ESQUIMALT, B.C. – After two decades of negotiations, five Vancouver Island First Nations have signed an agreement-in-principle on a treaty that would include land and cash.
Hundreds of people gathered on the traditional lands of the Victoria-area Songhees First Nation to witness the signing ceremony on Thursday.
The Te’mexw (tah-muck) Treaty Association, representing the five southern Vancouver Island First Nations, reached the agreement that includes provisions to provide 1,565 hectares of Crown land and about $142 million once a final agreement is reached. The sides have been negotiating for several years
READ MORE: B.C. and 5 Vancouver Island First Nations sign pre-treaty land deals
The five groups represented are Victoria’s Songhees First Nation , the Snaw-naw-as Nation north of Nanaimo, the Malahat Nation near Shawnigan Lake and the Sooke area First Nations, the Scia’new Nation (formerly Beecher Bay) and T’Sou-ke First Nation.
Such agreements set out the aims and goals of legally-binding final agreements.
The agreement-in-principle also covers issues of taxation, lands and sets out tools for governance.
Robert Phillips, of the First Nations Summit, says despite recent concerns around the treaty-making process, this agreement is a clear signal to all other First Nations sitting at the negotiating table that progress is possible.
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