Following the release of the BC Treaty Commission 2019 Annual Report in November, Commissioners and staff met with the BC Government and members of the Legislative Assembly in Victoria.
The annual report highlights recent federal and provincial policy changes. We met with many leaders eager to hear how treaty tables are already implementing a rights recognition approach to negotiations, including Premier John Horgan, Attorney General David Eby and ministers and senior officials from the Ministries of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development; Education and Advanced Education, Skills and Training; and MLAs from the BC Green Party and the BC Liberal Party.
These meetings coincided with the debates in Committee of Bill 41, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Declaration Act), and Chief Commissioner Celeste Haldane was able to witness some of the debate.
The Treaty Commission supports the Declaration Act and was pleased when Bill 41 received Royal Assent last Wednesday on November 28. British Columbia made history, becoming the first province or territory in Canada to enact legislation enshrining the human rights of Indigenous peoples in law.