On October 24th, BC unveiled legislation intended to harmonize its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — making it the first province to do so since Canada endorsed the UN declaration in 2016.
On the same day, the Supreme Court of Canada announced that it will hear the province’s appeal of a case it lost in the BC Supreme Court and the BC Court of Appeal concerning the rights of the Sinixt First Nation, which was falsely declared “extinct” in 1956.
These simultaneous announcements have placed BC Premier John Horgan’s government in the dissonant position of championing “a new era of rights recognition, moving away from conflict and court battles” while arguing in court that one of the province’s original peoples have none. To honour B.C’s groundbreaking movement towards truth and reconciliation, Horgan should direct his Attorney General David Eby to give up BC’s case against the Sinixt.
Read the rest of the article at Macleans.ca: https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/b-c-should-give-up-case-of-extinct-sinixt-first-nations/
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