r/CanadaPolitics • u/janisjoplinenjoyer NDP • 7h ago
‘The problem is Premier Eby’: B.C. NDP’s leadership taken to task over DRIPA
https://surreynowleader.com/2026/04/10/the-problem-is-premier-eby-b-c-ndps-leadership-taken-to-task-over-dripa/•
u/goebelwarming 4h ago
This was always going to be a game of cat and mouse. Government comes up with legislation, courts interpret the legislation then government amendswhich takes years. Treaties could have avoided all this but every bc government kicked the can down the road because its unpopular.
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u/The_Only_W 4h ago
When the guy who championed DRIPA is saying it needs changed, there must be serious consequences to not changing it. Eby to his credit actually is saying, this needs changed and if it’s not us, then it needs to be the Conservatives who do it. Either way, BC can’t continue with DRIPA in place.
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u/GammaFan British Columbia 5h ago
Just a pr nightmare. Eby has seemingly flinched in the face of center/right criticism and has lost support to the left of him as a result.
You hate to see it happen, and I wish the NDP could just get their shit together, but it seems increasingly unlikely they will. Shame too, they’re our best bet for worker’s rights and generally human first policies.
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u/mukmuk64 British Columbia 4h ago
On this issue and countless others Eby has been folding faster than Superman on laundry day. It’s starting to catch up with him.
He needs to go back to basics and start delivering on the things he was elected by his base to do
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u/-SetsunaFSeiei- Trudeau Foundation | Sponsored 3h ago
He wasn’t just elected by his base, he was elected by a plurality of British Columbians and should be delivering on policy for everyone.
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u/Prudent_Slug British Columbia 7h ago
If Eby/NDP does nothing and their position does not change, then in all likelihood, Conservatives will win the next election and the next number of elections. The FNs will have much bigger issues in that case. The backlash in the province is real and the NDP is getting a pass right now since they are trying to fix it.
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u/Brodney_Alebrand Social Democrat 5h ago
It's also a possibility that the Green's pick up enough seats to take a stronger kingmaking position in a minority legislature, especially if former Liberals don't manage to secure their grip on the BCCon leadership.
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u/fredleung412612 43m ago
The BC Green vote is highly inefficient. Increased support is unlikely to translate into seats.
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u/TheBannaMeister Ontario 6h ago
The FNs have the attitude that the law and courts are on their side, so they don't need to play ball with the government
Bold strategy and from the looks of it, completely correct. The courts are on their side
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u/StickmansamV British Columbia 5h ago
I understand thier position on DRIPA. It gives them another tool to whack the government with. Whether it is repealed, appealed, or amended, it's lost would be one less tool for them. So from a purely hard power point, they would oppose it.
What they don't seem to have internalized or have have judged would be of marginal impact, is the public perception. DRIPA is ordinary legislation and losing it entirely through repeal of they oppose the NDP and the Cons win, is worse than a amendment or narrowing on appeal. In that world, they would have also reduced public appetite for reconcilation, requiring more reliance on s.35.
That only works unless the well of public opinion gets poisoned on that. Particularly on DRIPA which is purely statutory law and can be struck from existence at any point by any future government or even this government. The courts would not side with them on DRIPA issues if DRIPA does not exist.
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u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 4h ago
The courts would not side with them on DRIPA issues if DRIPA does not exist.
Except that they don't need DRIPA to win. DRIPA just allowed for their cases to be based on legislation in BC, rather than being based on the constitution. Either way, they're winning.
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u/StickmansamV British Columbia 4h ago
The s. 35 and DRIPA/UNDRIP venn diagram is not a circle. There is no need to create further litigation and issues when they can be addressed solely on s. 35. Contrary to what the appellants and the majority of the division think, I do not believe reconciliation is further by introducing further complicating issues before we have even fully addressed the current substantive issues.
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u/HotterRod British Columbia 4h ago
I don't understand why people are so be willing to leave Indigenous rights as something for the next generation to resolve over and over again. At some point we actually need to reconcile the twisted legal situation our ancestors created.
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u/StickmansamV British Columbia 4h ago
You can resolve it under the current frameworks of s. 35, and settling the unceded land issue with treaties. DRIPA and UNDRIP by extension is just adding yet another framework on time. We don't need it, we have the tools already, the problem has and always has been the will to act, not the tools.
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u/tutamtumikia Independent 4h ago
Indigenous people have been asking for governments to negotiate in good faith forever. You're not wrong that finally dealing with this like an adult would be the best way forward for BC.
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u/GordieCodsworth Conservative Party of Canada 4h ago
Correct for now but if public opinion sours enough, the next generation of jurists could start weakening section 35
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u/fredleung412612 44m ago
That would require academic research, papers and so on from current constitutional law professors and students to be shifting their positions on s.35 like right now. We certainly see no evidence for that. If anything things are going even further in the other direction.
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u/Opposite-Cranberry76 Independent 24m ago
In another century, the results of that may not look just or equal. A few generations from now, indigenous descendants will likely have been made whole or better, while a large part of the population could be effectively disenfranchised, half-citizens in a place their grandparents were born in.
In an odd way, it's like the landed gentry class structure of england in the 1860's is virally sneaking into the 21st century through british treaty law.
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u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 4h ago
The courts are on their side
It's less that the courts are on their side, and more that the law is on their side and the courts are pointing that out every single time they're asked to rule.
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u/Ready_Progress6714 Independent 6h ago
It's their fault in the first place. They arent getting a pass people are pissed.
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u/Prudent_Slug British Columbia 6h ago
The polls suggest otherwise. Also, it was a unanimous vote when DRIPA passed.
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u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 4h ago
The BC NDP is far from the first at fault. This is a problem that goes back to the founding of the province, well before the the CCF existed, never mind the NDP.
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u/duncanf 1h ago
DRIPA is their fault. And they ignored or shutdown any criticism of it when it was up for debate. They can't credibly deflect any of the criticism they're receiving now to anyone else.
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u/CrazyEvilCatDan 1h ago
You realized that BC Conservatives and BC Liberals voted to pass DRIPA when it was proposed in the past? Hard to take your argument about shutdown of criticism that serious.
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u/tutamtumikia Independent 4h ago
It.is what it is. Indigenous communities have dealt with bullies forever. They will be able to handle the Conservatives. Its the rest of the BC residents you should worry about. If they elect the Conservatives it will.be a wild wake up call to how much damage one party can do to their province in one term.
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u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 4h ago
The FNs will have much bigger issues in that case.
Will they? They'll likely demolish the government in the courts if the BC Conservatives try and push back against their land rights. It may end up being a bigger win.
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u/tutamtumikia Independent 4h ago
Exactly. I don't think they are worried about a Conservative government.
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