Chief Shana Thomas, Robert Phillips and Hugh Braker say B.C.’s modern treaty process is the route to negotiated certainty for rights, reconciliation and long-term prosperity.
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Chief Shana Thomas, Robert Phillips and Hugh Braker, members of the First Nations Summit Political Executive, say B.C. and Canada should remain committed to treaty-making as a way to resolve unresolved rights and build long-term certainty.
In their commentary published Oct. 12, the leaders argue certainty cannot be achieved by avoiding reconciliation, saying instead that certainty is achieved through reconciliation and that modern treaty negotiations exist because governments could no longer ignore unresolved First Nations inherent rights, title, and jurisdiction.
The authors say treaty-making provides “negotiated certainty” that litigation and political promises cannot offer, and they describe the treaty process as emerging from First Nations defending inherent rights, title, lands and resources in earlier years, including on land and in court.
They point to B.C.’s economy—citing housing, ports, transportation corridors, clean energy, forestry, tourism and infrastructure—and say each depends on activities taking place within First Nations territories, so uncertainty remains if underlying relationships are unresolved.
The commentary addresses claims that recognizing First Nations rights creates uncertainty for private landowners, saying the authors believe the greatest uncertainty arises when questions around rights, title and jurisdiction remain unsettled and end up in court.
They say modern treaties provide a framework to recognize First Nations rights while creating stability and predictability, noting the authors’ description that the expanded First Nations land base contemplated in modern treaties consists primarily of former Crown lands and that private property is addressed only on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.
The writers also say private fee-simple lands are not subject to expropriation as part of treaty negotiations, and they argue reconciliation in practice requires work among First Nations as nations discuss shared territories, overlapping interests, boundaries and responsibilities to land and one another.
Concluding, Thomas, Phillips and Braker call treaties “nation-building instruments” that can strengthen First Nations governments, support local economies, provide greater certainty for investors and establish frameworks for future generations, and they say B.C. and Canada should choose treaty-making to resolve difficult questions through negotiation rather than conflict and litigation.
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