By Grant Warkentin
The following is an opinion article.
Premier David Eby’s attempt to distract the electorate yesterday with his surprise Daylight Savings Time announcement was ham-fisted and cynical, and disrespects every single voter in this province.
To be fair there’s no direct proof the announcement, which came out of the blue on a Monday morning, was timed to distract from a public relations tire fire which started over the weekend when independent media uncovered alarming details in a recent agreement between the Musqueam First Nation and the Government of Canada.
It’s possible Eby really thought it was a great idea to go ahead unilaterally and make sure BC is out of sync with its single biggest trading partner just across the border, and out of sync with Oregon and California, our second and third biggest trading partners.
It’s possible Eby truly believes BC can separate itself from those trading partners, despite them accounting for half of all our trade, worth more than $27 billion annually.
And it’s possible he decided on the spur of the moment over the weekend to bestow this benevolent blessing upon us all out of pure altruism, without any warning or advance notice to anyone, and blame the USA for making him do it.
Yes, it’s possible that Eby is really that stupid and naive.
But is it likely? No, it is not. And it’s an insult to expect anyone in BC to believe this hogwash.
The most likely explanation for the bizarre announcement is that Eby was desperate for something, anything, to draw attention away from the February 26, 2026 certification of a “Rights Recognition Agreement” between the Musqueam and Canada after it blew up over the weekend. The agreement, when considered in conjunction with the recent Cowichan decision suggesting aboriginal title takes priority over fee simple title, should alarm every single property owner and voter in BC.
Most concerning is the agreement’s intention to address title disputes through “Incremental Implementation Agreements (IIA).” This appears to be a new way of describing “Incremental Treaty Agreements (ITA)” such as the agreement signed between Campbell River’s Wei Wai Kum First Nation and the Crown in August 2022, which are agreements made outside the treaty process. For example, the local agreement saw the province transfer ownership of nearly 2,300 hectares of Crown land north of Campbell Lake to the nation, and the deal stands whether or not the nation ever signs a treaty.
Although they don’t have treaty strings attached, ITAs were explicitly intended to encourage nations to pursue treaties, and to act as milestones in the treaty process. In contrast, the IIAs as they appear in the Musqueam agreement appear to have given up on any such treaty goals. Instead, the agreement encourages IIAs as ways to promote reconciliation through an ongoing process, with no expectations of ever moving towards a treaty, or ending the process.
Basically, the nation can ask for another deal any time they want.
Treaties provide certainty. IIAs appear intended to continue a state of uncertainty in perpetuity while calling it “reconciliation.” Taxpayers will be on the hook forever, at the whim of the nation.
Reconciliation will not be possible through such a secretive, one-sided process that excludes most of the people who will be negatively affected by the results and forced to pay for it all. If BC follows the process laid out in the Musqueam agreement with other nations, this province will fail as a state.
As the Court of Appeal in New Brunswick ruled last year, aboriginal title and fee simple title cannot co-exist. It’s impossible. And elevating aboriginal title over fee simple title undermines the entire legitimacy of the provincial government, Crown land, and private property rights.
The East Coast appeal judges tossed out an aboriginal title claim over half the entire province and forced the claimants to pay legal costs, pointing out it was a non-starter to try and dispossess landowners without even allowing them to be part of the discussion.
BC is taking a very different path, a path with lots of secret meetings excluding the majority of BC citizens. Along this path are government officials lying to the public, as David Eby appeared to do yesterday when he claimed he knew nothing about the contents of the Musqueam agreement despite being present for the signing ceremony. The alternative explanation — that he is so incompetent he didn’t bother to read the agreement — is hardly reassuring.
How is this reconciliation? There is certainly no truth to be found here. All this does is needlessly broaden the divide between First Nations and everyone else in this province.
Everyone who lives in this province, indigenous and otherwise, deserves better from the provincial government as we try to address past injustices while making sure this province still has a future. This agreement, and Eby’s attempts to spin it away, are an insult to us all.
There is no reconciliation without truth.
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