Proposed bill to repeal B.C. Indigenous rights legislation fails to move forward

A bill that aimed repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) was voted down in the legislature.

Vancouver-Quilchena MLA and OneBC interim leader Dallas Brodie tabled the private member’s bill Wednesday, dubbed the Property Rights Protection Act.

The party said the bill would also have imposed a new duty on government to consult property owners before making any decision that could affect their land or property rights.

It said the bill would also have required the attorney general to ensure provincial lawyers actively defend property rights in court.

Brodie said the bill is a reaction to the B.C. Supreme Court ruling on the Cowichan Tribes title lands in Richmond. 

The court found in August the Cowichan Nation holds Aboriginal title to more than seven square kilometres of land at their former village site in Richmond, as well as the right to fish the south arm of the Fraser River.

The court declared that most of Canada’s and Richmond’s fee simple titles in the area are invalid, but allowed the parties 18 months to negotiate a resolution.

Brodie said Wednesday Richmond residents were caught off guard by the decision. “That should never happen again,” she said in a statement.

The B.C. government has said it plans to appeal the ruling, citing concerns around its implications for fee simple private property rights. 

Premier David Eby said Wednesday the province is working an application to pause implementing the decision until the Court of Appeal weighs in.

DRIPA became law in B.C. in 2019. It established the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation in the province. 

The OneBC bill was supported by the Conservative caucus, including leader John Rustad, who has also called for DRIPA to be repealed. 

It was the second bill from Brodie to be rejected in as many weeks. Her private member’s bill last week calling for a prohibition on Indigenous land acknowledgments in schools and other public institutions was voted down.

Brodie was expelled from the B.C. Conservative caucus in March after comments she made on a podcast about residential school survivors.

She formed OneBC in June along with Kelowna–Lake Country–Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong.

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