[R-G] B.C. proposes aboriginal title and rights legislation

[Anthony Fenton]

B.C. proposes aboriginal title and rights legislation
Last Updated: Thursday, March 5, 2009 | 3:32 PM PT
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/03/05/bc-aboriginal-title-legislation.html

B.C.'s Minister for Aboriginal Relations is hopeful the province's  
First Nations leaders will support his proposal to recognize  
aboriginal title and rights by enshrining the province's new  
relationship with their people into law.

Minister Mike de Jong says his proposed legislation will help end 150  
years of marginalization, but in order to move forward the minister  
needs a positive vote from the members of the First Nations Summit  
meeting in Victoria this week.

On Thursday morning, de Jong made an impassioned plea to the chiefs  
attending the summit to support the principles laid out in a  
discussion paper he presented to them.

Those principles included officially recognizing that "aboriginal  
rights and title exist in British Columbia throughout the territory of  
each Indigenous Nation that is the proper right and title holder,  
without requirement of proof of claim."

Essentially, the proposed legislation would recognize the existence of  
First Nations, with their own laws, governments and territories and  
title to the land.

"You shouldn't be required to stand in a court and call evidence of  
the rich history of your culture and your centuries of presence in  
this part of the world," de Jong told the summit.
Positive reaction seen

Many of the leaders reacted positively to the draft legislation.

Guujaaw, president of the Council of Haida Nation, said the proposal  
was a significant step in First Nations' relations with the B.C.  
government.

"Certainly it's a far cry from where we were, when the notion was to  
exchange all of our titles for treaties," he told CBC News.

Chief Judith Sayers of the Hupacasath said the legislation would give  
the government a clear mandate to negotiate revenue-sharing with First  
Nations.

"It's incredibly significant. We have been working on this for almost  
three years," she said.

Members of the First Nations Summit were expected to vote Friday on  
the principles contained in the discussion paper.

If they do vote to support the principals, de Jong then intends to  
draft the legislation within a month and present it for passage in the  
legislature before the coming provincial election in May.

The legislation represents a significant step in a long political  
turnaround for Gordon Campbell's B.C. Liberal party.

After winning the 2001 election, Campbell held a controversial  
referendum on treaty negotiations that threatened to deepen divisions  
between the province and First Nations.

But instead, after winning the 2005 election Campbell kick-started  
stalled treaty negotiations with a promise to forge a new relationship  
with the province's First Nations, based on government recognition of  
aboriginal title and rights.

Since that time, two significant treaties and several interim  
agreements have been signed with several First Nations, including one  
controversial deal with the Tsawwassen south of Vancouver.

Critics have said the process has been to costly and has little to  
show for real results.

Historically in British Columbia, unlike in other provinces, lands  
were never legally ceded by First Nations to the British colonial  
governments, with the exception of a few small areas near Victoria.