B.C. regional chief decries 'fear mongering' over proposed changes to Land Act

Recent reactions to proposed changes to B.C.'s Land Act are a threat to reconciliation, B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee says. 

"This is fear mongering at its worst," said Teegee. 

The province's NDP government is drafting amendments to enable agreements with Indigenous governing bodies to share decision-making over public land and bring the Land Act in line with the province's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). 

DRIPA was passed unanimously in 2019 and establishes the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as B.C.'s framework for reconciliation. 

The use of Crown land is governed by the Land Act. Most of B.C.'s First Nations never signed formal treaties with Canada, meaning they never legally handed over land to the Crown. Of the nearly 100 million hectares of land in B.C., about 95 per cent is Crown land, or unceded territory. 

B.C. Conservative Party leader John Rustad issued a news release Feb. 1 saying the proposed amendments would bring "sweeping changes." 

"It is an assault on your private property rights and our shared rights to use Crown Land," said the news release. 

B.C. Conservative Party president Aisha Estey told CBC Radio's The Early Edition Monday that the changes will "repeal business" and section 35 of the Constitution already "facilitates the process that we are supposedly trying to facilitate with these Land Act amendments." 

"We disagree that six per cent of the population should have essentially a veto power over 95 per cent of the land," said Estey. 

The First Nations Leadership Council, which consists of executives from the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said in a news release Feb. 1 that it was concerned about "inaccurate and unhelpful" reactions to the proposed changes. 

The release said the changes will not give First Nations a veto over the use of lands and will not immediately alter the existing land tenure system. 

Teegee said the idea this would allow First Nations a "veto" is false and inflammatory. He said misunderstanding and "fear mongering" have been widespread since the changes were announced. 

"I think it's a threat to reconciliation and really sets us back in terms of relations with not only governments, with the general society," said Teegee. 

Nathan Cullen, B.C. minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, said there is no veto power contained in the proposed amendments.