WSN passed four pieces of legislation to support the Nisga'a Landholding Transition Act at its October sitting. A new Nisga'a Land Title Act replaces the existing Act. The new Act allows fee simple owners to sell, mortgage or transfer (in a will, for example) their land. The new Act also sets up the procedures required to support land ownership and transfer. The other 3 pieces of legislation make sure the Nisga'a land ownership system works like BC's system.

The Nisga'a Land Title Office will be keeping two sets of records. The "fee simple register" is for properties registered under the Nisga’a Landholding Transition Act. The "restricted" register is for other properties. Only properties registered in the fee simple register can be sold, mortgaged or transferred.

Under the new Nisga'a Land Title Act a mortgage can be registered against a property in the fee simple register.

The new Nisga'a Land Title Act requires that the Nation create an Assurance fund‚ This fund would provide compensation if a landowner lost their land due to fraud or an error in the fee simple register. The fund provides a ‚Äúsafety net‚Äù in the highly unlikely event that such a loss ever occurred. These provisions are essentially the same as those found in the B.C. Land Title Act.

The new Nisga'a Land Title Act includes many more provisions. It is 153 pages long. The role of the courts, for example, is expanded.

The other 3 pieces of legislation help to ensure that the Nisga'a land ownership system’s operations are similar to the provincial system. This is desirable so that financial institutions, for example, can have confidence in mortgages of Nisga'a fee simple properties. The 3 pieces of legislation ensure the application of relevant B.C. property laws to Nisga'a fee simple properties.

These pieces of legislation have been passed but are not yet in force. That will not happen until other changes (for example, the development of the two land title registers) are complete. It's expected these changes will be complete in 2011.
    Before the legislation comes into force information sessions will be held to provide more details and to answer questions.