A leaked transcript of a meeting between Indigenous leaders and British Columbia Premier David Eby, about his plan to suspend the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, shows them accusing him of “absolute betrayal” and colonialism.
Speaker after speaker in the 17,000-word transcript of Thursday’s meeting, obtained by The Canadian Press, criticize Eby’s handling of DRIPA, which he says needs to be suspended for up to three years.
DRIPA is at the centre of a legal and political storm after being cited by First Nations in two landmark court cases last year, including an appeal ruling that says the act should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into B.C. laws “with immediate legal effect.”
The transcript provided by a person in attendance, on the condition that no First Nations leaders are identified, shows one speaker telling Eby he has insisted on “fracturing the relationship between First Nations and B.C.” by saying this week that changing DRIPA was “non-negotiable.”
Another tells Eby the premise of the meeting is “disingenuous.”
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The transcript shows Eby starting the meeting by telling attendees the so-called Gitxaala ruling by the B.C. Court of Appeal in December found the UN declaration had been implemented by the province “as a whole.”
He says the ruling, which had created “huge legal uncertainty,” effectively meant the province would “need to eat the whole elephant” of UNDRIP all at once and across all its laws, which the government lacked the staff and political capital to do.
Eby says the government proposed to introduce legislation to implement the suspension “the week after next,” and that the pause of up to three years is to give time for the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the government’s appeal in the Gitxaala case, which centred on mining rules.
The transcript shows the meeting lasted almost two hours, until about noon Thursday. Ninety minutes later, Eby held a news conference to announce the suspension proposal.
At the conference, Eby declined to specify which sections of legislation would be suspended.
But the transcript and a document provided by The Canadian Press’ source in the meeting suggest they consist of four sections of DRIPA, plus a section of the Interpretation Act, which describes how B.C.’s laws must be interpreted.
The Interpretation Act section facing suspension says “every act and regulation must be construed as being consistent with” DRIPA, while a section of DRIPA to be paused says nothing should be construed as delaying its application to B.C.’s laws.
The section saying the act’s purpose is to “affirm the application” of DRIPA to B.C.’s laws is also to be paused, as is a section saying the government must take all measures necessary to ensure laws are consistent with it.
The final section of DRIPA to be suspended relates to how progress on its goals is reported.
In the transcript, Eby acknowledges the government’s previous plan to amend DRIPA has been “completely opposed” by the First Nations.
He says the alternative proposal of a pause is to find another solution, which he says “is really, bluntly, unavoidable.”
“Now, it’s my hope, it’s cabinet’s hope, it’s the government’s hope, that this is a better solution to address the legal risk we’re facing, as well as the concerns that you’ve raised with us,” he says.
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The response in the transcript is far from enthusiastic.
“I don’t understand why you insist on fracturing the relationship between First Nations and B.C. by saying these things publicly?” one respondent says, referring to Eby’s remarks on changes to DRIPA being non-negotiable.
“It really shook my confidence in you as the premier and your ability to work with us on something so important as DRIPA,” they say, adding that Eby is “not there anymore” as a partner.
One leader tells Eby he is making “rash” decisions, another tells of their “extreme feeling of disappointment in the steps taken,” and another tells the premier his government’s behaviour “smacks of colonialism.”
One attendee accuses Eby of “Indian giving,” and says that after finally seeing “some light” in the way First Nations are treated by government, Eby’s moves “close the door.”
Another attendee tells of “an extreme feeling of disappointment in the steps taken.”
“And this act that you’re doing now … these feelings and this sentiment that you’re putting forward is the same sentiment of colonization, of piece by piece taking our rights, our purpose, away from us,” they say.
At least one leader expresses doubt about the wisdom of opposing the government, considering the Opposition B.C. Conservatives are “running on repealing DRIPA.”
They tell other leaders that they “cannot afford to not give a damn about” who is premier, and suggest that fellow chiefs are “overestimating” their power.
Late in the meeting, one leader tries to inject a light moment, referring back to Eby’s elephant analogy.
“Eating an elephant, it can be done with help,” they say. “We could fry it, we could boil it … We could barbecue it. That lasagna I ate yesterday said I’m a family of four.”
Eby told the subsequent news conference that enacting the suspension would represent a confidence vote for his government.
He said the suspension was “least invasive way that we could think of” to mitigate DRIPA’s possible unintended impacts across the province’s legal system.
