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Vaughn Palmer: David Eby mishandling gives Aboriginal rights deals a bad name

Opinion: Premier says Ottawa kept province in the dark ... except, it didn't

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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby found himself on the defensive again Wednesday over his botched handling of the Musqueam Aboriginal rights and title agreement.

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Eby had to scramble earlier in the week to explain an extraordinary series of lapses where he denied any knowledge of the agreement while neglecting to mention that he’d witnessed the signing in person.

Vaughn Palmer: David Eby mishandling gives Aboriginal rights deals a bad name Back to video

Under pressure from the Opposition Tuesday, Eby finally admitted to being in the front row on Feb. 20 when the agreement was signed by representatives of the Musqueam nation and the federal government.

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Still, he tried to minimize the lapse by blaming the federal government for keeping him in the dark about the contents of the agreement with the Musqueam.

“Just to be absolutely clear, I received no briefings about the content of this agreement, no heads-up from the federal government,” the premier told the legislature. “I wish we had been briefed in advance because we would have been able to clarify some of the comments made by the official Opposition.”

Alas for Eby, that cover story did not survive the day. Federal Crown–Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty told CTV News that “the federal government did brief the provincial government” on the Musqueam agreement.

She further stressed that Ottawa had kept the province informed through the process with the Musqueam, which resulted in the signing of three agreements, one of which covered Aboriginal rights and title.

Alty’s statement triggered another damage control exercise in the premier’s office to provide cover for the boss.

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In the first go-round, it meant putting out a pre-emptive statement to the news media confirming the premier’s attendance at the signing ceremony after a photo surfaced of him doing just that.

Wednesday, it meant finding out who in the provincial government was the recipient of the federal briefing on the Musqueam agreement.

Shortly before the afternoon question period, Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert surfaced in the legislature corridor to deliver the answer to reporters.

Earlier in the week, Chandra Herbert complained about Ottawa keeping the province in the dark about the Musqueam agreement.

“I have reached out to the federal minister to certainly share my displeasure at learning about this through the news,” he said. “I think we should try and proceed on a less of a surprises kind of environment.”

Now he had to admit that the surprise was all at his end. He confirmed that the federal government had provided the province with a briefing of sorts.

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However, he said it consisted of nothing more than a phone call to a junior staffer in the ministry alerting the province to the pending signing ceremony with the Musqueam.

Then, owing to what Chandra Herbert described as a “serious misconnect,” the information was not passed on to senior staff in the ministry. Regrets all around.

The premier delivered much the same message inside the house under questioning from the Opposition.

Where Chandra Herbert took some of the blame onto the shoulders of his own ministry — albeit only at the junior rank — the premier pointed his finger at the federal government.

“There are established channels for communication between us and the federal government,” said the premier. “For whatever reason, they didn’t use them.”

No call to the deputy minister of Indigenous relations. No call to the premier’s own deputy or chief of staff. No call to the minister. None to the premier.

Just this telephone heads-up to a lowly staffer deep within the bowels of government who — one feared — might never be heard from again.

I half expected the New Democrats to produce the culprit in person, tied to a chair, showing signs of distress, to deliver his/her confession in person and beg for forgiveness from premier and party.

For the rest of question period, Eby contented himself with attacking the Opposition for overstating the implications of the Musqueam agreement. It would be hard to do that, considering that the agreement opens the door to a claim of Aboriginal title over much of Metro Vancouver.

Apparently, the premier didn’t grasp the implications of the agreement when he witnessed the signing of it.

Nor had he bothered to ask even one question about the contents of the federal minister who said she was committed to keeping the province in the loop throughout the process.

Eby went on to blast the B.C. Conservatives for disavowing their earlier support for recognition of Aboriginal title, never mind that the NDP government’s handling of the issue gives such agreements a bad name.

Earlier in the week, Eby had professed reluctance to criticize Ottawa on Indigenous relations, alluding to his own government’s record of coverup and secrecy.

“I’m hesitant to point the finger at the federal government about not bringing us in because I know, for our own government, we’re reflecting on how we can do a better job of bringing along key stakeholders in our own Indigenous work.”

There was no sign of any hesitation Wednesday. The premier lashed out at Ottawa, the Opposition, and pretty much everybody. Except the lead perpetrator of this fiasco — David Eby himself.

vpalmer@postmedia.com 

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