A Historic Land-Use Agreement?

Is this Okanagan Correctional facility really a historic land-use agreement with First Nations or is it yet another project for which empty promises were made?

P-3 Partnership?

Back in May 18, 2011 in an Osoyoos Times article, Osoyoos Indian Band CFO Brian Titus said the band is proposing a “P-3 partnership” for the project and would take on the responsibilities of designing, building, financing and maintaining the facility, should it be built at the band’s new industrial park north of Oliver.

How did that scenario change from a P-3 partnership to one where the OIB is simply the landlord and now no jobs have been promised for band members?

Chief Clarence Louie said last Wednesday in the Penticton Herald that jobs for band members remains a key concern, although he noted there is no formal agreement outlining how many members must be hired for the prison.

“The province, like anybody else who leases land on an Indian reserve, it’s their project. We’re just the landlords,” Chief Clarence Louie said…. There’s nothing on paper, but they know it is on band land and Osoyoos Indian band members our our first priority in our band businesses.”