LandKeepers News Archive
Native plan faces rocky future
July 23 2009 | News Articles | Globe and Mail
Native plan faces rocky future
Justine Hunter
Globe and Mail Last
Jul. 23, 2009
Premier Gordon Campbell says he is forging ahead with efforts to achieve reconciliation with aboriginal communities despite escalating demands from top native leaders that threaten to undo four years of often-intense negotiations toward a “new relationship.”
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, one of the key signatories to an ambitious plan to usher in a Recognition and Reconciliation Act prior to the last B.C. election, said Wednesday his Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs is withdrawing from the process to bring the law forward.
“There is a sense that everything is unravelling quickly,” Chief Phillip said in an interview. He said it is clear there is no support within native communities for the proposed changes, and it is time for natives to come up with an alternative.
Like Chief Phillip, Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nation Summit expressed disappointment last March when the Premier decided he would not introduce a Recognition Act before the May election because of demands for more consultation.
The chiefs, along with some of Mr. Campbell’s top officials, worked throughout last year behind closed doors to design a legal framework that aimed to end confrontation and uncertainty over the 90 per cent of the province that remains in legal limbo because of unresolved land claims. The proposed new law would recognize aboriginal title – a first in Canada – and set out rules for sharing the resources of the land.
Wednesday, Chief John said the plan is not dead but it is in trouble because of the native communities’ “absolute mistrust of the government and its intentions.”
He called on the government to salvage the efforts by matching the words of the Recognition proposal with action: For example, he said, the province could abandon its appeal of the Tsilhqot’in land claims ruling that found a band has aboriginal title to a broad swath of land in the Chilcotin.
“I think there is an opportunity here to get this right and we should not pass up on it,” Chief John said.
Mr. Campbell said he’ll continue to pursue the “New Relationship” even if some of the players at the table have to change.
“If this isn’t the right way, we’ll find another way. It is important to us because it is the right thing to do and the fact that no-one else has been able to accomplish it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying,” he said.
“Stewart may say he’s stepping back, maybe there is someone else who is going to step forward. I’m always willing to work with people who are willing to step forward and find ways we can improve the lot of First Nations and create more certainty for British Columbians.”
Chief Phillip said the province’s native leaders – elected, hereditary, elders and others – are set to meet in the last week of August to map out their next move.
“It’s almost a day of reckoning,” he said. Although he has praised Mr. Campbell in the past, Chief Phillip endorsed the New Democratic Party opposition during the last election.
Yesterday, he suggested the premier has been stringing natives along to keep the peace until after the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
“I think Mr. Campbell would like to see the New Relationship stumble along until after the Olympics…and then they’ll quietly slip out the back door.”
To date there has been no draft legislation produced, and the reaction from both business and natives has been based on a discussion paper released last February. The government delayed its plans around the legislation after business leaders objected, but Mr. Campbell said yesterday he delayed because he was not convinced the native leaders at the table had the support of their constituencies.
Chief David Luggi of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council has led the grassroots opposition to the proposal. He warned that what the government is offering will not give native communities true aboriginal title, and he said any agreements for sharing resources and decision-making should be negotiated before legislation is passed.
“We should know the price of the car before we sign on dotted line,” he said Wednesday.
“We are going to have to regroup and go back to square one.”
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