Decades in the making, B.C. signs agreement handing over title to Haida Gwaii
The B.C. government and the Council of Haida Nation have signed an agreement officially recognizing Haida Gwaii's Aboriginal title, more than two decades after the nation launched a legal action seeking formal recognition.
The province announced last month that it had reached a proposed deal with the Haida, which Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin called a “foundational step in the reconciliation pathway of Haida Nation and B.C.”
At the signing ceremony Sunday, Rankin said the agreement is “really, really important,” pledging to do whatever he can to “breath life into this historic agreement.”
“We could have been facing each other in a courtroom. We could have been fighting for years and years, but we chose a different path,” Rankin told those gathered for the ceremony. “We chose a path that requires creativity and courage and we got there together.”
The deal recognizes the First Nation's title throughout Haida Gwaii, but does not impact private property or government jurisdictions, and Rankin said at the time that litigation would've created “uncertainty for residents and businesses.”
Council of the Haida Nation President Jason Alsop said the agreement is about “honouring and recognizing the truth of our Haida history, and our relationship with Haida Gwaii that goes back to ancient times.”
“It's an acknowledgement of past denials and harms, and fully embracing the truth that Haida Gwaii is Haida land, always has been, always will be,” Alsop said. “We've never surrendered, ceded, in any way given up title to our land.”
Alsop said the Crown tried to “assert their sovereignty upon us,” but the agreement means that after more than a century and a half of that imposition, “we stand before you today committed to a future that's rooted in Haida history, Haida culture and Haida values in upholding our inherent right and responsibility to caretake Haida Gwaii.”
The province says the “Rising Tide” title agreement is a “first-of-its-kind” deal negotiated between the government and the nation, shifting “ownership and jurisdiction of land from the Crown to the Haida Nation in Crown law.”
Speaking at the ceremony, Premier David Eby said it was “a solemn and important recognition today and it is something that is so long overdue.”
Eby said the title of the Haida people over the territory was never in question, and courts have been urging governments to recognize Aboriginal title by making agreements, rather than litigating the matters.
He said when the law is introduced into the legislature,“ it will be the first time in Canada the title is recognized in this way.”
“It is an entirely different way of recognizing title, something that the courts have been telling us to do for a long time,” he said. “It will also be an example and another way for Nations, not just in British Columbia but right across Canada, to have their title recognized.”
A statement published Sunday by the nation's Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation said it is yet to be determined how the title will be implemented in a “planned and orderly way.”
The agreement was signed by representatives from the Council of the Haida Nation, several hereditary chiefs, and officials from the B.C. government and others from municipalities.
Desi Collinson, a regional representative on the Haida council, was the last signatory on the agreement, and applause broke out after it was done.
“We've all witnessed history here today,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2024
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.