Controversy over B.C. native treaty.

Ottawa -- Bill C-34, an An Act to Give Effect to the Tsawwassen First Nation Final Agreement, is scheduled for Third Reading in the current session of Parliament. If passed, it will implement a treaty negotiated between the Tsawwassen First Nation and the B.C. government, meaning that federal and provincial laws will be overridden by Tsawwassen laws in numerous ways.

The Tsawwassen government, in B.C.'s lower mainland, will also be the beneficiary of generous financial arrangements, the kind that no other municipal entity in the country is given, and most tax dollars will come from non-natives--creating a situation for them that one critic characterizes as "much taxation without much (if any) representation."

The Conservative member of Parliament for Delta-Richmond East, John Cummins, is expected to oppose the treaty, even though he may be ejected from caucus for doing so. However, the bill is expected to pass because of caucus discipline imposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office, as well as the support of many Liberal MPs and that of likely all NDP and Bloc ones.

Critics say Harper should give the treaty a fair chance of being defeated by allowing a free vote among those "who cannot stomach the chronic and unproductive double standard" vis-a-vis native rights as opposed to those of the rest of the population (National Post, Feb. 8, 2008).