The British Columbia treaty process reached an historic milestone with the passage of the Tsawwassen First Nation treaty and the Maa-Nulth First Nation treaty in the legislature. These treaties create templates which will inevitably impact North Shore residents at some time in the future. Our local Squamish Nation and Tseil Watuth (Burrard Band) are not yet engaged in the treaty process (chiefs shown in accompanying photograph).


The Tsawwassen First Nation, located south of Vancouver, adjacent to the municipality of Delta, entered treaty negotiations in 1993 and initialed a Final Agreement with B.C. and Canada in December 2006.

In July of this year, Tsawwassen band members voted 70 per cent in favour of ratifying the Final Agreement, which provides the band with approximately 724 hectares of treaty settlement land and a cash transfer of $13.9 million over 10 years. The treaty now goes to the Parliament of Canada for ratification, which is expected to occur.

The Tsawwassen Treaty encompasses land in the vicinity of the BC Ferries Terminal and the adjacent Roberts Bank commodities port, immediately north of Point Roberts and the U.S. border.

Significantly, the Tsawwassen people will now pay taxes like other Canadians – although in this case, to their own government. The Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation describes the final agreement in these terms:

The agreement includes a land package of approximately 724 hectares, including 372 hectares of former provincial Crown land, 290 hectares of Indian reserve land, together forming the Tsawwassen treaty settlement lands ("Tsawwassen Lands") over which Tsawwassen First Nation will have jurisdiction and 62 hectares of additional lands that will remain under the jurisdiction of the Corporation of Delta.

When the treaty comes into effect, Tsawwassen will own their land in fee simple and there will be no more Indian reserves.

The Final Agreement sets out law-making authorities that Tsawwassen may exercise on their lands. It will also allow the Tsawwassen government to become a member of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and appoint a director to sit on the GVRD board.
The second milestone agreement involves aboriginal peoples living on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. In November of this year, Bill 45 titled “Maa-Nulth First Nations Final Agreement” was introduced to the Legislature. This proposed treaty encompasses five different First Nations living in traditional areas which may be described approximately as follows:

• The Huu-ay-aht who live south of Bamfield
• The Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ who live in an area surrounding Kyuquot Sound
• The Toquaht Nation who live in an area surrounding Toquart Bay
• The Uchuckesaht who live in an area facing Barclay Sound
• The Ucluelet who live in areas northwest of Alberni Inlet

• Lands
• Title
• Subsurface rights
• Access
• Crown corridors and roads
• Water
• Forest Resources
• Fisheries
• Wildlife
• Migratory Birds
• Governance
• Regional government
• Indian Act transition
• Capital transfers and loan repayment
• Resource revenue sharing
• Fiscal relations
• Taxation
• Artifacts, heritage sites and place names
• Culture and heritage
• Environmental assessment and protection
• Federal parks and protected areas
• Provincial protected areas
• Dispute resolution
• First Nations Eligibility and enrollment
• Implementation, and
• Ratification

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