Previous negotiations Because the
Royal Proclamation of 1763 stated that the Crown must negotiate and sign treaties with the Indigenous people before land could be ceded to a colony, the
Numbered Treaties were negotiated in most parts of the
Prairie Provinces. The Government of the
Colony of British Columbia, however, failed to negotiate many treaties and as a result, most of the province's land is not covered by treaties. The few exceptions are the 14
Douglas Treaties on
Vancouver Island,
Treaty 8 (1899) in the Northeast of B.C., and the 2000
Nisgaʼa Final Agreement. Relations between Indigenous peoples and the B.C. government worsened over time, as the
McKenna–McBride Royal Commission led to the redistribution of reserve lands and the
Allied Tribes of British Columbia was essentially dissolved by an amendment to the
Indian Act. First Nations were not allowed to organize or raise money to pursue land claims. In the second half of the 20th century, demands for the recognition of
Aboriginal title were buoyed by various court decisions in B.C., including
Calder v British Columbia (AG) and
R v Sparrow. In 1990, the governments of Canada, B.C. and First Nations established the B.C. Claims Task Force to investigate how treaty negotiations might begin and what they should cover. The following year, the provincial government accepted the concept of Aboriginal rights (including the inherent right to self-government) as official policy. The Claims Task Force made 19 recommendations and suggested a six-stage process for negotiating new treaties.
Treaty Commission and process The British Columbia Treaty Commission is the independent body which oversees the treaty process. B.C. treaty commissioners were first appointed in April 1993, and the treaty process officially began in December 1993. By 1996, 47 First Nations, representing more than 60% of
status Indians in B.C., had decided to participate. After a few years of negotiations, the Treaty Commission released the
1997 Systems Overload Report which argued that the provincial and federal governments needed to increase their financial resources and the capacity level of First Nations for the negotiation of treaties in BC. The following year, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision on
Delgamuukw v British Columbia, recognizing Aboriginal title as "a right to the land itself", which derives from First Nations original occupation and possession at the time the Crown asserted sovereignty. The court also stated that the federal and provincial governments may infringe upon Aboriginal title under conditions for justification but that fair compensation would be due at the time of such an infringement.
Sechelt First Nation was the first community to sign an agreement-in-principle (AIP) in 1999. Members of the
Sliammon First Nation (Tlaʼamin First Nation) voted to reject their negotiated AIP in 2001, but then approved the AiP in June 2003. Tlaʼamin Nation later ratified a final agreement with BC & Canada in 2012, which is in effect as of 2016. Six of 12 member nations of the
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council likewise rejected their AIP. The five Maa-nulth First Nations of the Nuu-chah-nulth ratified their treaty in October 2007. The BC government has ratified the final agreement which is yet to be ratified in the federal parliament. Ditidaht First Nation has subsequently taken legal action against the Maa-nulth in a dispute over land and resource ownership. In 2002, the governing
BC Liberal Party mailed out ballots for a provincial
referendum on principles for treaty negotiations. However, the referendum failed due to controversy over its phrasing and logistics, which generated protests and a boycott. In May 1993 the Treaty Commission allocated approximately in negotiation support funding to more than 50 First Nations: $345.6 million in the form of loans and $86.4 million in the form of contributions. Of that money the Treaty Commission's total operating costs from 1993 to March 31, 2009, spent $34.2 million. Under the BC treaty process, negotiating nations have received 5% of their claimed land recognized. Grand Chief
Stewart Phillip, president of the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, called the court ruling a "nail in the coffin" of the B.C. treaty process. ==Process==