Our Te’mexw Treaty Association is currently in the middle of Stage Four of the BC Treaty Process of Negotiations.

STAGE ONE:

Statement of Intent – a First Nation or a group of First Nations come together with a shared sense of identity, language, laws and customs among the First Nation or group.

The First Nation or governing body, however this may be established, must be within their traditional territory in British Columbia. Also, to enter the BC Treaty Process, the First Nation or Group has to be mandated by its people to enter into negotiations on their behalf with Canada and British Columbia.

Once this has been completed the Organizing body of the First Nation must submit a Statement of Intent, which describes the Traditional Territory, some historic description of the Traditional Territory once this is submitted and accepted you will move to the next stage of negotiations.

STAGE TWO:

Readiness Assessment – all three parties, Canada, BC and the First Nation will have an initial meeting. Each will submit a readiness submission. The BC Treaty Commission will assess each submission and come up with the conclusion of whether each party is ready to proceed.

STAGE THREE:

Framework Agreement Negotiations – is a negotiated agenda on what will be discussed and negotiated in Stage four. This will set up subjects, objectives and establish timelines for these negotiations.

STAGE FOUR:

Agreement in Principle – this is where negotiations begin to take place and will create the foundation on what the Final Treaty will look like. This will also set forth, agreed upon recommendations by the Negotiators from each party. These recommendations are not legally binding. They also require the final approval from each of the Parties principals. For the First Nation the Agreement in Principle states that YOUR Chief & Council will set up an approval process.  This very much could be by way of BCR.  Remembering that this stage is NOT legally binding

STAGE FIVE:

Final Agreement Negotiations – these is where the final tweaking of the Agreement in Principal work will be done.

STAGE SIX:

Implementation of the Final Agreement – Once the Final Agreement is ratified by the membership – the final stage is Implementation of the Treaty.

CERTAINTY

What this means in the Treaty Process is ownership, rights and responsibilities and the authority of all the parties (Canada, British Columbia and the First Nation) are laid out in a clear, concise and predictable way. Certainty means – predictability for all parties, something that is lacking right now.


Both Governments have in the past had a bottom line of having the First Nation “cede, release and surrender” their aboriginal rights in exchange for treaty rights, this was known as the extinguishment model. First Nations have adamantly rejected this model as it does not achieve certainty for the First Nation and only the Government. This “extinguishment model” was extremely risky for First Nations as it was feared that they would be giving up rights that may not be defined or included in treaty.

More recently, the parties have been exploring a new approach to certainty known as “non-assertion model”. This still requires a lot of work. The basic concept of non-assertion is that the First Nations will promise that as long as the governments implement the treaty the FIRST NATIONS will not assert their rights except in accordance with the treaty. /This moves away from the old idea of giving up rights to a new concept of respectful implementation of treaties by all sides.