A question of consent – Prince George Citizen

The editorial, “Veto Power” (May 20) relayed from the appropriately named newspaper, the Times-Colonist, is wrongheaded in its expectation that a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples should be attempting to conciliate between First Nations’ opposite to mega-resource projects and their proponents.

But a more serious error is the analysis of the legal duties of government to consult versus obtaining mutual consent. Noting that the Special Rapporteur recommended that major projects should have “free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people concerned”, the editorial continues authoritatively: “Yet the Supreme Court has ruled there is no such proviso. Consultation is definitely mandated, but further than that the court has not gone.” Whoever says this has obviously never read the landmark Delgamuukw decision from 1997.