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David Docksteader, AMP
June 10, 2015
Super Fun Day in Oyama
Inside
Helpful sponsor
A Satellite Gallery, sponsored by Investors Group, is prominent at the Lake Country Art Gallery. IG sent staff along recently to lend a helping hand at the gallery. ...............................
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TYLER LOWEY/BLACK PRESS, VERNON
A BUNCH OF BOYS pull with all their might in the giant tug-o-war match (above) and Kyle Widrick (right) nails a back flip on the Lake Country Gymnastics Mini Mountain, Sunday at Oyama Fun Day.
Sore muscles Physiotherapist Sabina Lee gives some tips on how to avoid getting sore muscles while still getting all the chores done in the garden this summer. ...............................
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Flyers ■ Hometown ■ Hometown ■ Jysk ■ Rona ■ Save On Foods ■ Shoppers Drug Mart
CN corridor purchase go-ahead from B.C court KATHY MICHAELS The ink should now be dry on the $22-million sale of CN land to local municipalities, meaning area residents are one step closer to having a multi-use pathway linking Kelowna to Vernon. “This is a very important day for the entire Okanagan,” Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran told his council at the end of its weekly public meeting on June 1 upon hearing the Okanagan Indian Band injunction hearing in B.C. Supreme Court had gone in fa-
vour of the municipalities, paving the way for the deal to be made. That said, the actual development of the path is likely years in the offing. First CN will have to remove the tracks, which could be a lengthy process. Then various levels of community engagement will be rolled out before the path is charted out and developed. All this will be set against ongoing efforts from the Okanagan Indian Band to have the land recognized as part of their traditional territory and reverted to re-
serve when it ceased to be used for railway purposes. “The Okanagan Indian Band is our neighbour. We want to work with it,” said Basran. Differences on what lands do fall within traditional territory, however, are cause for some differences of opinion. “Local governments respect and support the Okanagan Indian Band in its claim of reversionary rights on land that falls within IR No. 7 and, as such, those parcels have been excluded from the pending agreement with CN,” said
Doug Gilchrist, divisional director of community planning for the City of Kelowna on behalf of the regional partners. “Our understanding is that the specific claim over the Commonage reserve was concluded,” Gilchrist said. “However, land claims are ongoing across Canada and the City [Kelowna and purchasing partners] will respect any final decisions by Canada or the courts.” Support, said OKIB Chief Byron Louis in a statement, may be the only way forward. “We’re hoping that our neighbours in the
Okanagan can take a page from our friends in Vancouver. Seeking reconciliation with First Nations people is the only way forward without having past injustices continuing to resurface,” Louis said. “Reconciliation means taking the time to listen, hear, acknowledge that you understand what has been told to you and be willing to do more about it than say ‘it happened a long time ago.’ Historical wrongs and historically long held beliefs about First Nations people need to be corrected.”
BACKGROUND
The OKIB’s injunction to stop the sale of the land was rejected June 1 when B.C. Supreme Court Justice Meyers ruled the Okanagan Indian Band claim does not meet the threepart test that merits a legal bid to halt the sale, rejecting it on the grounds that there would be no irreparable harm if the injunction was not granted and that the balance of convenience does not weigh in favour of an injunction.
SEE DECISION A3