Their agenda on Indigenous relations is so secretive, those in charge don’t even tell their own people what they are doing and why

Premier David Eby is claiming the moral high ground in seeking reconciliation with Indigenous nations, yet the commitment is undermined by a pattern of secrecy, coverup and denial.

Two years ago, the B.C. New Democrats launched a makeover of the Land Act, geared to “shared decision-making” with Indigenous nations on public lands and aiming to produce amendments for the spring 2024 session of the legislature.

The process was supposed to include “public engagement”. But the government neglected to tell the public. There was no news release, no ministerial statement of purpose.

Worse, when the media reported the secretive exercise, the government downplayed it as “a fairly minor and modest step” and “much ado about nothing.”

The premier only put the process on hold after a growing backlash from the business community, other stakeholders, and the public itself.

He later admitted the secrecy was a mistake, not to be repeated. Yet it was.

That summer, two NDP ministers reached an accord with the shíshálh First Nation (Sechelt), providing $104 million over five years, six square kilometres of land on the Sunshine Coast, and other significant commitments.

The deal was signed on Aug. 16, five weeks before the legislature was dissolved for the 2024 election. The terms were kept secret until well after the NDP’s narrow re-election.

When the deal was made public in January of this year, it proved a major embarrassment for Randene Neill, the newly elected NDP MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast.

“I was not aware of this agreement when I was a candidate,” she told her constituents. She only learned the terms after the premier appointed her the new minister for Water, Land and Resource Stewardship with responsibility for implementing the shíshálh agreement.

Once again, the New Democrats made commitments to “do better in future”.

This past summer, local government representatives were invited to “an engagement opportunity” on changes to the Heritage Conservation Act.

Read the full story at the Vancouver Sun: The B.C. NDP’s pattern of secrecy, coverup and denial on Indigenous relations | Vancouver Sun