Daily Report May 14, 2020 Today in BC
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BC Today – Daily Report May 14, 2020 Quotation of the day “The Wet'suwet'en have to figure this out themselves. How they govern themselves is up to them.” Premier John Horgan said the MOU between the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the provincial and federal governments will allow the nation to hash out its governance issues “internally.” Today in B.C. On the schedule Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will provide an update on COVID-19 in B.C. at 3 p.m. B.C. hasn’t ‘chosen sides’ in internal Wet’suwet’en dispute: Horgan The MOU between the governments of B.C., Canada, and the Wet’suwet’en nation will be signed despite protests from some elected chiefs, said Premier John Horgan. “The Wet'suwet'en have to figure this out themselves,” the premier told reporters yesterday. “How they govern themselves is up to them — that's been a tenet of how we proceeded as a government.” Some of the nation’s hereditary chiefs are set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the B.C. and Canadian governments, but four elected chiefs want the document withdrawn pending further internal discussions. The 2014 Tsilhqot’in decision — in which the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the nation’s rights and title to traditional territories in the B.C. Interior — formed the blueprint for the MOU, which Horgan said aims to resolve “governance challenges in Wet’suwet’en territory.” Horgan said the document makes room for the nation to come to a consensus through its traditional processes. “Those that are elected have their point of view. It's a legitimate point of view — I'm not disputing that at all. But I think the Wet'suwet'en people have to figure it out,” Horgan said, acknowledging the MOU process “hasn’t been perfect.” The MOU is set to be signed today in a virtual ceremony involving B.C. Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Scott Fraser and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett as well as the hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs. MOU does not mention disputed pipeline, court actions or protests The hereditary chiefs posted the document online on Tuesday. The MOU focuses on issues of rights and title, and intergovernmental relationships, but as expected, it contains no mention of the Coastal GasLink pipeline or the removal of blockades erected by Wet’suwet’en members who oppose the project, which sparked disruptive cross-country demonstrations in February. The MOU grants the Wet’suwet’en rights and title to their traditional territory (yintah) immediately upon signing. Negotiations will then determine how to transfer jurisdiction over land use planning and revenue sharing; child and family wellness; resources; wildlife and fish; and other issues over to the Wet’suwet’en. Some jurisdictional transfers — including those involving children and family issues — could take up to six months and, while the Wet’suwet’en will gain exclusive jurisdiction in some areas, others will be shared. A “Wet’suwet’en Nation reunification strategy” is also set to be negotiated over the next six months. A backgrounder on the MOU notes that the document “has no impact” on the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, stating “nothing in this agreement restricts the court actions and protests relating to CGL from proceeding.” Orphan well cleanup program to create 1,200 jobs With its share of $1.7 billion in federal funding for orphan well cleanup, B.C. plans to create three programs aimed at accelerating reclamation efforts at 2,000 sites. The programs are expected to create 1,200 jobs, mostly in northeastern B.C. Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Bruce Ralston said B.C. would get $120 million in funding and had 357 orphaned well sites and 7,685 that are considered dormant. A final agreement with the feds has not yet been reached, but the provincial government has clear intentions for the funds. With $100 million, the Dormant Sites Reclamation Program will focus on reclamation of dormant oil and gas sites — those that have been inactive for five consecutive years and are unlikely to be returned to service. The program will provide up to $100,000 or the total cleanup costs for each site, whichever is less. The Orphan Sites Supplemental Reclamation Program will provide $15 million to rehabilitate well sites whose operator has become insolvent, no longer exists or cannot be located. The BC Oil and Gas Commission will administer the program, in addition to the $27 million it has allocated to clean up orphan wells in the current fiscal year. Another $5 million will go to the Legacy Sites Reclamation Program, which will focus on mitigating lingering impacts from oil and gas activities on wildlife habitat and areas traditionally used by Indigenous Peoples. Ralston said the funding