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Local governments will turn up the pressure on the province to end their secretive dealings with First Nations when the Union of B.C. Municipalities meets this month.

What flared up briefly as a small skirmish over dock-owners’ rights in Pender Harbour blew up spectacularly for Premier John Horgan’s government last spring when a wide-ranging land-use plan to conserve caribou was sprung on the residents of northeastern B.C.

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People in both locales were furious that they had been cut out of the process and in the case of the caribou recovery plan, the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations had been given gag orders by the province that prevented them from disclosing the plan to their neighbour communities.

So many municipalities have submitted resolutions demanding consultation in future agreements between First Nations and the province that the UBCM executive has made the issue its top priority for the coming year, said vice-president Brian Frenkel, a Vanderhoof councillor.