Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs: BC Treaty Commission Briefing

Posted on Tue, Oct 25, 2011, 3:59 pm by Alpheus

Members in attendance

---

Conservative: Chris Warkentin (Chair), LaVar Payne, Rob Clarke, Randy Hoback, Kyle Seeback, Ray Boughen, David Wilks
NDP: Dennis Bevington, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, Linda Duncan, John Rafferty
Liberal: Carolyn Bennett

Committee in brief

---

The Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development met on Tuesday with commissioners and counsel from the British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC). Witnesses spoke to the committee about the 19-year treaty negotiations process. They emphasized that the process needed to be expedited by way of involving government negotiators that have the mandate and capacity to close the deal and move forward, and added that the conclusion of negotiations would unlock the economic potential of First Nations areas.
Questions from members at the committee pertained to the trust by First Nations for the federal negotiations process after a lengthy process, the stages of the negotiations, the differences between B.C.’s bilateral negotiations process and the tripartite negotiations, the economic benefits of concluding the negotiations, the clashes resulting from treaty overlap and ways to deal with this.

Source: http://www.ipolitics.ca/2011/10/25/bring-deal-making-powers-to-treaty-negotiation-table/