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In This Volume

  • 1 (1) In this Act:
  • “additional residence” means a residence on a parcel of agricultural land, other than the principal residence;
  • “administrative region” means an administrative region established under section 4.1;
  • “agreement in principle” means a non-binding agreement, negotiated among a first nation government, the Province and Canada in accordance with a process facilitated by the British Columbia Treaty Commission, established under section 3 of the Treaty Commission Act, that
  • (a) has been approved by each party in accordance with the approval process provided in the agreement in principle, and
  • (b) contemplates that legislative authority over all or part of the proposed settlement lands described in the agreement in principle will, under a final agreement or a governance agreement and an enactment of the Province or Canada, be provided to the first nation;
  • “agricultural land” means land that
  • (a) is included in the agricultural land reserve under section 15(1.1), 17(3.1) or 45(1) of this Act, or
  • (b) was included under a former Act as agricultural land or land in an agricultural land reserve,
  • unless the land has been excluded from the agricultural land reserve under this Act or from an agricultural land reserve under a former Act;
  • “agricultural land reserve” means the total of all agricultural land in British Columbia;
  • “alter” means the following:
  • (a) to alter the exterior of a structure so as to increase its size;
  • (b) to move or alter the exterior walls or edges of a structure so as to change its siting;
  • “approving officer” means an approving officer as defined in the Land Title Act;
  • “authority” means an agent of the government, a public body or a public officer with whom the commission has an agreement under section 26(1)(b) or 38;
  • “chief executive officer” means the person appointed under section 8(1);
  • “commission” means the Provincial Agricultural Land Commission established under section 4;
  • “construct” means the following:
  • (a) to build a new structure;
  • (b) to place on land a new structure that is fully or partially pre-fabricated;
  • (c) to replace a structure, 75% or more of which has been substantially damaged or destroyed;
  • “enactment of the Province or Canada” includes an enactment as defined in the Interpretation Act (Canada);
  • exclusion application” means an application for exclusion made under section 29(1);
  • “executive committee” means the executive committee of the commission established under section 10;
  • “farm use”
  • (a) means an occupation or use of agricultural land for
    • (i) farming land, plants, mushrooms, truffles or animals,
    • (ii) a farm operation as defined in the Farm Practices Protection (Right to Farm) Act, or
    • (iii) a purpose designated as a farm use by regulation, and
  • (b) does not include a residential use or a soil or fill use;
  • “fill” means any material brought onto agricultural land other than materials exempted by regulation;
  • “first nation government” means,
  • (a) in relation to settlement lands, other than treaty lands, the governing body that has legislative authority in relation to those settlement lands,
  • (a.1) in relation to treaty lands, the treaty first nation, and
  • (b) in relation to proposed settlement lands, an aboriginal governing body that
    • (i) the first nation, in relation to which an agreement in principle applying to those lands has been entered into, has organized and established within its traditional territory in British Columbia, and
    • (ii) has been mandated by the members of that first nation to enter into treaty negotiations on their behalf in accordance with a process facilitated by the British Columbia Treaty Commission, established under section 3 of the Treaty Commission Act;
  • “former Act” means the Agricultural Land Reserve Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 10, or the Land Reserve Commission Act, S.B.C. 1999, c. 14;
  • “law”, in relation to a first nation government described in paragraph (a) or (a.1) of the definition of “first nation government”, means a law enacted by the first nation government under
  • (a) a treaty and land claims agreement within the meaning of sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982,
  • (b) a governance agreement among the Province, Canada and the first nation, or
  • (c) an enactment of the Province or Canada;
  • “local government” means
  • (a) in relation to land within a municipality, the municipal council,
  • (b) in relation to land within an electoral area but not within a local trust area under the Islands Trust Act, the board of the regional district, and
  • (c) in relation to land within a local trust area under the Islands Trust Act, the local trust committee or the executive committee acting as a local trust committee for that area;
