Commonage Reserve
Injunction hearing over Okanagan Rail corridor set for this month
VERNON – A Supreme Court Judge will hear the Okanagan Indian Band’s argument for an…
Okanagan Indian Band to continue fight for Commonage Reserve lands
VERNON - After fighting for title rights to the Commonage Reserve in Vernon for over 100 years, the Okanagan Indian Band says an unfavourable court ruling does not mark the end of the battle. “We’re not going away,” Chief Byron Louis says. “We haven’t given up on it for the last 133 years, I’d be...
Okanagan Indian Band embraces Lake Country mayor’s support for land claim
VERNON - Lake Country Mayor James Baker appears to have thrown his support behind the Okanagan Indian Band’s land claim to the Commonage Reserve including the portion which includes the CP Rail line intended for the Okanagan Rail Trail, and the band intends to hold him to his words. Chief Byron Louis says he welcomes...
Province pledges $7.2M for CN Rail corridor purchase
KELOWNA - There are some strings attached, but the provincial government is pledging $7.2 million to help make the purchase of the CN Rail corridor a reality. The money is conditional on a successful referendum in Lake Country later this month, according to a press release from the province Tuesday, April 7. “We believe in the...
History of the Okanagan Commonage Reserve
VERNON - With the impending sale of the discontinued rail corridor between Vernon and Kelowna, the Okanagan Indian band has revived a historic land claim on a large tract of land known as the Commonage Reserve. Formed in 1877 by the Joint Indian Reserve Commission (established by the governments of Canada and B.C. to create...