Court action only way to advance cause

Page 5

These last couple of weeks has seen some important developments here in the province and in Indian Country especially. The Gitxsan have decided to pursue Aboriginal title within their territory and that by itself is very significant for all Aboriginal people across the province because both levels of government have been daring us to 'prove title.' The Gitxsan have taken up the challenge and, in my mind, it is just a matter of time before Aboriginal title will be proven to be real to the feds and the province.

Once Aboriginal title is proven, it will change forever the relationship between our Indian nations and governments and tilt the field our way. Real negotiations instead of real estate transactions will be the order of the day and compensation and revenue sharing will have to occur. The governments will have no choice but negotiate those important issues. The only real advances we have made in our pursuit of the land claims question have been through the court system.

Anyone who believes that any real changes will occur through negotiation and not litigation is fooling himself and the people who are depending on them to get the best deal for their people.

On the political front Grand Chief Ed John has accepted Premier Ujjal Dosanjh's invitation to sit in the provincial cabinet as an unelected representative and he will assume the position of minister. He may be unelected, but that has happened 18 times in the past and is a standard maneuver for getting people elected in this province. The other unanswered question is where does this put the treaty process and the loss of their most ardent supporter and trusted advisor?

The NDP are making shrewd moves and this is one of their more strategic appointments. Ed John has the respect of the First Nations community in the province and will be a formidable opponent for the government in waiting and Liberal leader Gordon Campbell on Aboriginal issues. The provincial Liberal party has painted itself into a corner on Aboriginal issues by maintaining a two-pronged attack on the Nisga'a treaty with a court challenge and proposing a referendum on treaty making in the province if they get into power.

If the Liberals do win the next provincial election they will succeed in uniting the First Nations communities like no other government since the federal Liberal party and the then-minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chretien when he introduced the infamous White Paper.

The NDP have shot the first warning volley in what promises to be an interesting provincial election. The election will probably happen in the spring and jockeying around key issues is the order of the day.

On the federal election side, the campaigns have largely ignored First Nations issues and the leaders are focused on bread and butter issues like health care and the economy.

For Aboriginal voters the choices are depressing to say the least. The Liberals sacrificed Aboriginal rights in their fight with the Mi'kmaq during the Burnt Church saga. They sided with the corporate fishing interests and the non-Native people because they need to regain seats that they lost when they cut programs and the Employment Insurance program to East Coast fishermen. The Canadian Alliance is a lost cause and a non-starter with a majority of Aboriginal voters because of their 'equality for all' simplistic solutions. The NDP and the Conservatives are wasted votes.

As Aboriginal voters we are between the devil and the deep blue sea. We can vote for the Liberals and get the same old, same old which doesn't seem half bad, or the Canadian Alliance which would strip all of our rights away if they were given half a chance. Not much of a choice is it?

The Liberals are middle of the road and have been workable on a host of issues that are important to our communities, while the Canadian Alliance has taken a confrontational attitude born out of the Western Canadian mentality of small town thinking and red neck politics.

Times are a changing andas Aboriginal people we are in the eye of the storm. That's the way I see it anyway -putucw.