UNDRIP and Local Government’s

The everyday decisions and actions of local governments – ranging from regulating significant natural areas and hunting grounds to creating regulations that directly affect the health of the land and water – have profound, often harmful impacts on the rights of W̱SÁNEĆ. In fact, there are so many cumulative impacts from these decisions, there is no longer a place in W̱SÁNEĆ territory where W̱SÁNEĆ can practice inherent or treaty rights without watchful judgment.

XPȺ¸ (Western Redcedar) – W̱SÁNEĆ Territory

Yet, any local government body has very little obligation to consult with or consider W̱SÁNEĆ Rights. This creates a significant need and opportunity for local government bodies and W̱SÁNEĆ to work together to reduce the harmful effects of local government decision-making, leverage local governments’ resources to create visibility of and space for W̱SÁNEĆ in our territory, and further W̱SÁNEĆ interests.

This blog post is the second part of a series exploring this opportunity. It focuses on opportunities for collaboration arising out of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Part One – which addresses the levels of colonial government and the existing lack of consultation requirements – can be found here.

UNDRIP is a Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 to establish a framework for affirming the rights of Indigenous Peoples. There are many articles that apply to the work of local governments, for example,

Article 3: Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Article 18: Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect Page their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own Indigenous decision-making institutions.

Article 19: States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

Because UNDRIP is a Declaration of the United Nations, it is not legally “binding,” but individual governments can choose to create laws that implement UNDRIP. Both the federal government of Canada and British Columbia (B.C.) have created such laws. However, local governments impacting W̱SÁNEĆ have not. Therefore, there is an opportunity to improve local governments’ relationship with and consideration of W̱SÁNEĆ by encouraging local governments to work in a way that reflects the declarations in UNDRIP.

There are three ways to bring local governments’ work into alignment with UNDRIP. The first way is to ask B.C. to amend the Local Government Act – a B.C. law governing regional districts and municipalities – to require local governments to act in alignment with UNDRIP. Specifically, B.C. might choose to amend the Local Government Act to ensure local governments comply with  Article 32 of UNDRIP, which requires consultation and cooperation “in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.” This change would increase the amount of consultation and collaboration required with W̱SÁNEĆ before local governments could embark on projects that affect W̱SÁNEĆ’s territories.

While this would be a powerful change, B.C. struggles with Municipal push back. Currently, the Union of BC Municipalities and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs are looking at possible changes to the Local Government Act but the extent of these conversations are so far not available.  

The second way to bring local governments’ work into alignment with UNDRIP is to create an agreement with B.C. that increases W̱SÁNEĆ’s role in local government’s decision-making. This is supported by the law created by B.C. to implement UNDRIP, which is called the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA. Section 7(1) of DRIPA enables B.C. to create agreements with W̱SÁNEĆ that require 1) the joint exercise of “a statutory power of decision” by W̱SÁNEĆ and local governments and/or 2) consent from W̱SÁNEĆ before a local government can exercise “a statutory power of decision.”

However, the main limitation of this approach is the lack of clarity regarding what local government actions count as a “statutory power of decision.”

The third way to bring local governments’ work into alignment with UNDRIP is to encourage local governments impacting W̱SÁNEĆ to adopt UNDRIP themselves. Adopting UNDRIP as a local government is both recommended – such as in the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ Calls to Action – and already in practice in other cities. The city of Vancouver, for example, worked with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam, Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw Squamish Nation, and səlilwətaɬ Tsleil-Waututh Nation to create a Task Force for the implementation of UNDRIP in Vancouver. The Task Force created a strategy to implement UNDRIP that included 79 Calls to Action, including, for example, ensuring “access to culturally-safe, affordable housing within a range of housing options which align with Indigenous people’s needs” and developing and formalizing “agreements and protocols between the City and Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh concerning major events to be hosted in Vancouver (e.g. FIFA, Formula E, Olympic Games).” This partnership was the first instance of intergovernmental partners working together to approve a UNDRIP implementation strategy at the municipal level.

This approach could lead to meaningful change without reliance on negotiations with B.C. and is a powerful way for local governments to show a commitment to affirming the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Pursuing opportunities – such as this opportunity to leverage UNDRIP – is in direct alignment with WLC’s work promoting W̱SÁNEĆ interests through collaborative efforts. As such, this series will continue exploring the many ways W̱SÁNEĆ and local governments can work to minimize harmful decision-making and create practices that support W̱SÁNEĆ. WLC hopes these posts will lead to vibrant community discussion and, ultimately, to the actual implementation of the most promising opportunities for collaboration.

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