Tla’Amin (Sliammon) First Nation community members are condemning the federal government for stalling their final treaty agreement. Chief negotiators reached a deal in June 2010, but the federal government has not signed off on it, which means Tla’Amin has not been able to start its ratification process.
Tla’Amin representatives were astonished to learn from Conservative MP John Weston, who represents the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding, that he has concerns about constitutional issues in the treaty. While he denies he is the source of the government’s delay, he did have a meeting in the Prime Minister’s office about his concerns.
It took the federal government only eight weeks to sign off on negotiators’ agreements for the Tsawwassen First Nation and Maa-nulth First Nations final treaties. Both have been ratified and both are part of the BC Treaty Commission process, just like Tla’Amin’s. Its treaty doesn’t contain any law-making provisions that are different from those treaties.
The federal government recognizes the inherent right of self-government as an existing aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. A document entitled “The Government of Canada’s Approach to Implementation of the Inherent Right and the Negotiation of Aboriginal Self-Government” is easily found on Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s website. It states the government recognizes as well that “the inherent right may find expression in treaties, and in the context of the Crown’s relationship with treaty first nations. Recognition of the inherent right is based on the view that the aboriginal peoples of Canada have the right to govern themselves in relation to matters that are internal to their communities, integral to their unique cultures, identities, traditions, languages and institutions, and with respect to their special relationship to their land and their resources.”
In 2000, Weston was the lead counsel in what is known as the Chief Mountain Challenge, a legal attack on the Nisga’a treaty. Weston was retained by a Nisga’a hereditary chief, James Robinson, known as Chief Mountain, who opposes the treaty because, he maintains, it destroys traditional hereditary governance and culture.
Weston eventually left as lead counsel and the case is now backed by the Calgary-based Canadian Constitution Foundation. It was dismissed in 2005 on procedural issues, but was reinstated in 2007 by the BC Court of Appeal. It came before the courts in October 2010 and a decision is pending.
In a 2003 presentation to the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Weston gave a detailed overview of the case, the key issue of which is sovereignty, he said. “Is Canada a group of 10 provinces, two territories and over 600 sovereign Indian bands, all with authority parallel to that of the federal government?” Weston asked in the speech. “Or do we have two orders of government, federal and provincial, and Indian bands whose authority is more clearly akin to that of municipal authorities?”
Weston often says his mission as MP is to bring Ottawa to his constituents. However, he has let one part of his constituency down and they are travelling to Ottawa this week to seek support for their treaty. It’s a trip that shouldn’t be necessary.
