British Columbia Premier David Eby has reversed his plan to subject contentious amendments to the province’s Indigenous rights legislation to a confidence vote, a move that could have precipitated a provincial election this spring. Eby announced the decision on Monday after Indigenous Member of the Legislative Assembly Joan Phillip indicated she could not support the proposed changes. With a narrow New Democratic Party (NDP) majority, the premier acknowledged that unanimous caucus support was necessary to pass the legislation.

Last week, Eby had pledged to proceed with a confidence vote on amendments to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), despite strong opposition from First Nations leaders across British Columbia. He had maintained that losing such a vote would necessitate a provincial election but asserted his government had sufficient backing to pass the changes.

The DRIPA law enshrines commitments to uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), including Indigenous peoples’ rights to ownership and control over their traditional lands, territories, and resources. The proposed amendments, however, would temporarily suspend key provisions of both DRIPA and the Interpretation Act for a period of three years. This suspension is intended to address a December 2025 British Columbia Court of Appeal ruling that found the province’s mineral claims system was inconsistent with the government’s obligations under UNDRIP.

The ruling arose from the Gitxaała First Nation challenge concerning the province’s online registry, which enables prospecting and mineral claims on Crown land. The court found that the system violated Indigenous rights as recognized in DRIPA, prompting the government to seek a stay of certain obligations while it appeals the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Eby acknowledged the difficulty in securing wide political support from First Nations leadership, which has broadly rejected the government’s proposed suspension. He said the government would now seek support from individual chiefs willing to negotiate a path forward on reconciliation following the proposed suspension period.

First Nations political organizations—including the First Nations Leadership Council, representing the province’s three main political bodies—critically responded to the government’s approach. In a letter dated April 9, the council described the suspension proposal as a flawed overreach that effectively shelves fundamental human rights legislation for three years pending the appeal outcome.

Members of the First Nations Summit and other leadership bodies expressed concern that the premier’s outreach to select individual chiefs would not address broader divisions within Indigenous communities. They emphasized that the collective stance of more than 200 individual First Nations in the province supports the council’s rejection of the amendments. Critics warned the government’s approach risks deepening fractures in reconciliation efforts and characterized Eby’s determination to proceed as inflexible.

The government anticipates introducing the revised legislation as early as next week but must now navigate a more complex political landscape without the leverage of a confidence vote to enforce party discipline.