ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: October 13, 1999
Author/Local: P. Hancock/7999
RTS No. 1009
CC File No. 3139

Council: October 19, 1999

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	City Clerk
SUBJECT:	Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee “First Principles” Paper

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council endorse the continued elaboration of the “First Principles” by the Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee (LMTAC).

CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

There is no Council Policy related to this matter.

PURPOSE

This report discusses the LMTAC’s request for comments from the City of Vancouver on the draft “First Principles” paper.

BACKGROUND

The Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee (LMTAC) coordinates and represents the interests of local governments in Lower Mainland treaty negotiations. The LMTAC is comprised of elected officials and staff from 23 municipalities and three regional districts.

In a letter dated July 6, 1999 (Appendix A) the LMTAC requested Council to review a draft of the LMTAC “First Principles” and to provide written comments. The LMTAC will use the comments received from its members to amend the First Principles.

The First Principles were developed in a series of workshops attended by representatives of a number of Lower Mainland municipalities, including the City of Vancouver. They consist of a series of guiding principles on topics such as lands, resources, governance and jurisdiction, and fiscal matters. The First Principles establish a context for LMTAC input to the provincial treaty negotiation team. The LMTAC will use the First Principles as a starting point for a more detailed exploration of specific treaty-related issues in future interest papers.

DISCUSSION

The City of Vancouver has an interest in encouraging a strong local government voice in the Lower Mainland treaty negotiations. The LMTAC is playing a central role in developing and refining a common local government position with respect to treaty issues such as transfer of lands, access to resources, and governance and jurisdiction. The First Principles represent a preliminary, but important, step in this process.

The First Principles consist of broad statements of principle, many of which raise fundamental technical and legal issues. Meaningful comments on the First Principles would require significant staff resources to be committed to an examination of these issues in the context of the interests of the City of Vancouver. The difficulty of providing specific comments is compounded by the generality of the First Principles and the relatively short time frame for response. It is more appropriate to commit staff resources to the analysis of specific issues and proposals brought forward in the course of the treaty negotiations.

At present, some of the LMTAC stakeholders have provided the LMTAC with written comments on the First Principles. The GVRD has recently endorsed a report containing comments on each of the First Principles (Appendix B). The scope and detail of these comments reflects the significant amount of staff time the GVRD has invested over the past years in the preparation of its own initial interests paper and proposed principles for treaty negotiations.

CONCLUSION

At the present time, it is inadvisable to provide specific comments about general statements of principle such as the “First Principles”. Representatives of the City of Vancouver will continue to participate through the LMTAC in the process of formulating positions on specific issues that arise in treaty negotiations.

The City Clerk recommends that Council notify the LMTAC that the First Principles are somewhat general for Council to provide specific comments at this time, but that Council continues to support the LMTAC in its efforts to elaborate these principles.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver