Section 7 consent agreements are not a brake on resource development.
They are the reason roughly $9 billion in mine investment already has a
partner at the table. A government that wants to build should keep them.
British Columbia has a new government, and it has told us its first priority. The day after his party won a majority, Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson reaffirmed his commitment to repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), with legislation likely coming in the spring.1
I want to make a case to this government on its own terms. This is a government that says it wants mines built, investment attracted, and First Nations brought into the economy through practical cooperation and real economic opportunity.2 I agree with every one of those goals. That is exactly why repealing Section 7 of DRIPA would be a mistake. Section 7 is not reconciliation paperwork. It is the legal instrument that turned First Nations from potential litigants into committed partners on some of the most valuable resource projects in the province.
What is actually at stake
Section 7 lets the Province sign agreements with Indigenous governing bodies for joint or consent-based statutory decision-making. Only a handful exist, each approved by Cabinet and tied to specific projects.3 Here is what they cover, using each project’s most recent public capital estimate:
Project
Nation · status
Initial capital (est.)
Eskay Creek gold-silver (Skeena)
Tahltan · agreement 2022; approved Jan. 2026
C$713 million4
Red Chris block cave (Newmont / Imperial)
Tahltan · agreement 2023; authorized June 2026
US$4.2–4.8 billion5
Yellowhead copper (Taseko)
Simpcw · agreement July 2026; in assessment
C$2.0 billion6
Subtotal, signed agreements
≈ C$9 billion
Galore Creek copper-gold (Teck / Newmont)
Tahltan · negotiation mandate 2023
C$5.2 billion (2011 study)7
Total including mandate
≈ C$14 billion+
Red Chris converted at roughly 1.38 CAD/USD. Galore Creek’s figure is dated and would be materially higher in today’s dollars. Capital cost understates the full stake: it excludes sustaining capital, decades of payroll, and royalties and taxes.
That is about $9 billion in capital already moving under signed consent agreements, and well over $14 billion once Galore Creek is counted. Yellowhead alone is projected to pay about $3.2 billion in provincial and federal taxes over its 25-year life.6 Red Chris is expected to create more than 1,800 construction jobs, and Ottawa has committed $500 million to help build it.8
These are partners, not obstacles
The point of Section 7 is not who holds a veto. The point is who is in the boat with you when the water gets rough. The Tahltan Central Government is not a reluctant bystander to Eskay Creek. It is a Skeena shareholder.9 When the Province approved the mine in January 2026, Skeena’s own leadership described the Section 7 process as proof that Indigenous rights and responsible resource development can advance together.10 Back in 2022, the project’s proponents framed the agreement as a way to reduce uncertainty and let the investment community know exactly who they were dealing with.11
That is the language of capital markets, not activism. I spent years in commercial lending and venture capital, and I can tell you how investors read a project with a consenting Nation written into the approval: as a project with one fewer reason to end up in court. Under the outgoing government, Red Chris became the seventh majornB.C. mine or mine extension permitted in 18 months.12 The system was starting to deliver.
Repeal removes certainty, not rights
Supporters of repeal are right about one thing: many in business feel DRIPA has not produced the certainty it promised. A Business Council of B.C. survey found near-unanimous concern about how the Act has been implemented.13 That frustration is real and deserves an answer.
But repeal will not make Aboriginal rights and title disappear. Those are protected by section 35 of the Constitution, and the courts will keep enforcing them whether DRIPA exists or not. What repeal removes is the structured, negotiated, on-the-record process for reaching consent in advance. Take that away and Nations are left with the one tool the Constitution guarantees them: litigation. That is the opposite of certainty. First Nations leaders have already warned that tearing up the law would provoke exactly that kind of conflict.1
There is also a practical complication. The consent requirement for these projects runs through Section 7 of the Environmental Assessment Act as well as DRIPA.14 Pulling one statute does not cleanly unwind signed agreements. It creates legal ambiguity on projects with billions already committed, which is the last thing a lender or a board wants to read about.
A better path: fix it, don’t scrap it
If the goal is investment certainty, the government has better options than repeal:
1. Honour every signed Section 7 agreement. Say so publicly and early. Investors in Eskay Creek, Red Chris and Yellowhead should not have to wonder.
2. Keep Section 7 as a tool, and use it on purpose. The newer agreements already allow future projects to be added under an existing framework, so consent does not have to be renegotiated mine by mine.15 That is a permitting accelerator a pro-development government should want.
