Land claim and treaty negotiations in British Columbia, Canada: Implications for First Nations land and self‐governance

Abstract

AbstractUnlike the historic settlement of the rest of Canada, treaties with the First Nations originally occupying most of present‐day British Columbia have never been finalized. Since 1993, the federal government of Canada, the provincial government of British Columbia, and approximately two‐thirds of the First Nations in British Columbia have been engaged in treaty and land claim negotiations under a unique British Columbia treaty process. To date the process has produced only five agreements, three of which are fully ratified, one of which is in the ratification process, and one of which was rejected by the First Nations membership. This article reviews the history of treaties in British Columbia and uses exploratory illustrative case studies to examine two of these recent treaty negotiations—the Lheidli T'enneh First Nations and the Tsawwassen First Nations. These case studies demonstrate that treaty negotiations are very complex processes and do not always achieve mutual agreement, yet features of governance and land ownership included in these agreements have implications for land use policy and planning that affect all First Nations people in British Columbia, in Canada, and around the world.