UN declaration is focus of government, First Nations meetings in B.C.: grand chief
UN declaration is focus of government, First Nations meetings in B.C.: grand chief
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president, Union of the BC Indian Chiefs addresses a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, January 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Health care, homelessness, land and resources are among the key topics to be discussed at meetings between British Columbia cabinet ministers and representatives from more than 200 First Nations organizations.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said Tuesday that landmark B.C. legislation requiring laws be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the foundation to get that work done.
“I think we've moved beyond the 'I talk,' I think we've moved beyond the flirting, and I think now is the time, with the foundation and platform of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, to do some serious work,” he said.
Phillip made the comments at the start of the seventh B.C. Cabinet and First Nations Leaders' Gathering. It comes three years after the province passed the legislation.
Cheryl Casimer, with the First Nations Summit political executive, said First Nations are trying to change archaic and colonial institutions and structures that never used to have space for Indigenous partners.
She said since the legislation passed, First Nations have a stronger vision of what they want to see, “how to breathe life” into the act, and how to implement it in their communities.
“And in order to do that, we have to continue to do that in partnership between ourselves and with the provincial government,” she said.
In his speech to the meeting, Premier David Eby said his government is committed to implementing the declaration and also wants to be able to address specific issues seen in communities.
He has appointed Doug White as special counsel to the premier on Indigenous reconciliation.
White is a lawyer, First Nations negotiator, a former chief of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and was the co-chair of Eby's transition team.
The premier says White's role will be to help navigate issues involving multiple provincial ministries and the federal government.
Eby said he recognized that there is more work to be done including on a new fiscal framework to ensure that First Nations governments have the revenues they need to look after their constituents.
“The new fiscal framework will support self-determination to achieve a provincewide future where First Nations are the active leaders. (A future) where, through self-determination, you are guiding your own communities to prosperity and to success for your people,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2022.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
A homicide investigation is underway on Quadra Island, B.C., after a 39-year old woman was found dead in what investigators believe was a targeted killing.
Alberta's former chief medical officer of health has landed a new role in British Columbia. Dr. Deena Hinshaw was named a deputy provincial health officer for B.C. on Wednesday.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Canada's new special representative on combating Islamophobia has apologized for words that hurt Quebecers after leaders in that province called for her resignation.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) is drawing their line in the sand on the controversial Saskatchewan First Act, calling it “bad news” for the environment, economy, and the province’s energy future.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
Bostwick Road has reopened following a serious crash on Wednesday evening. Around 7:20 p.m., emergency crews responded to the scene in south London for the incident involving two vehicles.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
A hearing is underway to determine if Udo Haan is not criminally responsible for the death of his wife Edra Haan, who was found in the aftermath of the 2018 house explosion in Kitchener, Ont.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president, Union of the BC Indian Chiefs addresses a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, January 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
