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Contents
What is the origin of the BC Treaty Process?
A growing number of rallies, road blockades, court actions
and other political activity by the late 1980's reinforced
the need to resolve the Aboriginal land question in British
Columbia. With the exception of fourteen treaties covering
a small portion of the Southern tip of Vancouver Island and
Treaty 8 in Northeastern British Columbia, land claim agreements
had not been signed with Aboriginal peoples in BC. No clear
definition of the scope and nature of Aboriginal rights existed.
In addition, until 1990, the Government of BC refused to participate
in treaty negotiations and acknowledge the challenges posed
by unresolved land claims.
In December 1990, the BC Claims Task Force was formed by
agreement amongst Canada, British Columbia and the First Nations
Summit. The Task Force was to investigate and recommend ways
that the three parties could arrive at negotiated solutions
to the Aboriginal land question.
"The status quo has been costly. Energies and resources
have been spent in legal battles and other strategies. It
is time to put these resources and energies into the negotiation
of a constructive relationship." Report of the BC
Claims Task Force, June 28, 1991
In June 1991, the Task Force delivered its report containing
19 separate recommendations. The Task Force recommended the
creation of a multi-stage process in which Aboriginal communities
could voluntarily participate. In addition, the report recommended
the creation of an independent body to facilitate and monitor
the negotiations. The "keeper" of the process would
eventually become the BC Treaty Commission (BCTC).
The Task Force report also recommended that the treaty process
be "tripartite" (i.e. made of the 3 parties). Parties
at the treaty negotiation table are the Government of Canada,
Government of British Columbia and the First Nations Summit.
The Summit does not, however, speak for individual Aboriginal
communities but rather coordinates their representation and
interests province-wide. Non-aboriginal interests are represented
by Canada and British Columbia, while all parties (including
the First Nations Summit) are responsible for public information
about treaty-making.
At a typical negotiation session (also called a Main Table,
Side Table, or working group), officials present will include
a representative from: the Federal Treaty Negotiation Office
(Canada), the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs (BC), and the
particular First Nation involved in negotiations.
How did local governments become involved
in treaty negotiations?
In 1993, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM),
acting on behalf of local governments across the province,
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the BC Ministry
of Aboriginal Affairs to guarantee local government participation
in the treaty process. The MOU ensured that local governments
became full members of the provincial negotiating team and
could join provincial negotiators at the treaty table and
at various treaty-related meetings.
How are local government interests represented?
Municipal and regional governments are not directly represented
on the provincial negotiating team. Rather, each individual
local government sends representatives to a Treaty Advisory
Committee (TAC). Treaty Advisory Committees coordinate and
represent the interests of local governments and their constituents
in the treaty process. The Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory
Committee (LMTAC) is the largest TAC in the province representing
mainly urban local government interests.
From the full LMTAC membership, specific representatives
are then chosen to sit with provincial negotiators at specific
treaty negotiation tables across the region. When TAC representatives
attend table-specific treaty meetings, they are acting on
behalf of the whole LMTAC membership, not solely as a representative
of their own municipal or regional government. Along with
the help of municipal, regional district and LMTAC staff,
all TAC representatives work to articulate local government
interests at the treaty table as well as report treaty negotiation
activity and issues to the wider LMTAC membership, their individual
municipal and regional councils and the public.
The TAC structure ensures that all municipal and regional
governments who are members of LMTAC are well represented
and that issues arising at one treaty table are connected
to negotiations across the Lower Mainland area. These "connections"
between negotiations are a critical component of treaty-making
in an urban setting.
FAST FACT: The Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee
is one of seventeen Treaty Advisory Committees across British
Columbia.
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