Premier David Eby’s office confirmed on Sunday evening (April 19) that his government no longer plans to introduce a bill during the spring legislative session to alter the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), as previously planned.
Eby is expected to hold a press conference on Monday to outline the next steps and explain the reversal.
Various versions of plans to amend or suspend the act were proposed and discussed with First Nations leaders over the past three months, but were met with staunch pushback each time.
Eby had initially pledged to stake his government on the changes by making it a confidence vote, but backed down after one of his party’s MLAs, Joan Phillip of Vancouver-Strathcona, said she would not support the bill.
Because the NDP only holds a one-vote majority, it would be nearly impossible for Eby’s government to pass the legislation without full caucus support.
Phillip is Indigenous and is married to one of the most vocal opponents of the plan to alter DRIPA, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
The two Green Party MLAs have pledged not to support DRIPA changes unless they have broad First Nations support.
On the other side of the political aisle, the B.C. Conservative Party and Independent MLAs say they will support nothing short of full repeal of DRIPA.
DRIPA is a 2019 bill that commits the province to aligning its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a proclamation of the right to sovereignty for Indigenous people worldwide.
In December, an appeals court decision invalidated existing B.C. law using DRIPA, setting a precedent Eby says put the province in legal jeopardy.
Eby, who helped craft the act as B.C. attorney general, argues the intention of DRIPA was for the government to align all provincial law with the U.N. declaration through legislation, not for the courts to invalidate existing laws.
The premier has said he now wants to amend or suspend the law, warning that more than 20 lawsuits are now using DRIPA to challenge the province’s laws.