Right to Roam and the BC Supreme Court
In an Epilogue to a recent groundbreaking ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joel R. Groves has urged the government to open up public access to lakes around the province.
It is an issue I advanced in the legislature with a Right to Roam private member’s bill tabled twice in 2017.
In my view, this recent ruling and the clear words spoken by Justice Groves underline the need for a law or regulations that will ensure future governments, unlike those previously, fulfill their duties to protect access to public land.
The BC Supreme Court has ruled in favor of public access to lakes on the Douglas Lake ranch, but the decision has implications far, far beyond that. All the lakes in B.C. are owned by the people – and the government needs to act to ensure access to those lakes.
In his decision, issued Dec. 7, Justice Groves ruled in favor of the Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club, which had challenged the Douglas Lake Cattle Company’s right to lock a gate on the road to Minnie Lake and Stoney Lake.
The Club argued the road was public and that the Douglas Lake Cattle Co. had illegally restricted access. The court agreed.
The ruling is expected to open up public access not just to Minnie and Stoney, but also possibly to other lakes on the sprawling Douglas Lake ranch, near Merritt.
In his ruling Justice Groves chastised a succession of provincial governments for allowing the public road on the ranch to remain locked for many years, despite pleas from the public for access to Minnie and Stoney lakes.
“All governing parties have shown a lack of action to enforce the public good,” the judge stated in his ruling.
“What I am saying is that there is plenty of blame upon all politicians and all political parties who have governed this Province since 1990.
“As such, I am not pointing a finger at any particular government individual but, again, it is most unfortunate that all governments holding the obligation of the public trust have failed to take any actions to prohibit what was an illegal obstruction of a public road by a corporate entity, for its own benefit.”
Justice Groves stressed that the government should work to ensure the public has access to lakes around the province.
“This case is about access to lakes,” he stated. “As I say in my reasons . . . it makes no sense to me that the Crown would retain ownership of lakes, only for there to be no access because someone owns initially through Crown grant, or subsequently by purchase, all the lands surrounding the lake,” stated Justice Groves.
He said the government should act to resolve the public access problem now before it gets worse.
“The remedy I am urging on government is this. First off, look at the Trespass Act…Secondly, if you own the lakes of the province, which you do, can you not regulate access? There really is no point to ownership otherwise. The ownership of lake beds is, no doubt in large part, intended to be collectively held for the benefit of all citizens of the province. As that is the case, consider doing what other jurisdictions have done and guarantee access to this precious public resource,” said Justice Groves.
That is precisely what I sought to advance last year when I introduced the Right to Roam Act. The bill aimed to reestablish the rights of British Columbians to access public lands, rivers, streams, and lakes, and to use these spaces to fish, hike and enjoy non-motorized outdoor recreation. Rather than expecting it to pass as drafted, I hoped my bill would further this important discussion in the BC legislature. I would be keen to see other MLAs weigh in on this issue as well.
This is not, and should not be a partisan issue. The government has a responsibility to manage crowns lands to the benefit – and critically the access – of all British Columbians.
It is time the BC government took steps to ensure that the public has the right to access lakes, rivers and streams on public lands. I’ve said it before and now the court has said it. It is time to start unlocking the gates.
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February 25, 2024
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7 Comments
Will this / could this be applied to the Trans- Canada Trail if it is blocked by individuals?
Make no mistake Andrew Weaver, leader of the BC Green Party, had nothing to do with this BC Supreme court ruling.
That was the work of one man gathering information and evidence for over 30 years at his own expense. Nobody in the political arena wanted to listen to him, not the NDP, not the BC Green Party and not the BC Liberals. The only people that listen to him and agreed to support him financially to prepare for the court case was a small rural fish and game club and thousands of hunters and anglers throughout our province.
Next time you can enter public owned land and waters that previously have been illegally blocked thank a hunter or angler for it, not a politician or political party. The “Right to Roam private member’s bill”, Waever brags about, is not needed as such a law exists for many decades, politicians and parties of all colours just ignored it because the financial support form wealthy foreign land owners and special interest groups was/is more important to them than the peoples rights. What Andrew Weaver tires to do here is to look good on the back of ordinary people that stood up and fought for their lawful rights, while all the political parties tried to throw as many hurdles in the way of this fight as possible, even the BC Green party turned a blind eye and acted deaf, when approached on the topic.
A right to roam in the area that I grew up in. Those coming from outside seem like invaders to me lately. Not knowing what we have traditionally always appreciated in our local lands. So little respect for the present and past of our local area. Our lakes our oceans… they have not grown up here. They don’t have the ‘salt of the earth’.
there are laws in place that provincial authorities must enforce the law – in this case the RCMP acted as private security for an American billionaire instead of enforcing the laws of the land protecting British Columbians rights. The MLFNR did not do their job – the minister of highways did not do their job. There needs to be and inquiry as to why this happened and perhaps into how much the Douglas Lake ranch donated to political parties involved. I live in Invermere B.C. and there are ranches here blocking legal access to thousands of acres of crown land illegally by closing off resource roads, crown grant roads and in some cases surveyed roads – this is wrong and now perhaps we can take action. It is not just a case of accessing lakes and seashore but also crown land.
I have written to the Premier of the Day about a access problem that is brewing at Corbett Lake and he has .by his answer told me that he doesn’t care.
Good job Dr. Weaver. Thank- you for your common sense and for being fair minded. Your work on the behalf of citizens and future generations is appreciated.
Wonderful, but there maybe exceptions to this is some cases where danger is a concern. We have property on the Kanaka Creek here in Maple Ridge. We also respect the fact, that we are living with in the Kanaka Creek Regional Park and people must have access. Lorraine and I, living here since 1971. Have always allowed passage for Fisher persons, photographer’s, park visitors, hikers and travellers, through our private land, along the creek. The concern is we ask all visitors to cross the creek and travel up or down on the opposite side of the creek. The home side of the creek, has large dyking, built of heavy ripprapp qurrey rock. The dyke is 167 ft long and 9 ft high. We ask all not to pass along the dyke, for two reasons. 1. The rocks loosen with continued high waters and it may be possible, for a person to trip and fall, having a bad or serious accident. 2. Continued walking on the rocks knokes them down and weakens the dykes abilities, to protect against
high water flooding. We would like to see something written in for the protection of all concerned. Suggestion,,, Information and direction of safe passage, throught private land property, will be provided by the land owner, upon request or information sign, postings.