Julio Mejía and Tegan Hill write for Fraser Institute:
Premier David Eby’s government recently signed an agreement with the Simpcw First Nation establishing approval conditions for Yellowhead, a proposed copper mine in central British Columbia—effectively granting Simpcw veto power over the project. While the government touted the agreement as a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) success story, in reality it’s just another example of how the law adds barriers to investment in B.C.
DRIPA, adopted in 2019, requires the provincial government to take “all measures necessary” to align its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which says that Indigenous peoples have the right to use, own, develop and control lands, territories and resources that they traditionally used or occupied—and to give or withhold “free, prior and informed consent” to activities on those lands.
Concerns that DRIPA grants Indigenous groups an effective veto over large swaths of land, and any economic activity or development on such land, are not theoretical.
Read the full article at the Fraser Institute: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/first-nation-agreement-reaffirms-indigenous-veto-power-bc