Indigenous leader pulls out of B.C. trade mission to Asia over Bills 14, 15

B.C. Premier David Eby said Saturday that he is confident that recent opposition from First Nations to infrastructure fast-track legislation will not affect his ability to attract investment from Asia.

Eby's remarks came a day after B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee pulled out of the premier's trade mission to East Asia, citing continuing criticism from Indigenous leaders on the passing of Bills 14 and 15, two pieces of legislation aimed at speeding up certain infrastructure projects.

Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, is aimed at fast-tracking public sector projects like schools and hospitals, as well as private projects, such as critical mineral mines, that are deemed provincially significant. Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, will speed up clean energy projects across the province.

Teegee and other First Nations leaders said the bills — which narrowly passed in legislature this week — have inflicted "profound damage" on the province's relationship with Indigenous communities.

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"While the Premier seeks to strengthen B.C.'s economic relationships in the Indo-Pacific region and promote investment in major natural resource projects, his government has simultaneously undermined the very rights and relationships that are foundations to sustainable economic development in First Nations territories," reads the statement from the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.

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In a separate statement, Teegee said the passing of the new bills is the direct reason he decided not to join the trade mission. 

"How can we participate in trade missions to promote resource development when this government has just rammed through legislation that tramples our rights and threatens our territories?" he said.

"During uncertain times, it's imperative that First Nations actively shape economic relationships that impact our lands, peoples, and futures."

But Eby said he has promised First Nations leaders that his government will ensure "strong Indigenous partnerships" and strong environmental protections despite the bills passing, as long as he is premier.

The premier made his comments on the eve of his departure on a 10-day trade mission to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

"We do have to move faster," he said, citing opening of the Blackwater gold and silver mine Friday as an example of a project that can be completed faster than expected with First Nation partnership is involved.

"This is a mine that ordinarily would take four or five years to build," Eby said. "It was completed in 18 months, including a significant transmission line 160-plus kilometres through some pretty challenging terrain, all of it completed in 22 months."

Eby said international investors need to understand that they must have "strong partnerships with Indigenous people [in B.C.]" and high environmental standards in order to see their projects move quickly in the province. 

"So what we're seeing is nations becoming full economic partners in the projects, proponents of the projects, as well as participating in the oversight to ensure land protection."

Eby said the province will work hard to demonstrate its commitment to ensuring Indigenous partnership, and Teegee's withdrawal from the trade mission is a clear sign that more work needs to be done on that front.

"Words will not be sufficient," he said.

Rachael Segal, the former policy director of prime minister Stephen Harper's government and a CBC political panelist, told CBC's The Early Edition that Bills 14 and 15 were passed by the provincial government against its own UNDRIP legislation.

"This bill is not the bill that we wanted when it comes to development in this province."

Segal said Eby's trip to Asia is distracting and that he should have been at the first ministers' conference in Saskatoon on Monday.

The B.C. delegation to Asia comes amid a push to diversify the province's trading partners in response to the ongoing trade war with the U.S. due to President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

On Friday, Trump threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, posing a major threat to Ontario and Quebec's economies in particular.

"The expertise that we have here, the market access and other pieces, mean that as the president ramps up his attack on core industries in Central Canada, it redoubles the importance of what we have to do here in British Columbia to support the national economy," Eby said.