B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during a news conference at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., in February. Land rights is a topic of intense conversation in B.C. right now, writes Tanya Talaga.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia used to be a province that seemed more enlightened than anywhere else in Canada.
It was the first province to align itself with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), introducing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) in November, 2019, two years before Canada’s UNDRIP legislation became law.
Now, the realities of that decision – of promising free, prior and informed consent to Indigenous peoples – have apparently spooked B.C. Premier David Eby into thinking he can dial back human-rights legislation when there is public outcry.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Press reported that Mr. Eby was informing some First Nations leaders of plans to narrow the scope of DRIPA after two recent court decisions that sided with First Nations appellants: Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General) and Gitxaala v. British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner).
There was also a March agreement between the Musqueam First Nation and Ottawa to create a framework to exercise the Musqueam’s jurisdiction in their traditional territory – the densely populated area of the western half of Greater Vancouver.
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Land rights – who owns what and who is entitled to what – is a topic of intense conversation in B.C. right now, and the outcomes are being watched around Canada. But the principles of UNDRIP and DRIPA do not equate land grabs. (That already happened, a century or so ago.) They reaffirm what international law lays out around the rights of Indigenous peoples. They are tools of reconciliation, working toward a fairer country. They should be respected not watered down.
The Cowichan decision by the B.C. Supreme Court last August upheld the Nation’s claim to about 800 acres in Richmond, B.C. This ruling sent fear throughout most of non-Indigenous British Columbia, with some arguing that this could be the end of private property ownership as we know it, even though the band has repeatedly said it was not seeking to do so.
And in December, 2025, the B.C. Court of Appeal said that the province’s Mineral Tenure Act – which created a system where anyone can register a mineral claim on Crown land – did not align with UNDRIP, which the court said had to be applied to provincial law because of DRIPA. While this decision is B.C.-specific, the broader implications throughout Canada could be welcomed by many First Nations. As Prime Minister Mark Carney’s major projects initiative accelerates, mining claims are popping up all over the place, including in Ontario’s Ring of Fire.
If Mr. Eby is really considering amending DRIPA, he is going down a dangerous road. On Feb. 2, the Law Society of B.C. warned of the precedent Mr. Eby’s changes would set as they would “constrain the role of the courts in interpreting the legislation. Meaningful access to the courts is foundational to a democratic society so the public can seek a judicial review to defend legal rights and resolve concerns, including those relating to government and laws.”
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Making sure provincial laws align with UNDRIP is what DRIPA was all about. It was supposed to open up decision-making power to First Nations and make people listen. B.C. needs to honour this.
The province should have been listening, for instance, to the Allied Clans Coalition, Gitxsan titleholders and caretakers of our Lax’yip (territories), regarding the B.C. wolf cull. Between 2015 and 2025, more than 2,500 wolves were killed as part of “predator reduction” in the caribou recovery program, according to the Pacific Wild environmental group. But shooting wolves from helicopters is not a viable long-term strategy for saving caribou; habitat rehabilitation is.
Last month, the Allied Clans formally told the province that B.C.’s wolf cull and similar activities “do not have our consent and are not authorized within our Lax’yip.” Wolves are not just predators, they said, but kin – a teacher in their “understandings of family, cooperation, territory, and balance.”
There’s a lesson to be found here. The way the wolves are being treated is connected to how we who live on this land should understand our own responsibilities. We must all be caretakers. Instead, a loss of trust, a misalignment of values, is occurring.
Relations with the wolf – and relations with each other – hold meaning. Remember that, as this principle threatens to be eroded in the months ahead.