Chiefs reject B.C.'s aboriginal title offer

Tom Fletcher - BC Local News Published: July 21, 2009 4:00 PM

B.C. aboriginal leaders have started working on their own proposed law to redefine their land and resource claims, having scrapped the provincial government's offer to concede aboriginal title across the province. The B.C. government's discussion paper has met with consistent opposition in hearings with aboriginal communities around the province that began in June. The discussion paper has now been "set aside" and lawyers for aboriginal bands are seeking their own way to end the constant court battles over land rights, the president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said in a letter to members this week.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said it's clear several key parts of the government's proposal won't be accepted by aboriginal people. The idea of "reconstituting" B.C.'s 203 bands into about two dozen "indigenous nations" as they existed prior European contact is seen as a loss of local autonomy, and the proposed Indigenous Nations Commission is viewed as another layer of bureaucracy. Community and tribal meetings have also identified "that there is a risk of including aboriginal title recognition in legislation which also recognizes Crown title in any form," Phillip wrote. The letter reflects aboriginal leaders' conclusion that they have the upper hand in discussions with the province, after a series of court actions strengthening aboriginal claims and weakening the position of B.C. and Ottawa. "We have an opportunity unlike any other in our history," Phillip wrote. "The province has been compelled through law and politics to agree to recognition of title. We must use this opportunity well."

Aboriginal Relations Minister George Abbott said it's too early to conclude that the government's offer is dead. He intends to wait until a chiefs' assembly in late August and a final verdict from the First Nations' Leadership Council, the powerful three-member group that includes Phillip. "We haven't actually received any direct communication from the leadership council to this point that they believe indigenous nations or any other elements in the discussion paper are abandoned," Abbott said in an interview Tuesday. He also disagreed with the suggestion that provincial Crown title to much of B.C. is at risk as aboriginal groups press their claims to areas that were never ceded by treaty. A B.C. Supreme Court decision last year suggested that the Tsilhqotin people have proven they are the rightful owners of a remote valley near Williams Lake, and that the forests ministry has no right to licence logging on what it considers Crown land.That decision is being appealed as the B.C. government looks for a simpler, more cooperative way to settle aboriginal claims that affect 100,000 transactions every year.