An intricately carved raven mask topped four-year-old Ganao Cranmer's ceremonial costume as she danced and sang outside the Victoria Land Title office Tuesday.

"I made the mask for her second birthday," said her father Kevin Cranmer, a member of the 'Namgis First Nation, who travelled from Alert Bay with his two children to demonstrate against the closure of the Victoria Land Title Office.

"There is valuable information here that we need, and we are doing this for the children's sake," he said.

The government is closing the storefront operation of the Victoria Land Title Office and moving documents to the New Westminster office April 1.

The move has provoked an outcry from First Nations who say it will seriously affect treaty research and from land-title agents who say the move will cost them their jobs. Realtors believe the already-backlogged process of checking mortgages and legal descriptions will grind to a halt. Local MLAs want to keep the office open, especially because of the real estate boom in Greater Victoria.

The campaign received a boost this week from the First Nations Summit, which passed a resolution opposing the closure.

A letter to Sustainable Resources Management Minister Stan Hagen from the First Nations Summit task group says the information at the Victoria office is too important to put at risk.

Hagen said the Crown land registry will remain in Victoria and other documents will be on line, so the move should not affect First Nations research.

But aboriginal researchers say only documents after 1990 will be on line, and they need access to historical subdivision plans and other original documents.

Church leaders joined the protest Tuesday, saying they are becoming increasingly concerned about the closure.

Bishop John Hannen, formerly bishop of northern B.C., said some of the documents are so fragile they could be destroyed in the move.

But Hagen is showing no sign of wavering. The office must close to save $800,000 annually, he said.

The Kamloops office is staying open because Kamloops is in the heartlands, Hagen said.

NDP house leader Joy MacPhail said Hagen's reasons for moving the historical Victoria LTO while keeping Kamloops open is purely political.

"Polls show quite clearly that, short of a miracle, Victoria constituents will not elect Liberal MLAs, but Kamloops is a dead heat. They have sacrificed Victoria constituents because of that," she said.