B.C.’s MLAs return to the legislature on Monday and the future of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) will be front and centre.
“We want to see a clear path forward,” Scott McInnis, Conservative MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke and the critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, told Global News.
“We have not seen anything from this government laid out which is a clear plan for what reconciliation looks like for all British Columbians. We see agreements here, agreements there, that’s not helpful.”
DRIPA is a 2019 B.C. law that states the province “must take all measures” to ensure all B.C. laws are consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
However, two recent court decisions on property rights and mining claims have raised concerns among British Columbians about land title rights in the province.
The federal and provincial governments are appealing the B.C. Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the Quw’utsun Nation, or Cowichan Nation, that found it had “established Aboriginal title” to more than 5.7 square kilometres of land on the Fraser River in Richmond, south of Vancouver.
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The City of Richmond has also joined the appeal.
The ruling declared Crown and city titles on the land are “defective and invalid,” and the granting of private titles on it by the government unjustifiably infringed on the Cowichan title.
That has created confusion and anger among homeowners in the affected area, despite the Cowichan Tribes insisting it has no intention of stripping private title holders of their property.
B.C. Premier David Eby said last week that his government is trying its best to work with chiefs across the province to address concerns about the court decisions. They both cited DRIPA and sided with First Nations on mining and property rights, which the provincial government has said isn’t the intention of the law.
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One found the provincial mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with DRIPA, and another recognized the Cowichan Tribes’ Aboriginal title on land along the Fraser River, with titles held by Canada and the City of Richmond deemed “defective and invalid.”
First Nations leaders have called on Eby to leave the bill alone.
A confidential letter was sent on Monday to several B.C. First Nations outlining proposed changes to DRIPA and First Nations were given until Friday to provide initial feedback.
“I can tell you what I think, we don’t amend the UN declaration, and I went into all of the fallacies I think the province has drawn on to justify what they’re doing,” Chief Laxele’wuts’aat Shana Thomas, Hereditary Chief of Lyackson, said.
“Then I offered them a couple of solutions.”
There is no timeline yet on when B.C. residents will see the details of the changes the government is proposing or when they will be tabled in the legislature.
Eby is expected to meet with First Nations leaders to go over their feedback next Wednesday.
–with files from Ben O’Hara-Byrne
Tell the BC NDP to take the rest of the year off.We will even pay them.It will be cheaper in the long run. They only make matters worse when the collaborate.
Regardless of what they say it’s First Nations rights and owner ship of the land and water.
At Racist buggers they are:exactly
You don’t see them asking for clarification on it. The more vague it is the better leverage to extort payments with.
They get spring break like a bunch of children.
Bunch of useless crooks
who gives a rats ass about undrip, where not run by the united nations
No reason the cowichan cannot go back into court and ask the judge to strike parts of that judgement down. We are waiting because no futre chief is bound by what the present chief says. Just ask Trump how many decisions he has over turned that Biden made
Ask yourself as a property owner.
If the land claims are not for title sharing then what are they for?
Hint? It’s financial compensation for the land from the Govt. And which is therefore same thing as asking for the taxpayers to pay them for the land they already own. Enough is enough.
We’ve already seen how this has been going down in places like Pender Harbour, Richmond, mining, the Queen Charlottes etc etc.
And how’s investors confidence in BC? Almost 0
Bad legislation can be voted out as easily as it was voted in. Any candidate who wants to win the next election just needs to run a “repeal DRIPA platform” and its a slam dunk.
It would not surprise me at all for some NDP members to vote against it and for this amended legislation not to be passed. That result then to be used for a vote of no confidence and a push an early election. Please let that happen.
Just bring it to a vote ASAP. There is only one way this going. There are approximately 1,363,190 owned households in British Columbia, representing a ~66.8% homeownership rate. 2 million voted last election. All 1.3million home owners want absolutely zero apparent property title sharing of any type. We have all seen how the FNs and zero intent to use DRIPA in good faith for the benefit of all taxpayers.