The Jill Bennett Show · CKNW / Curiouscast

BC government facing growing backlash over DRIPA

April 10, 2026·14 min·1 clip

The BC government faces backlash for amending DRIPA after court decisions, raising fears about private land despite First Nations assurances.

1. The Jill Bennett Show examines the BC government's growing political backlash over proposed amendments to DRIPA, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. 2. Guest Adam Olson is a former BC MLA for the Green Party and current lead negotiator with the Sartlip First Nation, giving him both legislative and treaty-negotiation experience. 3. The episode's core question is whether Premier David Eby's justification for amending DRIPA — citing court risk from the Gitgatla decision — is genuine or politically convenient. 4. Hereditary Chief Shanna Thomas of the First Nation and Premier Eby spoke at separate news conferences the same day, presenting sharply contradictory accounts of consultation and intent. 5. Olson says Eby publicly stated his openness to amend the Declaration Act on December 5th — the very day the Gitgatla BC Court of Appeal decision came down — months before any formal consultation was complete. 6. Olson characterizes Eby's last-minute suspension as a "step-aside, not a walk-back," and says the Premier framed the entire debate around how far amendments would go, cutting off discussion of other potential remedies. 7. The Gitgatla decision found that BC's Mineral Tenure Act allowed online claim-staking that bypassed Crown duties to consult First Nations, and that DRIPA applies across BC laws. 8. Olson notes that the Mineral Tenure Act's legal vulnerability was known to the BC legislature as early as 2017 when he was elected, making the government's claimed surprise implausible. 9. A key dispute is whether all BC laws face immediate legal challenge under the Gitgatla precedent, as Eby claims, or whether a more targeted consultation process is required, as other legal opinions hold. 10. Olson argues the courts have consistently told the executive and legislative branches to make negotiation tables effective — and that litigation has escalated precisely because those tables have not worked. 11. On economic certainty, Olson says First Nations' own-source revenue depends on the local economy functioning, aligning First Nations' interests with provincial economic development — countering the idea that indigenous rights claims threaten investment. 12. Olson quotes Eby as saying "I have a supreme understanding of the law" and calls this overreach given that legal opinions on the Gitgatla implications differ significantly. 13. Olson accuses Eby of telling different audiences different things, framing the choice as binary: ride shotgun with the NDP or face full repeal under the BC Conservatives. 14. He draws a direct line to Joseph Trutch, BC's colonial-era land commissioner, saying Eby's approach echoes Trutch's original position that indigenous title did not exist in BC. 15. BC is unique among Canadian provinces in never having recognized indigenous title at Confederation; the Dominion of Canada later found it had been misled about just how liberal BC's Indigenous policy was. 16. Olson argues that recognizing indigenous rights and creating effective negotiation tables is not in conflict with economic prosperity — in fact, certainty requires it. 17. The conversation is conducted as a sit-down policy interview, with Bennett pressing Olson on complexity and Olson speaking methodically and without hedging. 18. Olson is candid about his own limitations ("I'm not a lawyer") while maintaining a firm analytical frame throughout, lending the discussion a practitioner's credibility. 19. Listeners interested in BC indigenous land policy, treaty negotiations, or the intersection of resource law and reconciliation will find this episode directly relevant. 20. Listeners seeking a balanced or government-aligned account of the DRIPA amendments will find Olson's framing one-sided against the Eby NDP government.

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