Progress on Wet’suwet’en rights and title slower than was hoped

SMITHERS — B.C.’s minister of Indigenous relations and reconciliation says the progress on a memorandum of understanding signed last year marking the start of a new relationship between the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the federal and B.C. governments has been slower than the parties would have liked.

Murray Rankin said Friday the pandemic and the complexities of the negotiations are behind the slow progress. He had met hereditary and elected Wet’suwet’en leadership over the past two days and the parties are committed to implementing the title and rights in the memorandum, he said.

A spokesman for the hereditary chiefs opposed to the pipeline project could not be reached for comment.

The memorandum was negotiated between government representatives and the hereditary chiefs who oppose Coastal GasLink’s pipeline going across the First Nation’s traditional territories. The project caused countrywide rail blockades and marches last year.

Gary Naziel, a Wet’suwet’en hereditary subchief who supports the pipeline, said he is “glad” the progress is slow because more people need to know the contents of the memorandum. “Everybody needs to be in the loop of it,” he said. Naziel, also an elected councillor of the Witset First Nation on Wet’suwet’en territory, is in favour of the pipeline because, he said, it will help the economy in the region. People already know they have title and rights to the land, but what must be discussed is how it is developed, he said.

The memorandum of understanding doesn’t address Wet’suwet’en opposition to the pipeline, but it states that the federal and B.C. governments recognize the First Nation’s rights and title are held under their system of governance.