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The province has “dragged its feet” on rewriting B.C.’s mining legislation to conform with commitments it made under the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People Act it passed in 2019, so Indigenous leaders are encouraging First Nations to exert their own authority over mining in their territories.
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On Thursday, the B.C. First Nations Leadership Council issued a report with 25 recommendations for implementing Indigenous authority over mining that wouldn’t entirely supplant B.C.’s existing regulatory regime but would insert First Nations consent as a requirement in the steps along the path of finding and opening new mines.
Phillip said First Nations have had “significant engagement” with the province on mining reform that has “fallen on deaf ears,” and Thursday’s report was intended to put some pressure on government to speed things up.
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“The Horgan government is notorious for maintaining status-quo arrangements with industry,” Phillip said.
In the meantime, First Nations will continue resorting to expensive legal challenges, such as the Gitxaala Nation’s legal challenge of free-entry claim-staking, to exert their Indigenous rights. In that case, the Gitxaala are disputing B.C.’s claim-staking regime that allows prospectors to declare interests in specific plots of land to go in and look for minerals without a First Nation’s permission.
Energy and Mines Minister Bruce Ralston wasn’t made available to respond to the leadership council’s statement. His staff only offered an unattributed statement that government had just received the report Thursday and “are reviewing its findings and recommendations.”
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The statement added that government is committed to fully implementing DRIPA, and “is close to finalizing a five-year, cross government action plan,” due to be complete in the early spring that will guide that implementation.
Mining is a key private-sector employer for many Indigenous Nations, which aren’t opposed to mining itself, said Terry Teegee, regional chief for the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.
“We recognize the potential for economic benefits in jobs and revenue for our own people and the province as a whole,” Teegee said in a written statement.
However, Teegee said existing frameworks for consultation with and accommodation of First Nation interests, which governments can set aside in the end, are out of date.
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“We live in an era of consent-based decision -making, especially now that the (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) is provincial and federal law,” Teegee said. “So we should be acting upon the ability of free, prior and informed consent.”
The leadership council would like to see faster action on implementing DRIPA within B.C.’s existing Mines and Mineral acts.
However, Allen Edzerza, mining lead to the leadership council’s energy and mining group, said the province could also proceed by way of an agreement under Sec. 7 of DRIPA itself that allows for joint decision-making with the province.
“I think it’s equally important for First Nations to begin to reestablish their sovereignty and exercise their jurisdiction by creating their own binding regimes,” said Edzerza, who is with the B.C. First Nations Energy and Mining Council and is also a Tahltan First Nation elder.
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Edzerza added that the “colonial mentality to grant interests in our lands and resources” without acknowledging Indigenous jurisdiction “has to stop.”
“We’re saying that Indigenous people have always had the inherent right of self-government,” Edzerza said, “and we’re saying now that we’re starting to move to re-establish our sovereignty and that includes exercising our authority and our jurisdiction over our lands and our resources.”
Most of B.C.’s existing mines already have either impact-benefit agreements or partnerships with the First Nations whose territory they operate, said Michael Goehring, CEO of the Mining Association of B.C.
Companies have also long understood the importance of forming strong relationships with First Nations to gain approval for their operations. However, they also understand that reconciliation and implementation of DRIPA “will be critical.”
Artic“I think today’s report signals concern from the Indigenous organizations involved and we all need to listen,” Goehring said. “You won’t see a new mine built in British Columbia without some form of strategic engagement (or) partnership agreements in place with the local First Nation or Nations upon whose lands that mine is sited.”