“The new hunting CORE manual is showing the British Columbia government's possible intent to abolish publicly accessible hunting lands, by changing the definition of land titles”, says one BC hunter
The following observations were posted online, July 7th, on the Hunting BC Forum website, by an individual with the screen name of Sirloin. The information was brought to my attention by Williams Lake City Mayor Walt Cobb. The commentator did indicate that the information was ‘confirmed by a few other CORE examiners’
The new hunting CORE (Conservation
and Outdoor Recreation Education) manual is showing the British Columbia government's
possible intent to abolish publicly accessible hunting lands by changing the
definition of land titles across the province to “Private” and “First Nations
Treaty Land” only.
A webinar meeting,
hosted by a Provincial moderator, was held on June 30th, 2020 to prompt
questions that CORE instructors had regarding the new “Indigenous Chapter.” The
intent behind this meeting was to provide a medium for instructors to ask
questions, most of which were in regards to what this new chapter indicates
about the future of land titles in the province, and how according to the current
hunting regulations, the material that would be taught in the manual would be
factually incorrect.
The following are quotes
from the indigenous chapter of the new CORE manual:
"With few
exceptions, wherever you hunt in B.C., you will be hunting on the traditional
territory or treaty lands of one or several Indigenous Nations..."
... and ...
“Hunting
on First Nation Reserves or Treaty lands, is a privilege and not a right.
Permission is required."
I spoke with an
individual who had attended this webinar, and from their perspective it
appeared to be quite clear that the First Nation representatives present were
fully aware of the implications of the previously mentioned quotes. They stated
that permission would have to be granted on an individual basis; a potential hunter
would have to go onto the reservation of the First Nation peoples who owned the
land that he/she wanted to hunt, in order to ask their permission to hunt
there.
That, according to the
2020 - 2022 synopsis, is incorrect.
In the notes taken by
these instructors, it is also mentioned that First Nations Peoples’
applications for TLE (Treaty Land Entitlement) have been submitted to the provincial
government.
One quote from a CORE
instructor stated “many of these TLE requests would [if approved]
effectively block public access to the back country.” That same instructor
reiterated that “the rewrite of the CORE manual made it seem like only one
ethnic group in British Columbia is concerned about conservation.”
There are other concerns
that CORE instructors have with the newly published manual, but it appears as
though our government is more inclined to use their time pandering to First
Nations peoples instead of addressing the real world implications of this
language, or the clear inconsistencies between the Hunting Synopsis and the
CORE manual. The manual, I have on good authority, has ALREADY been printed,
despite fact that there have been applications, but no approvals for TLE as of
yet.
This misinformation has
troubling implications; the CORE Manual is presented as a first resource to
inexperienced and often naive individuals who are taking the CORE program as a
means to educate themselves.
Furthermore, the
discrepancy between the two publications suggests that either the BC provincial
government is hiding something about the future of access to huntable lands, or
these particular First Nations Peoples being consulted are openly pushing their
own agenda.
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