3. Add the transparency critics are asking for. Clear timelines, published criteria, and independent reporting would answer most legitimate business concerns without discarding the partnerships that work.
Kinship as infrastructure
In Secwépemctsín, the hemp rope our people grew and traded is spets’en. We name our strongest relationships after it because a braided rope holds more than any single strand. Section 7 agreements are that rope: a Nation, the Province and an investor braided into one decision. This government can cut it and spend the next decade in court, or it can strengthen it and build. I hope it chooses to build, with its partners beside it.
Carl Archie | tlli7sa | Sklow Analytics | Secwépemc Economist & Governance Advisor
Notes
1. Global News, “B.C. First Nations Chief Warns Ripping Up DRIPA Is a ‘Declaration of War,’” October 2026, https://globalnews.ca/news/12121663/bc-first-nations-chief-warns-ripping-dripa-declaration-war/.
2. Conservative Party of BC, “Repeal DRIPA, Promote Economic Reconciliation,” October 7, 2026, https://conservativebc.ca/plan/first-nations-dripa/; BC Ballot, “DRIPA: What It Is and Where Each BC Party Stands, 2026,” https://bcballot.ca/platforms/issues/dripa-and-indigenous-relations/.
3. Province of British Columbia, “Making Decisions Together,” Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, accessed November 1, 2026, https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/indigeno us-people/new-relationship/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/making-decis ions-together.
4. Canadian Mining Journal, “Skeena Says Eskay Creek FS Has $2B After-Tax Value, 43% Return,” November 2023, https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/news/skeena-says-eskay-creek-fs-has-2b-afte r-tax-value-43-return/. Skeena reported an updated estimate of US$659 million in 2026.
5. Geomechanics.io, “Newmont’s Red Chris $4.8B Block Cave: Capex, Schedule and Design Notes for Engineers,” October 24, 2026, https://www.geomechanics.io/news/article/newmonts-red-chris-48b-bloc k-cave-capex-schedule-and-design-notes-for-engineers.
6. Taseko Mines Limited, “Taseko Announces Improved Economics for Yellowhead Copper Project,” news release, July 10, 2025, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000878518/000117184325004400/exh_991.htm.
7. NovaGold Resources Inc., Form F-10, 2011, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001173420/000106299311004953/formf10.htm.
8. Newmont Corporation, “Newmont Welcomes Government of Canada’s CA$500 Million Contribution to Red Chris Block Cave,” news release, July 2, 2026, https://www.newmont.com/investors/news-release/n ews-details/2026/Newmont-Welcomes-Government-of-Canadas-CA500-Million-Contribution-to-Red-Chri s-Block-Cave/default.aspx.
9. Mining.com, “Skeena Feasibility Forecasts Robust Returns for Eskay Creek Gold-Silver Development in BC,” https://www.mining.com/?p=1099295.
10.Creamer Media, “Skeena Secures Key Permits for Eskay Creek, Clearing Path to 2027 Production,” January 28, 2026, https://www.miningweekly.com/article/skeena-secures-key-permits-for-eskay-creek-cl earing-path-to-2027-production-2026-01-28.
11.Business in Vancouver, “Province, Tahltan Sign First Consent Mine Permitting Agreement,” June 2022, https://biv.com/article/2022/06/province-tahltan-sign-first-consent-mine-permitting-agreement.
12.Mining Association of British Columbia statement, June 2026, as reported in “Newmont’s Red Chris Underground Expansion Gets Regulatory Green Light,” https://www.middleeastmetals.ir/en/news/13343/.
13.The Tyee, “OK, Lorne, You’ll Repeal DRIPA. Then What?,” October 9, 2026, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/10/09/Lorne-Repeal-DRIPA-Then-What/.
14.Province of British Columbia, “B.C., Simpcw Sign Consent Agreement for Proposed Yellowhead Copper Mine,” news release, July 2026, https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026ENV0029-000836.
15.Bennett Jones LLP, “BC Signs DRIPA Agreement Requiring Simpcw Consent for Yellowhead Copper Project,” September 2026, https://www.bennettjones.com/Insights/Blogs/2026/09/BC-Signs-DRIPA-Con sent-Agreement-Requiring-Simpcw-Consent-for-Yellowhead-Copper-Project; MLT Aikins, “New Agreements Expand the Implementation of Section 7 under DRIPA,” 2026, https://www.mltaikins.com/i nsights/new-agreements-expand-the-implementation-of-section-7-under-dripa/.
