Tsawwassen First Nation
Background
Negotiating status
: Ratified a treaty within the British Columbia Treaty Commission six-stage treaty process. Plans to implement the treaty are currently being worked out by Canada, B.C. and Tsawwassen First Nation. The treaty table will remain active until all aspects of the treaty are implemented.
Negotiating affiliation: Negotiated independently with Canada and British Columbia.
Location : On the Strait of Georgia near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, approximately 25 km south of Vancouver. (One reserve on 290 hectares, 80 per cent of which is held in Certificates of Possession.)
Total band members
: 358 [Tsawwassen First Nation figures based on eligibility and enrolment provisions of the final agreement]
Negotiations History
In the fall of 2002, chief negotiators for the three parties agreed to work towards the
completion of a draft Agreement-in-Principle (AIP). In July 2003, the draft was initialled,
and in March, 2004, the Tsawwassen First Nation, British Columbia and Canada signed the
Agreement-in-Principle (AIP). Substantive progress continued at the treaty table and negotiators
reached a tentative deal on a Final Agreement in October 2006 and initialed it on December 8, 2006.
The Tsawwassen First Nation members voted on the Final Agreement on July 25, 2007. The ratification
process required a positive endorsement from 50 per cent plus one of the members on the
registered voters list. Of 187 registered voters, 69.5 per cent voted in favour of the treaty.
On November 7, 2007 Tsawwassen First Nation treaty settlement legislation passed third reading in the provincial legislature; on November 22, it received Royal Assent.
On December 6, 2007 the Chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation Kim Baird, federal Minister of Indian Affairs Chuck Strahl and Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Michael de Jong signed the Final Agreement at a ceremony in Ottawa. Settlement legislation was then introduced in the House of Commons and given first reading. On June 26, 2008, Bill C-34, an Act to give effect to the Tsawwassen First Nation Final Agreement and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, was given Royal Assent by Parliament. Canada, B.C. and Tsawwassen First Nation must now agree on a date for the treaty to take effect.
The agreement includes a land package of approximately 724 hectares, including 372 hectares of former provincial Crown land, 290 hectares of Indian reserve land, together forming the Tsawwassen treaty settlement lands ("Tsawwassen Lands") over which Tsawwassen First Nation will have jurisdiction and 62 hectares of additional lands that will remain under the jurisdiction of the Corporation of Delta. Tsawwassen will own their land in fee simple and there will be no more Indian reserves.
The treaty sets out law-making authorities that Tsawwassen may exercise on their lands. It also allows the Tsawwassen First Nation government to become a member of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and appoint a director to sit on the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro Vancouver) board of directions.
Final Agreement
Fact Sheets
Implementation
Maps
Side Agreements
Brochure
Related Links
Agreement-in-Principle
|
Final Agreements
Principle
