British Columbia Premier David Eby says he will stake his government on suspending sections of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act for up to three years, calling it the “least invasive” way of mitigating its potentially sweeping and unintended impact on the province’s laws.
Speaking after a meeting with First Nations leaders on Thursday, Eby said his government would pass legislation this session to suspend certain sections of the law that place the province at the greatest legal risk.
But strategy shift away from immediately redrawing the legislation failed to quell First Nations’ concerns, with one source saying the suspension plan faced “complete opposition” in the meeting, while Robert Phillips of the First Nations Summit said later that leaders had been “clear and resolute” that they do not support any regression or pause on reconciliation.
“Fundamentally, First Nations cannot afford to ‘pause’ efforts to protect their title and rights,” Phillips said.
DRIPA has been at the centre of a legal and political storm after being cited by First Nations in two landmark court cases last year.
The Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title decision last August sparked concerns about implications for private land ownership, while the B.C. Court of Appeal found in December that the province’s mineral claims regime was “inconsistent” with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a framework for the provincial legislation.
DRIPA should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate UNDRIP into B.C.’s laws “with immediate legal effect,” the ruling in favour of the Gitxaala and Ehattesaht First Nations said.
Since the Gitxaala ruling, the government has been struggling to find a way to mitigate the possible impact of DRIPA despite strong opposition from First Nations — something Eby seemed to acknowledge Thursday.
“It (the proposed pause) is a change to the act, and it is a change to it being enforced, but it is the least invasive way that we could think of doing it,” he said.
Eby said he hoped First Nations leaders would at least tolerate the pause as the government appealed the Gitxaala case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
He acknowledged that the previous plan to redraw DRIPA had proven “totally unacceptable” to leaders who found the unilateral changes “profoundly offensive to them.”
At the same time, Eby said, the government faced ongoing legal risks.
Roberts said First Nations “simply do not agree with the province’s interpretation of the Gitxaala decision,” he said. “The province’s response is entirely political and misdirected.”
It is not clear when legislators will vote on the proposed suspension, but Roberts said it will be the time for the three Indigenous members of the NDP government to either “not show up” or vote against” the relevant legislation.
Eby’s promise to make the proposed suspension a confidence vote comes as his party holds a single-seat majority. “It’s required to be a confidence vote for the government, and we have a strong and united caucus,” he said.
He said all MLAs understand the importance of working in partnership with First Nations, while growing the economy of B.C.
“This work is part of it,” he said. “So, our commitment is to introduce this bill, to have it fully debated in the legislature, and to have a vote on it.”
The premier presented his proposal to suspend sections of DRIPA less than 24 hours after saying that changing the legislation was “non-negotiable.”
In a background briefing ahead of Eby’s announcement, a senior figure in his office said the three-year pause was based on legal advice about how long it might take for the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the Gitxaala case.
“What we have proposed is a maximum of three years, and it could be less based on when the (mineral tenure case) is concluded through the courts,” Eby said later.
He denied that there was also a political calculus, saying he had “no interest in having this issue last through an election.”
Eby did not identify which sections of DRIPA would be suspended, adding that other sections of DRIPA will remain in effect, including those that allow the government and First Nations to sign resource agreements.
Opposition parties in the provincial legislature criticized the proposed suspension.
The B.C. Conservative Party has been seeking the repeal of DRIPA, and interim leader Trevor Halford said Eby’s announcement had made things worse.
“We have been asking for certainty, full stop,” he said. “What he did today was, he made the situation more uncertain, than it has ever been before.”
B.C. Green Rob Botterell agreed that the suspension would cause uncertainty, but questioned the very need for revisions.
“Is the solution to be repealing DRIPA? No,” Botterell said. “Is the solution to be amending DRIPA? No. What is the solution is to actually put the resources forward to actually implement DRIPA.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2026.
Wolfgang Depner and Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
