ELECTIONS BC announced on Thursday that an initiative petition application — “Repeal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act” — submitted to it by BC Conservative MLA Harman Bhangu (Langley-Abbotsford) has been approved in principle.
The purpose of the petition and draft Bill is to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and would come into force upon Royal Assent.
Elections BC said that as a non-partisan office of the Legislature, its role is to ensure all initiative petitions are run in accordance with the Recall and Initiative Act (the Act).
As the statutory decision maker under the Act, the Chief Electoral Officer is responsible for reviewing the initiative petition application to ensure it meets all relevant legal obligations. If satisfied, the Chief Electoral Officer must grant approval in principle to allow the initiative petition to proceed.
The Act allows registered voters in British Columbia to propose new laws or changes to existing laws. An applicant for an initiative petition may be any registered voter in B.C. The proponent who leads the petition must collect signatures from 10% of the registered voters in each of the province’s 93 electoral districts for the initiative petition to succeed.
The petition will be issued to the proponent, Harman Bhangu, on Monday, October 26. Signature sheets must be submitted to Elections BC by Monday, January 25, 2027.
The initiative application, draft Bill, and a copy of the reasons for the decision is available for public inspection at the Elections BC office and on the Elections BC website at www.elections.bc.ca/initiative.
