Our home, not Native land
By Rob Leggett
I’m sure to receive at least a couple of accusations of being racist after writing this column, to which I would respond that I am not; However I am frustrated by what I believe are undeserved special rights the government is willing to grant Canadian native groups.
What brought me to pen this was an article I read about three Okanagan Nation Alliance chiefs that came to the Kootenays to tour the energy facilities in the area (Castlegar News). They claim that they, as the “unconquered aboriginal peoples of this land” as affirmed in the Okanagan Declaration, are the rightful stewards and have a right to consultation on a number of issues such as the dams ,which they state were put there without their (as well as yours and mine)consultation.
This sounded fairly benign until I read the last quote by Tim Manuel, “We don’t want to invoke fear. That is not our mandate to do that, but no new projects won’t (sic) happen without the consent of the nation.” (Italics are mine)
Pardon?
His, either we get a say in all new projects or we will prevent anything from happening, sounds very much like a threat to me. And I would like to think that the Ktunaxa, for which most of this area is named and has claimed this as their traditional lands, might take exception to the Okanagan Nation Alliance claim of being the rightful stewards.
But what came to my mind most while I was reading the article was, “by what right do they deserve to be consulted over all other people living in this area”?
Outside of their flimsy assertion that the Okanagan Declaration makes them the rightful stewards, I can find no argument to back their demand for consultation. This same declaration by the way, states that they are sovereign and are not subject to any nation but their own, Canada included, “We will never surrender our Right to carry the Instructions and Responsibilities the Creator gave to us. We will never betray our Children. We will never consent to Extinguish Our Sovereignty to any Nation.”
(At this time I would like to state that I am not a treaty expert, and I am willing to concede that there could be a treaty with the Okanagan Nation Alliance that I am not aware of that states their right to consultation and I would be willing to be corrected. However I was unable to locate any informatio, at this time, that would convince me otherwise.)
It is a sad truth that European settlers committed unspeakable atrocities to the Canadian natives, just as atrocities were committed to all nations that became forcibly inhabited by a foreign nation. I applaud the federal and provincial governments that are trying to heal the wounds of the past; I just can not understand why this should involve special land claims and monetary payments not presented to all Canadian citizens
I am not willing to accept that any one group of people should have more say in subjects concerning this country, province or even waterways then any other people currently residing here, native or not, and to do so in my mind amounts to discrimination.
Could you imagine any environmental group demanding consultation on a dam project, and expect to get it?
While the federal and provincial governments are hopelessly attempting to appease every native group, they are forgetting that the natives are no less Canadian than the rest of us, nor more. Natives enjoy all the rights and freedoms under the Charter all citizens of Canada do, they are able to attend any college or university they wish, pursue any career they desire and can live freely in any part of Canada. They are not a separate Nation deserving more or different rights than any other Canadian citizen or Canadian cultural group.
We are all Canadian and it’s time we started acting like it.
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