B.C. and Tofino-area First Nation sign treaty lite deal for power project, land

VICTORIA – The British Columbia government and a Vancouver Island First Nation signed a business and land deal today that is being celebrated as a new way to accelerate treaty talks.

Aboriginal Relations Minister Ida Chong says the government is giving the Tofino-area Tla-o-qui-aht (tell-oh-qwee-at) First Nation $700,000 to facilitate a land transfer and economic project that would eventually become part of a final treaty.

Chong says the accelerated treaty agreement speeds up the transfer of 12 hectares of land next to an already existing Tofino tourist resort run by the Tla-o-qui-aht.

She says the government’s First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund is also giving First Nation $500,000 to support a clean energy hydropower project, which is 85-per-cent Tla-o-qui-aht owned.

Tla-o-qui-aht chief councillor Moses Martin says the accelerated treaty agreement provides an economic springboard for his people and allows the council leadership to show results from treaty talks that started in the early 1990s.

Opposition New Democrat Scott Fraser, whose riding includes the Tofino area, says the accelerated agreement will provide economic benefits for the entire Tofino area.