British Columbia has ceded unprecedented power to First Nations. The fallout will do lasting damage to the province— and will hurt Mark Carney’s nation-building plans
I have spoken to people who have the Canadian constitution in their sights, and a federal Conservative majority as the path to achieving it. And the response to this from FN’s. Zero fucks given. Me, me, me is the cry, “and if you don’t like it go back to where your ancestors came from whitey.” This is a recipe for social and political disaster for Canada, which is why the truth about the claimed ‘discovery’ of the remains of murdered indigenous children needs to be outed as quickly as possible. It is also why attempts to out the deception are so hotly politicized, and the complainants so viciously demonized. When political courage fails in the face of belligerent opportunism, the contest moves to arena of public opinion.
Canadians will be compelled by primal instinct to demand their government use every tool at its disposal to stop this; to bring a force that is at a minimum equal and opposite to the forces levelled against it, and by extension all of us. I was raised to see law and justice as founded and maintained on fair treatment and equality. I’m betting that the average Canadian is of like mind on that count, and sees reconciliation in those terms as well. Looking at a map of Canada, with an overlay of what is described as traditional indigenous territory pre-contact, it looks to me that all land can be claimed, is being claimed, and that Canadians are well and truly fed up with the bullshit that threatens to overwhelm us.
A large part of the problem is the goal of reconciliation. That is not a
measurable target because it is an attitude. No intelligent first nation will ever admit that reconciliation has been reached because that stops the money flow from Ottawa, ends the power of guilt and weakens the land claims arguments.
Unfortunately the situation is going to get far worse (with no conceivable horizon for a “resolution”). As the cliche continues….before it gets better (ain’t going to happen without significant violence). The “claim” train has only just begun. The only way this works is to expunge UNDRIP and DRIPA from our legal framework. And without property rights enshrined in our constitution, (again one can identify how this failure arose), non-natives do not have rights, property or otherwise. Canadians do not have the backbone to fix this problem. Good bye Canada.
What fascinates me about this whole mess is the seeming inability of indigenous leaders to appreciate the consequences of “drawing a line in the sand” on DRIPA. It seems clear to this observer that they are ensuring the defeat of the NDP and the election of a Conservative government pledged to abolish it totally. Not a recipe for success and surely a recipe for social and economic disaster for all of us.
Your first mistake is assuming any type of leadership in BC is intelligent. It’s not. And in lieu of intelligence is fear based politicking at its worst.
Thank you for this excellent article. It is truly amazing that things have come to this pass. Something will have to change, sooner, rather than later.
The solution is the federal government using the power of disallowance on DRIPA, then renouncing its adoption of UNDRIP, and repealing the Impact Assessment Act. If reconcilation means Canada is no longer a democracy, then we have to choose one or the other. Failure to act decisively now means Canada will continue its death spiral until it's gone.
There's no way they would ever do that, for 2 reasons. First, disallowance is basically dead. Second, no federal government would dare provoke BC’s indigenous groups like that. They are not going to fix Eby’s mess for him.
If this frustrates Carney’s economic agenda (which it will), he will simply do what he’s done so far: rag the puck and talk big, trusting that most normal people aren’t paying close attention.
Why is it that in the Common Law, nothing that is second hand information can be used as evidence in a court of law because it is “hearsay”. However indigenous individuals testifying in a court of law can say the most outrageous things, attribute it to a band “truth teller” and it is admissible as being the truth? This is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard of in my life. What is going on is the result of the Post Modernism that was promoted by the vacuous Justin Trudeau and his band of acolytes. It will take Canada a generation or more to recover from the harm he created, if we ever do.
It would be pretty spectacular to pivot from this mess directly into something that's actually useful like exploring contract governance of First Nations reserves, reducing costs while including very large performance bonuses for genuine progress economically and socially
I have spoken to people who have the Canadian constitution in their sights, and a federal Conservative majority as the path to achieving it. And the response to this from FN’s. Zero fucks given. Me, me, me is the cry, “and if you don’t like it go back to where your ancestors came from whitey.” This is a recipe for social and political disaster for Canada, which is why the truth about the claimed ‘discovery’ of the remains of murdered indigenous children needs to be outed as quickly as possible. It is also why attempts to out the deception are so hotly politicized, and the complainants so viciously demonized. When political courage fails in the face of belligerent opportunism, the contest moves to arena of public opinion.
Canadians will be compelled by primal instinct to demand their government use every tool at its disposal to stop this; to bring a force that is at a minimum equal and opposite to the forces levelled against it, and by extension all of us. I was raised to see law and justice as founded and maintained on fair treatment and equality. I’m betting that the average Canadian is of like mind on that count, and sees reconciliation in those terms as well. Looking at a map of Canada, with an overlay of what is described as traditional indigenous territory pre-contact, it looks to me that all land can be claimed, is being claimed, and that Canadians are well and truly fed up with the bullshit that threatens to overwhelm us.
A large part of the problem is the goal of reconciliation. That is not a
measurable target because it is an attitude. No intelligent first nation will ever admit that reconciliation has been reached because that stops the money flow from Ottawa, ends the power of guilt and weakens the land claims arguments.
Unfortunately the situation is going to get far worse (with no conceivable horizon for a “resolution”). As the cliche continues….before it gets better (ain’t going to happen without significant violence). The “claim” train has only just begun. The only way this works is to expunge UNDRIP and DRIPA from our legal framework. And without property rights enshrined in our constitution, (again one can identify how this failure arose), non-natives do not have rights, property or otherwise. Canadians do not have the backbone to fix this problem. Good bye Canada.
What fascinates me about this whole mess is the seeming inability of indigenous leaders to appreciate the consequences of “drawing a line in the sand” on DRIPA. It seems clear to this observer that they are ensuring the defeat of the NDP and the election of a Conservative government pledged to abolish it totally. Not a recipe for success and surely a recipe for social and economic disaster for all of us.
Your first mistake is assuming any type of leadership in BC is intelligent. It’s not. And in lieu of intelligence is fear based politicking at its worst.
Thank you for this excellent article. It is truly amazing that things have come to this pass. Something will have to change, sooner, rather than later.
The solution is the federal government using the power of disallowance on DRIPA, then renouncing its adoption of UNDRIP, and repealing the Impact Assessment Act. If reconcilation means Canada is no longer a democracy, then we have to choose one or the other. Failure to act decisively now means Canada will continue its death spiral until it's gone.
There's no way they would ever do that, for 2 reasons. First, disallowance is basically dead. Second, no federal government would dare provoke BC’s indigenous groups like that. They are not going to fix Eby’s mess for him.
If this frustrates Carney’s economic agenda (which it will), he will simply do what he’s done so far: rag the puck and talk big, trusting that most normal people aren’t paying close attention.
Why is it that in the Common Law, nothing that is second hand information can be used as evidence in a court of law because it is “hearsay”. However indigenous individuals testifying in a court of law can say the most outrageous things, attribute it to a band “truth teller” and it is admissible as being the truth? This is the most ridiculous concept I have ever heard of in my life. What is going on is the result of the Post Modernism that was promoted by the vacuous Justin Trudeau and his band of acolytes. It will take Canada a generation or more to recover from the harm he created, if we ever do.
It would be pretty spectacular to pivot from this mess directly into something that's actually useful like exploring contract governance of First Nations reserves, reducing costs while including very large performance bonuses for genuine progress economically and socially