Auditor General Report on Treaty Negotiations
By 250 News
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 02:38 PM
The Acting Auditor General for B.C. says the Province is going to have to step up the Treaty process.
In his report on the Province's negotiations with First Nations, Acting Auditor General Arn van Iersel says ""The slow pace of negotiations at the majority of treaty tables is straining relationships and is increasing the sense of frustration among some First Nations."
On the positive side, van Iersel says the Province has the proper pieces in place to successfully negotiate treaties, but because the Province has opted to focus its efforts on what it terms "beakthrough tables", where it believes it can achieve success, the process is going too slow. His full report can be viewed here.
On the positive side, van Iersel says the Province has the proper pieces in place to successfully negotiate treaties, but because the Province has opted to focus its efforts on what it terms "beakthrough tables", where it believes it can achieve success, the process is going too slow. His full report can be viewed here.
The Federal Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, also released her report on the Federal participation in the Treaty process.
Her audit notes the process has been on going for a dozen years at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, and not one Treaty has been signed.
Fraser says "the results achieved are well below the three parties' initial expectations. In the last few years, however, efforts have been made by the two governments to improve the treaty process."
Fraser says part of the problem is that all three parties, the Federal and Provincial governments and First Nations, have different views about the process:
" For example, the two governments base their participation in the treaty process on their own policies, and do not recognize the Aboriginal rights and title claimed by the First Nations. Many First Nations base their participation in the process on the assertion that they have Aboriginal rights under Canada's Constitution and that these rights should be acknowledged before negotiations begin. Additionally, the governments see treaties as a full and final settlement of the Aboriginal rights and title claimed by First Nations, whereas First Nations see them as documents capable of evolving as the relationship between the parties develops."
Fraser says the difference in views has not only resulted in limited progress at the negotiation table, but has been a contributing factor to 40% of the First Nations not entering the process at all.
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Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on November 28 2006 9:39 PM
If all parties really wanted this done it would have been by now.....
I hear and see a lot of talking, a lot of chest puffing, and a lot of finger pointing, but not much else