December 29, 2006

As we approach the end of another year, many of us will take time to reflect back on 2006 even as we look forward to a new year, with new successes and new opportunities. Like any year, 2006 required us all to face both challenges and loss.

It was the year a tiny community showed us what true courage is really all about. The people of the Gitga’at First Nation in Hartley Bay were selfless and courageous in their rescue efforts when the Queen of the North sank. They showed the true spirit of B.C. and prevented an even greater tragedy that fateful night.

Sadly, this year we mourned the loss of Dr. Frank Calder, one of B.C.’s most distinguished Aboriginal leaders and a great British Columbian, and our colleague Val Anderson, the former Vancouver-Langara MLA.

But for all the challenges, 2006 was the year of agreement in B.C. Though we often think of areas where agreement is yet to be found, by any measure 2006 was an exceptional year where agreements achieved took centre stage.

We started in February with Central Coast and North Coast Land and Resource Management Plan agreements between the Province, First Nations, communities, environmental activists and industry groups. These agreements will protect 1.8 million hectares (an area more than three times the size of PEI) and created the new Spirit Bear Conservancy, which will provide a lasting home for the province’s official mammal, the Spirit Bear.

We secured unprecedented labour peace in our province through 2010, settling 139 public sector collective agreements covering more than 300,000 employees. Students, parents, and educators will share that stability under the first agreement ever settled with teachers under provincewide bargaining.

In April, we created Canada’s second largest economy by signing a trade and labour mobility agreement with Alberta that removes barriers between our two provinces. This landmark agreement will add $4.8 billion to our economies, and create 78,000 new jobs in B.C.

In June, we announced an agreement with the federal government that resulted in the transfer of all social housing resources to the Province. The agreement helps streamline administration and generates savings that can be reinvested to help us deal directly with homelessness.

Our work with the federal government resulted in a softwood lumber agreement that will provide the forest industry and forest-dependent communities with seven years of stability.

We made progress as a province to improve social and economic opportunities for people in every region. Nowhere did we see more advancement than our efforts to build a new relationship with First Nations, something I emphasized in my statement to the Legislature in May. Click for News Release.

In July, we signed the first-of-its-kind education agreement with the federal government and the First Nations Education Steering Committee to move towards First Nations having jurisdiction over First Nations’ education in British Columbia.

We moved forward in November to close the gaps in health care between First Nations and non-First Nations people with the First Nations Health Plan and an agreement signed by the Province, the federal government and the First Nations Leadership Council that renews our collective commitment to improve the health of First Nations and their communities.

In November, I encouraged the federal government, through a national newspaper column, to move further and formally acknowledge Canada’s “third solitude” – the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.

Building a new relationship with First Nations is a key part of our Pacific Leadership Agenda and we have made historical advancements with a number of recent agreements. In November, we reached an agreement on the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations’ claim on the legislature lands, and in December with the Tsay Kay Dene and Kwadacha to help reconcile the impact on their communities and culture from the construction of the Bennett Dam and the Williston Reservoir 40 years ago, which flooded much of their land.

We signed Agreements-in-Principal – the last stage of the treaty process before a final agreement – in October with the In-SHUCK-ch Nation in the Lillooet River Valley and in March with the Yale First Nation in the Fraser Canyon.

Three Final Agreements have now been initialled by First Nations and the federal and provincial governments – the first reached since the B.C. Treaty Commission process began back in 1993. These agreements with the Lheidli T’enneh near Prince George (in October), the Tsawwassen (in December), and Maa-nulth First Nations on the West Coast of Vancouver Island (in December) mean a better future for all British Columbians.

Big agreements and a big year for B.C., which positions us for an even better 2007. We will work together to reduce homelessness, improve the environment, strengthen and enhance our public health-care system, and create real connections to the Asia Pacific for British Columbia and Canada’s future successes.