First Nation leader Robert Phillips says proposed DRIPA changes would gut legislation
By Canadian Press on March 31, 2026.
VICTORIA — A First Nations leader says proposed amendments to British Columbia’s Declaration on the Indigenous Peoples Act would take a “sledgehammer” to the landmark legislation.
Robert Phillips of the First Nations Summit says the amendments would “gut” DRIPA and turn back the clock on relations between the provincial government and First Nations by decades.
Phillips’ warning comes before Thursday’s meeting between First Nations leaders and Premier David Eby, who says the changes are necessary to put MLAs, not the courts, in charge of reconciliation.
The Canadian Press has obtained a copy of the proposed changes, and while Phillips says a non-disclosure agreement prevents him from commenting on specific amendments, he says First Nations are considering litigation and streets protests if the changes go ahead.
It is not clear yet when legislators will see the amendments, but Phillips says Indigenous MLAs in the legislature will face their own “Elijah Harper moment.”
Harper was the late Indigenous politician whose vote in the Manitoba legislature in 1990 was instrumental in the failure of the Meech Lake accord, a package of proposed constitutional amendments.
Phillips says First Nations do not want to cause an election, but the future of DRIPA is a “defining moment” in the history of British Columbia, and he hopes Eby will pull back from his plans.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026.
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press
12-11
BC appears to be under attack by foreign entities to rip it apart. UNDRP has been abused, and one test question how the United Nations, a proven failed organization, has any jurisdiction over Canadian sovereign affairs.
The basic concept of UNDRP was fair, but how did we get to the BC version, which has created such a problem.
It almost appears like citizens in BC no longer have any rights
The other question is the land issue: who owns the land?
If 95% of BC land is considered unceded, then why are Canadians on the hook, paying billions of dollars annually to support the indigenous living there, if it is their land.
There seems to be a bit of a quagmire here, one that the United Nations has helped to perpetuate. BC leadership has not helped the situation, nor has previous Liberal governments.
If British Columbia is owned by the indigenous, then we shouldn’t be paying them treaty monies, and in fact we should be requesting those monies be returned that has been paid to them over the years, since it is their land.
The own BC, time to cut the paychecks, the supports, and start proceedings to regain monies paid over the years to them by error, and say bye-bye BC! We are all getting tired of this!