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VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s deputy premier and attorney general, Niki Sharma, said she doesn’t want strides made with the province’s Indigenous rights legislation to get lost amid criticism of the law and questions about its future.
Sharma said B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act has led to legislation recognizing Indigenous self-governance over children and families as well as recognizing First Nations as full partners in emergency management.
“I don’t want us to forget about that. It’s also been a tool that has unlocked prosperity for people across this province,” she said, noting seven of the 20 projects under consideration for fast-tracking by Ottawa’s major projects office are located in B.C., including three phases of the North Coast Transmission Line.
“We are punching above our weight as a province,” she told delegates at an annual conference for local leaders across the province on Tuesday.
Critics have said court rulings related to DRIPA have caused uncertainty, including a successful challenge by First Nations to B.C.’s mineral tenure system.
The B.C. Court of Appeal said in the so-called Gitxaala ruling that DRIPA should be interpreted to incorporate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into provincial laws with immediate effect.
Sharma said the province needs to work at aligning its laws “and there’s lots of potential in working together there.”
“But it needs to be in collaboration and not all at once. It’s part of the challenge that we’re working through.”
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted B.C.’s application to appeal the ruling.
Premier David Eby had cited the ruling in a plan to suspend or amend DRIPA, but he backed down in April amid strong opposition from Indigenous leaders, while members of the Opposition Conservatives have called for the law to be scrapped altogether.
Sharma said “polarization” around reconciliation was “concerning for everybody.”
The province made “good progress” over the summer in working towards what Eby had described as a “durable” solution, she added.
Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert said Tuesday that in unanimously passing the law in 2019, the provincial government was working to fulfil obligations that began when Europeans first arrived in what is now B.C.
“Some people say DRIPA is the reason of the uncertainty,” he said while addressing the convention on Tuesday. “Let’s remember that we didn’t do the work as government that we should have done all those years ago.”
Chandra Herbert differentiated between DRIPA and conversations around the so-called Cowichan Tribes ruling. In that case, the B.C. Supreme Court found last year that the Cowichan Tribes have Aboriginal title over a portion of Crown, city and private land in Richmond along the Fraser River, that Aboriginal title is a “senior interest” compared with fee-simple title, and that sections of B.C.’s Land Title Act that establish fee-simple title as “indefeasible” do not apply to Aboriginal title.
“Your home is not a part of that conversation,” he said of DRIPA. “It’s not part of Cowichan either, but that’s a debate for another day.”
Chandra Herbert said working together was the only path forward, though it may require “living in the uncomfortability sometimes for a little bit as we sort it through, which is what we’re doing right now.”
Eby and Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay are both set to address the convention later this week.
The Indigenous rights law, affordability and crime are all on the agenda at the convention, but Patrick Johnstone, the mayor of New Westminster, B.C., said the top concern among seniors in his community is fear of electric kick scooters.
“I’m not exaggerating at all when I say, when I go to have a meeting in the seniors centre in New Westminster and talk to seniors about their number 1 issue, it’s not affordable housing right now, it’s not crime on the streets … it is fear of scooters on sidewalks,” he said Tuesday.
The e-scooters are a relatively “novel threat” compared with cars, Johnstone told reporters outside the convention.
The provincial government began testing their use in participating communities seven years ago as part of an ongoing pilot project and still hasn’t introduced consistent regulations to improve safety, he said.
“We can’t have inconsistent regulations run by bylaws in 21 different municipalities across the Lower Mainland or 160 municipalities across the province,” he said, flanked by active transportation advocates and municipal leaders from Vancouver and Langley City.
The scooters require consistent rules and “only the province can provide that,” Johnstone said.
The province must also invest in education and restore funding for active transportation infrastructure that has been cut or paused, he said.
“This is not about discouraging people from using new ways to get around,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that everybody, whether they’re walking, cycling, rolling, driving or using a scooter, can travel safely and understand the rules.”
Crashes involving e-scooters have prompted warnings from police in B.C., including in Vancouver, where police said a 30-year-old rider who wasn’t wearing a helmet died after hitting her head in a crash with a vehicle in July. Several school districts have clamped down on their use among students.
The B.C. government website outlining rules for electric kick scooters says riders must be at least 16 years old and obey rules set by participating municipalities. The scooters must also meet certain requirements, including a maximum capable speed of 25 kilometres per hour.
Nathan Pachal, mayor of Langley City, said he’s heard from local RCMP officers that the use of electric mobility devices has supplanted speeding as the top road safety concern in the community east of Vancouver.
“So, this is not just a big-city issue, this is a small-town issue as well,” he said.
Pachal said he’s heard from parents who want to allow their children to use e-scooters, but “they don’t know what’s safe, which devices are legal.”
He said electric mobility devices and active transportation options help reduce traffic congestion, but communities need clear regulations from the province.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2026.
Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
