Land for housing, more First Nation involvement among Yukoners' priorities for new Public Lands Act

The Yukon government heard a few priorities during public consultations over the territory's new Public Lands Act: Developing more land for housing; supporting more First Nations involvement; and defending the public's access to public lands.

The Public Lands Act is still being developed to replace the territory's outdated rules for land management and recreation. Those rules were last reviewed in the 1980s and precede the final agreements signed by many Yukon First Nations.

The government spent three months collecting public feedback last summer. It met with 50 organizations, including Yukon First Nations and transboundary First Nations, and received 105 written submissions from the public. It published a report on May 12.

"I was very encouraged by the depth of the feedback and the nuanced approach that people took," said David Swinson, senior negotiator with the department of energy, mines and resources.

Next, a steering committee will take the feedback and begin drawing up a legislative framework. The committee is composed of the territorial government and First Nations. Swinson says it will likely take more than two years to draft the new act.

"It's gonna take us a significant amount of time to do it, and do it well," Swinson said.

Land use planning central to discussion with First Nations

All parties agreed that increasing First Nations involvement is a priority for the new act, according to the report. Collaborating with Yukon First Nations on new public land legislation was part of the devolution agreement with Ottawa in 2003.

During consultation about the new act, almost all First Nations participants said that completing regional land use plans, and baking those into the new legislation, was a top priority. Those land use plans would identify areas for development and conservation, with enforcement under the Public Lands Act.

Swinson said this has been a focus during steering committee discussions. A few ideas have been raised, like establishing a reserve system to link protected areas in both the land use plans and Public Lands Act. Land guardians could be hired to enforce the new law. A collaborative decision-making process could also be established.

"We've been looking at a number of different ways," Swinson said.

New legislation could clear way for housing development

The report says that almost everyone surveyed agreed that more public land should be tenured for private ownership, or housing.

"Many frustrations were expressed regarding the current lack of land availability and government's disposition process," the report said, "which was seen as inadequate, unfair, expensive and cumbersome."

The report said new lots should come available more quickly and they should be priced affordably. Respondents also said there should be more commercial lots, as well.

Matt Ball, director of the land management branch, said the Public Lands Act might create a path for public land to move into private developers' hands.

"That opportunity for how [land] is accessed – and who develops it – is something we're going to talk more about as we get back to the table with First Nations," Ball said.