WFN exits treaty process, considers courts
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Updated: November 25, 2009 5:16 PM
No treaty will be negotiated between the Westbank First Nation and the B.C. and Canadian governments.
The financially successful band, based on the west side of Okanagan Lake, has formally decided to immediately suspend participation in the BC Treaty Commission, and is considering litigation as a means of settling its aboriginal rights and title to an area that spans the Central Okanagan, according to Chief Robert Louie.
Since 1995, considerable time, effort and money has been put into treaty negotiations with very little progress being made, the chief stated in a press release.
“We remain a significant distance apart on key areas crucial to reaching a treaty settlement and, at the moment, there is no hope of settlement.”
Westbank is one of approximately 64 First Nations who came together to form a Common Table in the spring of 2008 to negotiate with B.C. and Canada in a last ditch attempt to move the stalled treaty process forward, the chief said.
Six key areas were identified that proved to be stumbling blocks at the individual treaty tables. When negotiations concluded in August 2008, the treaty commission prepared an Opportunities Report and presented the document to all parties in the hopes that Canada and B.C. would amend their negotiation mandates accordingly.
It took more than a year for B.C. and Canada to respond, and once they did, the responses were hugely disappointing with little or no movement on the key issues, said Louie.
“Westbank has tried in vain using our best efforts to settle the rights and title issues through negotiations under the B.C. treatymaking process but we are not prepared to expend any more time, energy and money on a process that is not working.
“Instead, we will focus on exploring other options, including litigation and sorting out questions of overlap and shared territory within our nation and with our neighbouring tribes.”
Louie said the band would be willing to resume treaty talks if Canada
and B.C. change their mandates and negotiate in good faith.
