Local Government charges taxes to land owners within its boundaries.   Our city’s boundaries are defined by terms (called Letters Patent) within its Incorporation Act.

The only way our city would lose power to tax land is if the boundaries of the city were changed, i.e., the land was no longer within the city.    That is achieved through a provincial legislative change of the act.   It would probably be done in a housekeeping act, the kind run through legislature occasionally to make small administrative changes to BC law (legislation).  

Here’s the important point most of us don’t understand: change to the boundaries can only happen if mayor and council request such a change from the provincial government.   No one else gets to take land away from our city unless we agree and request such a change.    Essentially, when such a change occurs, the boundaries of the city are changed by changing the act, excluding land from the city.   Then it’s no longer in the city and the city no longer would get taxes for it.   

The mill lands will continue to be taxed by the city regardless of who owns them unless the city wants that to change.    The tax rate charged is according to the use the lands are put to.   Rates are defined in schedule A of the tax rate bylaw.  

My understanding is that we are still waiting for such a change to four properties within the city for the Nation, requested of the Province by the city council sitting in 2018.   They are:

• The parking lot between Marine Traders and Wharf St.  This was provincially owned land until the Tla’amin Nation’s treaty was signed April 5 2016.   The Province opted to transfer ownership of it to the Nation. 
• The old hospital lands in the Townsite, now commonly referred to as Tiskwat, which was part of the original Tiskwat village lands.   This land never generated taxes to the city because hospitals are tax-exempt by provincial law.   Transfer of ownership of that land to the Nation was promised about 20 years ago by city council then, but the transfer never actually occurred, so the council of 2018 decided to follow through with this commitment.   
• The land in the old mill-site the Nation now uses as a log dump.    This 20-acre parcel came into ownership of the Nation when the PRSC partnership between the City and the Nation was dissolved and land was divided between them.  The PRSC partnership paid taxes on that land, and prior to PRSC, the mill owners paid taxes on it because it was part of the mill lands. 
• Land between Gibsons Beach and Ti’shosum, the shoreline and the highway.  This land was also part of the PRSC partnership, and prior to that also owned by the mill owners.  

Here’s another change: power generation infrastructure including the dam, penstocks, and the electrical generators located on mill lands is now owned by PREI, a division of Evolugen, the Canadian division of transnational corporation Brookfield Asset Management.   In 2001, half ownership was transferred to PREI by the mill owners.  This ownership change was completed in 2012 as part of restructuring of the Catalyst corp. when it emerged from bankruptcy protection under CCAA.  During that time, the city still received a single tax payment for all the land as was the case prior to 2001 due to a legal agreement between Catalyst and Brookfield.    Now that the mill is closed and for sale, this will change.   The city will receive taxes from the two owners separately.    Rates will be determined by the use, and by value assessment provided by BC Assessment.  The city doesn’t have that assessment yet.  It is expected later this fall.

The bottom line is, taxes will change but will not end; we are still waiting to find out what they will be, and we have been told the Nation has no current intention of asking for the land to be removed from the city’s boundaries if the Nation were to become owners of the land.