Photo: Flickr - B.C. gov't

It's not the royal couple, it's the B.C. and federal governments.

That's what Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip says about his and the union's decision not to partake in a reconciliation ceremony with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit today.

"This isn't so much about the royal couple as it is about the failure on the part of the Government of Canada through Prime Minister Trudeau and the Government of British Columbia under the leadership of Premier Clark to move beyond public platitudes and lip service in terms of indicating their willingness to enter into a reconciliation process," he said.

Phillip had been invited to take part in the Black Rod ceremony hosted by Lieut.-Gov. Judith Guichon at Government House in Victoria, in which he would offer Prince William a ring of reconciliation, which would then be affixed to the Black Rod.

But Phillip said there would be no benefit to partaking in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation.

"It was a very highly ritualized, carefully scripted ceremony that did not provide any opportunity for dialogue or the making of any public statements on my part," he said. "In that regard, it didn't represent an opportunity other than creating the illusion that reconciliation is a reality in this country, between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown, and that's clearly not the case."

The "illusion" of reconciliation is a point Phillip continued to visit, indicating that it is his policy not to partake in ceremonies without action taken on issues such as aboriginal poverty and housing.

"We made a conscious decision based on principle not to participate in ritualized reconciliation ceremonies that creates the illusion that good things are happening in this country with respect to the aboriginal people," he said.

The decision came during the general meeting of aboriginal chiefs last week, "subsequent to a very intense and emotional emotional discussion we had during the course of the three-day event concerning a multitude of issues concerning the unravelling relationship with the Trudeau government in Ottawa and the continuing adversarial relationship with the Clark government in Victoria."

He said he hasn't heard any response from either the federal or provincial governments, but said that they know the underlying reasons behind the decision.

"But there's been an overwhelming rippling out of endorsement through social media," he said.

He added that he didn't believe that declining to participate in the ceremony would affect the relationship between First Nations in Canada and British royalty.

"It's a relationship that is highly valued by the Indigenous Peoples of this country," he said. "The number of treaties are pretty much rooted in a very special and unique relationship with the British Crown, and again that's widely respected."

Neither the B.C. government nor representatives for the royal couple could be reached for comment as of publishing.