First Nation leader Robert Phillips says proposed DRIPA changes would gut legislation

Robert Phillips speaks during a news conference for an announcement of funding to Indigenous led conservation in B.C. at the 2023 B.C. Cabinet and First Nations Leaders’ Gathering in Vancouver, on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

A First Nations leader said proposed amendments to British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act would take a “sledgehammer” to the landmark legislation.

Robert Phillips of the First Nations Summit said the amendments would “gut” DRIPA and turn back the clock on relations between the provincial government and First Nations by decades.

Phillips’ warning came before Thursday’s meeting between First Nations leaders and Premier David Eby, who has said the changes are necessary to put MLAs, not the courts, in charge of reconciliation.

The Canadian Press has obtained a copy of the proposed changes, and while Phillips said a non-disclosure agreement prevented him from commenting on specific amendments, he said First Nations were considering litigation and streets protests if the changes went ahead.

DRIPA, which passed unanimously in the provincial legislature in 2019, is based on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which requires free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples on matters affecting their rights, lands, territories and resources.

The federal government has similarly adopted the UN principle, and is working toward its implementation.

The changes show that the provincial government plans to scrap the part of the legislation which says that it “must take all measures necessary to ensure the laws of British Columbia are consistent with the declaration.”

The proposed changes employ language that is far less definitive.

Instead of describing how the government must align the province’s “laws” with the declaration, it says the government will be “working towards aligning enactments with the declaration.”

As for which enactments, it says these would be identified in an “action plan,” prepared and implemented in consultation with First Nations.

The action plan would be prepared on or before Dec. 1, 2027. The government also may prepare a new action plan within five years of a previous one that met that deadline.

The current legislation simply says the government may prepare a new action plan without giving specific deadlines.

Phillips said he could not directly comment on these proposals, but that the general thrust of the changes amounted to government “trying to take over the whole process.”

He added that the current process of aligning provincial laws with the DRIPA is already going slow, and the proposed changes would further slow down that process.

It is not clear yet when legislators will see the amendments, but Phillips said Indigenous MLAs in the legislature will face their own “Elijah Harper moment.”

Harper was the late Indigenous politician whose vote in the Manitoba legislature in 1990 was instrumental in the failure of the Meech Lake accord, a package of proposed constitutional amendments.

Three members of the NDP’s caucus, Environment Minister Tara Davidson, Joan Phillip and Debra Toporowski, are Indigenous, as is Conservative House Leader A’aliya Warbus.

Davidson, who is of Haida heritage, said she is proud to be able to represent the riding of North Coast Haida Gwaii with its rich diversity of peoples and cultures.

“It’s disappointing to hear that I must vote on a piece of legislation or amendments to legislation based solely on my heritage,” she said.

Phillips acknowledged that his appeal would amount to the MLAs breaking caucus discipline, triggering an election.

“We do not want to cause an election,” he said. “We know the consequences that may cause,” he said.

But he said the future of DRIPA is a “defining moment” in the history of British Columbia, and he hoped Eby would pull back from his plans.

While the premier had done much to advance relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous British Columbians and “done a lot of good work” in terms of major projects, he may have cornered himself on this issue, Phillips said.

Phillips is also critical of the B.C. Conservatives, who want to repeal DRIPA entirely.

“I don’t know who is advising these people politically,” Phillips said. “It just don’t make sense.”

He said the end of DRIPA would undermine economic growth in B.C.

- With files by Alessia Passafiume in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026.