In accordance with the direction of the Executive, and with consideration to the views of Nisga’a citizens as expressed in village meetings, draft legislation and legislative amendments are being prepared that would provide individual Nisga’a land holders with ownership of fee simple estates registered in the Nisga’a Land title system with unrestricted transferability.

Senior staff and Executive Officers met recently to review progress on the draft, and to ensure that it accurately reflected the intent of the Executive’s direction and the concerns expressed at community meetings. Currently the draft legislation is focused on residential lots within the villages, and is intended to give existing entitlement holders the ability to receive a fee simple grant of the land over which they hold an entitlement. The proposed legislation would also allow a village government to make a grant of fee simple title to a Nisga’a citizen that does not currently hold an entitlement.
Unrestricted fee simple ownership means that a property owner could approach a lending institution for a mortgage without needing a guarantee from the Nisga’a Nation. It also means that a lot in a Nisga’a village could be owned by anyone, Nisga’a or non-Nisga’a.

It was recognized that an educational program would be necessary to assist Nisga’a citizens to make the transition to unrestricted fee simple ownership of residential land, and that Nisga’a Villages may need to create or update zoning bylaws to ensure that their jurisdiction for Village Lands can be exercised in a comprehensive way.

The targeted completion date for the proposed Nisga’a Landholding Transition Act and Regulation is spring of 2009, at which time the draft legislation will be considered by Wilp Si’Ayuukhl Nisga’a.