  • non-adhering residential use” means any of the following:
  • (a) an additional residence;
  • (b) a principal residence having a total floor area that is more than 500 m2;
  • (c) a use of a residential structure that contravenes the regulations;
  • “non-farm use” means a use of agricultural land other than a farm use, a residential use or a soil or fill use;
  • “notice to suspend negotiations” means a notice to suspend negotiations sent by one party to an agreement in principle to the other parties;
  • “official” means the chief executive officer and any employee of the commission or a person who is designated by name or title by the chief executive officer to be an official;
  • “owner”, subject to subsection (2), means
  • (a) in relation to land, other than treaty lands, registered in the records of the land title office, the person registered in those records as the fee simple owner of the land,
  • (b) in relation to settlement lands,
    • (i) if an agreement under this Act between a first nation government and the commission defines “owner” for the purposes of the application of this Act to the settlement lands of the first nation, a person described by that definition, and
    • (ii) otherwise, the first nation government,
  • (c) in relation to land that is vested, under an enactment, in a municipality, a regional district or a local trust committee, the municipality, regional district or local trust committee, as applicable, and
  • (d) in relation to Crown land, the government;
  • “panel” means a panel established under section 11;
  • “parcel” means land that is the subject of a single indefeasible title under the Land Title Act;
  • “person” includes a first nation government;
  • “principal residence” means the residence permitted under section 20.1(1)(a);
  • “proposed settlement lands” means land described in an agreement in principle as the land that will become, in whole or in part,
  • (a) the treaty lands of the first nation under a final agreement, or
  • (b) the settlement lands of the first nation under a governance agreement among the Province, Canada and the first nation;
  • “residential structure” means a structure used, during all or part of the year and whether fully or partially, as
  • (a) a residence,
  • (b) if prescribed, accommodation, or
  • (c) if prescribed, in relation to a residence or accommodation;
  • “residential use”
  • (a) means a use of agricultural land for a residential structure, and
  • (b) does not include a farm use or a soil or fill use;
  • “settlement lands” means land, other than land located within a reserve as defined in the Indian Act (Canada), that is subject to the legislative authority of a first nation under
  • (a) a treaty and land claims agreement within the meaning of sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982,
  • (b) a governance agreement among the Province, Canada and the first nation, or
  • (c) an enactment of the Province or Canada;
  • “soil” includes the entire mantle of unconsolidated material above bedrock other than minerals as defined in the Mineral Tenure Act;
  • “soil or fill use”
  • (a) means the removal of soil from, or the placement of fill on, agricultural land, and
  • (b) does not include a farm use or a residential use;
  • “use or subdivision application” means an application for permission made under any of the following:
  • (a) section 20(2) for a non-farm use;
  • (b) section 20.1(2)(a) for a non-adhering residential use;
  • (c) section 20.3(5) for a soil or fill use;
  • (d) section 21(2) for subdivision.
  • (2) For the purposes of an inclusion application under section 17(3), a use or subdivision application or an exclusion application in relation to proposed settlement lands, the first nation government may apply as if it were the owner of those lands from the date that
  • (a) an agreement in principle in relation to those lands is approved by each party to it in accordance with the agreement in principle, or
  • (b) if a notice to suspend negotiations has earlier taken effect, an agreement among the parties to the agreement in principle to resume negotiations takes effect,
  • until the earlier of the following dates:
  • (c) the date an enactment of the Province or Canada establishes all or part of the proposed settlement lands as settlement lands;
  • (d) the date that a notice to suspend negotiations takes effect.

2002-36-1, effective November 1, 2002 (B.C. Reg. 171/2002); 2004-32-1, effective July 23, 2004 (B.C. Reg. 339/2004; 2007-36-6, 7, effective April 3, 2009 (B.C. Reg. 55/2009); 2011-27-2; 2014-25-1, effective September 5, 2014 (B.C. Reg. 167/2014); 2018-56-1, 2, effective February 22, 2019 (B.C. Reg. 30/2019); 2019-32-1(b), effective March 12, 2020 (B.C. Reg. 57/2020); 2019-32-1(a), effective September 30, 2020 (B.C. Reg. 57/2020).