What do BC Indigenous leaders have to say about Eby’s Bill 15?

May 15, 2025

Engagement and consent from Indigenous leaders is essential to fast-tracking new projects in BC.

BC Premier David Eby says Bill 15, to fast-track infrastructure and natural-resource projects, is going ahead — despite opposition from Indigenous groups and Green Party MLAs.

“It’s a critical bill for government, and it’s a confidence bill,” Eby insisted. “And the reason is pretty straightforward. We need to build the schools and hospitals and roads for a fast-growing province.”

But the Infrastructure Projects Act would also allow Eby’s cabinet to push through approvals for mines, clean-energy, and resource projects by fast-tracking environmental assessments, issuing permits, and overriding any municipal roadblocks.

Eby did say he would not use the bill to expedite new pipelines or LNG facilities.

And he told reporters that his proposal to hasten major project reviews will apply only to those that have direct partnerships with First Nations, including meaningful Indigenous equity stakes in projects on their traditional lands.

But BC’s three biggest First Nations organizations, who were not consulted in advance on Bill 15, met Eby and asked him to withdraw it and to start over, to address their concerns and to respect consultation practices and requirements.

The BC Assembly of First Nations, the First Nations Summit, and Union of BC Indian Chiefs pressed the government to shelve the bill and get back to the consultation table with them.

Robert Phillips, a member of the political executive at the First Nations Summit and a member of the First Nations Leadership Council, said: “If he wants to ram it right through, then there’s going to be a problem.”

And: “If we sit down and go through the processes that we set up, I do believe we can fix this.”

Terry Teegee, regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations: “The province is ramming through Bill 15 without any First Nations input who stand to be adversely impacted. This law may breach constitutional consultation requirements and is not consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs: “In developing Bill 15 the province conducted no meaningful consultation and co-operation with First Nations. . . . We are deeply alarmed by the province’s continued backsliding on reconciliation.”

And the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council on Vancouver Island, representing 14 Nations with some 10,000 members, asked: “Does B.C. think they can run roughshod over First Nations rights, title, and territories for the sake of ‘expediency’? Does B.C. think they can rush legislation through that has potential to have a major impact on First Nation lands, waters, and resources without consultation and collaboration leading to free, prior, and informed consent? NTC has so many questions on this piece of legislation and no answers.”

The groups say consultation is supposed to take place under BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) that was passed in 2019.

As the government then put it: “If the policy or legislation may affect Indigenous Peoples, this stage requires engagement in dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in order to identify priorities, assess how the potential policy or legislation may affect Indigenous Peoples, and identify how the legislation may be consistent with UNDRIP.”

But on Bill 15 there was no such consultation.

Eby was quoted as apologizing to First Nations leaders for the lack of consultation — but he did not promise to go back to the drawing board as they requested.

The premier told reporters that some of the backlash is due to a misunderstanding of the spirit of the legislation. “Nothing . . . can be interpreted to take away any Indigenous rights or obligations that the government has.”

And he quickly insisted that any fast-tracked project would require “full Indigenous support” — but did not say how that would be determined.

“These are all huge and critical projects for our province, and it helps us grow our economy at the same time as we’re facing threats from the US. . . . We think that faster delivery of public projects and major economic projects in the province will be popular with the public.”

The BC Greens’ two MLAs said they will vote against Bill 15. But even if all Opposition votes go that way, the NDP would still be able to pass the bill by using Speaker Raj Chouhan as a tie-breaking vote.

Eby initially promised such a legislature showdown over the earlier Bill 7, the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act that was introduced after the US moved to impose tariffs on trading nations.

Bill 7 would have given Eby and the cabinet sweeping powers to amend laws without legislative debate or votes. But after blasts from labour, business, legal, and Indigenous leaders, Eby backed down on that part of the bill and promised to “get the balance right” with revised legislation.

As of now, though, Eby has made no such promise for Bill 15.

His government says: “The ministry has begun engagement with First Nations on this legislation through notifications and information sessions, and those conversations will continue.”

But such “engagement” — after introduction of the bill — is not the same as the advance pre-bill consultation that the Nations say the government is supposed to carry out under its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

First Nations leaders now await a signal from the government on whether it will start over again with Bill 15 or a revised bill.

NT5