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“This is a celebration for all three Nations,” he said. “Today we are, in a very literal sense, coming back to our homeland. A very emotional day indeed.”

The sale, which will be completed over two years, is the most recent acquisition in a spate of purchases and land-claim resolutions giving the nations title to more than $1 billion in urban land, including the provincial Willingdon lands in Burnaby and the provincial liquor distribution warehouse in Vancouver.

Campbell said the province and the three First Nations settled on the Jericho sale based on two market appraisals.

“The pricetag is based off of two appraisals that the province insisted on as part of their due diligence. The advice we got back in our analysis suggested that was fair market value,” said Campbell.

Photo by Jenelle Schneider, Png Staff Photo / Vancouver Sun

The province also negotiated to pay the nations $96 million for the accommodation agreement, which effectively settles the issue of land claims on the property.

“That is a component of the agreement, that the nations would be satisfied that our interests are met,” he said. “We’ve taken it one step further to fully apply 100 per cent of the property as fee-simple.”

The $96 million will be used as a deposit on the remaining $384 million, as well as paying property transfer taxes. The nations will gain title to one parcel in November, and to the remaining title in November 2017, when the balance of the sale price is due.

Campbell said he could not talk about how the nations are financing the balance of the purchase other than to say it did not involve other companies. “We don’t have any third-party backers at this time. That is something that will be next steps for us, to look at the mechanism for how we select a partner on these projects.”