“Aboriginal Fatigue”

Nobody should be surprised by the December 5, 2025 decision of the BC Court of Appeal in Gitxaala v. British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner). The court ruled that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) applies to all of BC’s provincial laws. After all, BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act — voted into law unanimously in 2019 by all MLAs of all parties — states expressly that the purpose of this Act is to “affirm the application” of UNDRIP “to the laws of British Columbia.”

(Incognito)

Artworks, including indigenous art, have vanished from a multi-million-dollar federal collection, Blacklock’s Reporter states.

The most disconcerting part of this revelation from the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations is that jewelry disappeared from an unnamed regional office 30 years ago, only to be made public now. The department, in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons, would not disclose the total value of items it says are deemed “unaccounted for.” 

(Incognito)

Prime Minister Mark Carney has been carefully changing the culture of the Liberal government, from the free-spending approach of the Trudeau years to a more fiscally pragmatic one. He also has a willingness to shed some of the environmental controls that hindered resource development and is directing heavy spending into Canada’s military, signalling a strong departure from the priorities of the previous leadership, though he is keeping some key policies including the industrial carbon tax.

On the fiscal accountability front, one move Carney could and should make is to bring back the enforcement measures within the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA).

More than a decade ago, I found myself enjoying a summer drink on a Vancouver patio with a friend. Partway through, we were joined by a friend-of-my-friend — Mark, who worked in facilities management. We eased into the usual small talk, and I offered the inevitable confession that I worked in public procurement.

One beer became two, as they tend to do on a warm afternoon, and eventually the conversation drifted into that warm, truth-serum stage of mild intoxication. Mark leaned in, lowered his voice with theatrical seriousness, and asked the question he’d clearly been waiting to unload, “So… have you ever been offered a bribe?”

An Ontario company that put down a deposit to buy a luxury hotel in Richmond, B.C., pulled out of the deal worth tens of millions of dollars weeks later because of “uncertainty” caused by the landmark Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title ruling, according to the marketers of the property.

Court documents show that the 14-storey Versante Hotel, close to Vancouver International Airport, was instead bought by a Hong Kong purchaser in October for the lower price of $51.5 million.

Chiefs from Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta are calling for a pause on the pipeline memorandum of understanding until they are consulted and sign off on the potential project. And they’re threatening legal action if that doesn’t happen.

The chiefs spoke in Ottawa Thursday, decrying what they said was a lack of consultation with First Nations before Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith agreed to the MOU in November.

“We have formally notified the prime minister that any further attempt by Canada, Alberta, or industry to move ahead without us will result in immediate action,” Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi said.

Canadians were told to tighten our belts during COVID-19. Cancel trips. Skip funerals. Close small businesses. Trust the public health orders and trust the people moving “emergency” money.

Now we learn that a large share of pandemic funding routed through the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is tagged as “questionable,” not because of politics, but because basic documents were missing.

That is not a culture war. It is a receipts war.

(Incognito)

It has been clear for some months now that David Eby and the B.C. NDP’s approach to Indigenous reconciliation would have ruinous consequences for British Columbia’s economy. Last Friday, the situation got even worse, as a new court ruling poured more cold water on economic activity in the province and opened the door to every B.C. law being subject to interpretation through a United Nations human rights document. The implications for British Columbia could not be much more dire.

Across Canada, indigenous land acknowledgements are now routinely imposed on audiences at all kinds of public meetings. With few exceptions, this relatively new practice has not been debated or approved by the citizens who are required to sit through these political statements.