Hundreds of the province’s mayors and councillors who’d gathered in Vancouver for their annual convention piled into the grand hall to hear from B.C.’s Indigenous relations minister and attorney general on contentious legislation. The session at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference brought lawyers, First Nations leaders, and the ministers to discuss the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) and answer questions from delegates. Spencer Chandra Herbert pointed out that the Cowichan Lands decision, which has raised questions about private property rights in Richmond and beyond, is distinct from DRIPA and that the conflation has made discussions on reconciliation, land rights, and First Nations consultation difficult. “Other provinces have treaties (but) B.C. did not do that work; it kicked that can down the road, and so that’s why we’re here having this discussion,” the Indigenous relations minister went on to say. Several UBCM attendees told CTV News they’re regularly hearing from constituents worried they may lose their homes to Aboriginal land claims, sometimes as a result of misinformation, sometimes as a result of political rhetoric many blamed for enflaming the issue. “If you look at the principles that UNDRIP supports, it’s simply ‘be a decent person, be a good human, respect people in their jurisdiction,’” summarized Karen Restoule, a lawyer and indigenous affairs director with the MacDonald Laurier Institute. Aaron Pete, chief of the Chawathil First Nation and a popular podcaster, pledged to work with the government to clarify concerns the general public is raising. “I will do whatever it takes for us to bring the temperature down in the room and not make this the central fear of most British Columbians,” he said on stage. “There is a path to do this, and I just worry about some of those tensions rising and about businesses leaving, because once they leave, we don’t have a pie to share at all anymore, and that’s one of my primary concerns.” Several current and former B.C. Conservative MLAs were in the audience, and one of them expressed frustration that the attendees weren’t getting the whole picture, suggesting the panellists were glossing over the pitfalls of DRIPA and its related legislation. “I think we need clarity and we need professionals to talk about the real nuts and bolts issues so average British Columbians can realize what is at risk here,” said Harman Banghu, B.C. Conservative MLA for Langley-Abbotsford. Speaking at the end of the event alongside the Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Niki Sharma told attendees that she’d listened carefully to the issues raised by delegates and promised to do a better job communicating the legislation to local government and the public alike. “I’m really hopeful, and I’m really grateful for the people that have sat down together with us to try to solve the problems that the premier identified and move forward, and in a good way,” the attorney general told journalists after the session had wrapped. Sharma wouldn’t say whether the government plans to repeal or amend DRIPA legislation but said she would provide an update as soon as her government had finalized details. “We’re still in discussions, but we will keep you posted, I promise,” she said.
