“Reconciliation in B.C. is having a near-death experience,” says a First Nation leader after the Legislative Assembly passed two bills this week designed to fast-track projects.
This comment came from Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, who joined others in the First Nations Leadership Council criticizing the new legislation that passed on the evening May 28, one day before MLAs adjourned for a summer break. On Wednesday Victoria passed Bill 14, the Renewable Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, and Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, with a 47-46 vote. Using the razor-thin NDP majority in the legislature, House Speaker Raj Chouhan broke the tie to pass the bills.
Bill 14 intends to expedite the development of renewable energy projects by expanding the authority of the B.C. Energy Regulator, while some see Bill 15 as more broad reaching in its potential to centralize the provincial government’s power. Passed without any amendments within a month of being introduced, the Infrastructure Projects Act intends to eliminate delays in getting major capital developments built. The legislation pledges to speed up approvals for projects that are “designated as provincially significant,” according to a press release from the government. These identified projects will be reviewed more quickly through B.C.’s environmental assessment process to ensure that schools, hospitals and private sector developments “needed to drive economic growth” get built on time, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The province stated it will ensure projects get “robust environmental reviews and consultation with First Nations.” But the new legislation was drafted without First Nations’ input, says Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.
“If they want a bill like this, they should have talked to First Nations about it. But they didn’t, they just pushed it through really quickly,” she said. “This could be easily fixed if they talked to First Nations.”
Much of the criticism towards Bill 15 has come from its failure to follow the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Passed in 2019, this act sets out an obligation for the province to align its laws with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – an internationally recognized document that stresses the need for consent.
“States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them,” says UNDRIP.
Now the First Nations Leadership Council is considering its legal options. The council is composed of representation from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the First Nations Summit and the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.
“The passage of Bills 14 and 15 represents a new low point in the relationship between the provincial Crown and First Nations,” stated BCAFN Regional Chief Terry Teegee. “Premier Eby and his government have chosen to ignore our voices, dismiss our rights, and trample on the very reconciliation framework they helped to create. The damage to our relationship will be profound and lasting.”
The Union of B.C. Municipalities has also called for Bill 15 to be killed. A clause in the act states that “alternative authorizations” could allow the Ministry of Infrastructure to push a project through if delays from a local government persist.
“Bill 15 provides the cabinet with extraordinary powers to override regulations, including local government [official community plans], zoning bylaw amendment and subdivision approval processes,” stated the UBCM.
While discussing the bill in the legislature on May 28, Minister of Infrastructure Bowin Ma said the act was introduced to help communities get critical projects built faster.
“It will be obvious to any health care worker who is working in a hospital that can no longer be fully utilized because that hospital is at end of life and requires rapid replacement,” she said. “That urgency will be obvious to anyone with an aging parent who is on a wait list to get into a long-term-care home. That urgency will be known by a First Nation who may be ready to go with a project partnership on a critical economic development opportunity for their community, and they are coming to the province and asking us to get our house in order. That is the urgency behind this bill.”
