B.C. First Nation has draft treaty after 30 years of hard work: commissioner

B.C. Treaty Commission Chief Commissioner Celeste Haldane speaks during a news conference after the commission released its annual report, in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday September 20, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The newest draft treaty signed in British Columbia will allow the First Nation to “break free from the shackles of the Indian Act” and take control of their future, the head of the provincial treaty commission said Tuesday.

Chief Commissioner Celeste Haldane said the agreement represents 30-plus years of hard work and will fulfil the Kitsumkalum First Nation's vision for self-governance and control over its territory and resources.

Haldane said initialing a treaty with the federal and provincial governments is a “transformational change" that allows the nation to take control of its future.

“As a mother and a grandmother, I see the treaty as a powerful tool and what we want all First Nations people to experience is the freedom from the Indian Act,” said Haldane.

It's the second draft treaty announced in as many days after the neighbouring Kitselas First Nation said it had reached an agreement on Monday. The two treaties are the first to be signed in more than a decade.

A joint statement from the nation and the federal and provincial governments say the treaty comes amid "significant and foundational shifts in policy and approach that have re-energized the treaty negotiations process in B.C.," including the finalization of the Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiations in 2019.

"These positive shifts reflect new approaches to negotiation in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Canada's United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and the B.C. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act," the statement said.

The Kitsumkalum is a member of the Tsimshian First Nation Treaty Society in northwest B.C., and its chief negotiator Gerald Wesley said reaching the draft treaty with the federal and provincial governments has been "a long journey” that started as far back as the 1970s.

Wesley said Tuesday was a historic day for Kitsumkalum nation that will be written down in their history books.

"Hopefully our grandchildren and great-grandchildren down the road will label them, flip some pages and they'll see some of the steps and some of the efforts that have been taken,” he said.

The proposed deal for the 825 people of the nation located west of Terrace would give them more than 46,000 hectares of land, self-governing powers and control over territory and resources.

The nation's members must still ratify the agreement, and if passed, the federal and provincial governments need to create legislation to recognize the nation's rights.

Murray Rankin, minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation, said if the treaty passes, the subsequent legislation will change the Constitution of Canada.

"We will create a constitutional protection for the Kitsumkalum government, and unlike older treaties, we'll have the ability to change it over time.

“It's not a last will and testament. It's a living document with the opportunity for change as change occurs because we've seen already in our life, during the journey of the B.C. treaty commission process, enormous changes in the mandates, in the court cases that have got us to this point,” said Rankin.

The modern treaties will make life better for the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum nations and will also benefit the people of the northwest, the minister said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2024.