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Government calls referendum on First Nations’ treaty negotiations a success

Local chiefs say referendum is likely to be nothing but trouble Local First Nation’s members are not impressed by the results of the province-wide referendum on treaty negotiations.

Local chiefs say referendum is likely to be nothing but trouble

Local First Nation’s members are not impressed by the results of the province-wide referendum on treaty negotiations.

"It is a pitifully low mandate if you claim it is a mandate," said chairman of the council of the Squamish Nation and hereditary chief Bill Williams.

"It is a resounding defeat if you look at the real numbers."

Williams is referring to the fact that only 36 per cent of the ballots mailed out were returned. The rest were spoiled or discarded.

As an example he points to the response to question one of the ballot: Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlement.

"They say that 595,000 voted yes," he said.

"But if you take the total number of ballots sent out, the 2,127,000, and you put the 595,000 who voted yes to it, that is only 27 per cent of the people who voted yes.

"And look at other side, 72 per cent either didn’t vote, spoiled their ballot or voted no."

Williams is also concerned that it will just delay the treaty process even further, even though the Squamish Nation is not officially in the treaty process. Holding the referendum took everyone away from the negotiating table for a year, he said.

Now he fears it will take another year to interpret the mandate and get back to negotiating.

"It was just a waste," he said.

Mount Currie business development director Lyle Leo is concerned the referendum will create an adversarial atmosphere between First Nations reaching out to their neighbours to explore joint ventures.

"What concerns me is that it is going to affect relationships between society at large and aboriginal peoples," he said.

"It is coming from a public that is not fully informed of the aboriginal issues so it will again create a mindset that isn’t based on fact and the actual needs of the aboriginal community."

He is worried aboriginal concerns, which often reflect the concerns of communities in general, will be relegated to "race-based" solutions.

"The government is promoting race-based issues and that is what has me very concerned," he said.

"This is very irresponsible leadership to develop this type of mindset."

While Leo is concerned he said he has not given up hope that some good may come of this.

"All we can hope is that this government will step forward with some good will and seek positive, constructive opportunities to deal with the land issue and not use it towards creating a mindset that is adversarial to aboriginal issues."

In Victoria Wednesday Premier Gordon Campbell described the referendum as an "incredible milestone."

"After many years of being shut out of the treaty process, the people of our province have sent a resounding message to First Nations and to Canadians alike that we are committed to pursuing the negotiation of treaties that are affordable, that are workable, that create certainty, finality and equality."

To date half a billion dollars has been spent on trying to negotiate treaties across the province but not a single one has been signed.

Only the Nisga’a treaty stands as a modern-day treaty in B.C. It was negotiated outside the current framework.

The mail-in ballot, the first of its kind in Canada, which is estimated to have cost $9 million, sparked widespread criticism and was even challenged in court. Many groups opposed it, including aboriginal groups, labour, church and social groups who claimed the views of the minority would be imposed on the majority.

During the next 30 days the government intends to meet with First Nations leaders, the federal government and third parties to the treaty process to discuss the results and ways to make treaty negotiations more effective.

"We will take some time to review the results in detail and then formulate an approach to negotiations with Canada and First Nations," said Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations Geoff Plant.

The release of the results completes a process which began in early April when 2,127,000 ballots were sent to B.C. voters. They had until May 15 to send in their returns.

The 760,000 respondents gave the following replies:

• 84.5 per cent said they agree that private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements.

• 92.1 per cent said they agreed that the terms and conditions of leases and licences should be respected and fair compensation should be offered for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests.

• 93.1 per cent agreed that hunting and fishing and recreational opportunities on Crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians.

• 94.5 per cent agreed that parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians.

• 93.6 per cent agreed that province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection should continue to apply.

• 87.2 per cent agreed that the provincial government should adopt the principal that aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbian.

• 91.7 per cent agreed that treaties should include mechanisms for harmonizing land use planning between aboriginal governments and neighbouring local governments.

• 90.5 per cent agreed that we should adopt the principle that existing tax exemptions for aboriginal people should be phased out.

For more information visit www.elections.bc/index.html , or www.gov.bc.ca and follow the links.