{"id":618094,"date":"2026-04-21T04:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618094\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T04:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T04:53:13","slug":"b-c-lawyer-says-hes-never-seen-this-level-of-ineptitude-and-incompetence-over-dripa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/618094\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. lawyer says he\u2019s \u2018never seen this level of ineptitude and incompetence\u2019 over DRIPA"},"content":{"rendered":"

B.C. Premier David Eby<\/a> told reporters on Monday afternoon that DRIPA legislation has been \u201cprobably the most challenging issue I\u2019ve worked on in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But King\u2019s Counsel and an expert in Aboriginal law had some strong words for what has happened.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Eby backed down again on the pausing of key parts of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), scrapping plans to table a suspension bill this legislative session.<\/p>\n

In a prepared statement on Monday, in partnership with the First Nations Leadership Council, Eby confirmed that\u00a0the government will not be introducing legislation to suspend or amend DRIPA<\/a> or\u00a0UN Declaration-related provisions in the Interpretation Act, in the spring legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government and First Nations Leadership Council are committed to working together with all First Nations leaders on a path forward to discuss and consider the government\u2019s stated legal concerns, while upholding the title and rights and human rights of First Nations,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTogether, we commit to genuine collaboration to find solutions as soon as possible, and before the fall legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:55
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDRIPA amendments not being tabled this session\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

An expert in Aboriginal law and treaty matters told Global News that, in his opinion, the NDP is now co-governing the province with First Nations.<\/p>\n

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Geoffrey Moyse was legal counsel in the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General\u2019s Office and for more than 30 years he advised governments on aboriginal law and treaty matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen anything like this\u2026 over six terms of governments, working for the provincial government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never seen this level of ineptitude and incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyse retired in 2022, but said that by adopting DRIPA in 2019, the government essentially layered a framework over the province\u2019s existing laws.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere else in the world that has done this to itself,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Eby said that moving forward together now is his number one priority and resolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I certainly would have liked to have been right the first time,\u201d Eby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not. And I, you know, this is, this is challenging work. This is one of the hardest files I\u2019ve ever worked on. And I\u2019ve had other files that were hard and required multiple steps. The car insurance file comes to mind, but that was nothing compared to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPremier David Eby says DRIPA won\u2019t be a confidence vote\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Moyse said his top concern isn\u2019t land use, but democracy.<\/p>\n

In his opinion, by the Eby administration repeatedly backing down, that demonstrates that the province is now co-governing with the First Nations Leadership Council.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNobody votes for them except their communities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have no obligation to the public interest, for the other 5.7 million British Columbians. And they are co-developing British Columbia\u2019s legislative agenda. From my understanding and my training as a lawyer, that\u2019s completely unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eby said he accepts the responsibility of taking the province in different directions, but he is optimistic they will be able to come to an agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were prepared to introduce legislation this morning to put the Declaration Act on hold,\u201d Eby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we had the votes. I believe we were able to do that. But my commitment to British Columbians, to First Nations leaders and to others is if there is a path for us to do that together, then I want to take it. So we\u2019ll take the time to sit down together and try to find that path.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tB.C. premier speaks to reporters about DRIPA\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters on Monday afternoon that DRIPA legislation has been \u201cprobably the most challenging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,2662,191000,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-618094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-david-eby","11":"tag-dripa","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}