It's been more than a decade since the current British Columbia treaty process was established, and taxpayers have spent more than $500 million on it.

The process has yet to yield a single treaty. True, the negotiations have netted five agreements-in-principle. Yet, under the current process, an end to land claim disputes in British Columbia could take decades or longer to achieve.

Some estimate costs for treaty settlements in British Columbia as high as $20 billion. The longer the process takes, the more money it will cost taxpayers. The process must be changed to reduce the length and uncertainty of negotiations.

Let us remember for a moment where the money governments use to settle land claim disputes comes from - taxpayers. The federal government uses tax dollars collected from Canadian taxpayers across the country, and the province uses tax dollars collected from provincial taxpayers.

As a result of the treaty process, British Columbia taxpayers pay twice for any land claims settlement - once as a BC taxpayer and once as a Canadian taxpayer.

That doesn't need to be the case. Under Article 13 of the 1871 Terms of the Union the federal government was charged with authority over Indians and the trusteeship and management of the lands reserved for Indians. BC's obligation under Article 13 was to provide lands for more reserves.

Victoria complied in spades to the terms under Article 13. In fact, over half of the native reserves in Canada are located in BC. As a result, in 1924 the federal government formally acknowledged that BC had satisfied all the obligations of Article 13. Therefore, BC is under no obligation to share the cost of treaty settlements with Ottawa.

That said, British Columbia does have an obligation to be an active participant at the negotiation table, particularly since Victoria has agreed to provide Crown land and resource revenues for treaty settlements.

BC negotiators need to ensure the citizens of BC receive the best possible deal. One way for negotiators to achieve this goal is to receive compensation, at fair-market value, from the federal government for any provincial Crown land used to settle land claims. The simple act of Canadian taxpayers compensating the province of British Columbia for provincial land used in land claims may limit the large tracts of land and cash offered to native bands to settle claims in BC. Regrettably, this is not likely to happen anytime soon since the provincial government has agreed to provide provincial Crown land at no cost.

The BC treaty process involves a tripartite negotiation table. Meaning there are representatives from the provincial government, federal government and native government at the bargaining table. All the negotiators - lawyers, consultants, researchers and analysts from all sides - are paid for by the taxpayer.

This funding relationship does not promote an atmosphere that promotes settlement. After all, why would a negotiator agree to a settlement when the settlement would result in the loss of their job?

As a result, there are no deadlines. To hasten the process, deadlines should be established for treaties to be reached. Timeframes would create incentives to come to a negotiated settlement. The federal government could set a timeframe of, say, five years for the parties to negotiate a settlement. If a settlement is not reached, the federal government could impose a final treaty.

An imposed treaty would generate plenty of criticism. For example, some critics would say imposed treaties would not adequately address the needs of native Canadians. But how is the current system of long drawn out negotiations - with no end in sight anytime soon - helping the people living in native communities? These people are left in a perpetual purgatory until negotiations are finalized. Furthermore, the economy of British Columbia depends highly on investment and development. That cannot happen with uncertainty around land use.

Although not as beneficial as a negotiated treaty, an imposed treaty would be better than the continuation of the current process.