The chiefs of the first nations in BC were among the more than 600 bosses who traveled to Gatineau, who, this week to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney about the controversial bill C-5.
The Canada Construction Law, approved on June 6, gives the Federal Government the ability to avoid certain laws, government regulations and environmental evaluations if a project of the industry is considered in national interest.
The BC Indian Chiefs Union (UBCIC) opposes bill C-5, and the assembly of the first BC (BCAFN) nations says that most of the 204 nations in BC are worried about it.
Don Tom, vice president of Ubcic, attended the meeting, which took place in the Canada History Museum, surrounded by totems on the west coast.
Tom, who is also the head of the first Tartlip nation on the island of Vancouver, said that despite the fact that many first nations oppose the bill, most of those who have the opportunity to speak supported him.
“Since the opening of the meeting, it was evident that those who were friendly to the projects received the platform to speak,” Tom to CBC News told CBC.
“The prime minister was clear that this was not a consultation, but a commitment; I think that the general feeling between the bosses is that the government arrives a day late and a short dollar.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking from Hamilton on Wednesday, says that his government is now involved with the first nations before specific projects are discussed.
He says that consulting the first nations after the legislation has already approved is not significant.
UBCIC is a defense organization for the first nations in BC and a member organization of the leadership Council of the first BC nations. In a press release, he affirms that the chiefs of the entire Chamber made it clear that the first nations in Canada continue to be excluded from the decision -making tables with regard to their lands, rights and resources.
“Canada cannot develop economic recovery in the back of indigenous nations without our consent, our participation and our respected laws,” Tom said in the statement.
He says that BC and Canada have broken their own declaration of the United Nations on the rights of indigenous laws (Untrip).
“We will not be legislated, we will maintain our title and rights recognized in section 35 of the Constitution. We are the first peoples of the Earth, we are not Indians of Canada,” he said.
Terry Teegee, regional head of BCAFN, shared similar feelings. BCAFN advocates the first 204 nations in the province and is also a member organization of the leadership of the first BC nations.
The BC Assembly of the regional chief of the first nations, Terry Teegee, says that legislators should not avoid environmental evaluations to accelerate important projects. It tells BC Today, presenter, Michelle Eliot, that any response to the commercial war with the United States must also defend indigenous rights.
In an interview in CBC’s BC todayTeegee said that the general feeling of many first nations throughout the country is that there are concerns about what a national interest project really implies.
“Bill C-5 does not recognize or recognize a consultation process, nor a process based on consent for the first nations,” he said.
He says that BC law 14 and 15, as well as federal bill C-5, should have been developed in association with the first nations, under the provincial and federal legislation Undrip.
“We go to the challenges in the judicial system,” he said.
A BCAFN press release establishes that most BC bosses are concerned about the lack of transparency regarding the Canada Construction Law and cares about their rights.
“If this law is going to be saved, and if Canada must avoid the expensive legal battles, Prime Minister Carney must make substantive and concrete commitments with the legislative, regulatory and political protections to ensure that the standards of the UN declaration are maintained.”
Tom says that Carney stayed throughout the summit, which is rare for a prime minister, and that he assured the first nations that more consultations would arrive.
