As the Okanagan braces itself for the upcoming fire season, residents of the Parker Cove development can sleep a little easier after a BC judge ordered the Okanagan Indian Band to keep supplying fire and ambulance service to the 700 residents who live there.

Caught up in a dispute about paying for the services, the residents were facing the reality of not having access to firefighters or first responders until the judge stepped in.

Emergency services were due to finish in February, and the court injunction is a temporary reprieve.

In a recently published Feb. 12 BC Supreme Court decision, Justice Neena Sharma said the residents of Parker Cove would suffer irreparable harm if the services were cut off before the two sides came to an agreement.

The Justice was also critical of the way the Okanagan Indian Band, and its chief, handled the matter.

The Okanagan Indian Band and the Parker Cove Properties Limited Partnership are at loggerheads over the costs residents must pay the Band for fire and ambulance services.

The land is owned by Okanagan Indian Band Members Reynolds and Mildred Bonneau, who sublease the land to non-Band members.

Band members don’t have to pay for emergency services, but non-band residents do, and the issue got messy when a new contract was drawn up in 2023.

The Bonneaus disputed the contract and tried to negotiate with the Band over the costs.

However, in July 2025, the Band sent a letter to the Parker Cove residents saying services would be cut off in 60 days.

Justice Sharma said the letter was “shocking” and that deciding to send it when both sides had a meeting arranged to discuss it was “very troubling” to the court.

“The whole area of the development is in the wildfire zone. Naturally, the cutting off of fire and emergency services in that area of the province, but certainly in that specific area, would be distressing to people that live there,” the Justice said.

“I am also concerned when I look at that letter that it clearly would leave an objective reader with the impression that the problem was that (Parker Cove Properties) had not paid their fair share and, arguably, had not even agreed to enter into an agreement, which is false,” the Justice said.

The decision says the Band’s own internal memo showed it recognized that the rate had gone up quickly and could be seen as being unfair.

In December 2025, Parker Cove Properties took the Okanagan Indian Band to court over the matter, arguing first for an injunction to keep the emergency services, which were due to expire in February.

The Band argued against supplying the services due to financial constraints.

However, Justice Sharma dismissed the argument.

“I find this position to be very troubling because within the evidence itself, the Band agreed and offered to forgive $230,000 if (Parker Cove) agreed to simply move forward. It is difficult to understand how the Band can claim to be in a difficult, deficit position and unable to provide any fire services, when at the same time they agreed to forgive that amount of money,” the Justice said.

The Justice said some of the Band’s evidence was “concerning.”

“(It’s) stated that the fire department is heading towards a deficit. However, as pointed out from other information, that was hardly a new situation. The concern is whether that… was an attempt to paint the potential deficit as a new situation, which it apparently was not,” she said. “More concerning is the sworn statement that if they do not get money… they will have no ability to operate and provide effective fire protection services to all Band members.”

The Justice said that was a “remarkable statement to be made by a public authority” when the Band has $79 million in surplus.

“It is highly dubious and very troubling to this Court that a public official would swear an affidavit saying they might have to stop fire protection services when a surplus like that exists,” the Justice said.

Ultimately, the Justice granted the injunction.

The trial is due to start in August 2027.