Nisgaa Landholding Transition ActNew opportunities for residential land ownership on Nisgaa Lands

What has happened so far?

community discussionlegislationnew land title systems

What are we doing today ?

a way for Nisgaa Citizens to own fee simple residential lands in Nisgaa villages

How does the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act work?

I already have an Entitlement. How will it work for me?

Village Government may offer you fee simple title you may request fee simple titleor you may keep your Entitlement

I dont have an Entitlement.How will it work for me?

Village may offer fee simple ownership to a Nisgaa citizen

What do I need to know?Fee simple title can be sold, leased, willed or mortgaged to anyone without restriction

Subject to Village zoning laws

Voluntary participation

What do I need to do?

Educate yourselfCheck on the status of your Entitlement, if you have oneResolve estate issuesResolve housing loan and mortgage guarantee issues

Who is responsible for what?Nisgaa Land Title OfficeNisgaa VillageNisgaa Citizen

What comes next?Detailed informationApplication forms

More informationNNKNNisgaa Newsletter

Thank You

Nisgaa Individual Landholding Project250 633 3091land.title@nisgaa.net

The purpose of these community sessions is the give you an update on what has been accomplished over the 5 years since the Nisgaa Individual Landholding Project began, what options are going to be available to you, and what you can expect to happen next.We hope that at the end of this session you will have the information you need to know if fee simple ownership of a residential lot in a Nisgaa village is a good option for you and your family, and also that you will understand how the process will unfold once fee simple ownership is available.

*This process began in 2006, at the request of WSN, which was examining ways in which it could support Nisgaa Citizens in economic development matters.

It was felt that the way in which residential Nisgaa lands were held (NVE and NNE) was so restrictive as to make it difficult for Nisgaa Citizens to benefit from the equity in their homes in the way that other Canadians can. After considerable discussion and community input, it was decided to permit the grant fee simple ownership of residential lands in Nisgaa Villages to Nisgaa citizens without any subsequent restriction on who they might be transferred to Nisgaa or non- Nisgaa, First Nation or non-First Nation.Of course, since no First Nation had ever done this before, it was considerably more complex than anyone anticipated.

Over the last 5 years WSN has enacted a whole suite of legislation that is intended to support the fee simple ownership of residential Nisgaa Lands. These include:Nisgaa Landholding Transition ActNisgaa Land Title Act (2010)Nisgaa Law and Equity ActNisgaa Partition of Property ActNisgaa Property Law ActAs well, NLG has done its best to support the Village Government in ensuring that they will maintain their ability to exercise jurisdiction over their lands when they are in fee simple ownership.

In this regard, WSN enacted the Nisgaa Community Planning and Zoning Enabling Act, and we provided each village government with a model zoning law that they could use for consideration of the elements of land use zoning they though were most appropriate for each particular village, and provided some funding for land use planning at the Village level.We are now building the new software and administrative systems that will be required to manage the new land title possibilities.

This task also has also been more complex and time consuming than we ever could have anticipated, and we are anticipating a spring launch of the new system.This gives you lots of time to make the decisions for yourself and your family about how residential land ownership will work best for you. *At this meeting we hope to ensure that you have the information that you need to make decisions related to the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act, and that you understand how the act is going to work so that you have the ability to take advantage of it if you choose to.First, what does the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act actually do? In short, It provides a way for Nisgaa Citizens to obtain fee simple interest in residential Nisgaa Lands. What is fee simple and how does it differ from a Nisgaa Village Entitlement and Nisgaa Nation Entitlement?

In practice, it means that you would own your residential lot in the same way that anyone else in British Columbia or Canada owns their residential property and you would be able to transfer it to anyone, mortgage it or sell it without having to seek anyones permission.What is meant by residential lands?

The Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act is restricted to Village Lands that are zoned primarily for residential purposes in the Nisgaa Village zoning law.

That means that you cant use the provisions of this Act to get land for commercial or industrial purposes (for those you would need to lease land from the Village) and you cant use it to access Nisgaa Lands outside of Village Lands (for that you would need to apply to the Nisgaa Nation under the provisions of the Nisgaa Land Act).

