Editorial: Turfing Abbott derails process – Times Colonist

March 27, 2015

Premier Christy Clark’s plan — if there is a plan — to reform the treaty process is off to a bad start. It’s a process requiring consultation, communication and trust, but none of those are apparent in the cabinet’s inexplicable dumping of George Abbott days before he was to become chief commissioner of the B.C. Treaty Commission. It seems a whimsical and erratic move, and that doesn’t bode well for future interactions involving the government and First Nations.

Participants could be forgiven for wondering when the next goofy decision will be dumped on them.

Abbott, a former Liberal cabinet minister whose portfolios included aboriginal relations and reconciliation, was offered the treaty commission post last September by Aboriginal Relations Minister John Rustad. That initiated a process that was to culminate in his replacing current chief commissioner Sophie Pierre next week.

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