Haida Nation recognition a significant turning point: Indigenous groups

B.C.’s recognition of the Haida Nation’s council as the government of the Haida people this week marked what Indigenous leaders say is a significant turning point for reconciliation and relations with the province.

On May 9, B.C.’s legislature passed the recognition under provincial law. The law’s passage took place inside a larger framework agreed upon by both sides in 2021, outlining how negotiations should take place between both parties.

Today is a historic day. The Haida Nation Recognition Act formally recognizes the Haida Nation's inherent right of governance, and allows meaningful government-to-government collaboration and reconciliation. Working together, we can truly make it right. https://t.co/sFxY2A2cSP pic.twitter.com/seuA6xgzQ8

— David Eby (@Dave_Eby) May 9, 2023

Haida Nation President Gaagwiis Jason Alsop says in a statement the move is a step forward in recognizing the Haida’s ancestral lands.

“This act begins to right that wrong and serves to lay a proper foundation for negotiations of recognition of Haida title. Today, we are finally able to acknowledge each other and to work, government to government, with respect and integrity. The Haida Nation welcomes and celebrates this legislation,” he said.

Officially called the Haida Nation Recognition Act, Bill 18 means the Haida council will be allowed to act on behalf of the Nation as its official representative under the province. It also gives Haida officials immunity from legal proceedings, given they work in good faith and within their responsibilities.

Related articles: 

• West Coast First Nation did not prove title for entire claim area: B.C. Supreme Court

• Grand Chief calls B.C. declaration fund ‘special moment in history’

Alsop explains the previous lack of recognition was a barrier to reconciliation.

“One of the barriers in reconciling our differences with B.C. and Canada has been the lack of formal recognition of the council of the Haida Nation as the governing body of the Haida Nation and of our inherent title and rights in Haida Gwaii,” he explained.

B.C. Assembly of First Nations regional Chief Terry Teegee calls the passage of the law significant for the Haida Nation.

“Bill 18 recognizes that the Haida can assert and really define what these rights are … and more importantly exercise those rights, and that’s why it’s so important to have this legislation pass through,” he said in an interview with CityNews, adding he also sees its passage as a recognition of Indigenous people’s rights.

“It is about recognizing Indigenous people have sovereignty, self-determination, and how they determine themselves in terms of a governing body as well as how they can assert those rights as a governing body,” Teegee continued.

He says that recognition is the right of Indigenous Nations in British Columbia.

“They need to be recognized as decision-makers. The spirit of the (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People) is to recognize Indigenous governing bodies, but further to that is exercising their rights, whether it’s in child welfare, social issues, or issues of the land,” he explained.

The declaration Tegee referenced is a non-binding UN resolution that lays out Indigenous people’s rights. B.C. made the UN resolution provincial law in 2019, being the first jurisdiction in Canada to do so.

“We can learn from this and … replicate this elsewhere in the province of British Columbia and in Canada to recognize that Indigenous people can self-identify and govern themselves in terms of self-determination,” he explained.