will go to local companies and contractors. “As well, Indigenous communities, local governments and landowners will be able to nominate dormant orphan and legacy sites for priority consideration for decommissioning reclamation or restoration,” Ralston told reporters. “By tackling restoration at those sites, we are moving one step closer to achieving our CleanBC goals for a cleaner, better future for all BCers.” B.C. expects to get a bigger bang for the federal bucks than Alberta, which plans to create 5,300 jobs with up to $1 billion from Ottawa’s cleanup fund. BC Green Party Leader Adam Olsen offered qualified support for the provincial programs. “It must be noted that we should have never allowed a situation where companies were able to profit off the extraction of a public resource only to walk away from the mess they created in the process, leaving taxpayers to clean up after them,” he said in a statement. Today’s events May 14 at 7:15 p.m. – Vancouver Attorney General David Eby and ICBC CEO Nicolas Jimenez will release a report on how the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing state of emergency have impacted ICBC. Topics of conversation ● Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed 16 new COVID-19 cases in B.C. yesterday, bringing the provincial total to 2,376. One new death was reported, pushing the provincial death toll to 132. There were 59 people with COVID-19 in hospital, 16 of them critical. ○ By noon yesterday, more than 75,000 people had filled out the province’s survey on how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic over the coming weeks and months. ○ B.C.’s state of emergency was extended for the fourth time through to May 26 and “will remain in place for the foreseeable future,” according to Premier John Horgan. ● Attorney General David Eby is prepared to smooth the way for B.C. restaurants to reopen by allowing them to buy booze at wholesale prices and expediting provincial licensing of patios, the Vancouver Sun reports. ○ B.C. restaurants and bars have long bemoaned being forced to buy alcohol at retail prices while efforts to expand licensed patio space often get bogged down in regulations. ○ Both actions are mentioned in Liberal Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson’s latest letter to the NDP government. He also suggested the province make the pandemic-driven policy allowing restaurants to deliver alcohol permanent, as well as allow business-related meals to be fully tax deducted. ○ “Half of all independent restaurants aren't expecting to survive the devastation of COVID-19 and 120,000 restaurant employees are out of work right now in our province,” said Wilkinson. “Governments of all levels need to throw these businesses a lifeline.” ● Union of B.C. Municipalities president Maja Tait has written to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Selina Robinson with a list of requests to help local governments weather the pandemic. ○ Tait wants the province to allow all property owners to defer their property taxes this year, more provincial funding for transit and economic recovery spending to be focused on infrastructure projects. ● The Star’s Vancouver bureau dug into how the Lynn Valley Care Centre — site of the first COVID-19 outbreak in a long-term care facility — is beginning to pull its operations back together after months under quarantine. ● The Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia — colloquially called the Cullen commission after chair Austin Cullen — plans to proceed with upcoming evidence hearings scheduled to begin on May 25. ○ After “several weeks” of running “multiple mock hearings,” the commission has decided to use Microsoft Teams to facilitate the public hearings. ● WorkSafeBC board chair Ralph McGinn died this week. Labour Minister Harry Bains appointed McGinn to the role in 2017. “Ralph cared very much about the safety of workers, and over the span of a long career, he was ambitious and energetic when it came to protecting those in the workplace,” Bains said in a statement. “Ralph's legacy spans the globe - he made a tremendous difference in mining safety, health and environmental protection as far away as Australia, South America and Africa.” ● Health Canada has approved the first blood test to check for COVID-19 antibodies. Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force plans to collect and test at least one million Canadian blood samples over the next two years. ○ The test is “one of the ones” B.C. has been using, according to Dr. Henry, who said the province is still cautious in its approach to antibody testing. ○ “The caveats that we have ... is that these tests are not 100 per cent accurate,” she told reporters yesterday, adding that testing often yields both false positive and false negative results. ○ The other issue with antibody testing is that it has not yet been determined how long COVID-19 antibodies may last.