Boundary extensions a relatively simple process but Kamloops’ could get complicated

SUNDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The City of Prince Rupert has been granted a boundary extension. The city of Kamloops wants one.

Are there similarities? Yes, and no.

Prince Rupert’s extension allows it to include within its boundaries a parcel of land already owned by the City. It’s located northeast of the existing boundary, and the City wants it for future growth and expansion. Maybe more significantly, it includes the source of Prince Rupert’s drinking water.

The extension applied for by Kamloops is to the west, and would take in New Gold’s mining property so that Kamloops can benefit from property taxation and spread the tax load being borne by heavy industry already inside City boundaries, some of which is farther from the City centre than the mine.

As explained by a government news release issued Friday about the Prince Rupert situation, the boundary extension process is governed by the provincial Local Government Act, which requires certain statutory requirements to be met.

Those include giving public notice of the proposed extension, obtaining the approval of the electors for the request through the alternative approval process, and endorsing a Council resolution requesting the proposed extension.

It’s a relatively simple process, though it can take a long time to complete.

Tk’emlups Chief Shane Gottfriedson is quoted elsewhere as saying he thinks it should be harder than that. He wants First Nations consultation to be a bigger part of the process.

So does Skeetchestn Chief Ron Ignace.

Their rationale is based on historical rights to the land but it’s hard to see how changing the boundary between the City and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District would impact historical First Nations territorial rights unless there was an impact on remuneration to them, which appears to be the chiefs’ concern — they want a share in the revenue, though what revenue and in what form is unclear to this writer.

According to Mayor Peter Milobar, the City’s annexation of New Gold is designed to maintain the status quo on taxation revenues, so surely it’s not going to have an impact on royalties paid by the mine to First Nations.

Therefore, coming out in opposition to the annexation seems a bit premature on the part of the two bands. Gottfriedson’s wish that the boundary extension process should be more involved is likely to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In Prince Rupert, where there was no apparent objection from First Nations, and where the City already had title to the land, the process was pretty simple even though it took two years.

In Kamloops, with the opposition of two First Nations now on record, the process could become much more complicated. And much, much longer.