Indigenous leaders oppose B.C. premier's plan to amend DRIPA
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act was passed unanimously in 2019
Some Indigenous leaders in B.C. are expressing frustration with Premier David Eby’s plans to amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
On Tuesday, Eby committed to revising the legislation to scale back the power courts have in shaping reconciliation efforts, as he said recent court decisions have created confusion over what reconciliation means in practice.
The Declaration Act, which passed unanimously in 2019, establishes the U.N.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the province’s framework for reconciliation, and allows the province and Indigenous governments to negotiate decision-making agreements.
Marilyn Slett, elected chief councillor of Heiltsuk Tribal Council, firmly opposed amending DRIPA.
“Amending the Declaration Act, or repealing it, would set reconciliation backwards,” she told CBC’s The Early Edition.
She said DRIPA was co-developed with the support of industry, business and labour groups.
But Slett said misinformation about the Cowichan Aboriginal title ruling last year has caused fear and threats of violence against Indigenous people.
In the decision last summer, a B.C. Supreme Court awarded the Quw'utsun (Cowichan) Nation title to between 300 and 325 hectares of land. Around 150 pieces of private property in Richmond, B.C., are situated on that parcel of land.
The Quw'utsun decision has caused consternation among some property owners and politicians.
But Slett said going to court is the last resort of First Nation communities. And First Nations aren’t seeking rights to private properties, according to Slett.
“Indigenous people do not seek to take private property away from others,” she said.
“We do seek recognition of lands that we own, which the Crown took for themselves.”
Slett said she has concerns that amending the act could be the first step before repealing it altogether, as the B.C. Conservatives have advocated.
CBC News reached out to Eby's office for comment but did not receive a response by publication deadline.
Terry Teegee, elected regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, said one of the purposes of DRIPA was to create a framework for negotiations between First Nations and the provincial government.
He argued DRIPA gives more certainty over how to get development across the finish line and lays out a path that avoids governments repeatedly going to court.
Teegee said “the devil’s in the details” when it comes to the government’s amendments, which have not yet been made public, but added any “tinkering” with the legislation that moves away from First Nations’ decision-making would meet with opposition from First Nations across B.C.
“Either way, how we get there [the decision-making table] is either through the court system, or we just bypass that and get started negotiating and really reconcile all these issues,” Teegee said. “Because, you know, many of our First Nations have never given up ... territories that they're fighting for.”
Dozens of First Nations have also signed a joint statement released by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs opposing amending the Declaration Act.
Bruce McIvor, lawyer and partner at First Peoples Law in Vancouver, B.C., disagreed that the recent court decision caused confusion about the DRIPA or reconciliation.
“The courts did not create confusion. The courts did what they're supposed to do: they clarified the effect of the provincial law,” McIvor told CBC’s On the Coast.
“Now, they didn't give the premier the answer that he wanted, so they've decided they'll go back and amend the legislation.”
But McIvor said the government can’t change the central purpose of reconciliation and added the rights of Indigenous peoples are constitutionally protected.
“This is Indigenous land. Indigenous people have rights. Those rights were there before colonizers showed up.… The premier cannot change that.”
McIvor said the next steps will depend on what the actual amendments to the act are.
He said he’ll also be watching whether the federal government follows Eby’s footsteps to change similar federal legislation.
Changing the legislation, according to Slett, undermines the promises the province has made to Indigenous people.
“It’s destroying the relationship and all the good work and goodwill that First Nations have brought to the table with this government.”
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With files from The Early Edition, On the Coast and Radio West