SWOA reported last fall that the BC Government was proposing major revisions to the Heritage Conservation Act that would affect how waterfront owners could plan changes to their properties. As some of the proposed changes became public there was a lot of push-back from both the public and industry. Thus, the proposed changes to the Heritage Act were paused by the BC Government last fall as a result of the lack of consultation. As SWOA reported earlier, the act is currently based upon science but the changes to the act contemplated inclusion of historical and spiritual recollection. Stay tuned for how all this may evolve in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the DRIPA debate and private property rights, this has reached the Federal Government of Canada, who\u2019s leader Prime Minister Mark Carney stated recently he \u201cfundamentally disagrees\u201d with the ruling that Aboriginal title can exist as a senior right over fee simple private property. It is possible that the case over DRIPA in BC stemming from the Cowichan Nation court ruling will be contested eventually in the Supreme Court of Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There has also been speculation in the press recently regarding the possibility of an election here in BC. If it comes to pass, the challenge to fee simple title rights by First Nations will most certainly be fiercely debated. No matter of one\u2019s political persuasion or alliance, this topic affects all BC property owners and could affect election results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lastly, the debate over implementation of DRIPA as it relates to the BC Land Act, and co-governance of all Crown Land with First Nations, effectively making them co-statutory decision makers of all crown land, has also been paused. The plan was negotiated by the government with First Nations and is being opposed by stakeholders. As currently proposed, the plan will likely adversely affect anyone who crosses or uses Crown Land in British Columbia, including waterfront owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is an important issue for SWOA members, and your Board will keep monitoring as the debate evolves and bring the key points to your attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
May 2026 SWOA reported last fall that the BC Government was proposing major revisions to the Heritage Conservation Act that would affect how waterfront owners could plan changes to their properties. As some of the proposed changes became public there was a lot of push-back from both the public and industry. Thus, the proposed changesContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,65,55,4,87,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive-2026","category-contributor","category-export","category-government","category-mike-hacquard","category-provincial","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8550"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8573,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8550\/revisions\/8573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}