Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, has issued the following statement on his visit to Wet’suwet’en territory:

“Over the past two days, I had meetings in the Yintah (Wet’suwet’en territory) with members of both hereditary and elected Wet’suwet’en leadership, as well as community leaders from non-Indigenous communities in the area. I am grateful to have been invited to return to this beautiful territory and for the opportunity to have had these valuable discussions about the important work of implementing Wet’suwet’en title and rights.

“Addressing matters of Wet’suwet’en title and rights outstanding since the Delgamuukw-Gisday-wa decision more than 20 years ago is critical work. The Province remains committed to moving our negotiations forward under our 2020 Memorandum of Understanding with Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership and the federal government.

“In the discussions with Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, we reviewed our progress on the MOU to date, and acknowledged that it has been slower than we would have liked due to the challenges of the pandemic and to the complexities of the matters at hand. All parties reiterated their firm commitment to the historic work of implementing Wet’suwet’en’s title and rights, and discussed the work we will undertake together as partners to implement this commitment.

“Meeting with First Nations’ leaders and members in their territories is an important part of building the kind of enduring government-to-government relationships that are essential for advancing reconciliation.”