BC government and First Nations agree to legislation protecting native rights and land title
Proposed law would enshrine native rights and land title - Province to introduce Act to define method to make decisions over lands and resources
JUSTINE HUNTER - February 28, 2009
VICTORIA -- British Columbia is poised to introduce an unprecedented law that will recreate the economic interdependence that once existed between early colonists and aboriginal populations, a top native leader said yesterday.
Yesterday, the First Nations Leadership Council distributed to the 203 native bands in B.C. a discussion paper that would form the basis of the proposed Recognition Act.
"It's unprecedented - there is nowhere in Canada that has legislative recognition of the land rights of the First Nations people," said Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
The proposed legislation, which the government hopes to pass before the May 12 provincial election, would formally recognize aboriginal rights and title, and it would map out the terms for shared decision-making over lands and resources.
"I have been involved in this for 35 years and we have never been at this point, on the doorstep of bringing forward recognition legislation," Mr. Phillip said. "There are many leaders that went before us that worked for this to come about, there is a great sense of history to what is going on here."
Most of the province remains subject to unsettled land claims, leading to frequent land-use conflicts and at least tens of millions of dollars worth of litigation.
The proposed law would "recognize that Aboriginal rights and title exist in British Columbia throughout the territory of each Indigenous Nation that is the proper title and rights holder, without requirement of proof or strength of claim," the document says.
The document includes a proposal to recreate 30 indigenous governments across the province, and includes a tentative map showing those territorial boundaries. Among the aboriginal leaders, this is likely the most contentious part of the plan, and the leadership council, in its Feb. 27 letter, stressed the boundaries are still up for negotiation.
"Please note the map of sovereign Indigenous Nations does not accurately reflect the traditional territory boundaries," it states. "This map was included for illustrative purposes only."
The new law would amend the B.C. Constitution Act to allow for the creation of a Council of Indigenous Nations. If that new organization can't be assembled, however, the law includes options for decision-making based on the existing band structure.
In fact, it provides three options, termed comprehensive, interim and default, through which the B.C. government would engage in shared decision-making and revenue-sharing.
The law will take precedence over existing B.C. laws, but it also will establish that it will not affect the status of existing interests or tenures in land and resources that have already be granted by the province.
Nor will it override constitutional rights or federal jurisdictions.
Over the coming week, two more high-level meetings are set to take place between aboriginal leaders to discuss the proposed law. The principles were drafted by a team of senior provincial and native leaders, based on dozens of meetings over the last four months.
The province is seeking to pass the law before the legislature is dissolved for the next provincial election, which means it must draft the bill in the next few weeks.