Treaty Process Needs Changes Says Report
By 250 News
Monday, July 28, 2008 09:12 AM
Vancouver, B.C. - The Fraser Institute has issued a report on Treaty negotiations, and it isn't pretty.
Saying the negotiations with B.C. Bands have already cost more than $1.1 billion, it warns there is a danger of creating a "burgeoning bureaucracy with little incentive to reach final agreements".
"After 15 years of negotiation with BC bands at a cost of more than $1.1 billion, the province has only eight treaties that have either been passed, initialled or are in the final negotiating stage," said Mark Milke, author of Incomplete, Illiberal, and Expensive: A Review of 15 Years of Treaty Negotiations in British Columbia and Proposals for Reform.
He concludes that the BC treaty process suffers from three main flaws:
- The process is incomplete and is creating a "bureaucratic Leviathan" that will ensure chronic, on-going consultation and negotiation, and substantial funding;
- The process and negotiating positions are often illiberal, pitting individual Canadians against other Canadians, in a manner not required by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
- The true cost of negotiations and settlements have been understated or omitted.
The report recommends governments incorporate greater disclosure, fairness, and fiscal responsibility in their negotiating positions. Among the key recommendations:
- Continue transfers of land and conversion of existing land to fee simple ownership;
- Ensure aboriginal governments have the same taxing powers as other BC municipalities;
- Taxation and voting rights should apply equally to all aboriginals and non-aboriginals living on aboriginal land;
- Governments should provide a full accounting of estimated expenditures for all aspects of treaty settlement, including land transfers;
- Outstanding claims against BC and Canada should be forsworn as a condition of federal and provincial agreement to treaties;
- Overlap between aboriginal claimants should be settled before the federal or BC government agrees to any treaties; and
- Governments should move away from the Indian Act and provide more direct funding to individual aboriginals.
The complete report is available as a free PDF download at www.fraserinstitute.org.
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Posted by: giterdun on July 28 2008 10:15 AM