Status of Women committee  First of all, I have to say I'm not a chief anymore. A lot of people still call me that. Secondly, it's not a matter of actively accepting the provincial matrimonial act. We were busy passing 23 other laws. Those 23 other laws were more important, because they dealt with property ownership, with who were entitled to be Tsawwassen members, who were entitled to own Tsawwassen property.

Status of Women committee  There are plenty of other life-and-death issues in first nations communities. Is this the right life-and-death issue to choose at this point? I don't know. In some ways, I'm relieved that the Tsawwassen community is beyond this, because we have replaced the Indian Act.

Status of Women committee  That's a consequence of the treaty, but we have the treaty not because of matrimonial property; we have the treaty because we needed to replace the Indian Act. We're integrating into the provincial system, but it doesn't get much more complicated than these types of arrangements.

Status of Women committee  Any resources that first nations can take advantage of would be helpful. It depends. I have run a first nation with a small population. With the 300 competing priorities we have on law development, something that is obscure to the members of my community would be very challenging to put on the front burner, or even to ever get off the back burner.

Status of Women committee  Our treaty consultation is a very formal process that's set out; it isn't just listening one way. It's taking concerns into account and modifying the approach to show that those concerns have been listened to. It's following through on why some concerns weren't followed through.

Status of Women committee  No, it won't. That's the short answer.

Status of Women committee  Because our treaty has set out all our jurisdictions. The inherent right is set out, our law-making powers, and the treaty sets out which laws apply if the laws conflict—

Status of Women committee  And that's protected in the Constitution.

Status of Women committee  The Canadian Constitution.

Status of Women committee  I call consensus the “c” word. It's very hard to get in any one community, let alone across the country. But to your point, perhaps there will be some first nations women who now have legal rights, who will be able to take advantage of them in certain circumstances. For those individuals, I think that will be an improvement in this particular bill.

Status of Women committee  Sorry, I've got a low voice.

Status of Women committee  The common law would apply in the absence of us writing a law.

Status of Women committee  Yes, because we are one of the only modern treaties settled in B.C. through the B.C. treaty process. There are about five or six now out of 200 first nations.

Status of Women committee  It is.

Status of Women committee  We have jurisdiction within the treaty, but we haven't enacted it yet, so provincial law applies.