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More than 135,000 hectares—1,350 square kilometres—of British Columbia Crown land has been identified or committed for transfer to First Nations through modern treaties and other agreements, according to provincial documents released this week. The area is roughly 12 times the size of Vancouver.
The province is also negotiating five modern treaties with the Te’mexw Treaty Association (TTA) that include approximately 1,565 hectares of Crown land in proposed treaty settlement areas.
The lands include several prominent public properties in the Greater Victoria area, including Hatley Castle and portions of the Royal Roads property, two provincial parks, and dozens of parcels of waterfront properties in downtown Victoria.
The lands are contained in five distinct modern treaties that are currently being negotiated between the provincial government, federal government, and the TTA, comprising the Songhees, Malahat, T’Sou-ke, Beecher Bay, and Snaw-naw-as First Nations. Some have been in negotiations for years.
The five treaties are currently in Stage 5 of B.C.’s six-stage treaty process, known as “Negotiation to Finalize a Treaty.” They still require the conclusion of negotiations, consultation with First Nations with overlapping territories, and ratification by the five First Nations, B.C. and the federal government before they take effect.
Treaty Talks
Negotiations on the wider treaty with the TTA have been ongoing since the mid-1990s and are now in stage five of the six-stage B.C. treaty process, with specific parcels of land such as the Royal Roads Campus mentioned since 2023. TTA negotiations have been in the final stage of negotiations since a 2015 agreement-in-principle was signed.
The province launched the most recent round of public engagement on May 29, 2026, noting that the agreements still require ratification by each of the five First Nations as well as the B.C. and federal governments before they take effect. The province said that there has been engagement with affected municipalities, neighbouring property owners, businesses, and other First Nations who could be impacted by the treaty transfers.
The full detailed maps of designated lands for transfer once the treaties are ratified were released by the B.C. government in June, along with a series of public open houses being held on the treaties. The maps show proposed treaty territory to be transferred throughout Greater Victoria, Sooke, and all the way up to Nanoose Bay and Parksville, which are located north on Vancouver Island.
Hatley Castle was originally built in the early 20th century as a residence for former B.C. Premier and Lieutenant Governor James Dunsmuir and his family. The federal government purchased the estate in 1940. It was later turned into Royal Roads Military College in order to train officers for the Canadian Armed Forces.
More than 4,000 cadets graduated from the military college before it closed in 1995 amid defence spending cutbacks and consolidation of Canada’s system of military colleges to a centre in Kingston, Ont.
The site went on to become Royal Roads University in 1995, and the institution lists more than 2,600 students. The university said if the land is transferred to Songhees First Nation, it will continue to hold classes at Hatley Park, but the size and layout of the campus may change.
Other properties identified on the map in June also include the Enterprise Wharf property in Victoria’s Inner Harbour, the Q Lot near the B.C. legislative building, the Discovery Island Marine Provincial Park, and Sooke Mountain Provincial Park.
B.C. said that if these transfers go through, public access and recreational opportunities for the provincial parks would still be safeguarded for members of the public under the terms of the treaties.
Further locations identified as proposed treaty lands include other areas near Sooke, B.C., and stretching west near French Beach, as well as lands claimed by the Malahat Nation near Shawnigan Lake and the Saanich Inlet, Beecher Bay claims on territory in Metchosin, and Snaw-naw-as lands being sought near Nanoose Bay, Parksville, and Errington.
Land Rights
The B.C. government has said the proposed treaties don’t include any privately owned fee-simple land, “except lands already owned by the respective TTA Member Nations.”
However, some of the privately owned properties are listed as “pre-approved additions,” meaning a First Nation could seek to buy the property if and when an owner wished to sell it.
Once transferred, treaty lands would not be subject to local zoning rules and would be able to engage in their own land-use planning and development. Transfer would also bring along legislative power over land and resources, health and social services, and other areas such as education and further treaty rights.
As negotiations reach the final stage, the provincial government said there is still negotiation taking place with First Nations who have overlapping territorial claims.
The potential transfer of lands under TTA treaties comes amid broader questions over land rights in B.C. in the wake of last summer’s landmark Cowichan decision.
In the Aug. 7, 2025, ruling, the B.C. Supreme Court recognized aboriginal title over approximately 800 acres in Richmond, including Crown and municipal land, and some areas impacting privately owned land. Justice Barbara Young said aboriginal title is “a prior and senior right to land,” while also finding that it can coexist with fee-simple ownership.
The province and federal government have appealed the decision, while Cowichan Tribes notes that it did not ask the court to invalidate fee simple titles currently held by private landowners, and has no plan to do so.
Uncertainty over indigenous land and resource rights intensified in December 2025 when the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that the province’s mineral-claims regime was inconsistent with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which incorporates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into B.C. law.
B.C. Premier David Eby said on April 1 that he planned to pause or change parts of DRIPA as it raised “serious legal liabilities.” However, he reversed course on April 20 after pushback from First Nations, saying that B.C. would continue to negotiate with First Nations instead.
In June, the province extended a freeze on new mineral claims across broad swathes of northern B.C. until Jan. 31, 2027, as negotiations on mineral rights continued with several First Nations.
The figures released by the province this week have drawn criticism from the BC Conservatives and party Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay is calling on the NDP-led provincial government to cease all further land transfers immediately.
“Handing over public assets at this vast scale in secret deals is a direct betrayal of our democracy that treats British Columbians, who own this province, as non-existent,” Findlay said in a statement. “And what is worse, this is only the beginning. There are still over 150 Indigenous bands in B.C. still to be dealt with. There will be nothing left of B.C. by the time they are finished.”
She also urged Eby to recall the legislature to repeal “these unfounded agreements, and start the process over this time with full transparency instead of these backroom handovers.”
