British Columbians are not wrong to worry about the costs involved or the value of their private property

Last weekend it became known that the Federal Government had signed an aboriginal rights agreement with the Musqueam First Nation, which acknowledged rights and title “within” a large area encompassing most of Metro Vancouver. This bilateral agreement between the Carney government and the Musqueam sets out their shared intention to “negotiate” Aboriginal title for the Musqueam within their vast claimed territory using the principles of UNDRIP as their lodestar.

The last time we saw the federal government do this was on Haida Gwaii where, with the full support and participation of the David Eby government in B.C., they declared and went to court to solidify Aboriginal title for the Haida over their entire asserted terrestrial territory: that’s no less than a million hectares of land encompassing the whole of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the west coast.

That declaration of Aboriginal title to 100 per cent of a claimed traditional territory is something that never would have occurred had the Haida proceeded with their Aboriginal title court case. In the landmark Tsilhqotʼin Nation v British Columbia case, for example, the Supreme Court granted Aboriginal title to less than five per cent of the band’s traditional territory in central B.C.

British Columbians can therefore be forgiven for getting very upset by this vaguely worded commitment by Canada to “negotiate” Aboriginal title for the Musqueam — and not even in a proper treaty context. At numerous points, the agreement makes reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) as a basis for implementation, going so far as to say on page 11 that “It is the intention of the Parties that this Agreement contribute the implementation of the UN Declaration” and, on page 14, that “For greater clarity, the Parties recognize and agree that the rights and principles affirmed in the UN Declaration are described as constituting the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous peoples, including Musqueam.”

Read the full article at the National Post: Don’t trust Ottawa on Musqueam agreement.