British Columbia Premier David Eby has backed down again on the pausing of key parts of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, scrapping plans to table a suspension bill this legislative session.
The premier’s office says in a brief statement that it “can confirm that the government will not be introducing legislation on DRIPA during this session.”
Instead, it says Eby will hold a press conference Monday to outline next steps.
Initially, legislation to suspend parts of the DRIPA was set to be tabled this week.
It follows a open letter sent to B.C. MLAs, by the First Nations Leadership Council, the First Nations Summit, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and the BC Assembly of First Nations, laying out pushback had the bill be introduced.
“Any attempt to interfere with the courts’ role, and First Nations’ access to justice, will be met with collective resistance from First Nations and allies across the province,” the letter reads.
Early last week, the B.C. government indicated the prospect of an early election was unlikely after saying legislation to suspend parts of DRIPA would not be considered a confidence vote.
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On April 13, NDP house leader Mike Farnworth said MLA Joan Phillip, who is Indigenous, had indicated she is unable to vote for the bill.
With only a one-seat majority in the legislature, Farnworth said the government is still looking for a “path forward” on the legislation, but added it was “nonsense” to suggest Eby has lost confidence in the house.
Eby has said previously that DRIPA poses significant legal peril to the province, after it was interpreted in a recent court decision to mean it should be incorporated into B.C. laws “with immediate legal effect.”
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled late last year the mineral rules in the province are “inconsistent” with the DRIPA legislation, which is based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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The First Nations Leadership Council alleged Eby’s reasoning is “not only misleading but is also inherently wrong.”
“Attempts to suspend sections of DRIPA and the Interpretation Act to achieve a desired outcome in a court decision is an act of fettering the separation of judicial powers, and an egregious attempt to limit First Nations’ access to the court,” the leaders wrote.
The First Nations Summit recently issued a statement saying its members “unequivocally” oppose amendments to DRIPA, and called on governments of all levels to “fully adopt and implement” UNDRIP as a framework for reconciliation.
In its letter to B.C. MLAs, the leadership council urged MLAs not to support the legislation, adding it would increase legal risk.
“If you choose to support efforts to weaken these Acts and our co-developed framework for constitutionally required reconciliation, you are not avoiding legal risk – you are increasing it,” the letter says. “First Nations around the province have made their position clear – attempts to unilaterally suspend or repeal DRIPA and the Interpretation Act will invite legal challenge.”
DRIPA was unanimously passed in the provincial legislature in 2019 and requires that the B.C. government ensure the laws of the province are consistent with the UN declaration.
—with files from The Canadian Press
Everybody sh#ts on this guy but offers no solutions or answers.
Says ” joe cool ” from Alberta.
Can you imagine how badly Eby was bullied as a child? Now he’s getting his payback. If you voted for this clown, it’s on you. Thanks!
BC Resident,
If we send all the Albertans back then who is going to do the work?. Ive seen crews from Alberta (twice) go all the way to the West coast to do work because they couldn’t find anyone in BC willing to work. Tell a client its 18 hours of double time of travel per worker and all they ask is when can you start.
This should worry all canadians no matter what they look like, homes or businesses-imagine not knowing if you own your land? Next thing you know. BAM, gone. All that money you sunk into your home or business is now gone and in the hands of someone else. Its clear to see why companies new and old don’t want anything to do with BC. you don’t know if you own your land or not. The best way to take control over a people… is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode their rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions.
Eby is a pussy!!
Born PG…nice to here your from vancouver for sure! Trying to keep it very simple…federally Harper won because there was no one else and almost again with Pierre. Whether it’s walmart, Tim hortons or a construction site…always after the best manager. No feelings, biased or emotions. A guy can complain about the pizza all he wants but it might be the only pizza you get? Not to mention it might actually be the best pizza around yet people still complain…Best of luck to you in vancouver!
BC Resident- I don’t know where you live but I was born here in Vancouver and I can assure you that there have been are plenty of moderate BC born conservatives here in Vancouver. Just look at the federal election results for the last 75 years.
Is anyone surprised by Eby’s move or lack there of? Standard practice for him and the NDP’ers. Can’t or won’t make a decision or take a stand on anything. When will the electorate say…ENOUGH?
My apologies I missed one point…the conservatives just had a chance to hire Darrell Jones. That guy ran Save-On Foods like a well oiled machine! One of the greatest grocery stores ever…but did they choose the guy most qualified? The guy who actually can do something? No…they’re gonna choose whoever belongs to the church…who ever they deem to be the “cool ” guy/ girl in their eyes…and essentially make all the wrong decisions for all the wrong reasons. Conservatives had a chance…you can lead a horse to water…
The liberals fell apart because of Christie Clark. Period. Her completely consciously wrong decisions is what sunk the liberals. Never to exist in my lifetime or the next. Yes of course there were a few conservatives…now it’s just the Albertans trying to convert the unconvertable. All this name calling and complaining sounds like women yelling at their hard working husband’s. Complain and complain but no solutions. What is your next option if not Mr.Eby? ( no answer) You can take the boy out of alberta…but you cant take alberta out of the boy. The conservatives are more than welcome and encouraged to move back if this province doesn’t suit you. You can’t just show up and think you can run the show …
Time for a RECALL of this government.
How long are BCers going to sit on their hands and do nothing. We have become a society who does not pay enough attention, unless it directly affects us.
