British Columbia Premier David Eby has sent a letter to Indigenous leaders, saying he regrets not having more time in the legislative calendar to talk about the government’s plans to suspend sections of a law that has created political and legal friction.

In the letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, Eby tries to explain the predicament his government is in over the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA.

The premier says suspending part of the act is necessary because a recent B.C. Appeal Court ruling on mining rules creates an “untenable degree of legal uncertainty,” in which every provincial law can be challenged for being inconsistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, on which the B.C. law is based.

Eby says the suspension of parts of the act “avoids permanent changes” to the legislation and “preserves the space” for the Supreme Court of Canada to provide clarity about the mining rules decision before any other changes are considered.

The vote on the suspension of the legislation is one of confidence and the NDP government has a single-seat majority, with three Indigenous members, but Eby said on Wednesday that all his caucus members recognize the importance of the work for the future of the economy.

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Several First Nations leaders have opposed the pause, saying that the government has misinterpreted the legal implications of the B.C. Appeal Court case.

The B.C. Appeal Court said in its ruling last December that DRIPA should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate the UN declaration into B.C. laws “with immediate legal effect.”

Eby’s letter said the court decision shifts the process from one where government and nations work collaboratively to one “driven by costly, time-consuming litigation, and it introduces an untenable degree of legal uncertainly.”

“We are already seeing unintended consequences as a result,” he said, noting that multiple litigations have already been filed that ask the courts to align their legal claims with the UN declaration.

“We made these concerns clear when the decision was released in December and we have been engaging with First Nations leaders on a possible approach going forward,” the letter says.

The letter to leaders and chiefs says the government understands they don’t support any amendments to the Declaration Act and “certainly not any unilaterally proposed by government without adequate time to consult and co-operate with First Nations.”

But Eby says this approach does not make permanent changes to the legislation and the suspension is time-limited, automatically expires after a set maximum period and can be ended at any time.

“What I can commit to you to is that this legislation is not the end of our conversation — it is a pause designed to protect the space for a better one,” he says.

Robert Phillips of the First Nations Summit has called on the three Indigenous members of Eby’s caucus to either stand down or vote against the pause, but Eby says he has the votes to pass the legislation.

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