ABSTRACT
In Canada, historical treaties were negotiated between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples to secure the peaceful settlement of lands and facilitate resource development. Treaty #8 is one of the historic treaties that assures its adherent First Nations of their rights to hunt, fish, and trap throughout the territory covered by the document. The treaty also allows for the taking up of lands by the provinces for settlement, mining, lumber, trade, or other purposes. While treaties in general, and Treaty #8 in particular, were intended to enable reconciliation, it has instead been the subject of several court cases. One of these cases is Yahey v. British Columbia,, in which Chief Marvin Yahey, on behalf of Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN), successfully sued the province of British Columbia (BC) on the cumulative effects of industrial development on BRFN’s treaty territory. In the verdict, issued in June 2021, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that by authorizing industrial development, the province of BC breached its obligation to BRFN under Treaty #8. As a result, the province could not continue to authorize activities that breach Treaty #8 and its unwritten promises without meaningfully engaging with the Nation.
Within the context of meaningful stakeholder engagement, this chapter is a case study of Doig River First Nation (DRFN), a Treaty #8 First Nation with a shared history of land use with BRFN. In this contribution, it is explained how engagement for the purposes of resource development will need to shift post-Yahey from transactional consultation leading to project approval by the province, to meaningful community engagement with the goal of achieving First Nation consent and reconciliation.
