If you鈥檙e ever bored in 亚洲天堂 Lake, I highly encourage you to watch a Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) board meeting.

They happened twice a month on Thursday morning and they never fail to entertain whoever is there.

I recently watched the directors debate whether they should move forward with a relationship protocol with First Nations intended to improve relations between First Nations and local governments.

Some of the directors had an issue with the proposed protocol because it acknowledged a simple fact - that the regional district sits on unceded First Nations territory.

You don鈥檛 have to be an expert on B.C. history or First Nations issues to know that this is true. In fact, I knew this even before I moved to B.C.

Throughout most of Canada, the Crown entered into treaties whereby aboriginal communities gave up their claim to land in exchange for reservations and other promises, but, with minor exceptions, this did not happen in B.C. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada granted a declaration of aboriginal title to the Tsilhqot鈥檌n First Nation, one of hundreds of aboriginal groups in B.C. that had unresolved land claims.

So whether or not the RDBN board acknowledges that the regional district sits on unceded First Nations territory, I doubt that it would make much a difference. A quick Google search could answer that question.

But what struck me the most during that debate was not the resistance to sign this forward-looking document, it was that some of the directors were unwilling to understand B.C鈥檚 history, and one of them was simply denying the facts.

鈥淗ow do I know what took place 200 years ago?鈥� said Jerry Peterson, Director of Electoral Area F (Vanderhoof rural). 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, so to make that statement saying that I acknowledge it, I don鈥檛 acknowledge it because I don鈥檛 know.鈥�

After 150 years of colonization, you鈥檇 think that all Canadians would have moved beyond blatant ignorance. But these types of comments go to show why a relationship protocol is needed in the first place.

I almost felt like standing up and applauding when Mark Fisher, Director of Electoral Area A (Smithers rural), encouraged directors who were unsure about the history of First Nations in B.C. or relevant Supreme Court of Canada decisions to 鈥渇ind a dictionary.鈥�

亚洲天堂 Lake councillor John Illes, who represents the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake at the RDBN board, wisely warned the directors that the refusal to acknowledge that the RDBN sits on unceded First Nations territory would harm the regional district鈥檚 relationship with First Nations.

But that wasn鈥檛 enough to convince the board, who carried a motion for staff to reword the protocol and bring it back for a future discussion. I鈥檓 hoping the next discussion will at least be better informed.