A number of Vancouver Island First Nations are indicating that they want lands currently part of the E&N rail line returned to their reserves.
The Stantec consulting group presented a comprehensive report on the section of the 220-kilometre rail line that runs through the Cowichan Valley at the CVRD’s committee of the whole on Feb. 26. It included consultations with First Nations that have parts of the rail line on their reserves on what they would like to see in the future.
The report found that Cowichan Tribes is looking to have the rail corridor lands that runs through its reserve returned, and it is not interested in either rail or trail going through its reserve lands.
The Halalt Nation has also said that getting the corridor lands running through its territory returned is a priority for the First Nation, but said it is still interested in understanding options and their cost implications, while other First Nations in the region are still studying the issue.
The rail corridor includes 4.8 kilometres in reserve lands in the CVRD, and the report said it would be technically challenging and costly to provide alternative rail corridor realignments at the reserve locations.
“With the corridor no longer being used for rail, the First Nations with bisected reserves have a legal right for the reversion of these lands,” Stantec said in its report.
“If they choose to have these lands returned to reserves, then the corridor will become non-contiguous from an ownership standpoint. This will influence whether rail or a continuous trail is a feasible future option for the corridor.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, as it was then called, provided $18 million in grant funding in 2023 to the five regional districts and 14 First Nations located along the rail corridor that make up the Island Corridor Foundation to develop a shared vision for the rail line, and the CVRD received $600,000 from the funding towards the project, some of which was earmarked for Stantec’s study.
The study, which is available on the CVRD's website, also examined the costs and challenges of establishing the rail corridor as rail only, trail only and a combination of rail and trail.
The report said that studies have identified that the fixed costs to reinstate rail service on the corridor are very high.
“In addition, the demand for passenger travel and freight movement by rail is low. This does suggest that reinstating such a service will be inefficient and unproductive and very costly, both in terms of fixed and operating costs,” the report said.
The report concluded that more focused consultation will assist in gathering more detailed information of needs, attitudes and preferences and positions on future uses of the corridor from all stakeholders in the community.
“These findings, together with collaboration with other regional districts, First Nations and local authorities will allow for the development of a comprehensive shared vision of the future use of the corridor,” Stantec said.
The CVRD's directors at the committee of the whole meeting held a long discussion about the future of the rail corridor after Stantec's presentation, with some advocating the need for rail service on Vancouver Island, while others talked about the need for trails and/or a mixed rail/trail use.
But Saltair/Gulf Islands director Jesse McClinton wondered what the point of the discussion was if at least two First Nations in the Cowichan Valley are indicating they want their lands back.
He said that without the province sitting at the table either coming up with compensation for the reserve lands or developing a re-routing plan around the reserves, there’s little that can be done to move forward at this stage.
“Unless the First Nations are not 100 per cent sure they want their lands back, I can’t see how we can possibly proceed with anything,” McClinton said.
