Geoff Russ: When reconciliation fails in B.C., David Eby will be to blame

National Post

9 hours ago

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For the B.C. NDP, subterfuge is often the rule, not the exception.
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At the most basic level, this is exemplified by the fact that they have choked off access to public information by charging $10 per ministry for Freedom of Information requests. Because the province treats its 28 ministries and agencies as separate 'public bodies,' a single cross-government request now costs $280 just to make a request. It is an unambiguously undemocratic policy that turns transparency into a privilege for those who have the means.
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The Eby government's application of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) is another way by which ordinary British Columbians have had the rug pulled out from underneath them. Passed in 2019 by the provincial legislature, DRIPA commits the provincial government to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a non-binding document adopted by the UN in 2007.
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In March, residents of Okanagan Falls voted by 53 per cent to incorporate and become the province's newest municipality, and learned what DRIPA could mean for them.
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It was only well after the vote that the NDP asked the people of Okanagan Falls to consider a change of name to align with local Indigenous wishes, and to possibly surrender certain Crown land located within their proposed borders.
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Some fear this could mean losing access to popular hiking trails and other attractions, and those in Okanagan Falls who have pushed to become a municipality rightfully feel cheated.
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The province has promised further meetings and updates, but precedent suggests residents shouldn't hold their breath. Reconciliation will not work unless it is a three-way process between Indigenous people, non-Indigenous people, and the Crown.
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Historically, British Columbians could take it for granted that once they bought land, it was their property until they chose to sell. Courts are now questioning the relationship between Aboriginal title and fee simple rights, raising new doubts about the security of land ownership in B.C.
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Even the NDP have been rattled by the Cowichan decision, given the implications, and have appealed the ruling. If reconciliation was ever a unifying cause in B.C., it is no longer, and the NDP are responsible.
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Polling by Research Co. in 2023 found that while 65 per cent of British Columbians approved of reconciliation in principle, only half supported 'economic reconciliation.' Changes to the B.C. Land Act, which dictates title and land use, have proven especially controversial.
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Angus Reid found that 94 per cent of British Columbians agreed that changing the Land Act was a 'major transformation,' while 75 per cent wanted a referendum on the matter, and with good reason. The Land Act, 'provides for the application for and disposition of Crown land and for the cancellation, amendment, and abandonment of dispositions,' and has been greatly affected by DRIPA and Aboriginal title cases.
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No British Columbian ever voted in a referendum for DRIPA. They never voted for the fundamental rules of their democracy to be altered, and they certainly never voted for private property to be thrown into question without their consent. The NDP do not make court rulings, but they have fostered a climate of mistrust, and have no roadmap to deal with the consequences of decisions like Cowichan.
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