The Rent is 150 Years Overdue: A Guide to BC’s "Surprise" Land Crisis

Letters

"British Columbians are currently behaving like a tenant who hasn’t paid rent since the Crimean War and is now absolutely scandalized that the landlord has stopped by to ask for a key. To hear the Western Standard tell it, David Eby invented 'land claims' in a Victoria basement in 2017. In reality, the 'crisis' isn’t a policy shift; it’s a physics problem. For a century, BC operated on the 'Ostrich Strategy'—burying its head in the muskeg and hoping the Supreme Court wouldn’t notice the Crown never actually bought the ground it’s standing on. Whether the NDP tries to fix the foundation with 'Shared Decision-Making' duct tape, or the Conservatives promise to 'repeal' reality back to 1950, the bill remains on the table. You can’t 'repeal' a Supreme Court ruling any more than you can vote to make gravity optional. We aren’t witnessing the 'deconstruction' of BC; we’re witnessing the inevitable collapse of a legal fiction that even the best political spin can no longer sustain."

Well, pull up a chair and grab a double-shot espresso, because we need to talk about the collective amnesia currently masquerading as "political analysis" in this province. I’ve just finished reading this latest dispatch from the Western Standard, and I must say, it is a masterclass in treating a 150-year-old structural fire like it was started five minutes ago by a guy named David Eby holding a singular match.

The article claims the "crisis" officially started in 2017. That is adorable. It’s like saying the Titanic’s problems "officially started" when the band began playing "Nearer, My God, to Thee."

First: A Scolding for the "Settler" Class

Before we get to the government's bumbling, let’s talk about you—the British Columbian voter who is currently "shocked" by the concept of unceded land.

If you went through the BC school system and somehow missed the fact that this province was built on a legal foundation of "Eh, we’ll just take it and hope they don't notice," then you haven't been doing your homework. For over a century, BC operated on a policy of "ostrich-ing"—sticking its head in the sand and pretending the Royal Proclamation of 1763 didn't exist.

The "land claims genie" didn't escape the bottle in 2017. The bottle was smashed against the wall by the Supreme Court of Canada in Delgamuukw (1997) and Tsilhqot’in (2014). If you’re just waking up now, you’re not a victim of "NDP deconstruction"; you’re a student who slept through the first three years of the course and is now screaming at the professor because the final exam is in a language you didn't bother to learn.

The Government: Solving a Tangle with More Tangle

Now, let's look at our glorious leaders. The article frames David Eby as a man "surrendering." In reality, Eby is a man trying to perform emergency surgery on a patient who has been bleeding out since the Gold Rush, using nothing but a "Shared Decision-Making" sticker and some optimistic press releases.

The government’s "opening move" wasn't surrender—it was an admission of legal reality. The courts have been beating the Province of BC over the head with a rolled-up Constitution for thirty years, telling them: “You don’t actually own this land as clearly as you think you do.”

But instead of a clear, transparent process, the NDP has given us "DRIPA"—a piece of legislation so vaguely worded that it’s essentially a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book where every ending leads to a courtroom in the fall. The government's "secret negotiations" aren't some grand conspiracy to hand the province over to San Francisco environmentalists; it’s a desperate attempt to avoid the fact that they have no idea how to reconcile 19th-century colonial theft with 21st-century property law without the whole economy catching fire.

The "Great Bear" Boogeyman

The article waxes nostalgic for the days of Gordon Campbell, the man who gave us the "Great Bear Rainforest"—or as the author calls it, a "faux-indigenous name."

Let’s be clear: the BC Liberals didn't sign the Great Bear Rainforest deal because they suddenly developed a deep love for the spirit of the Kermode bear. They did it because international markets were threatening to boycott BC lumber. It was "Shared Decision-Making" born of economic hostage-taking. To suggest that the current "crisis" is a departure from a golden age of "Crown legitimacy" is to ignore that the "Crown" has been frantically bartering away bits of the furniture to keep the lights on for decades.

The Repeal Fantasy

The BC Conservatives are promising to repeal DRIPA on "day one." That’s a lovely campaign slogan. It’s also the legal equivalent of trying to stop a flood by passing a law that says water isn't wet.

You can repeal DRIPA tomorrow. You can’t repeal the Supreme Court of Canada. You can’t repeal the fact that treaties were never signed. If you scrap the framework for negotiation, you don't go back to "the good old days" of 1950; you go straight to a total shutdown of every mine, forestry permit, and pipeline project in the province as the courts issue injunction after injunction because the government refused to consult.

The Bottom Line

The article suggests we are waiting to see if BC can "find a way out."

Newsflash: There is no "out." There is only "through."

Whether it’s Eby’s "shared decision-making" or the next guy’s "restored legitimacy," the bill for 150 years of skipped rent is finally due. The NDP is currently trying to pay that bill with a confusing series of IOUs and "consultation" vouchers. The opposition is pretending the bill doesn't exist.

And you? You’re sitting there wondering why the waiter is looking at you funny while you finish your meal and reach for a wallet that’s been empty since the Douglas Treaties stopped being signed in 1854.

Do your homework, BC. The "crisis" isn't a policy; it's the history you ignored.

Sir James Douglas-Not-Really