A B.C. Supreme Court Judge has released a scolding review of the Okanagan Indian Band’s conduct in its dispute with Parker Cove Properties Limited Partnership (PCPLP), while blocking the band’s attempt to cut off fire protection and emergency services to the development community on the west side of Okanagan Lake.
Justice Neena Sharma’s Feb. 12 decision, released online earlier this week, followed the OKIB’s threat to cancel all 911 and fire protection services for the community of roughly 700 residents, many of them elderly, by Feb. 27.
The lengthy dispute went to the courts in December after PCPLP did not pay a pair of invoices totalling roughly $235,000 for fire protection. John and Mildred Bonneau of PCPLP argued the invoices were based on an unfair taxation model and an invalid fire protection agreement with the OKIB.
PCPLP sought an injunction, which Justice Sharma granted, forcing the OKIB to continue providing fire protection and emergency services to the Parker Cove development until the legal dispute ends.
In granting the injunction, the judge noted multiple “troubling” aspects of the OKIB’s conduct, including that the band misrepresented its financial situation, engaged in alleged bad-faith negotiations and was reluctant to release key documents throughout the legal dispute.
Justice Sharma’s most scathing criticism was directed at the OKIB’s claim that its fire department was facing a deficit and in financial hardship. The fire department’s operations manager had sworn an affidavit saying that if Parker Cove did not pay the fire protection fees, the OKIB would not have the ability to provide fire protection services to all band members.
The judge found this claim to be “remarkable” and unsupported by any documents.
The court proceedings revealed that the OKIB in fact has a $79 million surplus, according to publicly available and audited financial statements.
“It is highly dubious and very troubling to this court that a public official would swear an affidavit saying they might have to stop fire protection services when a surplus like that exists,” the judge wrote. “The fire department is not a separate legal entity. It is shocking to think that the band would put forward that evidence and say it is going to cut off services to their own band members because of this financial dispute they have with the plaintiffs.”
The court had other criticisms of the OKIB’s conduct in the dispute.
It said the band and PCPLP were involved in discussions to address their disagreements and the fact that PCPLP had not paid the fire protection fees, but while the band was initially reasonable and open to conciliation, that posture ended abruptly.
“The manner in which it ended is concerning to this court,” Justice Sharma wrote. Namely, in May 2025, the OKIB delivered a termination letter to every home in Parker Cove, causing “widespread panic” among residents.
PCPLP argued the distribution of the letter besmirched the name of its development, resulting in a decrease in the number of offers to buy into it.
“That letter was shocking,” the judge wrote.
An internal band memo from May 2025 “actually validates some of the concerns that were raised by the plaintiffs,” the judge wrote, as the memo admitted that the cost of fire protection had gone up at a rate that would likely be perceived as “unfair.” Despite the OKIB’s acknowledgement of this internally, it went ahead with charging PCPLP the higher rates.
PCPLP had contested the fire protection rates on the basis that other certificate of possession holders on band lands (namely, the hundreds of unregistered so-called “Buckshee” leases) were not not being charged the fees, leading to an unfair fee burden on registered lessees such as those in Parker Cove.
The judge also found the First Nation was attempting to “have it both ways” throughout the legal dispute by characterizing it as a “purely private” dispute that meant the band should not be held to the standards as a public government, when such characterization suited it.
The band’s original 60-day notice of terminating fire protection was also panned by the judge, who said this grace period was unreasonably short and flew in the face of common law precedents, which typically require at least a year of notice.
The band did extend the deadline for when the essential services would be cut off several times, but the judge nonetheless said the original threat was unwarranted.
“Suggesting that it can threaten to cut off fire and emergency services in the short timeframe it suggested is not reasonable,” the judge wrote.
In granting the injunction, the judge ensured that fire protection and emergency services will be provided at Parker Cove as the court case heads to a trial in August 2027.
OKIB Chief facing personal legal action
OKIB Chief Dan Wilson is also being sued in his personal capacity in this legal action. PCPLP alleges he acted in bad faith and over and above his powers in the dispute.
According to previously submitted court documents, Wilson is alleged to have made the decision to terminate fire services by himself, without a passed resolution from band council.
The claim further alleges that Chief Wilson directed OKIB staff and resources to “inflict massive economic damages and reputational harms on the Parker Cove development” by spreading word of the decision to terminate the fire protection agreement through the letter to all 350 Parker Cove households.
A B.C. Supreme Court trial on these matters is scheduled to begin on Aug. 16, 2027 in Vancouver.