A leaked transcript of a meeting between Indigenous leaders and British Columbia Premier David Eby, about his plan to suspend the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, shows them accusing him of “absolute betrayal” and colonialism.
Speaker after speaker in the 17,000-word transcript of Thursday’s meeting, obtained by The Canadian Press, criticizes Eby’s handling of DRIPA, which he says needs to be suspended for up to three years.
DRIPA is at the center of a legal and political storm after being cited by First Nations in two landmark court cases last year, including an appeal ruling that says the act should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into BC laws “with immediate legal effect.”
The transcript provided by a person in attendance, on the condition that no First Nations leaders are identified, shows one speaker telling Eby he has insisted on “fracturing the relationship between First Nations and BC” by saying this week that changing DRIPA was “non-negotiable.”
Another tells Eby the premise of the meeting is “disingenuous.”
The transcript shows Eby starting the meeting by telling attendees the so-called Gitxaala ruling by the BC Court of Appeal in December found the UN declaration had been implemented by the province “as a whole.”
He says the ruling, which had created “huge legal uncertainty,” effectively meant the province would “need to eat the whole elephant” of UNDRIP all at once and across all its laws, which the government lacked the staff and political capital to do.
Eby says the government proposed to introduce legislation to implement the suspension “the week after next,” and that the pause of up to three years is to give time for the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the government’s appeal in the Gitxaala case, which centered on mining rules.
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The transcript shows the meeting lasted almost two hours, until about noon Thursday. Ninety minutes later, Eby held a news conference to announce the suspension proposal.
At the conference, Eby declined to specify which sections of legislation would be suspended.
But the transcript and a document provided by The Canadian Press’ source in the meeting suggest they consist of four sections of DRIPA, plus a section of the Interpretation Act, which describes how BC’s laws must be interpreted.
The Interpretation Act section facing suspension says “every act and regulation must be construed as being consistent with” DRIPA, while a section of DRIPA to be paused says nothing should be construed as delaying its application to BC’s laws.
The section saying the act’s purpose is to “affirm the application” of DRIPA to BC’s laws is also to be paused, as is a section saying the government must take all measures necessary to ensure laws are consistent with it.
The final section of DRIPA to be suspended relates to how progress on its goals is reported.
In the transcript, Eby acknowledges the government’s previous plan to amend DRIPA has been “completely opposed” by the First Nations.
He says the alternative proposal of a pause is to find another solution, which he says “is really, bluntly, unavoidable.”
“Now, it’s my hope, it’s cabinet’s hope, it’s the government’s hope, that this is a better solution to address the legal risk we’re facing, as well as the concerns that you’ve raised with us,” he says.
The response in the transcript is far from enthusiastic.
“I don’t understand why you insist on fracturing the relationship between First Nations and BC by saying these things publicly?” one respondent says, referring to Eby’s remarks on changes to DRIPA being non-negotiable.
“It really shook my confidence in you as the first and your ability to work with us on something so important as DRIPA,” they say, adding that Eby is “not there anymore” as a partner.
One leader tells Eby he is making “rash” decisions, another tells of their “extreme feeling of disappointment in the steps taken,” and another tells the premier his government’s behavior “smacks of colonialism.”
One attendee accuses Eby of “Indian giving,” and says that after finally seeing “some light” in the way First Nations are treated by government, Eby’s moves “close the door.”
Another attendee tells of “an extreme feeling of disappointment in the steps taken.”
“And this act that you’re doing now … these feelings and this sentiment that you’re putting forward is the same sentiment of colonization, of piece by piece taking our rights, our purpose, away from us,” they say.
At least one leader expresses doubt about the wisdom of opposing the government, considering the Opposition BC Conservatives are “running on repealing DRIPA.”
They tell other leaders that they “cannot afford to not give a damn about” who is first, and suggest that fellow chiefs are “overestimating” their power.
Late in the meeting, one leader tries to inject a light moment, referring back to Eby’s elephant analogy.
“Eating an elephant, it can be done with help,” they say. “We could fry it, we could boil it… We could barbecue it. That lasagna I ate yesterday said I’m a family of four.”
Eby told the subsequent news conference that enacting the suspension government would represent a confidential vote for his.
He said the suspension was “least invasive way that we could think of” to mitigate DRIPA’s possible unintended impacts across the province’s legal system.
The FNs did exactly what we’ve all learned you shouldn’t do when given new opportunities. If you’re given an inch don’t take a mile. But in this case they tried to take 100s of square miles. And have been doing it out of the public eye, behind closed doors, and covered by non disclosure agreements (75% of agreement are non disclosed) all of which is usually unheard of for transactions with Governments. So it gets wound back if not suspended.
Looks like there is no longer only a few of us eh JV? Or will you have the guts to show up now that the vast majority of voters have spoken thru their elected officials. I actually hope this fails to pass and triggers a vote of no confidence clause.
