B.C. proposes aboriginal title and rights legislation

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.