The news in B.C. is all about DRIPA — the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
Premier David Eby, in response to the December court ruling, raced to amend the act. His attempts to do so have become a head-spinning spectacle.
The case began with a challenge to the Mineral Tenure Act, which allows mineral explorers to make a mineral claim without acquiring agreement and consent by the First Nation to the area.
The case upheld the miners’ position that consent was not required during the exploration phase. It was the first challenge to DRIPA.
It was immediately appealed and in December of 2025, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned the lower court ruling, stating, “The Declaration Act gives a statutory mandate and duty to take all measures necessary to bring B.C.’s law into alignment with UNDRIP.
“In other words,” says Indigenous legal authority, Robin Junger, “the B.C. government must, as stated in its own words, follow the law it wrote and the court has no option.”
Junger of McMillan LLP joined a Conversation That Matters to outline exactly what DRIPA is and the legal ramifications of amending the legislation.
See the video at vancouversun.com/tag/conversations-that-matter, or below.