City of Victoria approves voluntary property tax benefiting First Nations

Downtown Victoria and Victoria Inner Harbour. (Shutterstock)

Starting in 2022, property owners in the City of Victoria will be given the option to pay an additional property tax that goes towards the municipality’s two local First Nations.

Moving forward, the annual property tax mail-out package will include information on how residential and business property tax owners can make a voluntary tax contribution, such as an amount equal to 5% or 10% of their property taxes.

For example, based on a 10% rate, the voluntary contribution from the property owner of an average assessed single-family house in Victoria — valued at $1.07 million, according to BC Assessment — would be about $550 annually to the First Nations. The revenue collected by the city would completely go towards the Songhees First Nation, and the Esquimalt First Nations.

You might also like:

In a 6-1 vote in late March, Victoria City Council supported the voluntary First Nations tax proposed by Mayor Lisa Helps. The lone vote of opposition came from councillor Stephen Andrew, who was elected in the by-election of late 2020.

“The two nations on whose land the city sits, they are not a charity or cause. They are sovereign nations. And through the process of decolonization, they have been removed from the heart of the territory, and those of us who now live in the heart of the territory benefit from the wealth of their lands,” said Helps during the meeting.

“This proposal is really to recognize the principle of reciprocity and responsibility to the Indigenous nations.”

Comments and concerns made by councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe led to a greater emphasis in ensuring this is made clear to be a voluntary contribution. She says this comes at a time when businesses and residents are voicing they are emerging out of a difficult period.

“We don’t want to pressure people, we want it to come from people’s hearts, which is why it is entirely voluntarily, and why it is tied to property taxes, because we generate from lands that aren’t ours,” said Helps, who also acknowledged growing inflation and cost of living issues.

But the policy was sharply rebuked by Andrew, who asserted the process for the proposal lacked transparency, and that this is beyond the jurisdiction of a municipal government.

“This is not our jurisdiction, this is not our place, and for these reasons I don’t believe we should be doing it. I support reconciliation efforts, however, this motion is yet another foray by this council in what is plainly federal and provincial jurisdiction,” said Andrew, before quipping that “to me, this is straight virtue signalling.”

“If council wants to weigh in on issues of federal and provincial jurisdiction, and that is their interest, my suggestion is they work in those areas, and they get elected in those areas. My interest is keeping the City of Victoria within its jurisdictional boundaries, and that’s providing good governance to our citizens, and engage in meaningful reconciliation. For these reasons, I can’t support this motion.”

In February 2022, city council also approved an annual $200,000 reconciliation grant to the First Nations. The grant was approved in a 6-2 vote, with Andrew and councillor Geoff Young opposed.

You might also like: