The NDP sold DRIPA as a way to create reconciliation, transparency and investment certainty. Six and a half years later, the Business Council of British Columbia has released a survey that says the business community is seeing the opposite.

On May 6, 2026, BCBC reported that 98 per cent of respondents were “very concerned” about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act applying to all provincial laws. The same share said DRIPA is not living up to its promise of creating greater investment certainty in British Columbia.

This matters because the NDP’s own 2019 government release used certainty as the selling point. The Premier’s Office said the law aimed to create “further certainty for investment,” reaffirm B.C. as a “world-class destination” for business and establish rules, transparency and accountability when the province works with Indigenous governing bodies, business and local government.

The numbers are not a messaging problem

BCBC said respondents reported concrete business impacts. Seventy-four per cent said they are decreasing investment plans in B.C. Seventy-three per cent pointed to increased time, cost, complexity or uncertainty in permitting. Forty-one per cent cited harder access to external financing, while 35 per cent reported decreased hiring plans.

BCBC survey highlights

  • 98% said DRIPA is not living up to its investment-certainty promise.
  • 98% were very concerned about DRIPA’s current implementation.
  • 74% reported decreased B.C. investment plans.
  • 73% reported higher time, cost, complexity or uncertainty in permitting.
  • 59% favoured repeal, 31% favoured amendment, and 2% supported no change.

The survey is not an anti-reconciliation document. BCBC reported that more than 80 per cent of respondents agreed that finding a path forward on reconciliation with First Nations is important. That is precisely why the results are so damaging for David Eby’s government: the criticism is not that reconciliation matters too much. The criticism is that the NDP’s legal and policy design is not producing the certainty it promised.

BCBC surveyed its members from April 21 to 28, shortly after the province announced it would not proceed this spring with legislation to amend or suspend DRIPA. The survey was sent to 197 senior decision-makers and received 88 responses, representing a reported 30 per cent response rate.

Certainty was the promise. Uncertainty is the result.

The NDP can argue about wording. It can say implementation is complicated. It can insist that DRIPA remains central to reconciliation. But the business response is now quantified: investment plans are being cut, permitting uncertainty is rising and most respondents want the law repealed or amended.

The bottom line: DRIPA was promised as a certainty tool. BCBC’s May 6 survey says B.C. business leaders now see it as an uncertainty machine. That is not reconciliation working. That is the Eby government losing the confidence of the people expected to build, finance and employ in this province.