To the Editor.
Treaty talks.
According to the article Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan is reviewing a report that is suggesting the treaty process has bogged down.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark has also called for a new path, saying the treaty process has failed to deliver economic growth for aboriginal communities, and security for business investors.
Treaty settlements have long been touted as the means to permanently remove uncertainty over land and resources from B.C.’s business climate.
In reality, this experiment has had disastrous results because treaties do not provide closure.
At the end of the day, Natives have no education, no money in their pocket, no land, no title, no jobs, and consequently not a hope of ever becoming self-sufficient.
The intent of the treaties was to help Natives abandon a traditional nomadic lifestyle that no longer was sustainable.
It was never the intent that they should become permanent wards of the state.
The Ministry of Indians Affairs was established, complete with multi-billion dollar budgets, to help Natives find other means of providing for themselves and their families.
Without a clear mandate it has failed miserably.
Our politicians have turned their backs on the process, while revenue sharing has become a powerful tool the Natives today are using to hold the resource industries hostage.
Today they know that they can stall the process forever without impunity.
Two major economic initiatives in B.C. are facing significant opposition from the Natives:
Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal and Taseko’s Prosperity mine project.
In both cases, the prospect of revenue sharing has stalled the process, and there is no motivation to settle, let alone negotiate.
The concept of revenue sharing with government and industry is bizarre.
Our provincial and federal governments are already doing just that by collecting taxes from the resource industries and providing essential services to all Canadians, Natives included.
To move forward we have to adopt a strategy that would include we are all equal, beginning with citizenship, ownership, and opportunity.
There can be no more Indian Act.
To continue to pump billions of dollars into the pockets of the Chiefs and Councils while the rest of the Natives continue to live in poverty is not sustainable.
For Natives to succeed they need the tools all other Canadians take for granted:
Purpose in life, education, opportunity, responsibility, accountability, and motivation.
Natives must have the right to have title fee simple (not certificates) to the land they own, on and off reserves and settlements.
They need title as collateral when applying for loans to build a home or start a business.
They must be allowed to become full partners in the Canadian economy, and treaties will continue to deny them that.
The appeal process also needs to be put under a big microscope.
In order for the courts to justify entertaining appeal after appeal for more money, land, and resources, they have to agree with the claimants.
It’s a safe bet the Chiefs and the lawyers understood this long time ago, but the individual band members have gained nothing, and the taxpayers are bleeding.
We need to develop a new template that will provide resolutions that are fair to everyone, and it must provide closure.
Andy Thomsen, Smmerland
