Divide and conquer. It’s the new strategy the BC NDP government is deploying against what used to be two major allies: The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).
Both have fallen offside with Premier David Eby’s administration in the last month over their vocal calls for him to pause Bills 14 and 15 due to a lack of consultation and potential infringements on Indigenous rights.
Eby, so far, has refused. Instead, the NDP has started chipping away at the political credibility of the organizations, suggesting in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that they don’t truly represent the views of their members, and that the government knows better than they do what people actually want.
The premier has multiple times in the last week responded to questions about FNLC concerns by pointing out he’s hearing support from unspecified individual First Nations chiefs, as well as the eight nations that make up the modern treaty process.
Eby argued last week he’d “also had a very positive meeting with modern treaty nations” and that FNLC was just one group his government was consulting with, including rights and title holders across the province.
On Monday, he held a press conference about fast-tracking mines to showcase the support of three nations from the province’s northwest, the Tahltan Central Government, Taku River Tlingit First Nation and Daylu Dena Council.
“We’re doing this in partnership with First Nations,” said Eby, adding that “each of the nations that are here with us today have worked hard on watershed and conservation planning, and working to identify areas where mining and other industries can proceed more quickly.”
The inference was undeniable: Some First Nations are willing to work with government to get things done, while others would prefer to complain.
“I think feelings are high right now at the First Nations Leadership Council,” Eby said, when asked to respond to its concerns.
It brought an immediate response from the FNLC.
“We need you to understand that there are 204 First Nations in British Columbia and, while you may find support among a select few who we wish well, your refusal to withdraw the bills will have serious impacts on the FNLC’s and many First Nations’ relationships with your government,” read an open letter to Eby released later Monday.
“These impacts could well be irreparable.”
The breakdown between the FNLC and the government is remarkable in its swiftness and depth.
Ever since the BC NDP took power eight years ago, its ministers have taken great pains to treat the FNLC with deference and respect. The organization is comprised of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the BC Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Summit.
Every time the government needed to have “nation to nation” talks with Indigenous leaders, it met with FNLC. Annually it hosted an all chiefs meetings where government ministers and Indigenous chiefs sat down to tackle the most complex issues, including UNDRIP, reconciliation, child welfare policies and land use.
And yet, for whatever reason, the Eby government has steamrolled FNLC since returning to office in October after barely winning the election.
The FNLC was not consulted on Bills 14 or 15, which would fast-track infrastructure and renewable energy projects. The FNLC executive chiefs have called Bill 15’s proposal to give cabinet immense power to re-write environmental assessments and issue automatic permits an affront to their rights and title.
Eby is a “snake oil salesman,” UBCIC vice-president and Tsartlip First Nations chief Don Tom said Monday.
“The era of trust between Premier Eby and First Nations chiefs is over,” he said.
The subtle undermining of the FNLC is nothing compared to the outright derision the NDP is heaping upon the UBCM, which it used to court for approval after winning the 2017 election on promises to better listen to municipal leaders.
UBCM president Trish Mandewo joined FNLC last week in a joint press conference to say public trust is being undermined by the NDP’s actions on Bills 14 and 15.
In response, Eby blasted the UBCM publicly. He questioned whether the municipalities are even able to manage themselves, by highlighting an audit into Metro Vancouver’s organizational dysfunction by consulting firm Deloitte.
“I have to confess some surprise that in the same week that we got Deloitte report about the urgent need for additional support for municipalities on complex and challenging projects to deliver them effectively, efficiently and promptly, that I would be getting a critique from UBCM about our bill that is about moving these projects along faster,” Eby said last week.
The mockery continued on the weekend with Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon.
“Local governments are the ones coming to me saying let’s get the schools built faster, let’s get the hospitals built faster, so hearing some criticism from UBCM is a surprise to me because that’s not what I hear from mayors in the community,” Kahlon told Global BC. “And so I think there’s a bit of a disconnect there.”
Again, the implication was clear: Mayors support the NDP, it’s the UBCM that’s the problem.
The Eby administration has yet to produce any actual proof it has a better read on where Indigenous chiefs and municipal mayors stand than the organizations that represent them. But that hasn’t slowed the divide-and-conquer strategy.
Monday’s big economic press conference by Eby was billed by New Democrats as intended to show certainty to investors that British Columbia is a safe place to build multi-billion projects.
Given the outright war the NDP has picked with two of B.C.’s largest municipal and Indigenous organizations, certainty appears the opposite of where the province is headed.
Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for The Orca/BIV. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.
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