Clark seeks federal cash to help B.C. natives negotiate non-treaty deals

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The B.C. government, which is already putting cash and land on the table to secure non-treaty deals with native bands, is now asking Ottawa to step up with aid to help lift native communities out of poverty.

"We are talking to the federal government about seeing if there are ways they can support some of the non-treaty deals we intend to make," Premier Christy Clark told reporters in Vancouver Friday. "I am hopeful we will find some agreement with them on that. In Canada, we all have a vital interest in ensuring economic development is ignited in British Columbia."

Although support for natives on reserves is a federal responsibility, the B.C. government is charting a new path to ease conflicts over land use. In her jobs plan, the Premier has vowed to secure 10 non-treaty pacts by 2015, putting a new emphasis on interim solutions rather than protracted treaty negotiations.

That approach is a pragmatic response to a new reality where aboriginal communities are seizing the initiative in a growing number of resource developments, economist Jock Finlayson of the B.C. Business Council said.

"I think pragmatism makes a lot of sense," Mr. Finlayson said. The business community has supported the province's treaty process for two decades in a quest for certainty over the 95 per cent of the land and resources that are publicly owned in B.C., and therefore subject to land claims.

Certainty has proved elusive, and business is increasingly willing to work with B.C. native bands as partners to at least achieve stability.

"The conflicts over the Prosperity mine or the Enbridge pipeline attract a lot of interest, but behind the scenes there is undoubtedly a trend for first nations to have a bigger role in economic activity in British Columbia," Mr. Finlayson said. "And we need to see more of that."

Ms. Clark visited the Haisla First Nation for a backdrop to the launch of her jobs agenda. The north coast community is a partner in a proposed liquefied natural gas facility – and the Premier said its success will be a linchpin in her plan.

Haisla chief councillor Ellis Ross said Friday he supports the Premier's approach to push for non-treaty deals. "She sees the amount of opportunity available now, and she's starting to see that the processes are not quite sufficient to allow these projects to move ahead."

However, he said treaties still need to be settled for the long term. "First nations are looking for economic development, but fundamentally they want an answer to the question of land. Land is everything – it is the building block to wealth."