This is about residential lands in Nisgaa Villages where homes and subdivisions are already located, and where a Village Government may locate them in the future.

The Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act also further restricts the lands that are available.

Each lot cannot be more than .2 ha (which is about .5 acre).

As a point of information, every lot that currently has a Nisgaa Village Entitlement or Nisgaa Nation Entitlement registered over it complies with this size restriction.

*The legislation covers two basic situations lands where someone already holds a Nisgaa Village Entitlement or Nisgaa Nation Entitlement, and lands where there is currently no Entitlement registered.

*If you currently have an Entitlement in a Nisgaa Village, one of two things can happen.

The Village Government may offer you the ownership of the lot where you have your Entitlement.If you accept the offer, you would need to fill out a form and sign it and submit it to the Nisgaa Land Title Office within 90 days, and we would register you as the fee simple owner of the lot. Very simple.

The Village Government cannot charge you money for a lot where you already have the Entitlement.

There are some conditions that must be met. You must be a Nisgaa Citizen. Although once the fee simple title is granted to a Nisgaa Citizen, that person can transfer it without restriction, in the first instance it can only be granted by the Village Government to a Nisgaa Citizen.You must be the current Entitlement holder. There can be no mortgage registered against your current Entitlement in the records of the Nisgaa Land Title OfficeParticipation is voluntary. If you want to keep your Entitlement rather than move to fee simple ownership, that is fine.

If you prefer to say no, you can either fill out a form that clearly states that you are declining the offer and submit that to the land title office, or you can do nothing, and the offer will expire after 90 days. If the Village Government does not offer you the fee simple interest in the lot where you have an Entitlement, you can request it.

In that case, you would fill out a form that you will be able to get from the Land Title Office and submit it to the Village Government. The Village Government is required to consider your request as soon as practicable, and must not unreasonably refuse it. (Please note that it is not unreasonable for the Nisgaa Village to refuse your request if a debt is owing to the Nisgaa Nation or the Nisgaa Village).

If the Village refuses your request, you are able to seek a review of that decision through the Nisgaa Administrative Decisions Review Board.

If the Village agrees to your request, it will file the appropriate form in the Nisgaa Land Title Office offering you the fee simple ownership of the property, and again, you would have the choice of accepting, refusing or ignoring the offer, just as if it had been offered to you in the first place.

The same conditions must be met. You must be a Nisgaa Citizen. You must be the current Entitlement holder. There can be no mortgage registered against your current Entitlement in the records of the Nisgaa Land Title Office.

*There are also lots in every village that dont have an Entitlement registered against them, and are just simply owned by the Village Government. If it wishes, the Village Government can also transfer the fee simple ownership of these lots.The conditions are similar:the first recipient of a grant of fee simple must be a Nisgaa Citizenthe parcel must be no greater than .2 ha (.5 acre)the parcel must be zoned principally for residential use in a Village zoning law.In this case, however, it is possible for the Nisgaa Village to charge a fee for the lot.

This could be whatever the Village Government chooses it might be related to the cost of developing a servicing the lot, or it might be any other amount that the Village Government chooses. As owners of the land, the choice is theirs.If the Village wishes to transfer a lot without a current Entitlement to a Nisgaa Citizen, it will pass a resolution in the form prescribed in the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act, complete the transfer form attached to the resolution, and provide both documents to the recipient of the fee simple grant. It is the recipients responsibility to register the grant in the Nisgaa Land Title Office, and it is this registration that gives the Nisgaa Citizen ownership of the lot.

It is not enough to get the grant it must be registered or you wont own the lot.

