Vancouver Province
for March 17, 2000

So I was naughty. I swore at a cabinet minister. On air. And a federal minister at that. Guilty as charged – but with a plea for mercy.

I was interviewing Stephan Dion, a very nice chap who is our Unity minister. And I tried, Lord how I tried, to get him to understand that why British Columbia is slowly but surely slipping away from the rest of Canada He wouldn’t listen and used that Jesuitical approach that Trudeau used so infuriatingly. Remember? It would be argued that the Charter of Rights would erode the supremacy of parliament and he’d counter with "don’t you want rights?" And this is what the otherwise enchanting Mr Dion kept doing with me. Finally, when he answered a question with "what about the wheat farmers in Saskatchewan" I did it. Yep, lost my cool and asked him "goddamit, why won’t you listen?"

But hear me out. I was sore vexed and I plead for mercy.

The Senate of Canada has become concerned that there may be more to this Nisga’a Treaty than they’ve been told! My God, they exclaim, this could have ramifications right across Canada – it may not just be a local BC (and who cares about them anyway?) problem at all!

Will wonders never cease? But contrast that with the House of Commons. Leaving apart the injustice of the treaty to non natives and the race based fishery it sets up, Ottawa refused to listen to those who pointed out that the type of government, being constitutionally entrenched, would be seen as a precedent by other bands across the nation. It has dawned on the Senate, thanks largely to Gordon Gibson’s evidence given there, that every band in the country, treaty or no treaty will now say "look here, this is now a constitutionally entrenched treaty and as such is something we’re entitled to as a constitutional right – we want the same".

But there’s something else being studiously ignored, namely, the true feelings of the average native to be affected. Nisga’a gives land communally. No native gets to own a piece of land and, indeed, those living off the territory don’t even get the squatters privileges the others do.

But, it’s said, though about 40% abstained, the Nisga’a people approved the treaty. But what choice did they have? They were only given the choice of the Nisga’a Treaty or nothing. Crown owned land or band council controlled land – that was the choice.

When you talk to many natives, as I have, a sad story emerges. Yes, they want a land claims settlement but they’re very unhappy about the way the settlement is distributed (remember it will be largely cash when it comes to settling Greater Vancouver claims) and they’re very concerned with the sort of government that will be entrenched. The most distressed of all are women who are often badly discriminated against as it is. They’re in a terrible bind. They know that if they make a fuss, governments will and use that as a reason to do nothing. Yet if they remain silent, they condemn themselves and future generations to a communal lifestyle often under an unchangeable oligarchy under a hereditary family.

It’s not just white opponents of this treaty who have been ignored by both Victoria and Ottawa - many native opponents have never been heard and feel muzzled by the bind they’re in.

We see serious questions being posed right across the country about the finances and governance of many Reservations. The white man’s imposed and maintained system has made many native leaders very well off while the members of the reserve suffer. Yet both governments involved have ignored all dissenting opinions, taking the word of native leaders in possession of power that everyone’s happy. This has all been a game where only governments have been permitted to play and they’ve shouted down rather than rationally dealt with arguments raised. It’s easier to cry "racist" than to rebut.

I was rude to M. Stephan Dion but, goddammit (whoops!) neither he nor his government have listened. Jane Stewart, then Minister, didn’t listen. Nor did Robert Nault the current minister. For sure, Jean Chretien didn’t.

Now that the job is all but done it’s finally occurring to some of our political masters that this may be a bad deal.

Do I get off lightly?