Okanagan Indian Band Suing Municipalities with Claim to Rail Corridor Land

Update: Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band has responded to frustrations about their legal action.

Original Story:

After informing the City of Kelowna about its plans to block the sale of the CN Rail Corridor, the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) has released the legal documents outlining its lawsuit against various levels of government.

The OKIB has voiced opposition to the rail trail sale for months, saying that segments of the trail were taken away from the OKIB and that they had never lawfully surrendered their land title. Now, the OKIB has officially filed the lawsuit against CN Rail, Canada, British Columbia, City of Kelowna, District of Lake Country, and Regional District of North Okanagan.

(Photo Credit: KelownaNow)

The band is suing the groups based on the understanding that a portion of the railway corridor is not CN Rail’s to sell. The OKIB says the railway corridor passes through a historic Indian reserve allocated to ancestors of the OKIB, known as Commonage Reserve IR 9. “Put simply,” reads the OKIB’s website, “CN cannot sell what they do not own, and the municipalities cannot purchase lands that are not CN’s to sell.”

In the lawsuit, the OKIB outlines the history of IR 9, saying that in 1877, the Joint Reserve Commission established the reserve from the narrowest part between Okanagan Lake and Kalamalka Lake to its northern border adjacent to the lands at Priests Valley. However, the OKIB says that between about 1888-1893, Canada and BC relinquished the OKIB’s interest in the reserve without their knowledge or consent. “The OKIB did not surrender or otherwise authorize the purported relinquishment,” reads the lawsuit.

(Photo Credit: City of Kelowna)

The rail line itself was constructed between Kelowna and Vernon in the early 1900s and passed through the Commonage Reserve. The lawsuit says that the right to use this land “was no more than a limited right to use those lands for railway purposes only, which is the only interest in a reserve that CNR could lawfully acquire.”

Since the rail corridor stopped being used for railway purposes in 2014, the OKIB says that they’ve been entitled to possession of the corridor. The lawsuits states that CN Rail “has no lawful interest in the Commonage Rail Corridor or any portion thereof”. With CN Rail entering into an agreement to sell the lands, including those in IR 9, OKIB is suing those involved for the band’s right to the land.

(Photo Credit: Okanagan Indian Band)

Particularly, the lawsuit says that none of those being sued has acknowledged OKIB’s interest in the Commonage Rail Corridor and claims that they “intend to continue the trespass unless restrained from doing so”.

“It’s unfortunate it’s come to this,” said Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band, “but we make no apologies when it comes to protecting the legal interests of our membership.”

For more information about the OKIB’s concerns about the sale of the rail corridor, visit their website.