Hopeful outlook for treaties, and progress without them

VICTORIA - Maybe it's time to think about the treaty process in B.C. as a 40-year project.
The BC Treaty Commission weighed in with its annual report this week, citing some good reasons for optimism about progress, along with a few warnings. There is a chance three final agreements will be signed over the next year, the commissioners said.
But I've been heading to these annual updates for years now, generally - though not always - hearing some fairly hopeful words from the treaty commissioners.
Just as the politicians have usually been optimistic. Last fall then attorney general Geoff Plant was predicting four final treaty agreements were likely in coming months. None were signed. His NDP predecessor, Dale Lovick, was even more wildly optimistic back in 1999, predicting 10 final agreements in the next five years. And none were signed.
The outlook does look brighter now. Partly, that's the benefit of 12 years of slogging away at the treaty process, and in the courts. While the efforts were slow, and costly, they may have been needed to get everyone to the point that they could focus effectively on treaty making.
But it also reflects major changes in the province's position over the last several months, and a new unity on the First Nations side.
The Liberals' "New Relationship" project has gone a long way toward setting the stage for more productive talks. The Liberals were combative in opposition, when they went to court to try and overturn the Nisga'a treaty and promised the foolish treaty referendum. In government they have fought aggressive legal battles that angered First Nations by denying their right to aboriginal title.
All that has changed. The New Relationship document promises a broad recognition of aboriginal title, shared land-use and resource management and a share of resource revenues.
And this week Premier Gordon Campbell promised native treaty negotiators that things would be different. "For too long, and I acknowledge this, we did follow a path of denial," he said. The government will review its positions in dozens of continuing court cases, to ensure aboriginal title is respected.
These are big changes. But it's hard to be confident they will quickly lead to treaties being signed. The issues remaining, even in the negotiations that are farthest along, are the tough ones - fisheries, taxation, self-government. (The commission's earlier suggestion that an effort be made to tackle them on a provincial or regional basis still makes sense.)
Some First Nations are waiting to see what all the legal and political changes mean before they take the next steps.
And no one wants to be the first to sign, in case someone gets a better deal later.
The treaty process remains slow.
But what was striking this year is the growing recognition while treaties are important, they are not necessary to achieve improved relations, more opportunities for aboriginal communities and needed certainty about land use.
Given goodwill and shared goals, many of those goals can be accomplished through interim agreements that will solve immediate problems and help build the basis for treaties.
That hasn't really happened on a significant scale. Interim agreements have been strictly limited in their scope, and as the commission noted, often prompted by court decisions not a desire for co-operative solutions.
It's also become clear that treaties will not end the need for ongoing consultation and accommodation. First Nations and their neighbours and the province will still have to deal with common issues around land use and planning. We are in this together.
It might be helpful to broaden our focus to include not just the need for treaties, but the need to build a base of understanding and shared recognition of ground rules for decision-making.
Meanwhile, welcome the optimism, despite all the questions and doubts.
There are strong moral and economic reasons for reaching both treaties and effective interim agreements that strengthen aboriginal communities and reduce the economic damage done by land ownership uncertainty.
Footnote: The notion that treaty-making could take decades should prompt another look at the costs. The treaty commission allocated $29 million in loans and $7 million in grants last year to First Nations to support treaty efforts, bringing the 12-year total to $325 million.