With a Conservative party rising in the ranks in B.C., a First Nations Summit political executive says now is the time to address misinformation and fear-mongering around Indigenous rights and reconciliation.
"We want to work with government, and we want to make sure that it is in a process that is collaboration that's based on facts, that is based on a relationship, so that we're not going back to court, we're not arguing, we're not protesting," First Nations Summit political executive Robert Phillips told Black Press Media Friday (Sept. 6).
Phillip's worries around misinformation and fear-mongering come after the First Nations Leadership Council, which the First Nations Summit is a part of, slammed Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad's comments during a discussion with podcaster Jordan Peterson.
Rustad sat down with Peterson on Aug. 15, but the interview, called "Stopping the Socialist Trainwreck in British Columbia," wasn't shared on Peterson's social media channels until Sept. 2. In it, they talked about energy, education, his move to the Conservative Party and "Indigenous law."
While talking about natural resources, Rustad brought up property rights.
“Property rights, in my opinion, is a fundamental core for our freedoms in a society. If your property rights are at risk, that really undermines the core values that you have in a society. We’re seeing right now, for example, many properties along the oceanfront in certain areas that were sold based on having water access."
Rustad said the government is now coming along and "taking away that water access," pointing to Haida Gwaii and an agreement signed between the government and the Haida Nation in April. The agreement recognizes Haida Nation's title over Haida Gwaii.
At the time of signing, the province said the agreement would enter a transition period for at least two years, while B.C. and the Nation negotiate how to combine their laws.
But Rustad told Peterson the agreement "actually identified title underneath private property rights and so Indigenous law will now apply to private properties. Indigenous law will now say what you can and can’t do."
Peterson then asked "who decides what Indigenous law is?" and Rustad responded with "the Indigenous government."
Phillips said it has "nothing to do with private property," adding there were the same issues around misinformation when it came to treaty negotiations and Rustad was around back then – but with the B.C. Liberals.
"The same thing, the same fear-mongering is happening again."
Phillips said the Haida Nation is in negotiations with the provincial government – an organized discussion. He added they've outlined very clearly that not a lot is going to change.
"It has nothing about people losing their houses. They will still have to pay their property tax. They will still have their houses. They will still have it, whether it's on Crown title or aboriginal title."
Toward the end of the discussion on Indigenous title rights, Rustad said there is going to "need to be a compensation requirement" where those benefits were "taken away by government or government action." He added to "think about what that compensation would be for downtown Vancouver or downtown Victoria or any of the other communities in the province should title be found underneath those areas.”
But Phillips said First Nations "know that they can't get millions and billions and trillions of dollars" in compensation.
"Again, the fear-mongering that is going on, saying that compensation would be so high that we wouldn't be able to pay for it. That is true, but that's not what First Nations are doing."
He pointed to Vancouver, where the three area First Nations – Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh – joined together to build a high-density development of thousands of units in the city's west side. City council has since approved the development concept.
"Vancouver is a perfect example of how it should be done ... They said, 'Let's do one-third, one-third, one-third because it's a lot better than having 100 per cent of nothing,' so they went and had discussions."
Black Press Media has reached out the the Conservative Party of B.C.
