The Tsawout First Nation has filed a civil claim with the B.C. Supreme Court seeking the return of James Island — with its golf course, western-theme park and aircraft landing strip.
John Gailus, lawyer for the Tsawout First Nation, said the claim was filed Wednesday in Victoria.
Gailus said the claim rests on the 1852 treaty signed by Gov. James Douglas that states native village sites and enclosed fields were to be reserved for First Nations use.
The claim contends members of the Tsawout people historically occupied the island, which they called Lel’Tos. There was once a village there, and the island was used for hunting animals and gathering of wild plants. It has a burial ground.
First Nations people were wrongfully forced off by the government in 1870, the claim says.
The claim lists the federal and provincial governments and the registered owner, J.I. Properties Inc., as defendants in the lawsuit.
Seattle telecommunications billionaire Craig McCaw owns J.I. Properties.
The Tsawout First Nation’s filing is the first civil suit launched by an Indigenous people over James Island. But it has also been claimed in the past by the Tseycum, Tsartlip, Pauquachin and Malahat peoples.
The 780-acre private island is consistently ranked the most expensive property on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands by B.C. Assessment. It was most recently assessed at $54,433,000, and has been listed for sale at $75 million.
Its 18-hole golf course was designed by golfing great Jack Nicklaus. The main house is 5,000 square feet. Six cottages are on the grounds to house guests. There’s also a full gym, library and western-themed village.
According to the civil claim, the Tsawout people, whose reserve looks across Cordova Channel to James Island, never gave up ownership.
The claim maintains that in the early 1870s, the B.C. government sold the island in five parcels, at a price of $1 an acre. The Tsawout people received no compensation.
In 1889, 400 acres of James Island were listed for sale.
A private hunting reserve was established for British Columbia’s political elite, including Richard McBride, premier from 1903 until 1915. Fallow deer, mountain sheep, pheasants, partridge, grouse and quail were introduced.
Canadian Industries Ltd. bought James Island in 1913 to establish an explosives factory. About 19 million kilograms of TNT were produced there for the Allies during the First World War. Industrial use continued until 1985.
James Island was sold to a company called Pacific Parkland for $5 million in 1988.
It passed to J.I. Properties in 1994 for $26 million.
In a 2014 lawsuit against a successor company to Canadian Industries Ltd., J.I. Properties claimed it had to spend $5.3 million to clean up contaminated sites on the Island.
A judge granted J.I Properties $4.75 million.
About 12,000 cubic metres of soil were removed bearing contaminants such as cyanide, metals and petroleum hydrocarbon.
