What happens when two decades of treaty negotiations with a group of Vancouver Island First Nations hit their final stage at a time of growing fear, suspicion and backlash on Indigenous reconciliation?
You get the Te’mexw Treaty, where five nations from Parksville to Victoria find themselves suddenly in the public spotlight after 22 years of largely under-the-radar treaty talks with the B.C. and federal governments.
Watch the report below:
The flashpoint involves around 30 parcels of Crown land to be transferred to the nations, including high-profile sites like: the iconic Hatley Castle and Royal Roads University grounds in Colwood, a parking lot directly beside the B.C. legislature in James Bay, a high-traffic waterfront parking lot across from Bastion Square in downtown Victoria, the Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park off Oak Bay and Sooke Mountain Provincial Park. No private land is involved.
A map shows the proposed treaty lands for the Songhees First Nation. (Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation)
Will those sites remain open to the public as part of the treaty? It’s one of the major concerns swirling around the issue.
The short answer is: Mostly, yes. For now. Voluntarily by the nations. But they won’t be under legal obligations to maintain public access in the future on what will effectively become their private lands.
That’s a fairly complex answer at a time of intense public debate over Indigenous land issues.
Much of the uncertainty stems from last year’s Cowichan Nation court victory on Aboriginal title that declared it a senior right to fee-simple private land. That’s further complicated by public unease over ongoing closures at some provincial parks for exclusive First Nations cultural use, as well as backlash over failed reconciliation-driven changes by the NDP government to laws governing Crown land and heritage conservation.
“We’re at the stage right now where we’re asking the public their advice,” Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert said in an interview about the treaty.
“What are their thoughts? And then we hope to take the next stages after considering that.”
Te’mexw Treaty talks began in 1995, with member nations the Malahat, Beecher Bay (SC’IȺNEW̱), Songhees, Snaw-naw-as (Nanoose) and T’Sou-ke. The treaty is now in the fifth of six stages, labelled by the province as “negotiations to finalize treaty.” The next step would be initialling the agreement and letting the member nations vote on its contents.
It’s not clear if the B.C. or federal governments would, or even could, make any changes to the treaty based on any public concern heard now.
“There’s lots of things we look at in the process,” said Chandra Herbert. “Obviously I’m interested in what the public has to say. We have legal obligations that we have to meet. But we want to do it in a way that brings everybody together.”
The Hatley Castle grounds at Royal Roads are federally owned, and in addition to being a university are also a popular spot for hikes, garden tours and weddings. The Songhees Nation has an agreement with Royal Roads to continue to work together on public access, said Chandra Herbert.
Hatley Castle at Royal Roads University is pictured. (Photo: Nicholas Pescod)
From there, though, things get murky.
The B.C. government’s own consultation document on the treaty contains a warning that not all of the around 30 federal and provincial blocks of land from Parksville to Victoria will stay open for non-Indigenous use, because under the treaty they will be considered the equivalent of private property of the nations.
“There may be other changes that could take some getting used to,” the 2024 report reads. “For instance, some lands in the proposed land package have been available for public use. Once those lands become treaty lands, there may be limited access or even no access for public use.”
The report says the T’Sou-ke and Songhees nations commit to maintaining public access to Sooke Mountain Provincial Park and Discovery Island Provincial Park.
But it adds that they “are also committed to protecting their cultural, ecological and conservation values” — which is similar language used by nations like the Líl̓wat and N’Quatqua First Nations to obtain annual public closures of popular Joffre Lakes Park for exclusive cultural use of nation members.
The full text of the draft treaty is not public, and is currently only available to members of the nations. It will allow for the nations to make their own laws over things like education, health care, and social development.
Songhees Chief Ron Sam, who is chief of negotiations for Te’mexw, did not return a request for comment.
The Victoria parking lot at 430 Menzies St., beside the legislature, has an assessed value of $24.8 million. Located in James Bay, it would face density and height restrictions if purchased by a private developer.
(Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation)
However, the treaty exempts the nations from any municipal bylaws, local zoning or city council approvals on their newly-acquired lands.
“Will local government bylaws apply to treaty land? No,” reads the B.C. government consultation paper. “Treaties recognize the inherent right of First Nations to self-govern. Te’mexw Member Nations will create their own government laws on treaty lands to be regulated by the First Nation.”
The same applies to the waterfront parking lot and docks at 1112 Wharf St., adjacent to Ship Point in Victoria. It’s prime development land, currently assessed at $22.3 million. It could be developed by the Songhees Nation (which already has its own development corporation working on other downtown holdings) in whatever way it sees fit, right in the heart of the city’s downtown.
Public land advocates take issue with that process.
“I think the public would be quite surprised to know those pieces of land are going to be not just transferred but then open to essentially unrestricted development of any kind,” said Caroline Elliott, a public land advocate, co-founder of the Without Diminishment website, and past candidate in May’s BC Conservative leadership race.
“There’s a whole bunch of things there that I think the public doesn’t realize is happening.”
The government has said it conducted public consultation on the treaty, including six in-person open houses in 2026 that saw 563 attendees and two virtual open houses where 59 people logged in.
While Chandra Herbert said the treaty will help rectify past wrongs by “settling a dispute” with the nations, government documents define the Te’mexw Treaty as a “modern treaty” that does not extinguish Aboriginal rights and title claims over additional land in the future.
In fact, discussion papers on the treaty identify additional lands the nations would like to acquire in the future, including the privately-owned Gorge Vale Golf Course in Esquimalt, as well as large swaths of Department of National Defence land in Colwood, parts of provincial parks in East Sooke, the federal land where William Head federal correctional institution currently stands, and more.
Nor would the treaty solve a legal challenge by the Esquimalt First Nation against the Songhees fighting its claim of Hatley Park lands as traditional territory.
Elliott questioned whether the transfer of the Crown lands to the five nations is in the public interest.
“It’s actually not bringing legal certainty, it’s actually causing more of the kind of court action we’ve seen through the years,” said Elliott.
She added the NDP government’s missteps on First Nations policy in recent years has eroded public trust to the point there’s an unwillingness to engage in the treaty conversation.
Any finalized treaty would have to be ratified by the B.C. Legislature and the House of Commons in Ottawa.
The Opposition B.C. Conservatives declined to comment on if they support the treaty. Nor would new leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay make any MLAs available for comment on the issue.
The lack of a coherent opposition leaves the NDP breathing room to defend the treaty publicly.
“We want to make sure that everybody is okay with where we’ve landed here,” said Chandra Hebert.
“That we are honouring these treaties, that we’re settling a dispute, and we’re unlocking prosperity in the region.”
Settling one dispute, perhaps. But depending on the public reaction to the high-profile land transfers at a time of intense unease on reconciliation policies, the government may also be starting a new dispute in the process.