*if you do move forward towards fee simple ownership of residential land, there are some things that you will want to consider.First and foremost, your fee simple title will be fully transferable. This is different than the current situation of Entitlements, which can only be transferred to an eligible recipient as set out in legislation. With unrestricted fee simple ownership you can transfer it to anyone not just Nisgaa, and not just people from other First Nations anyone at all. You can sell it if you like, or give it away, or add family members, whether or not they are Nisgaa, as owners. You will not need to ask permission from anyone. You will own your land in the same way that everyone else does.Currently, with Village Entitlements, you can also only will your property to an eligible recipient. With unrestricted fee simple ownership you will be able to will your property to anyone that you want, but if you dont have a will, the provincial Estate Administration Act will determine who gets your property. Currently, as you know, Entitlements cannot be used as security for a mortgage without a Nisgaa Nation guarantee. With unrestricted fee simple ownership, If you want to, and if you can satisfy a banks requirements, you can mortgage your fee simple property. A mortgage is not like a housing loan through the Village Government. If you have a mortgage, you are entirely responsible for paying it back, and if you dont the bank has every right to foreclose, take your property away, and sell it to someone else to recover the amount of the loan that is secured by the mortgage.Currently, the Nisgaa Village owns all of the land in each Village, and, subject to peoples rights related to their Entitlements, can do what it wants with the land. With fee simple ownership, when the Village no longer owns the property outright - what can happen to your property both what you can do and what the Village can - will be set out in a local law, called a zoning law. This is the way that the Village Government exercises its jurisdiction (law making power) over the land if it doesnt own it. What is good about a zoning law is that the rules for land use are set out for everyone to know, and everyone within the same zone will have the same rules.*Over the next few months we invite you to think about whether fee simple ownership is right for you.

If it is, there are actions you can take to prepare for the implementation of the legislation:If you have a Nisgaa Village Entitlement or a Nisgaa Nation Entitlement, it would be a good idea to request a title search from the Nisgaa Land Title Office to be sure that the Entitlement is correctly registered in your name. If it isnt, you will have to work with the Village Government to correct the situation.If you are aware of a situation where a Nisgaa Village Entitlement or Nisgaa Nation Entitlement is held in the name of a deceased relative of yours, you may wish to contact the Wills and Estates Project to find out how the estate of your relative can be managed so that his or her beneficiary can take advantage of the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act if it is appropriate to do so.If you have an unpaid housing loan that has been guaranteed by the Village, you may want to contact the Village to make arrangements to pay the loan so that you can be eligible for fee simple ownership if you want it.If you currently have a mortgage guaranteed by the Nisgaa Nation, you may want to contact Nisgaa Lisims Government and begin discussions about how the mortgage might be transferred to your fee simple interest.

*Role of the Nisgaa Land Title OfficeThe Nisgaa Land Title Office can provide you with information about current Nisgaa Village Entitlements and Nisgaa Nation Entitlements.

We can give you a copy of your title search for no charge so that you will have the information that you need when the Nisgaa Landholding Transition Act comes into effect

Role of Nisgaa VillagesEach Nisgaa Village currently owns all the land within its respective Village. For that reason, it is the Village Governments that will grant fee simple ownership of individual lots to Nisgaa Citizens.

Although the Land Title Office will register the grant, which gives it legal effect, it is not the Land Title Office that makes the grant. If you want fee simple ownership of a lot, it is the Village that you ask, not the Land Title Office.Your RoleFor Nisgaa Citizens, participation in this program is voluntary. If you have an Entitlement and you are offered fee simple ownership, you will have a chance to say yes or no. If you like, you can also request fee simple ownership of a residential lot. If you would rather keep your Entitlement, thats fine. If you would rather get a new Entitlement than request fee simple ownership of a lot, the Village can still grant Entitlements if it chooses to.

*Closer to the time of the implementation of the new legislation we will be in contact with you again to provide you with the detailed information and application forms that you will need to act on an offer of a fee simple grant, or to request one from a Village Government.

We will provide the information to each Village Government and urban Local, and will make sure that notification is provided on NNKN and in the Nisgaa Newsletter.

In the interim, feel free to contact the Nisgaa Land Title office with your questions. We will do our best to make sure that you have the information that you need to make the decision that is best for you and for your family.

Nisgaa Land Title OfficeBox 231New Aiyansh, BC V0J 1A0

250-633-30911-866-633-0888 (toll free)

land.title@nisgaa.net

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