11 Dec Land registry changes fall short, natives say: While new legislation makes it easier to start development, band also wants right to collect property transfer tax (The Globe and Mail)
The federal government moved yesterday to make it easier for native bands to undertake large-scale commercial development on reserves by permitting the establishment of land registry systems that give comfort to investors. But the Squamish Nation in British Columbia, which wants to develop prime real estate at the foot of Vancouver’s Lion’s Gate Bridge, says the changes do not go far enough. The band also wants the right to collect a property transfer tax, a levy that would be harmonized with the tax currently imposed by the province on the sale of lands that are not part of an aboriginal reserve… go to article