A group of Southside residents and three First Nations are concerned that the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako (RDBN) is moving too quickly with its implementation of the ‘Southside Rural Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 1653, 2012’.
The final public hearing of the official community plan (OCP) was held at Grassy Plains elementary school on March 14, 2013. The plan, as well as any submissions already received, will be presented to the RDBN at their May 23, 2013 public board meeting.
During the hearing, the results of a poll previously mailed out by the Cheslatta First Nation were tabulated. Of 64 returned responses to 515 questionnaires sent out on March 7, 2013, 80 per cent were not in favour of a community plan.
The results were presented during the hearing to demonstrate misgivings on the part of large portion of Southside residents.
In addition to the those concerns, Skin Tyee First Nation, Chief Rene Skin, and Cheslatta First Nation Chief Richard Peters both maintain there has not been adequate consultation with First Nations regarding the OCP.
“We didn’t support the OCP because of a lack of consultation between the OCP representatives and First Nations,” said Peters of last week’s meeting. “We strongly believe that we should be consulted before the OCP is recognized.”
Although reserve land would not fall under the OCP, First Nations on the Southside are private property holders as well.
“The First Nations on the Southside own a lot more than reserve lands,” said Skin. “They own private property so it [the OCP] will strongly affect us.”
Skin acknowledged that communication can be difficult among First Nations residents on the Southside as a number of people do not have registered mail box addresses.
Chief Skin conceded that the band office had received a letter notifying them of the start of the process, but in his view that doesn’t count as proper consultation.
“By law, First Nations have to be consulted,” Skin said. “There’s a process they should have to go through.”
Chief Peters described First Nations consultation as a process where First Nations would be “totally aware of the process and how it impacts the communities and their future.”
Mike Robertson has participated as a Southside resident on the OCP working group from its early days.
“I didn’t believe that it [the OCP process] was ever sanctioned by Southsiders,” he said. “If a majority of Southsiders were aware of it, they would not have supported it.”
Robertson recalled early attempts to implement an OCP, which were soundly rejected by Southsiders.
Katie Lambert, a Southside resident, echoed Robertson’s concerns. She said the March questionnaire mail-out was the first that she had heard of the Southside OCP.
“All we’re saying is, let’s start an open process that everybody is aware of and gains the consensus of the Southside,” said Robertson.
Steve Freeman, director of Area E denies that there is anything resembling a push to put the community plan in place without adequate consultation.
“We’ve had 14 public meetings over the past year-and-half,” Freeman said. “I was personally involved with the plan before I was elected director.”
Freeman said he is confident that the majority of Southside residents have been consulted and that they are in favour of the community plan.
After the polling mail-out campaign, Freeman acknowledged fielding many calls from concerned Southside residents.
Freeman said that most of the calls he received had been for clarification. Typically, he said, once the intention and details of the plan had been explained to the caller, the caller was satisfied with what he or she had heard.
Freeman said that he was unable to comment on the last public meeting as he is bound by certain restrictions on comments regarding formal public hearings.
Despite the wishes of some that the plan not be implemented without further consultation, last Thursday’s meeting was technically the last opportunity for public input before the community plan is to be presented to the RDBN board for consideration in May.