As B.C. heads into legislative debate about whether the government’s efforts to align its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) can be saved, a larger question looms.
Can British Columbia be saved?
Or will it be broken up into many independent nations because Canada failed to complete its historic treaties over three quarters of the province?
The implications of the recent Cowichan Tribes court case in Richmond, the NDP government’s imposition of aboriginal title over all land in Haida Gwaii, the uncertainty over private property rights and the best course of action for DRIPA were discussed at a Macdonald-Laurier-sponsored panel discussion this month.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) is a 2019 provincial law that guides the BC NDP’s reconciliation efforts and incorporates UNDRIP principles. A recent BC Court of Appeal decision ruled that DRIPA is enforceable by courts and all laws must comply with it. Premier David Eby criticized the decision and promised to appeal it.
Panelists Karen Restoule, director of Indigenous affairs for the institute, and Tom Isaac, chair of the aboriginal law group at Cassels and former chief treaty negotiator for B.C., described their competing visions of B.C.’s future at what they said was a turning point in its history.
Both Restoule and Isaac agreed that Canada is the least likely country UNDRIP was meant to address, since Canada stands alone in providing constitutional protection for Indigenous people, thanks to an amendment in 1982. Where UNDRIP was intended to offer minimum protection in Third World countries.
“UNDRIP was developed over decades with the United Nations, with participation from Indigenous leaders from around the world who were advocating for recognition in the legal system that did not provide the constitutional protection that exists in Canada under section 35,” said Restoule, an Ojibwe from Dokis First Nation, which is a signatory to the Robinson-Huron Treaty of 1850.
Read the full article at the Northern Beat: BC hangs in the balance as legislative debate on DRIPA begins