First Nations Land Interests

There have been dialogues between Hul'qumi'num member first nations and the state about land rights for more than a century and formal treaty negotiations began in 1993. While these negotiations have become protracted and difficult there have been some successes in smaller scale negotiations.

The six member First Nations have negotiated forest opportunity, land protection, and cooperative management agreements. HTG member First Nations each individually negotiated Forest Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreements (FCRSA) which included tenure to crown land in the form of woodlot licences. First Nations woodlot areas cover 1.4% (4,848ha) of the land area of the HTG core territory. In 2001 the parties negotiated protection for Hw'teshutsun from forestry and municipal development.

The Hw’teshutsun area covers 0.5% (1,638ha) of the land area of HTG core territory.

Public records of the Provincial Government show a significant percentage of the crown land remnants in HTG territory are earmarked for transfer in the treaty settlement (as shown by the Treaty offer layer in the web map). This area is not finalized but gives a sense of the scale of future treaty land base.