Tsawwassen First Nation
Background
Negotiating status:
Negotiating a treaty settlement within the British Columbia Treaty Commission six-stage treaty process.
Negotiating affiliation: Negotiating independently with Canada and British Columbia. Affiliated with the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council, whose nine members are negotiating comprehensive treaty agreements within the B.C. treaty process, either independently or with various treaty groups.
Location : On the Strait of Georgia near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, approximately 25 km south of Vancouver. (One reserve on 290 hectares, 80 per cent of which is held in Certificates of Possession.)
Total band members
: 358
Negotiations
The Tsawwassen First Nation's Final Agreement was initialled on December 8, 2006. The agreement includes a land package of approximately 724 hectares, including 372 hectares of former provincial Crown land, 290 hectares of Indian reserve land, together forming the Tsawwassen treaty settlement lands ("Tsawwassen Lands") over which Tsawwassen First Nation will have jurisdiction and 62 hectares of additional lands that will remain under the jurisdiction of the Corporation of Delta. This is the second Final Agreement initialled under the BC treaty process and the first initialled in the Lower Mainland.
When the treaty comes into effect, Tsawwassen will own their land in fee simple and there will be no more Indian reserves. The land component is approximately 724 hectares.
The Final Agreement will set out law-making authorities that Tsawwassen may exercise on their lands. It will also allow the Tsawwassen government to become a member of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and appoint a director to site on the GVRD board.
The Tsawwassen First Nations entered the treaty process in December, 1993 and are now in Stage 5 of the treaty process, ratifying a Final Agreement.
In the fall of 2002, chief negotiators for the three parties agreed to work towards the completion of a draft Agreement-in-Principle (AIP). In July 2003, the draft was initialled, and in March, 2004, the Tsawwassen First Nation, British Columbia and Canada signed the Agreement-in-Principle (AIP) at a ceremony at the Tsawwassen First Nation Longhouse.
Since that time, substantive progress has been made at the Tsawwassen treaty table and negotiators reached a tentative deal on a Final Agreement in October 2006.
Over the next several months, the Tsawwassen First Nation will vote to ratify the agreement. If they do so, then the B.C. Legislature and the federal Parliament must give their assent for the treaty to take effect.
Final Agreement
Fact Sheets
Appendices
Maps
Brochure
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Related Links
Agreement-in-Principle
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Final Agreements
