“Let the People Decide”: OneBC’s Dallas Brodie Challenges Eby to a DRIPA Referendum

For years, the BC NDP has pushed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act — DRIPA — on British Columbians without ever asking us if we wanted it. No referendum. No meaningful public consultation. No province-wide vote. Just a sweeping piece of legislation that rewrites the rules for land use, resource development, and governance across the entire province, implemented quietly and defended aggressively whenever it draws scrutiny.

Last week, OneBC leader and MLA Dallas Brodie had enough. She stood up in the BC Legislature and issued a direct, public challenge to Premier David Eby and the NDP government: call a referendum on DRIPA. Let the people of British Columbia decide for themselves whether they want this law.

The NDP, predictably, said nothing useful in response.

What Brodie Said in the Legislature

Brodie’s challenge was unambiguous. She told the NDP government that if David Eby and his caucus are too scared to defend DRIPA in a province-wide vote — if they genuinely believe the law is so unpopular that they can’t win a fair public debate on it — then they should step aside and let British Columbians make the decision themselves.

The petition she is now circulating demands exactly that: it calls on the BC NDP Cabinet to recommend to the Lieutenant Governor that the question of DRIPA be put to a province-wide referendum. Let voters decide. Yes or no. Simple.

The NDP has refused to hold any referendum on DRIPA. They have never sought a public mandate for the law. They passed it, implemented it, and have been expanding its reach ever since — without once letting British Columbians vote on whether they want it.

Why DRIPA Is the Issue Every BC Voter Should Care About

DRIPA, passed in 2019, formally incorporates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into BC law. In practice, it requires that BC government decisions — on land use, resource development, permits, environmental approvals, and more — must align with UNDRIP, including provisions that some legal experts interpret as requiring Indigenous consent before development can proceed.

David Eby has repeatedly claimed that DRIPA enjoys broad public support and that “reconciliation” is a widely shared value in BC. If that’s true, a referendum should be an easy win for his government. Why won’t he hold one?

The answer is obvious to anyone paying attention: the NDP knows that when British Columbians understand what DRIPA actually does — not the slogan version, the legal reality version — they don’t support it. Poll after poll has shown that BC voters reject the idea of giving unelected Indigenous organizations a veto over public lands and resources. The NDP has chosen to implement the policy anyway, without asking.

The Petition: What It Demands

Brodie’s petition makes a simple, democratic ask. It demands that the BC NDP Cabinet:

This is not a radical ask. Referendums are a basic tool of democracy. BC has held referendums on electoral reform, the HST, and other major policy questions. There is no reason — none — that DRIPA should be exempt from democratic scrutiny. The NDP’s refusal to allow a vote on DRIPA is itself a statement: they know they can’t win one.

The NDP’s Silence Speaks Volumes

Since Brodie stood up in the legislature, the NDP has offered no serious response to her challenge. No commitment to a referendum. No defence of the democratic legitimacy of DRIPA. No explanation for why British Columbians should not be allowed to vote on a law that affects every square kilometre of this province.

Their silence is the answer. A government confident in its policies invites scrutiny. A government that has pushed through unpopular legislation under the cover of identity politics and accusation-by-racism hides from votes it knows it would lose.

Eby has had every opportunity to say: We believe in DRIPA. We believe British Columbians support it. Let’s put it to a vote. He has not said this. He will not say this. Because he knows the result.

Sign the Petition

Dallas Brodie is collecting signatures right now. Every name on that petition is a message to the NDP that British Columbians demand a say in laws that reshape their province. Every name is a signal that the era of backroom DRIPA deals, consent-industry payments, and unelected veto power is running out of road.

If you believe the people of BC — not the NDP caucus, not hereditary chiefs with no electoral mandate, not Indigenous industry organizations paid from public funds — should decide the future of DRIPA, sign the petition.

The NDP passed DRIPA without asking you. They’ve expanded it without asking you. They’ve cut deals under it without telling you. A referendum is the bare minimum of democratic accountability. It’s time to demand it.