reconciliation is not just something governments do. It's also about what individuals are doing," he said.
Harris said the word reconciliation was not in mind when she made her choice.
She hadn't had pleasurable experiences with Crown-based governments in relation to the land and she wanted to put it into hands she trusted for its long-term well being.
"It was their land in the first place, I'm just officially giving it back," she said.
"I feel that there is nothing we can do to fix all the things we've done wrong as a society to Canada's Aboriginal peoples, I just think we can have a better future together, so what are we doing right now to make things right? The line we were all fed about what the Canadian identity was, how great the Canadian story was, that has now fallen to pieces for all to see. Good. We were all duped. We've been lied to for generations upon generations. But we know that now. We can make choices for the future to be better and be together. I'm absolutely sure they will be much better stewards of this land."
Poutney said the gift "came out of left field" when word arrived at the LTFN councillors' table that someone wanted to bestow private land to them.
"We had to take this to our lawyers, because there was no past practices to go on, but it was easy to figure out in a legal sense. What we realized, though, was we wanted to meet her, and say thank you in person, and let her know who we were as people."
He said this traditional territory has always been a place where visitors and passers-through were welcomed by their ancient ancestors and the same is true today.
"We will always think of Ms. Harris as one of us," he said.
"We will remember her generosity for years to come."
The only other known B.C. instance of a private citizen donating their fee-simple land to a First Nation also occurred in the local region.
In May 2017, Chilcotin rancher Kenneth Linde gave hundreds of acres of his farmland, a tree-farm operation, and the water rights for that land to the Esk'etemc (Alkali Lake) First Nation.
