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Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory - Nearly 75% of BC voters either boycotted or registered a no vote in the treaty referendum sponsored by the BC Liberal government. In short, approximately 1.6 million citizens of BC rejected Premier Gordon Campbell’s treaty referendum.

Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs stated, “We are not the least bit surprised at the outcome of this so-called referendum on treaty-making. This ill-conceived referendum was widely criticized by the Federal government, the business community and the general public at large and the results bear out the fact that this referendum is neither recognized nor supported by the electorate of BC.”

The referendum questions were deliberately designed to generate a biased response in favor of the Provincial government’s negotiating stance. “We clearly recall renowned pollster Angus Reid describing the referendum as ‘amateurish’ and Reid went on to describe the questions as ‘one-sided’. More seriously, however, is the fact that the referendum questions reflected recycled positions of the Province that have either been rejected by the Courts or have proven to be non-starters at the negotiating table over the last ten-year period” said Chief Phillip.

Chief Phillip cautioned “In the event that the Provincial government continues to refuse to accommodate our aboriginal title and rights interests and continues to attempt to manipulate the aboriginal title and rights policy agenda, we can expect more serious conflict on the land and subsequently more litigation.”

“In our view, the Provincial government runs the real risk of creating the conditions that may very well cause the final collapse of the struggling BC Treaty process by virtue of the fact the responses to the referendum questions shall create unacceptable pre-conditions to future treaty negotiations. Consequently, the BC referendum on treaty making may very well prove to be a ‘mill stone’ as opposed to the ‘milestone’ proclaimed by Premier Campbell during his press conference yesterday” observed Chief Phillip.

The courts have clearly instructed that the Province must honour its crown obligations by initiating good faith negotiations that would award First Nation communities with an equitable share of land and resources. Such a settlement would be necessary in order that First Nation communities may develop economies that will ably sustain their people.

Chief Phillip stated further “Rather than waste more time on attempting to develop aboriginal policy on the basis of highly questionable referendum results, we strongly advise and encourage the Provincial government to act on the instructions already handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Delgamuukw case and the BC Court of Appeal in the Haida case and the BC Supreme Court in the Taku River Tlingit case.”

Chief Phillip concluded by saying, “Without question, any attempt to unilaterally impose the referendum results on the aboriginal people of BC shall only result in deeper economic uncertainty within BC as a direct consequence of an escalation in land-use conflict and more litigation.”