B.C. Premier David Eby.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia Premier David Eby has backed down on promised amendments to the province’s landmark Indigenous rights law slated for this spring. In a major reversal, his government will instead take the next six months to seek a resolution with Indigenous leaders.
For weeks, the Premier has been embroiled in a crisis over his “non-negotiable” plans to change the law, a proposal that has drawn fierce opposition from the province’s First Nations leaders.
Mr. Eby first raised the alarm in December after the BC Court of Appeal ruled that a law related to mineral exploration was “inconsistent” with the government’s obligations under the Indigenous rights law to uphold the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or UNDRIP. He insisted his NDP government needed to act with urgency to remove legal liability to other provincial statutes.
The First Nations Leadership Council, which represents the top three political First Nations organizations in B.C., held an emergency meeting over the weekend after being told the government was planning to table proposed changes this week.
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Mr. Eby said Monday that he changed his mind after B.C. Attorney-General Niki Sharma brokered an alternative. He told reporters his government and First Nations will form a working group to address his concerns about the court decision.
B.C.’s law, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, or DRIPA, was passed unanimously by the legislature in 2019 when Mr. Eby was serving as attorney-general, and it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough for reconciliation. Canada followed suit with its own UNDRIP legislation in 2021.
Mr. Eby’s determination to make legislative changes this spring has been bruising to his leadership, and on Monday he conceded it was a mistake.
“This has been, if I can speak frankly, probably the most challenging issue I’ve worked on in government. It is absolutely possible as a leader to move off confidently in the wrong direction,” he told reporters at the legislature.
He released a joint statement with the First Nations Leadership Council. “Together, we commit to genuine collaboration to find solutions as soon as possible, and before the fall legislative session,” it said.
Mr. Eby announced in December his government would amend portions of both the Interpretation Act and DRIPA, which together create a legislative commitment to uphold the principles of UNDRIP.
He was responding to a BC Court of Appeal decision known as Gitxaala that found the province’s mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with the government’s legislated obligations to uphold UNDRIP, which establishes the right of Indigenous peoples to own, use and control their traditional lands, territories and resources.
Mr. Eby’s initial plan for changes was presented to First Nations leaders in March, sparking a furious public backlash. While he later softened his proposal, the Premier met with growing resistance, including from the NDP’s allies and members of his own caucus.
For the first time since the NDP secured a one-seat majority in 2024, Mr. Eby faced a genuine risk that his government could fall.
The challenge began with Mr. Eby insisting that amending legislation would be deemed a confidence vote, meaning that the government could be forced to call an early election if it lost the vote. It amounted to a loyalty test for his caucus, including three Indigenous MLAs who were under pressure to vote against their government.
When MLA Joan Phillip, a member of the Penticton Indian Band, said she could not vote for the government, Mr. Eby abandoned his threat to make it a matter of confidence last week.
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Mr. Eby also revised his plans to change the legislation multiple times. As recently as Saturday night, however, he was insistent that his government would proceed with legislation this week to bring in changes.
After the First Nations Leadership Council’s emergency meeting Sunday, it issued an open letter to all B.C. MLAs that threatened “collective resistance” if the proposed changes are passed into law. “Each member is being needlessly forced into a vote by Premier Eby, which will have immediate and lasting consequences for reconciliation and the legal, political and economic stability of this province,” the letter states.
Mr. Eby said Monday he remains convinced that the problem he was trying to fix – the legal risk that other laws can be challenged based on the Gitxaala decision – remains. He would not say what will happen if there is no negotiated resolution before next fall’s legislative session.
“My concerns about the legal exposure of the province are serious. They need to be addressed,” he said.
Judith Sayers, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council president, said the Premier can now begin to repair the damage done to reconciliation in recent weeks, but warned that the relationship is fragile.
“I’ve lost a lot of faith,” the influential leader said in an interview. “But everybody wants to advance DRIPA, I don’t want to see the work fall apart.”
While Ms. Sharma was doing outreach on the Premier’s behalf with First Nations leaders over the past week, she was also working to secure support for the proposed changes for a vote in the legislature.
Independent MLA Elenore Sturko was willing to support the government’s bill, and was expecting to meet with a senior government official on Monday morning, but that didn’t happen because the Premier changed direction.
“I’m quite concerned now,” Ms. Sturko said. “The Premier said there was a significant legal liability created by Gitxaala and I concur.” She said she isn’t clear how those problems disappear for the next six months.
“Now the Premier is flip-flopping. He needs to be more transparent about what the legal liability is.”