British Columbia Indigenous treaty referendum, 2002

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The BC Treaty Referendum was a province-wide referendum on First Nations treaty rights in British Columbia, Canada.

In the spring of 2002 the Premier Gordon Campbell and the British Columbia Liberal Party government sent out ballots to registered voters in the province.^[1]

Questions posed

The referendum proposed eight principles that voters were asked to either support or oppose:

1. Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements. (Yes/No)

2. The terms and conditions of leases and licences should be respected; fair compensation for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests should be ensured. (Yes/No)

3. Hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on Crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians. (Yes/No)

4. Parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians. (Yes/No)

5. Province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection should continue to apply. (Yes/No)

6. Aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia. (Yes/No)

7. Treaties should include mechanisms for harmonizing land use planning between Aboriginal governments and neighbouring local governments. (Yes/No)

8. The existing tax exemptions for Aboriginal people should be phased out. (Yes/No)

Voters were also told that, for each principle, a Yes vote would compel the provincial government to adopt the principle in treaty negotiations, while a No vote would mean that the government was not bound to adopt the principle when taking part in treaty negotiations.

Outcome

Critics claimed that the phrasing of the referendum ballot was flawed. For example, the first principle, being phrased in the negative, may have confused some voters about which answer meant support. The fourth was written in such a positive way that a Yes response was virtually guaranteed. The eighth may have been misleading, since the tax-exemption for Status Indians is provided by the federal Indian Act, and cannot be altered by provincial governments. The impact of the referendum on treaty negotiations was also unclear, since the government did not indicate what level of support for each principle would be enough to make it binding, or whether any of the principles might still be taken into account by the government even if they had been rejected by some or most voters.

The government called the referendum "an experiment in direct democracy," but the polling expert Angus Reid called it "one of the most amateurish, one-sided attempts to gauge the public will that I have seen in my professional career."^[1] Critics called for a boycott of the referendum and First Nations groups collected as many ballots as possible so that they might be destroyed publicly. The boycott was backed by the Anglican Church, the United Church, the Presbytery of New Westminster, the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canadian Muslim Federation, the BC Federation of Labour, the Council of Senior Citizens and the David Suzuki Foundation.

35.84% of ballots (763,480) were received by Elections BC by the deadline of May 15. Over 80 per cent of those ballots indicated agreement with all eight principles. Between 55,000 and 60,000 votes on each question were rejected.^[2]

See also

• Status of British Columbian First Nation Treaties

References

Elections and referendums in British Columbia
General elections	Colony of Vancouver Island 1856 1860 1863 United Colony of British Columbia 1866 1869 Post-Confederation 1871 1875 1878 1882 1886 1890 1894 1898 1900 1903 1907 1909 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1952 1953 1956 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1979 1983 1986 1991 1996 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 next
By-elections	List of British Columbia by-elections
Referendums	1873 1909 1916 1916 1920 1924 1937 1952 1952 1972 1991 2002 2005 2009 2011

Canadian Indigenous law
Politics, law and legislation	Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada The Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples Canadian Indian residential school system High Arctic relocation Fred Quilt inquiry Ipperwash Crisis
Indigenous law	Royal Proclamation of 1763 Constitution Act, 1867 Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 Douglas Treaties Robinson Treaty 1969 White Paper Kelowna Accord Numbered Treaties Indian Act Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples First Nations treaties in British Columbia Indian Health Transfer Policy Duty to consult and accommodate Gladue report
Case law	Attorney General of Canada v. Lavell R. v. Badger Calder v. British Columbia Chippewas of Sarnia Band v. Canada Corbiere v. Canada Daniels v. Canada Delgamuukw v. British Columbia Native Women's Association of Canada v. Canada Kruger and al. v. The Queen R. v. Marshall; R. v. Bernard R. v. Marshall Mitchell v. M.N.R. Paul v. British Columbia Paulette Caveat Powley ruling R. v. Drybones R. v. Gladstone R. v. Gladue R. v. Gonzales R. v. Guerin R. v. Jim R. v. Pamajewon R. v. Sparrow Re Eskimos St. Catharines Milling and Lumber Co. v. R. R. v. Van der Peet Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia Daniels v. Canada
International rights & laws	Definitions and identity of indigenous peoples Declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Indigenous intellectual property
See also Index of articles related to Indigenous Canadians