Any candidate wanting a slam dunk win just has to run on a repeal DRIPA platform and they will win.
Indigenous leaders should bring Premier Eby to the highest court in B.C. Get Kate Kempton to fight for you. Premier Eby is just as corrupt as Premier Doug Ford. Both jerks
So now we see what they are really like only when transcripts are leaked.
When it comes supposed racism you’ll see they are no better or worse than the worse of us.
Strip away all the additional privileges they have now and see if they really like being equal to your average taxpayers and Canadian.
In reality, anyone born in Canada is indigenous! Equal rights for ALL, special rights for NONE.
Natives are not ‘partners’ with BC, they are residents of BC. The sooner they reconcile to that fact, the better. DRIPA was invented by natives, and favours them to the point of insanity. Eby is right, we need to get rid of it. Sorry it hurts the feelings of the natives, but it is way past time they realized they have to get along with the rest of us. Trying to pull the colonialism card… time to pull the Canadian card.
Time to stop the hand out relationship with natives, and time for them to be responsible citizens, instead of demanding their way is the only way.
how about the other 96% who think the whole bloody thing should be flushed down the toilet, sick anf bloody tired of the endless complaining.
@get real: I LOVE the “Last Nations” idea! It is so spot on. They call themselves nations but can’t achieve anything on their own. All they do is complain, take and consume (and arrive late) lol
My grandfather would rightly say… “White man speaks with fork tongue.”
Ask Canadians with disabilities who are kept in legislated poverty by governments and their billionaire friends.
I hope Indigenous rights are upheld and perhaps wealth consolidation by these colonial elitists will be stopped… by the first people.
Fair-minded Canadians fully support Indigenous rights.
these people should be called last nations they certainly are not first at one thing. no more free money for the last nations hey act like they own everything because they had two teepees
Bahaha the chugs are mad at the pied piper of stupid ! Even idiot Eby knows that 6.9 percent of the population wont get his trash party elected. Sorry back to National Day of booze and recreation for you . Oops I mean Lies & fabrication oops I mean Truth & reconciliation.
Reconciliation is over . It’s called extortion. These groups of fn are like organized crime syndicates that extort millions of taxpayer dollars from governments or from industry. They claim title to land (crown and private property) that they do not have legal rights or title to. Undrip and dripa are racist police’s that allow fn to unfairly extort land and money. Treat fn fairly and with equality, treat them like everyone else , they are not entitled to special privileges because of their race. No one else in Canada gets free land or money because of their race or ancestry. Get rid of Undrip and dripa completely.
Sorry, Natives, that’s exactly what happens when you get conquered. Just like every other culture throughout human history, you lose your rights to the land that was taken from you. One Native tribe wiped out or drove off another for territory all the time before any white man ever set foot here, and the losers didn’t get to cry about it afterward. You lost. Get over it already. You happily pocket our money, our technology, and every comfort of our civilization while bitching about how it all happened. If you want to go back to the stone age, be my guest nobody’s stopping you. But if you’re going to whine about colonization, then you don’t get a single benefit: no money, no technology, no welfare, no nothing. Pack it up and go back to your bows and arrows, animal hides, and teepees, you corrupt, entitled parasites who need to be put in your place once and for all.
Sorry, Natives, that’s exactly what happens when you get conquered. Just like every other culture throughout human history, you lose your rights to the land that was taken from you. One Native tribe wiped out or drove off another for territory all the time before any white man ever set foot here, and the losers didn’t get to cry about it afterward. You lost. Get over it already. You happily pocket our money, our technology, and every comfort of our civilization while bitching about how it all happened. If you want to go back to the stone age, be my guest nobody’s stopping you. But if you’re going to whine about colonization, then you don’t get a single benefit: no money, no technology, no welfare, no nothing. Pack it up and go back to your bows and arrows, animal hides, and teepees, you corrupt, entitled parasites who need to be put in your place once and for all.
The biggest mistake any Politician can make is to listen to the UN about anything. Eby and this NDP has made really harmful and bad decisions in BC and our economy is suffering because of them. How much of taxpayers money has Eby spent trying to fix the problems that he has created in the first place.
Just hand over everything to the so called natives. They’ll fight with each other like they always done and the whole province will be worthless.
Makes me laugh to think the natives could have progressed at all. They only want tons of money from the ‘colonial’ governments that shouldn’t be here in the first place.
Given that Eby’s part of the federal NDP Comedy Team, did everyone at the meeting properly use their “gender & ‘I’m oppressed’ identity” cards when asking questions?
Delaying the process is infringement of rights
The government has been try get rid of first nations since Europeans have first arrived
Eby is using this as a tool to get re elected . If he gets back in, he’ll reverse this decision back, against the wishes of the majority of British Columbians.