“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 7^th, 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.