CKNW Editorial
for October 28, 1999

It’s clear that the federal Liberals are going to restrict debate on Nisga’a. Are you as Canadians and British Columbians satisfied that all the questions have been answered? If not, I’ve some bad news for you. It will pass and we will never ever be able to do anything about it. Once passed, it becomes to all intents and purposes unalterable. That’s why the seductive suggestion of some of its supporters, including I might add Mike Smyth and Vaughn Palmer that we give the deal a chance, is so patently disingenuous – giving it a try means etching it in stone for all time.

But there is something else that you should know – something the government isn’t telling you. The form of government becomes entrenched in the constitution not just for Nisga’a but for every other "First Nation" in the land. For those of us who have been on this file from the beginning this is infuriating not because something is happening that we don’t like but because this issue was ignored by the NDP government in Victoria and is now being ignored by the Federal Liberal government. If you don’t believe me, phone your nearest NDP MLA or Liberal MP and ask two questions:-

will the Nisga’a form of government become entrenched in the Constitution under Section 35 and subsequent sections of the Constitution and thus for all intents and purposes, unchangeable?

Will this, then, become a constitutional precedent for all other forms of self government for natives, whether already in place or in the future?

If your MP or MLA answers "no", they simply aren’t telling you the truth.

Let me pose a couple of other questions which your MLA or MP ought to be able to satisfy you on.

will non Nisga’a living on the new Nisga’a nation have the same civil rights as Nisga’a do?

Will Nisga’a create a special fishery for Nisga’a only in which they alone can fish, leaving their right to fish in the general fishery unimpaired?

Again, if your MP or MLA says no to these questions, he or she is lying through their teeth.

The people of British Columbia have never been given the opportunity to vote on this. To say that they voted through their Legislature is naïve in the extreme. To begin with, that legislature was elected by less than 40% of the electors. Secondly, debate in the legislature was not only closed, it was guillotined meaning that there wasn’t a full section by section debate. Thirdly, despite the assurances that it was a free vote it wasn’t free at all as Glen Clark made it plain that this was a government bill which had to be passed. Fourthly, this treaty was truly a Glen Clark treaty and all that implies. It was concluded without even the suggestion of public debate – in fact Clark made it clear from the outset there would be no meaningful public debate unless you wanted to say yes.

But this bill now before Parliament ought to be the final acid test for the seven Liberal lickspittles that sit there. Are they, David Anderson, Sophie Leung, Herb Dhaliwal, Raymond Chan, Ted McWhinney, Hedy Fry and Lou Sekora going to raise in the Commons the concerns I have just expressed and other concerns of other British Columbians? Will they, as a minimum ask the four questions I have asked above and get assurances from the Minister, Robert Nault and the Prime Minister that the answer to each one is no? Will they say anything in the House of Commons other than mindless drivel in support of this catastrophe?

I suggest that everyone interested ask these Liberal MPs what I have just asked. If they are not going to question the treaty let us have it on the record for the next election that each of the seven Liberal MPs – Anderson, Leung, Dhaliwal, Chan, McWhinney, Fry, and Sekora, when it came to the crunch, quickly, firmly and silently put their party ahead of their province. Let us all know that and, more importantly, let us remember it at election time.

There is only one thing the people of British Columbia can do if they wish to be heard – that is phone, email, fax or write all these MPs and demand to know why British Columbians, no matter what side of the issue they are on, are to be deprived of a democratic voice in the biggest change to the social compact in this province since Confederation.

If we ever vote for any of these men and women again – failing an unforeseen courageous move on any of their parts – we well and truly deserve the rotten government we get.