VICTORIA — The NDP government is facing strong objections to its latest attempt to update the Heritage Conservation Act, which governs development around cultural, archaeological and other heritage sites.
Premier David Eby put the previous attempt on hold last year after major objections from local government leaders attending the annual convention of the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM).
Then on March 26 of this year, the province released a technical paper that removed some of the most contentious provisions of the 2025 version. Gone were references to undefined “intangible” cultural heritage, regional heritage management zones, and the proposal to delegate compliance and enforcement authority to First Nations.
The initial response was encouraging. The UBCM acknowledged that the government had addressed some of the concerns raised by local government.
The New Democrats allowed only 30 days for more detailed responses. They would then draft a revised version of the Act for introduction at the fall session of the legislature.
The 30 days ended last week and the government rejected requests for an extension. The resulting feedback did not support government’s determination to proceed.
“The 30-day feedback period continues a pattern the province has followed with Heritage Conservation Act amendments, wherein complex policy intentions statements are issued with limited periods for response,” wrote the UBCM in an April 23 letter to cabinet minister in charge, Ravi Parmar.
“Nonetheless, UBCM has heard enough from its members to know there are critical issues with the approach the province is proposing.
“Gaps in the proposals include a lack of clarity for permitting processes, poorly defined roles and responsibilities, unrealistic hopes for heritage management plans, and the chronic lack of archaeological professionals remains unaddressed.”
The submission from the Urban Development Institute challenged government claims regarding regulation of archaeological sites.
“Our members continue to face a widening range and scope of requests related to archaeological work on development sites, such as funding multiple First Nation observers for archaeological work and having to obtain archaeological permits from multiple First Nations, in addition to provincial permitting.
“These types of requests are substantially increasing costs and delays to projects. The range of requests may grow under the proposed changes to the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA).
“To fully understand the scope of the problem, if the ministry did achieve its objective to reduce HCA approval timeframes by 50 per cent, the timeframes would still be in the hundreds of days.”
There is no indication the New Democrats will abandon their co-management approach with B.C.'s Indigenous leaders, which has been a central tenet of the proposed overhaul. The government maintains that the changes are necessary to protect culturally significant sites and streamline processes, but critics argue the current proposals lack clarity and could exacerbate delays and costs for development projects.
