VICTORIA B次元官网网址� The B.C. Treaty Commission and its federal and provincial financiers put on a brave show last week, celebrating a B次元官网网址渕ilestoneB次元官网网址� in negotiations for a modern treaty with five Vancouver Island First Nations.
A regional group representing the Songhees, Beecher Bay, TB次元官网网址橲ouke, Malahat and Snaw-Naw-As (Nanoose) First Nations have reached the stage of negotiations with Canada and B.C., after 20 years of treaty talks.
This is similar to the treaty finalized in 2007 with another five-member Vancouver Island group called . The TeB次元官网网址檓exw Treaty Association agreed to accept 1,565 hectares of provincial Crown land and $142 million in federal cash to settle its historic aboriginal title.
Alas, agreement in principle is but the fourth of sixth stages. Now a platoon of lawyers takes over from the roomful of negotiators to produce the final legal text. It will be years before this treaty can be presented to the B.C. legislature and the House of Commons in Ottawa, if it ever is.
These elaborate ceremonies will never be viewed the same again after the release of federal treaty advisor Doug EyfordB次元官网网址檚 report last month. The TeB次元官网网址檓exw event seemed to have an extra urgency after EyfordB次元官网网址檚 observation that much of this costly activity has become a job creation program for those involved.
These Vancouver Island communities deserve credit for setting aside their own territorial disputes. ItB次元官网网址檚 more than most have done. Eyford concluded after a long summer of meetings last year that many treaty negotiation teams in this province and across the country show no such inclination.
In B.C. and elsewhere in Canada, there is a B次元官网网址渃onspicuous lack of urgency in negotiationsB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渟harp divisionsB次元官网网址� between parties, most of which have been at the table for a decade or more, Eyford found.
This is what has come to be known as the B次元官网网址渁boriginal industry,B次元官网网址� where lawyers and consultants have a seemingly endless supply of lucrative work, much of it of questionable value. For some aboriginal participants, attending treaty meetings year after year is the best paying job they have ever had.
Indeed, a common feature of the provinceB次元官网网址檚 dealings with aboriginal communities is that their leaders demand meetings, and then demand to be paid to attend them.
This latest Vancouver Island treaty, assuming it is ever finalized, would at least in part replace the Douglas Treaties, signed by B.C.B次元官网网址檚 colonial governor James Douglas in the 1850s.
These treaties around Fort Victoria were quickly concluded if nothing else. The Beecher Bay Band was paid 45 pounds, 10 shillings for most of Sooke and another 43 pounds and change for its Metchosin territory.
One of the biggest missing pieces in the latest agreement in principle is the share of federally-regulated fisheries. This has been a theme of B.C. Treaty Commission reports in recent years, as Ottawa holds up treaties for years because it is unable or unwilling to offer shares of salmon in particular.
Hunting and fishing rights are acknowledged even in historic treaties, and reaffirmed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sharing these rights while maintaining conservation of fish stocks has been more than Ottawa, and in some cases neighbouring aboriginal communities, have been able to manage.
EyfordB次元官网网址檚 findings, and the B.C. governmentB次元官网网址檚 sudden refusal to keep staffing a B.C. Treaty Commission that shows so little progress, have sent one overdue message.
If participants arenB次元官网网址檛 prepared to make real compromises and show a willingness to conclude agreements rather than drag them out, they should leave and come back when they are ready to do so.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter:
