The Tsilhqot’in National Government and the new Provincial Government in BC have signed a letter of commitment to set the stage for a better relationship.
TNG Tribal Chief Joe Alphonse says it is a similar deal to what the former Liberal Government signed, but he says the wheels seemed to come off that wagon.
He views this as a chance to hit the re-set button…
“I think John Horgan and his team are pretty eager and they understand the importance of such an agreement. You know in today’s day in age that is getting to be a bigger issue and aboriginal rights across Canada usually start with the Chilcotin decision.”
Because of that, Alphonse says who better to make an agreement with to prove to people that you are on the right track when it comes to reconciliation.
He says they are looking for a true government to government relationship…
“Every aspect of governance that you’ll find, government to government, and how we look at each other. Revenue sharing, how that’s going to pan out, if you don’t have a funding source then you don’t have a government so that is a big part of any agreement. We do have people that we have to, education programs and social programs, housing and all that kind of stuff that we have top take care of.”
Alphonse says there is still a lot of work to do around things like funding, but he says a quick win would be the attitude around how we look at each other and how we chose to co-exist, something he says has definitely been demonstrated so far by the new John Horgan government.