An extended deadline for when emergency services will be cancelled at Parker Cove hasn't provided one resident with much reprieve, particularly after her dealings with insurance companies who aren't keen on insuring homes that could soon be without fire protection.
For months, a breakdown in negotiations between the Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) and Parker Cove Properties Limited Partnership (PCPLP) has raised the possibility that hundreds of residents in the residential housing community off Westside Road will be without fire protection and medical response services. It's a possibility that's especially disconcerting to Parker Cove residents who were evacuated by the White Rock Lake wildfire in 2021.
The OKIB originally set a for PCPLP to reach an agreement, at which time fire protection would be pulled from the community if no agreement was made. That deadline has been extended to Aug. 22, Indigenous Services Canada confirmed to Black Press Media.
With the new deadline set to expire on Friday, fire protection is far from a certainty in Parker Cove, and insurance companies appear to be taking note.
One resident 鈥� referred to as Alice as she preferred not to share her identity out of fear of retaliation 鈥� says she had the misfortune of having her home insurance renewal come due on July 23, the exact date of the original deadline when fire protection was going to be pulled.
Alice said she and her husband were insured with BCAA for around $1,600 per year. When the time came to renew last month, BCAA declined to offer a home insurance renewal because of the lack of guaranteed fire protection.
In an email shared with The Morning Star, BCAA customer support told Alice they couldn't renew her home insurance "to no fault of your own...as this risk doesn't meet our minimum fire protection criteria." The email says BCAA underwriters would be open to reconsidering if her home becomes fire protected again.
BCAA wasn't the only insurance company to balk at the fire protection situation.
"We were denied insurance quotes from quite a few companies," Alice said.
Quotes that were eventually offered were astronomical. Johnston Meier quoted Alice an annual premium of $6,810.
Ultimately, Alice and her husband were able to obtain home insurance from Westland Insurance for about $2,200. That's still a nearly 40 per cent increase from their premium last year.
Alice said the fact that BCAA denied them home insurance renewal has caused problems that could persist each time they have to renew. She said insurance companies always ask whether someone has ever been denied a renewal of their policy, and because she now has to answer yes to that question, "that automatically red flags us." She said she's asked BCAA multiple times if they can remove that red flag from their record and instead say they voluntarily cancelled their policy, which they've been told isn't possible.
This effectively leaves Alice and her husband with higher insurance premiums going forward, or the potential to be refused by insurance companies outright, Alice said.
In an emailed statement to The Morning Star, BCAA said the Parker Cove fire protection conundrum "must be very worrying for the community and we hope that the situation is soon resolved. Generally there are some insurance providers with options for areas without fire protection."
BCAA said there won't be any immediate changes to its policies in Parker Cove. Rather, "we would continue to provide our current insurance coverage and reach out to our customers around their next policy renewal date."
Stalled negotiations
A letter to residents sent on July 21 sheds some light on why PCPLP is at an impasse in negotiations with the OKIB.
The letter from Reynolds and Mildred Bonneau of PCPLP alleges that the current agreement for fire protection and medical response services is not being properly administered by the OKIB.
"The rationale put forward by OKIB is that there is an actual cost to providing these services that needs to be recovered by OKIB. We have previously asked to see the detailed financial for the OKIB Fire Hall and for the provision of Emergency Medical and have not been provided with the same. If OKIB wishes to levy a fee for the service, then the actual costs must be presented," reads the letter.
PCPLP claims the amounts being sought by the OKIB are "excessive and far surpass the actual costs of the services," adding the amounts being billed can be "more fairly described as a tax."
From there, the letter argues the OKIB needs to pass a formal assessment and taxation bylaw.
"Without this formal assessment and taxation bylaw, the residents of Parker Cove are now going to be paying for Fire Protection Services twice, first to the RDNO and then secondly to the OKIB," the letter states. "This is obviously unfair and prejudicial to the residents of Parker Cove. As a part of good governance and fairness, there is a need for tax harmonization between the OKIB and RDNO, to ensure fairness and transparency to the residents of Parker Cove."
However, the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) says this so-called double taxation is not happening.
Stephen Banmen, general manager of finance for the RDNO, told The Morning Star the regional district does not provide fire protection to Parker Cove, and therefore does not collect property taxes related to fire protection from Parker Cove properties.
This also means the RDNO won't be coming to the rescue should fire protection be discontinued in Parker Cove.
"No areas within OKIB IR#1, including Parker Cove, are within our fire protection areas and thus do not receive or pay for fire protection service from the RDNO. There are large areas of the North Okanagan that are outside fire protection areas and have no fire protection from any fire department 鈥� i.e. municipal, RDNO, and other fire departments," Banmen said.
He said the RDNO does have one local service area within OKIB IR#1 where an agreement is in place to tax the Lawrence Heights subdivision, and the RDNO provides those funds to OKIB as a grant to support fire protection of the subdivision.
"In order for something similar to occur elsewhere on OKIB IR#1, it would take a new or amended agreement between the RDNO and OKIB to be approved by both parties, approval of the majority of the taxpayers of the defined area, representing a majority of the taxable assessed value, as well as an RDNO establishment bylaw adopted by the (RDNO) board and approved by the province鈥檚 Inspector of Municipalities."
Feds not getting involved
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) said the OKIB provides fire services on its reserve through a fire protection agreement, and PCPLP is responsible for securing fire protection services from the band or through other means if available.
"ISC is not involved in the fire protection services agreement negotiations between Parker Cove Properties and OKIB," the federal agency said.
ISC is the lessor and leases reserve lands on behalf of OKIB and certificate of possession holders. Because the Parker Cove properties are on lands held by a certificate of possession holder 鈥� PCPLP 鈥� as opposed to common band lands, ISC issued the Parker Cove lease on behalf of PCPLP.
"ISC is responsible for managing the lease; however, ISC is not involved in the negotiations of the fire protection services agreement. Under the lease, Parker Cove is responsible for obtaining essentials services for their housing development, including fire protection," ISC said.
ISC said it is aware that the OKIB and PCPLP are working towards a resolution but did not say how close or far those negotiations currently are.
Alice said she and her husband are feeling "a little better" about the situation now that they've obtained insurance.
"Before that, it would have been a nightmare. Our entire life savings are tied up in this house."
They're thankful, too, that they don't have a mortgage, which would be at risk of being pulled without fire protection.
They moved to Parker Cove three years ago, which means they weren't around when the White Rock Lake wildfire forced evacuations in the area. But they remain concerned about the precarious situation of themselves and their neighbours, and think Indigenous Services should take a more active role in settling the dispute for the 375 or so residents in Parker Cove.
"Because they're responsible for this head lease, they should be making sure that (PCPLP) stays in compliance," Alice said.
She said she's held off on taking up ISC's for now, thinking a class action lawsuit might be coming down the pike.
PCPLP and the OKIB did not respond to a request for comment prior to this story's publication.
