FILE PHOTO: First Nations chiefs hold drums while listening during a 2014 news conference in Vancouver.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
June 07, 2016 - 6:30 PM
VICTORIA - Stalled land-claim treaty talks in British Columbia are about to undergo a series of reforms in an effort to speed negotiations and produce more agreements.
Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister John Rustad says B.C., the federal government and the First Nations Summit are on a path to negotiate more treaties in less time.
At the current pace of negotiations in B.C., Rustad says it will take 600 years to reach treaty agreements with more than 200 First Nations in the province.
He says the treaty reforms will include negotiation deadlines to reach settlements.
Over 23 years of talks, Rustad says B.C. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and reached just seven treaties.
Rustad says the province also expects to be in a position in September to name a new leader of the B.C. Treaty Commission, a position that has been vacant for more than one year.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016