The First Nations Leadership Council is calling Premier David Eby’s latest effort to suspend parts of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) a “unilateral betrayal and an abandonment of the province’s commitment to principled reconciliation,” in an official statement released on Thursday, April 9.
“Premier Eby has broken the trust that [former] Premier [John] Horgan and First Nations worked hard to build,” said Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, in a joint statement with two other prominent provincial Indigenous groups.
A letter Eby sent to chiefs and leaders on Wednesday (April 8), and obtained by Black Press Media, reiterates the province’s intent to proceed with the suspension plan during the spring legislative session.
“I regret that the timeline and the legislative calendar do not allow for further opportunity to engage before legislation creating the suspension is introduced,” he wrote.
Eby also says the suspension would be time-limited and would not suspend sections 6 and 7 of DRIPA, two provisions that allow the province to enter into agreements with and exercise joint decision-making with First Nations. And he argues this is simply a “pause” so the province can create a better path toward reconciliation.
Teegee said suspension of DRIPA only paves the way for eventual repeal of DRIPA.
The Leadership Council is made up of the Assembly and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and First Nations Summit.
Eby has said he plans to suspend DRIPA to counteract legal jeopardy facing the province after the B.C. Court of Appeals ruled the act can be used to invalidate existing B.C. law.
DRIPA is meant to ensure all of B.C. law aligns with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but Eby said it is the government, not courts, that should make this happen. The province is appealing the court decision.
Eby had initially proposed amending DRIPA, but came up with the suspension plan after First Nations pushback. The Leadership Council says the suspension plan is being “falsely framed” by Eby as a compromise.
Robert Phillips, the political executive for First Nations Summit, called DRIPA suspension a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“It is presented as a compromise, but it achieves all the same goals of gutting the Declaration Act in the short term, while the NDP pursues an appeal in court to undermine the Declaration Act in the long term,” he said in the joint statement.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said that First Nations would not be “played for fools.”
“Had B.C. truly listened to First Nations as they engaged on the unilaterally developed consultation draft, the Premier would know that First Nations want to continue with full implementation of the Declaration Act in its entirety,” he said in the statement. “We cannot stand with this Government when it destroys the hard work that we have built together.”
The Leadership Council is calling on the government to withdraw any proposals to amend or suspend DRIPA or the related Interpretation Act, which requires all laws to be consistent with DRIPA.
First Nations leaders from across the province are planning a news conference on Friday at 8:30 a.m. in Vancouver.