Overview
- Premier David Eby told First Nations leaders in a two-hour meeting Thursday that his government will table a bill this spring to pause select parts of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) for up to three years, calling the vote a test of confidence.
- Two people who were in the meeting reported complete opposition from chiefs to any pause, and a leaked transcript obtained Friday by The Canadian Press captured speakers calling the plan a betrayal and accusing the government of backtracking on reconciliation.
- A senior official said the bill would not touch sections 6 and 7, which enable decision‑making agreements with First Nations, and confirmed the government plans to introduce the legislation after the Easter break and to seek a Supreme Court of Canada review of the mining case.
- Eby argues the pause is needed because a December Court of Appeal ruling said DRIPA has immediate legal effect and found B.C.’s mineral claim‑staking system inconsistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, while an earlier Cowichan title ruling raised questions about fee‑simple land.
- Before shifting to a pause, the government had drafted confidential amendments that would replace DRIPA’s requirement to make all B.C. laws consistent with UNDRIP with a weaker duty to work toward alignment, which drew public pushback from more than 130 groups including labour.