A handful of businesses and a rancher have been feeling the brunt of being a sort of fee simple property that they can no longer access.
This has been going on since 2014, and has gotten to the point where its affected anywhere from 50 to 100 percent of their business operations.
Guide Outfitter, Doug McMann says this issue has nothing to do with Xeni Gwet’in.
“This really falls back on the NDP not dealing with what’s in front of them, and that’s five of us really, absorbing the price of reconciliation.”
“In our case, I’m going to lose everything I’ve built up to the age of 55 in the name of reconciliation, when reconciliation needs to be done by everybody contributing in the province.”
McMann says in 2020, when the Attorney General did an assessment of paying compensation or acquisition, it was determined that legally, the government doesn’t need to pay them a dime, but there is a moral obligation.
He noted that last Friday, it went to the treasury board and after debates, they pulled the acquisition of the businesses out of the overall package towards the band.
That came after they were told by the Deputy Minister that they thought it would get done.
At this point, McMann hopes his business gets bought out since its now valued at nothing.
He says the word needs to get out, as a lot of people will be affected by this, and encourages people to write to their MLA’s and the Premier and call for fair treatment between First Nations and those affected.
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