B.C. Premier David Eby.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby will outline next steps Monday on his government’s plans for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, backing away from a plan conveyed to First Nations over the weekend to suspend key provisions of the law this week.
Members of the First Nations Leadership Council said they were informed Saturday by the Premier’s Office that the government would table legislation on Monday seeking to suspend core components of DRIPA, and the related Interpretation Act, for one year, with the ability to extend the suspension.
The council consists of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the First Nations Summit.
However, Mr. Eby’s office said Sunday that the government “will not be introducing legislation on DRIPA during this session” and that the Premier will hold a news conference on the matter Monday. The next legislative session is scheduled for the fall.
Mr. Eby had previously said the suspension was necessary to address legal uncertainty that has arisen from a BC Court of Appeal ruling last December. The Gitxaala decision found that the province’s mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and that the government was bound to uphold its commitments to the UN declaration “with immediate legal effect.”
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Mr. Eby told First Nations leaders earlier this month that the ruling creates “huge legal uncertainty” and would encompass all B.C. laws, according to a transcript obtained by The Canadian Press. About 20 other lawsuits against the province have been amended to reflect the decision.
First Nations in response have said the government is overreacting to the ruling.
DRIPA was unanimously passed in 2019 under then-premier John Horgan, creating a binding obligation to align provincial legislation with UNDRIP.
Mr. Eby’s minority government has struggled to find a course that satisfies First Nations leaders, who rejected an initial plan to amend DRIPA, then dismissed the idea to suspend the law to give the Supreme Court of Canada time to rule on an appeal of the mineral claims ruling.
Last week, Mr. Eby retreated from plans to put the proposed changes to a confidence vote after the Indigenous MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, Joan Phillip, told him she could not vote for any amendments.
The First Nations Leadership Council convened an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the government’s plan and prepare its response.
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Any effort to weaken DRIPA and the Interpretation Act would only increase legal risk through constitutional challenges grounded in the province’s own legislated commitments, the group said.
“The courts will be asked to determine not only the substance of the suspension but also the process by which it was imposed,” the council said in a statement issued Sunday.
“This will result in increased legal uncertainty, significant financial burden to the province, and further delay to the very economic and regulatory certainty that Premier Eby claims to be protecting.”
The council said Mr. Eby’s rationale for seeking to suspend the legislation is misleading and inherently wrong. The court cases and DRIPA are being “misrepresented, mischaracterized and conflated as rhetoric and fearmongering,” the council said.
Merle Alexander, external council for BC Assembly of First Nations and a member of the group that drafted DRIPA, said the members at the meeting were steeling themselves for the work ahead, before they learned that legislation would no longer be tabled.
He said it was unreasonable to interpret the Gitxaala decision as creating an “incredible litigation threat,” and said it was “reprehensible” for the Premier to undermine the courts.
Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, said the Premier would be creating a “rocky future” by ignoring the wishes of First Nations chiefs and leaders.
“The harder we have to fight the Premier, the harder it’s going to be to build the kind of relationship that existed before he decided he wanted to amend DRIPA,” Dr. Sayers said in an interview Sunday.
“We’ve been going along at a good pace, changing other legislation, entering into agreements and working on reconciliation. Are people going to be able to trust this man again? I don’t think so.”