Treaties address the unresolved land question in British Columbia.
Before Canada was a country, Britain recognized that Indigenous Peoples living here had title to land. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 declared that only the British Crown could acquire land from First Nations, and that was typically done through treaties. In most parts of Canada, the British Crown established treaties with First Nations before Confederation. The new Dominion of Canada continued this policy of making treaties before the west was opened for settlement, but in BC this process was never completed.
When BC joined Confederation in 1871, only 14 treaties on Vancouver Island (Douglas treaties) had been signed, and aboriginal title to the rest of the province was left unresolved. It wasn’t until 1970 that First Nations in Canada were able to pursue aboriginal rights in the Supreme Court of Canada. With the exception of Treaty 8 and negotiations with the Nisga’a Nation, most First Nations in BC had to wait until 1993 to pursue their aboriginal rights through the BC treaty negotiations process.
Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, affirmed that aboriginal title, and the rights that go along with it, exist whether or not there is a treaty. However, Section 35 does not define those rights, and uncertainty about how and where these rights apply can discourage investment and economic development in BC. Treaties provide certainty and will clarify aboriginal rights and title, ownership of BC’s land and resources.