Government's goal divide and conquer?

Page 4

Last weeks' interim agreement between the province of B.C. and Natives in Clayoquot Sound over tree harvesting was called "a landmark" by some non-Native

press and "a political coup by Premier Mike Harcourt' by others. Coup is perhaps

more appropriate.

The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council hereditary chiefs were presented with the deal two weeks ago. They have yet to ratify it. Hopefully, they probably won't. The deal is not what the council wanted. About a quarter of it will be set aside for harvesting by MacMillan Bloedel. The council wanted all of the valley preserved.

A later section deals with types of harvesting, specifically clear-cutting. The council didn't want great opens swatches of barren ground left behind by the loggers, so the agreement states that longline, helicopter, and balloon-extraction methods would be used instead of clear-cutting. There's a subsequent clause in the deal, however, that says exception to this rule shall be decided on a case-to-case basis by a regional board made

up of provincial and tribal council officials. So clear-cutting is not an impossibility.

A major disappointment in the agreement was the lack of decision-making power that the council will have. As far as Premier Harcourt is concerned, the regional boards, working groups and other provincial/Native panels formed under the agreement to manage the forests are only advisory boards. They can suggest things to the government, but have little power to change forestry management decisions that they don't like. That means the power - the real power to control harvesting - will be in Victoria, not in the sound.

But clearly they do. Tla-qui-o-aht Chief Francis Frank said the council needs decision-making powers before they will sign. Furthermore, he resented even 25 per cent of the Clayoquot River Valley being handed over to MacMillan Bloedel, even if it won't be clear-cut.

One is drawn to the unavoidable conclusion that the province had a "divide and conquer" strategy mapped out before the negotiations for this deal even began back in October. Once the hereditary chiefs sign the deal, Harcourt can use their signatures as support for the government's position and tell the environmental groups to back off. And once the public pressure from the environmentalists has been diffused, he can go after the First Nations.

Frank said there's no way he will sign the deal if the Natives have only advisory status. He also plans to approach the B.C. Treaty Commission in mid-December with the Tla-qui-o-aht, Ahousaht and the Hesquiaht Nations' combined land claim. The three bands hope to secure all the land within the sound, including the 20 per cent that's already been logged.

The outcome of those treaty negotiations will, perhaps, be the key to all of this. Certainly the province, despite its August 1993 commitment to recognize the First Nations as separate governments, does not want to surrender any decision-making power to the tribal council. Harcourt's anonymous strategist revealed the province's real motives when he spoke to the Globe.

It's up to the Tla-qui-o-aht, Ahousaht and Hesquiaht to get control of what they can while there's still time.