First Nations are blocking non-Indigenous people from public land — Wait, isn’t that racist?

Non-Indigenous Canadians have been forbidden entry to a popular public beach and park in B.C. while its so-called anti-racist NDP government remains silent about the discrimination.

 

I might be old-fashioned, but I thought that racism means discriminating against someone, or a group of people, based on their race, ethnicity, or heritage, because you think yours is better suited in some way.

Apparently, not in British Columbia, as long as the individuals doing the excluding are First Nations.

Take Vancouver Island, for example, where a significant portion of one of the most popular public beaches in the country, Tofino's Long Beach, is currently off limits to non-Indigenous people. And if that excludes you, and you dare to step foot in the area anyway, you could be slapped with a $25,000 fine under the Canada National Parks Act.

The excuse that the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation is giving for the discriminatory restriction is a grey whale carcass that washed up onshore last week.

According to Parks Canada, the whale site is now reserved for a ceremony led by the Nation, involving the "harvesting" of the whale's bones, blubber, and baleen. The agency has issued a superintendent's order barring all non-Indigenous people from the area until further notice, and a poster created by the Nation reads that "only Tla-o-qui-aht members will be permitted to the whale site."

Long Beach isn't the only area where governments have enabled such race-based restrictions. The B.C. government has allowed multiple First Nations to unilaterally block off Joffre Lakes Park, one of the most iconic and sought-after public parks in the province, for Indigenous use.

Political commentator Caroline Elliott, who has been raising the alarm on that closure, put it best in a recent X post:

"Two years ago, two First Nations unilaterally shut down the park... excluding any non-Indigenous British Columbians... right in the middle of peak season. The Nations had no legal authority to do so, yet the B.C. government not only acquiesced but actually sent park officials to deter non-Indigenous visitors away.”

This year's Joffre Lakes closure is framed as a time for First Nations to "connect with the land." But, as Elliott points out, "If we are now in the place where the mere assertion of Title confers the right to prohibit public access in public spaces, then we all need to be aware that over 100 percent of B.C.'s land mass is claimed as unceded traditional territory by one or more of the province's 200 plus Indigenous groups. That means we have to ask, what would prevent more closures like this?" she questioned.

The discussion of the negative implications of 200-plus First Nations groups battling for sovereignty over "unceded land" recently became a hot topic in the B.C. Legislature, when B.C. Independent MLA Dallas Brodie raised concerns over how it could cause fragmentation and disunity for all British Columbians. B.C.'s socialist Premier David Eby, who takes no issue with "Indigenous only" public spaces, labelled the concerns raised by Brodie as racist.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

COMMENTS

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  • Fran g
    commented 2025-05-17 13:33:31 -0400
    Wow Thanks Drea for bringing this out. I have heard whispers of this only. Same playbook by UN, divide by using a cause(they care nothing about)ie indigenous land grabs that in the end they themselves will be screwed out of by the UN. End of the day none of us will have anything, and be happy. Screw you elites. Unite people, they are after ALL of us, indigenous too. UN has used blacks, LBQTs.., racism, Islamic rage, disillusioned environmentalists etc etc to divide and conquer. It is 99% of the whole world against elites. We just have to wake up a few billion people more.
  • Jamie Perritt
    commented 2025-05-15 01:26:15 -0400
    Just use the parks and refuse to pay the tickets! What are they going to do? Ticket 100 non Natives every day? These racist things are happening to white people , and in this case, every one who is not Native American, because you keep following the racist rules and allowing it to happen!
    Take lessons from modern minorities like these very Natives in question.
    Be loud and be non – compliant!
    This is not about ceremonies or getting close with the land – they can do that with you there. This is about control and revenge. For something non of us are guilty of.
    They know damn well what they’re doing. And they count on our weakness to get away with it.
  • Robin Dutton
    commented 2025-05-14 10:29:59 -0400
    What is the problem here? Everyone is equal in Canada right?
    Just that some are more equal than others. No racism here.
    Not everyone is sarcastic, some are just more sarcastic than others.
  • Bernhard Jatzeck
    commented 2025-05-13 21:10:11 -0400
    I guess somebody forgot to make their “land acknowledgements”…..
  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2025-05-13 19:42:28 -0400
    This is blatant anti-white racism. What if I blocked non whites from my yard? There’d be hell to pay. But indigenous tribes can block everybody else from their land with impunity. Somebody needs to sue them for discrimination.