TSAWWASSEN FIRST NATION BECOMES SELF-GOVERNING–FIRST URBAN TREATY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
In accordance with the Tsawwassen First Nation Final Agreement (treaty), ratified by Canada, British Columbia, and the Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) enacted in 2008, TFN became a “Treaty” First Nation member of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) effective this date. The Treaty is the first urban treaty in modern-day British Columbia. It also represents the first signed under the 6-stage British Columbia Treaty Process, which began in 1993. Historically, the Tsawwassen are a Coast Salish Nation that travelled and fished the waterways of the southern Strait of Georgia and the lower Fraser River. With the Treaty, Tsawwassen is under a new form of governance. Neither a municipality, nor a Provincial creation, it has Constitutional status under Section 35 of The Constitution Act, 1982. As a result, government has an obligation not to infringe upon aboriginal and treaty rights without justification.
Source: “Tsawwassen First Nation Final Agreement,” Metro Vancouver. Retrieved 1/24/2020, http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/first-nation-relations/AboriginalPublications/Tsawwassen.pdf Map: Nikater, 12/3/2007. Map of Tsawwassen tribal territory. Public Domain.
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