Editor: As one who has spent 40 years in the oil and gas industry on three continents, I feel compelled to respond to Mr. Gabriel’s lengthy letter (the Times, Dec. 16).
To supply an answer there must be a question. Mr. Gabriel offers none, except a discourse on our economic system, and a conclusion that First Nations will no longer give permission to his perceived abuses of the planet.
First, Mr Gabriel in our democratic system, no one has voted for you to speak for the country, or for the planet in general.
Second, the words First Nations do not apply to what is often referred to in B.C. as Indigenous peoples, technically referred to as Clovis, with empirical evidence that predates Clovis with peoples from what is now Asia.
So, Mr. Gabriel, you are part of a group that stole property from first inhabitants.
The comment regarding stolen Indigenous lands is almost ludicrous.
Just because in the past a group of Clovis peoples walked across a field does not automatically imply ownership.
Mr. Gabriel, how may years have you received funds from the Canadian government?
I, on the other hand, have been through two major recessions, which took every thing I worked for to support my family.
I never got a penny from any government department and worked to get back on my feet on the only work available, going from $30 an hour to $5 an hour.
Today, my wife and I are home owners in the Fraser Valley.
Her son is an officer of the law, my youngest are teachers at the university levels all attained by themselves through hard work — something that is the only way to insure a quality of life for future generations of my family.
Terry Brenan,
Aldergrove
