Pause of Indigenous rights act won’t be confidence vote, B.C. election prospect fades

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The NDP has a one-seat majority in the legislature, and Farnworth said the government is still looking for a “path forward” on the legislation, but added that it was “nonsense” to suggest Eby had lost the confidence of the house.

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Eby has said the declaration act, known as DRIPA, poses significant legal peril to the province, after a recent court decision said it should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into B.C. laws “with immediate legal effect.”

Farnworth said the proposed legislation to pause DRIPA, which is based on the UN declaration, will be tabled during the current spring legislative session.

He said discussions with First Nations would continue.

But Stewart Phillip questioned the government’s sincerity, calling its “so-called consultation” a “total sham.”

“In the same breath, he indicated his intention to push his DRIPA legislative agenda forward by the end of the (session),” Phillip said.

He said Eby was guilty of “doublespeak” and “shifting positions on a daily basis” while failing to engage in genuine consultations.

Stewart and fellow Indigenous leaders condemned the suspension plan at a Vancouver news conference on Friday, having also rejected Eby’s previous plan to amend DRIPA.

Joan Phillip — who is suffering an undisclosed illness — is one of three Indigenous members of Eby’s caucus.

Political analyst Stewart Prest from the University of British Columbia had said over the weekend that he could not understand why Eby would risk his office on the issue.

He said that triggering an election would “seem like political malpractice.”

The B.C. Conservatives have pledged to bring down the government whenever possible and have said they plan to repeal DRIPA.

But Farnworth said that by the time the legislation is tabled, he expects Joan Phillip, as well as “Conservatives and Independents and Greens” may vote for it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press