Wake, up as this will affect ALL of us.
It’s was disclosed in another source that the new agreement with the FN will be yet another NDA. So once again the public will be kept in the dark about its own future. Why? What’s being hidden or agreed that the public can’t know about?
As someone below pointed out.
90% of MLAs and therefore 90# of constituents want to amend, suspend or repeal DRIPA.
So what is really going on here?
BC resident- There have always been conservatives in BC. Most Conservatives are moderates and not like that loon Rustad. Before the liberals the party was called Social Credit and they were conservative as hell. They morphed into a fake Liberal Party that basically had this split identity which was why it fell apart.
The NDP are not fit to govern.
how is it that a small percentage of t non tax paying public get so much say in how we do business, I just don’t get it,
someone one should mention that the times have changed from the 1800’s!!!
Before the uninvited guests moved here it was NDP and Liberals absolutely no conservatives whatsoever. Liberals self destructed. Leaving the NDP. Point is conservatives still don’t exist. If they’re lucky …..if they put down the banjo long enough….they might be able to pick a leader?! Still doesn’t solve the fact they are divided internally into 3 factions. They couldn’t organize a pissup in a brewery.
Eby is a weak moron.
Alberta should brace for millions to move from B.C.?! Lol…Eby a weak leader? Listen to the imports go! Having said that you might actually be right…with any luck the Albertans might move back to their own country and quit bringing ours down to their level. For all the talk and finger pointing…how’s your conservative party doing ?! Anybody stop infighting long enough to choose one of your cousins to be leader ?
No doubt that Eby and the NDPs are colluding with the FNs. I wonder what dirt the latter have on the former.
This is ludicrous. What ever happened to the will of the people?
It was reported that only 10 MLAs were against suspending DRIPA.
That means 39 (Cons) were for repealing it all together, 44 were for amending or suspending DRIPA and only 10 were for leaving it alone. 10??!!
That’s 10% of the representative vote, meaning 90% of the vote wants to change this.
Eby is such a weak leader. He changes his mind constantly. It makes you wonder who is actually running this province Eby and the NDP government that was voted in or special interest groups. Weak leaders and governments both provincial and federal are destroying the economy in Canada.
This issue needs to be headline news across the province. Vaughn Palmer’s comments this morning suggested that the First Nations Council is effectively running the province. In 2019 the NDP refused to answer if the parliamentary lawyers had red flagged any issues with the original UNDRIP commitment legislation. The province is being run ideologically captured illogical emotionalists. We NEED an election NOW!
Alberta should brace for millions of people moving from BC to Alberta when the bc government allows the indigenous to totally takes over the province of BC.
We will continue to give billions to the FN. All they want is to ne taken care of. Their ancestors would be mortified how lazy their people has become. They were once very proud and strong people.
More flip flopping going on from Eby than in the hold of a fishing vessel.
This is the problem with Leftists.They never think of the consequences or future chain of events set in motion by their decisions.They just blindly choose by “on the spot” emotion or appealing hair style,as we can clearly see by the past decade of ballbaggery on the federal level.
Then they get swept up by the avalanche of disaster they cause ,their credibility is destroyed and they blubber back and forth aimlessly.
Get rid of EBYn, commie dirt bag!
Meh! What a joke. He can’t win now!
He is stalling. Do Like everyone below says.
Let’s us vote on it ! Slam dunk!
Eby was doing something good, then he cratered to the natives whining. When will our leaders learn that they are to represent all of us, not just natives. – this is a sad day.
Haha seems like Eby has thrown in the towel.
Cooked if he does and cooked if he doesn’t! What a flip flopping 🌼!
It’s like watching that ridiculous clown Trump try to figure out how to get of out his Iran war commitments.
Haha
JV I don’t see you getting all that mass support you keep talking about up here. Where is it?
Everyone here just wants a vote? What do we know that you don’t know eh?
Lol
The end of the NDP leading the province cemented.
F *uck the chugs!! Not their land anymore. We should finish them off.
All good in another couple hundred years we will all be on the same level if this continues. Broke and extinct
Grift. Plain and simple. Let’s put a stop to it. No more DRIPA and indigenous apartheid of any sort. All humans are equal. Full stop.
Let’s have an election and let the voters decide. Afterall, it concerns all of us
I 100% agree Hector.
What I would like to know is, sin how ever many years, what the FNs ideal end to T&R looks like for my kids and my grand kids. What type of veto or control, payments or fees or obligations of any kind are expected.
If they won’t do that then they are hiding their true intentions. I highly suspect the taxpayers would be looking at some two tier society where the FN act like some feudal tribal lords collecting payments off everyone in the province. If so,,,,
Suspend it all until it’s 100% clear how this could all possibly be resolved. Then let us vote on it.
The US and Australia refused to sign any UNDRIPA into law for good reasons.
I have a dripa in my tapa
Make us all Canadians again.
Good. “It’s a start.” The start of great unwind of T&R.
Just like FN say when you hand them $1,000,000,000 and a formal apology.
they don’t say “ thank you, apology accepted we now consider the matter closed. “ All you ever hear the F’N natives say is “It’s a start”.
Ok, if it’s a start tell us all in writing what the end looks like or F’ off. That way at least we can vote on whether we accept it or not. Until then no more.