Referen-dumb in La-la land

Page 4

So, now that they have knocked off the NDP, the governing Liberal Party of British Columbia is going to hold a referendum on Native land claims and treaties and such.

As is always the case with referenda on hot-button political issues, the question will probably be at least as interesting as the results of the vote.

We think it's really interesting that the good people of our Western-most province feel the need to debate these issues. With all the indignant huffing that's going on across this country since Matthew Coon Come dared to suggest it just might be a sign of racism that one race of people occupies all the worst places in all the rankings of social and economic distress in Canada, we know the electorate is primed to provide a thoughtful, informed, dispassionate and fair decision.

We saw the results when Broadcast News conducted their own "call this 800 number for yes, this one for no" referendum on Aug. 27.

"Are Aboriginal people discriminated against in this country?" was the question.

A convincing 59 per cent said 'No.'

Well, that settles it. Someone should tell Premier Gordon Campbell he's off the hook. There's absolutely no need to go through the expense of a vote. A convincing majority of Canadians are convinced the problems are all in Native people's heads-and the majority rules, right?

And it's really great that the B.C. Liberals are going to ask their constituents if they should continue discussing whether they should keep the treaty talks going. How about that? A half-dozen Supreme Court of Canada decisions that have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the practices of colonial times violated even the laws of that era-an era when men of stature (political, church and academic leaders) decided that the majority of the world's human population wasn't really human because they had the wrong faith, skin color or level of industrialization-and B.C. still isn't sure if it should follow the rule of law.

Maybe B.C. should also have a vote on 'thou shalt not kill' or whether you really have to pay your mortgage or whether you should get cancer if you smoke or whether the law of gravity should be repealed.

It's a joke. And the funny thing is, it's starting to look like the Liberals know it but they can't back away without angering their supporters.

Since it looks like Campbell is going to go through with this, maybe Native leaders should follow the James Bay Crees example. The Crees earned the undying love of the federal Liberals in 1995 when they held their own referendum on Quebec separation and told the Parti Quebecois they could leave Canada if they wanted but northern Quebec was staying.

What kind of question could the Indigenous peoples of B.C. come up with for their vote?

Since it appears it's OK to resort to majority rule to justify unlawful behavior in B.C., here's a suggestion. Get every homeless, impoverished Native person in the province to move into Campbell's home and then they can vote to see who stays, they or him? And remember 50 per cent plus one settles it for all time.