The province’s aboriginal leaders have killed the government’s proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act, a move that derails Premier Gordon Campbell’s “new relationship” with first nations.
The proposed law was touted earlier this year as a “seismic shift” in the province’s approach to land claims, but before it even made it to the drafting stage, a discussion paper outlining the concept met with strong opposition – first from resource companies and later from aboriginal communities.
Now Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit, one of the architects of the discussion paper, has said the province has no authority to move forward.
“The lack of trust in this government forced people to say no,” he said in an interview.
A gathering of 250 chiefs – elected and hereditary – met with native elders for three days this week to discuss the proposal in the last of a series of community meetings that took place over the summer. They formally rejected it Friday.
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