THE GREAT LAND GRAB
Understanding the significance of the Esquimault & Nanaimo Land Grants on Coast Salish and Nuu-Chah-Nulth territory
Image Credit: Mike Ekers
In the late 19th century, settler governments transformed over 800,000 ha of Coast Salish and Nuu-Chah-Nulth territory into private land.
Welcome to the digital home of ‘The Great Land Grab’, a research project investigating the legacies of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (E&N) Land Grants. In the late 19th century, the Provincial and Dominion governments transformed over 800,000 hectares of largely unceded Coast Salish and Nuu-Chah-Nulth territory into a massive belt of private land to pay for a 115-kilometre railway.
Lands that had been owned and managed for centuries by Hul’qumi’num families and communities were suddenly off-limits…
Robert Morales
Image Credit: Mike Ekers
Since then, much of the land has been transferred between industrial forestry companies and now increasingly between institutional investors. Today this means three forestry companies now own 60% of Vancouver Island Hul’qumi’num territory.
TimberWest
Managed by Mosaic Forest Management Corporation, TimberWest holds 325,000 ha of private managed forest land on Vancouver Island, largely within the boundaries of the E&N Land Grant.
Island Timberlands
Managed by Mosaic Forest Management Corporation, Island Timberlands holds 252,500 ha of private managed forest land on Vancouver Island, largely within the boundaries of the E&N Land Grant.
Western Forest Products
Western Forest Products holds 23,293 ha of private managed forest land concentrated largely near the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
This project queries the ownership and harvesting regimes put in motion by the Esquimalt & Nanaimo land grants. The research asks how enduring Indigenous rights and title to private forest lands calls for an elevation of Indigenous legal traditions and a consideration of Indigenous jurisdiction, that together, prompt a rethinking of fee-simple property.
Today, three forestry companies own 60% of Vancouver Island Hul’qumi’num territory.
Estair Van Wagner
Image Credit: Library and Archives Canada, RG2M 71/5705
Work
The research asks how three large public sector pension plans have come to ‘own’ a massive amount of private, yet largely unceded, forested lands on Vancouver Island, the territory of numerous Coast Salish and Nuu-Chah-Nulth nations.
Loading Logs onto the E & N Railway, near Cowichan Lake; Image E-00794 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum
People
We are a team of community members and researchers. Our team is led by Sarah Morales (University of Victoria), Estair Van Wagner (Osgoode Hall Law School), and Mike Ekers (University of Toronto).
Image Credit: Mike Ekers
Resources
Our team has produced publicly available resources to analyze and raise awareness about the Great Land Grab.
Image Credit: Mike Ekers
Writing
In addition to publicly available resources, we have produced scholarly and community articles tracking updates on private forest lands on Hul’qumi’num territory.
Image Credit: Image: Library and Archives Canada, R/603/1910