Part A: Integrated Land Management Bureau
New Relationship
The Government of British Columbia is leading the nation in developing a New Relationship with First Nations and Aboriginal
people. Guided by a principle of trust and by recognition and respect of First Nations' rights and title, we are building
a stronger and healthier relationship between government and Aboriginal people. By working together, we will bring tangible
social and economic benefits to Aboriginal people across the Province and narrow the gap between Aboriginal people and other
British Columbians. The Bureau is working to support the New Relationship in the following ways:
- work directly with First Nations' representatives to lead the development and implementation of new strategies for strategic
land-use planning, revisions to existing plans and/or new planning exercises that incorporate and support the New Relationship
initiative;
- will also conduct consultations and, where appropriate, negotiate accommodations with First Nations to provide responsible
Crown land development that furthers high-priority provincial initiatives;
- serve as a key partner to the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in providing geographic information and
analytical support services (land and resource information) at all stages of the treaty negotiation process;
- facilitate, through its role as Inter-Agency Management Committee coordinator, the corporate development of government — First Nation
agreements to simplify and make inter-governmental natural resource development or use referral processes more streamlined
and efficient;
- develop a consolidated process and virtual warehouse for all natural resource management agency government — First Nation
memoranda or letters of understanding, agreements and/or protocols. All of these documents will reside in one place in government,
thereby facilitating decision-making;
- work closely with First Nations to build reciprocal expertise and infrastructure for the successful FrontCounter BC initiative
whereby First Nations have the means to better coordinate their input into government natural resource decision processes;
and
- develop, through its Species-At-Risk Coordination Office role, options for recovery of broad-ranging species-at-risk that
are informed by First Nations' interests and values.