U.S. tribes in Washington State and Alaska are planning on citing B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People’s Act in challenging provincial approval of resource projects.
The Sinixt Confederacy and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission argue that they have historic rights to parts of B.C. They say lack of consultation and expedited environmental assessments for economic development contravenes their rights under the Canadian Constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Conservative Indigenous Relations critic Scott McInnis said U.S. tribes using DRIPA to block or delay resource projects amounts to a “sovereignty crisis.”
He said Eby and Attorney General Niki Sharma need to come up with a solution quickly instead of waiting for the court cases to pile up.
“The premier has a lot of explaining to do as to why court cases are piling up, and he thinks that it’s a great idea to come up with some sort of durable solution, which is unknown sometime into the future,” said McInnis.
In northwestern B.C., the Southeast Alaska commission is challenging the approval of the Eskay Creek Mine revitalization project. They have also voiced concerns about the Red Chris Mine expansion and the Seabridge Gold Mine.
It represents 14 tribes, including the American members of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples, and argue that their traditional territory extends on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border and that their traditional territory includes the Unuk Watershed, where the Eskay Creek Mine is located and where Seabridge is proposed.
Guy Archibald, executive director of the commission, says the lawsuit was filed in November and the commission has still not heard back from the province. Instead, he says the province changed the Environmental Assessment Act to try to limit “participating Indigenous nation status” to Canadian First Nations.