Elections BC’s chief electoral officer has granted in-principle approval to a petition from the B.C. Conservatives that seeks to repeal the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
DRIPA provides a provincial framework for implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and requires the provincial government to work with indigenous governing bodies to develop measures to align provincial laws with the declaration.
It has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, as it has been cited in high-profile indigenous land title and mining rights court rulings.
Chief Electoral Officer Shipra Verma said in her Aug. 27 decision that the application met the requirements of the province’s Recall and Initiative Act, including that the proposed legislation falls within the jurisdiction of the B.C. legislature and that the draft bill was written in a “clear and unambiguous manner.”…