Tsawwassen First Nation
Background
Negotiating status:
Negotiating a treaty settlement within the British Columbia Treaty Commission six-stage treaty process.
Negotiating affiliation: Negotiating independently with Canada and British Columbia. Affiliated with the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council, whose nine members are negotiating comprehensive treaty agreements within the B.C. treaty process, either independently or with various treaty groups.
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
Negotiations
The Tsawwassen First Nation's Final Agreement was initialled on December 8, 2006. 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. This is the second Final Agreement
initialled under the BC treaty process and the first initialled in the Lower Mainland.
When the treaty comes into effect, Tsawwassen will own their land in fee simple and there
will be no more Indian reserves. The land component is approximately 724 hectares.
The Final Agreement will set out law-making authorities that Tsawwassen may exercise on
their lands. It will also allow the Tsawwassen government to become a member of the Greater
Vancouver Regional District and appoint a director to site on the GVRD board.
The Tsawwassen First Nations entered the treaty process in December, 1993 and are now in
Stage 5 of the
treaty process, ratifying a Final Agreement.
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) at a ceremony at the Tsawwassen First Nation Longhouse. Since
that time, substantive progress has been made at the Tsawwassen treaty table and negotiators
reached a tentative deal on a Final Agreement in October 2006.
The Tsawwassen First Nation 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. After the legislation receives approval by the Parliament of Canada and Senate, the Final Agreement will take effect on a date agreed to by the parties.
Final Agreement
Fact Sheets
Implementation
Maps
Side Agreements
Brochure
Related Links
Agreement-in-Principle
|
Final Agreements
Principle
