THE BCTC TREATY PROCESS

There are six stages in the BCTC treaty process. BCTC is the regulatory body that oversees tripartite negotiations throughout the province and ensures that negotiations are progressing.

This is the first and logical stage whereby the First Nation declares its intent to enter tripartite negotiations with the federal and the province of British Columbia. It is also during this stage that the First Nation submits a Statement-of-Intent (SOI) map showing the traditional territory of the First Nation. The Northern Shuswap Treaty Society (then known as the Cariboo Tribal Council) officially declared its statement intent on January 6th, 1994.You can view our Statement of Intent and SOI map by clicking on either of the links below.

Statement of Intent
Statement of Intent Map

During this stage, each party's representatives are introduced to the other and scrapes the surface on how negotiations should proceed and whether each party is truly ready to commit to tripartite negotiations. In addition, an Openness Protocol Agreement, a Procedures Agreement and an Information Sharing Principles Agreement are signed at this stage. The Northern Shuswap Treaty Society signed these agreements on September 27th, 1995 and declared itself ready two days later. Canada and BC declared itself ready to negotiate approximately five months later on April 24th, 1996.

It is during this stage where a municipal representative is appointed to sit on the provincial negotiation team and the parties work out a framework agreement to enter into stage 4 negotiations. Our framework agreement was signed on December 10th, 1997. You can view the NSTS Framework Agreement by clicking on the link below.

The Cariboo Framework Agreement

This is the stage where the Northern Shuswap Treaty Society currently is at. To date, we have negotiated several chapters and are nearing completion on others. The Agreement-in-Principle is without prejudice, meaning that anything negotiated during this stage is not legally binding and must be included in the final agreement stage before becoming constitutionally entrenched. You can click on the links below to view the chapters we have currently made public.

Ratification Chapter (2/25/04)
Approval Chapter (2/25/04)
Culture and Heritage Chapter (2/25/04)
Implementation Chapter (2/25/04)

It is at this stage that the technical, and legal analysis is, for the most part, completed. In addition, it can be the stage where the three parties delve into the most important issues of the treaty. The Northern Shuswap Treaty Society has yet to reach this stage.

At this stage, the final agreement is implemented, as each side must live up to its end of the treaty. More agreements and arrangements are made to transition the First Nation body into a true self-governing body. Many First Nations who have signed treaties have said that this is arguably the most vital stage to the First Nation in the process.

This site was developed by Cary Morin (NSTS Public Relations/Communications Coordinator) with the assistance of Emoda Design. Any use of any materials from this site must be done with the expressed approval of the Northern Shuswap Treaty Society.

Northern Shuswap Treaty Society ©2006

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