The provincial government’s consultation period for over 50 proposed changes to the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA) has been extended until November 14. UBCM has developed a process for local government engagement and will contract with Randy Diehl (Diehl Management Services) to support its delivery. The engagement with local governments will include a survey of CAOs, follow up interviews with select staff, and webinars with elected officials to share preliminary findings. UBCM will prepare a final report and provide that to Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests and share it with local governments by the consultation deadline.
Why the Heritage Conservation Act matters
Local governments have long recognized the need for changes to the HCA and its management, which governs the handling of over 64,000 known archeological sites in British Columbia and chance finds during residential or infrastructure construction. Local governments value and support the protection of archeological sites through legislation and recognize the role the Act plays in supporting reconciliation.
During the Province’s preliminary consultation in 2022-2023, local governments signalled concern with the costs associated with archeological management and the inefficiency of the permitting process, which often leads to extensive delays in development and construction.
Following the preliminary consultation period, the proposed changes to overhaul the Act were co-developed by the Province and Indigenous leaders through the Joint Working Group on First Nations Heritage Conservation over a two-year period. Local governments were provided an overview of the proposed changes by the Province during a webinar in August 2025 and invited to provide comments to a provincial email address. UBCM raised concerns with this approach during our convention last week, in response to which Minister Parmar extended the consultation period.
Given the land use significance of the proposed changes, UBCM is encouraging all our members – local governments and First Nations – to participate fully in the engagement process over the next four weeks.
Next steps in consultation
UBCM’s consultation with our membership will have two phases: a survey of CAOs or their designates to provide comment on the proposed changes to the Act and follow up webinars with elected officials to share preliminary findings and receive further comment.
- October 9 – 23: Survey opens for staff of UBCM-member local governments and First Nations. Although UBCM is working within a tight timeline, we want to provide the maximum amount of time possible to allow for thoughtful consideration of the 57 proposed changes to the HCA. UBCM encourages our local government and First Nations members to continue the process of reviewing the proposed changes in advance of the survey opening next week.
- November 7: Presentation of the findings report via elected official webinars. UBCM will develop a findings report based on the survey input and share that with UBCM elected members in two webinars – one for First Nation members and another for our general membership. UBCM president Cori Ramsay will chair these sessions, and Randy Diehl will present the findings. UBCM will gather feedback from elected officials during these webinars.
REGISTER HERE:
• Elected officials from UBCM member First Nations, 10am-11:30am
• Elected officials from all UBCM members, 1pm - 2:30pm - November 14: Submission and sharing of final report. Following the feedback provided by elected members on the findings report, UBCM will prepare a submission that will be delivered to the province and shared with our membership.
If you have any questions about the engagement process or have input to share, please contact Reiko Tagami (Policy Analyst, UBCM).