We see some smoke but is there a fire?

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Alain Jolicoeur became the third deputy minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in three years under Minister Robert Nault on Aug. 12. That's not the way it's supposed to be.

Deputy ministers tend to outlast ministers; the bureaucrats stay as politicians come and go.

Some Ottawa insiders say the rapid succession of chief bureaucrats within the department is a sign that something's not right.

Jolicoeur succeeded Marc Lafreniere who succeeded Shirley Serafini.

Given the secrecy that surrounds the decision-making process regarding appointments at this most senior level of the Canadian government, speculation is the closest we can come to figuring out what it all means. And there's a lot of speculation going on right now.

One man who knows more than most people about such matters is Hugh Winsor, a Globe and Mail political columnist.

He wrote a column last month where he suggested such changes are usually an indication that the prime minister is cracking the whip on a minister who is not delivering.

Winsor believes there could be friction between the minister and his department.

"I remember my discussion with [Nault] in which he said that INAC saw AFN as their client and were not sufficiently impartial," Winsor told Windspeaker.

First Nations leaders may agree. They say the minister is driving the deputy ministers away with his hard-nosed style, that he's rolling over top of his own people just as he's steamrolling First Nations. They suggest the ever-prudent, long-view-taking senior mandarins are aghast at the recklessness the minister is bringing to the department.

Others, less inclined to slag the minister, suggest he is knocking over a lot of little bureaucratic empires within his department by shaking things up severely.

In short, we're not sure what's going on with the minister and his deputies. It could be any of the above. Something's up and we'll keep an eye on it.

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We were amazed this month to see the coverage of the illegal salmon fishery on the West Coast where jovial fisheries officers boarded the boats of the non-Native fishermen who opted to dip their nets into a salmon run, despite the Department of Fisheries and Oceans ban on fishing. Where were the heavily armed paramilitary officers? Did you notice that not a single boat was rammed by the DFO? And no angry mobs of vigilante Native fishermen descended on the non-Native fishermen with mayhem on their minds. What must the Burnt Church people be thinking? No mob violence or repressive enforcement tactics? How un-Canadian.

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And we take note that the Haida people have won another court victory. The British Columbia Court of Appeal confirmed its February decision that Weyerhaeuser has to consult in good faith with the Haida Nation before logging on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

After the original decision, Weyerhaeuser returned to court, arguing the government, not themselves, had responsibility to consult with First Nations. The company was supported by the Cattleman's Association and the Council of Forest Industries.

But the three-judge panel disagreed. We wonder how many years it will take before somebody complies with this latest legal victory for an Indigenous people? The fifth anniversary of the Delgamuukw decision is coming up.