It has to be said

Just heard an elder from the Athabaska Chipewyan Reserve saying he will not permit oil drilling near his land.  Here's a bulletin for him:  Your reserve receives $250 million a year from five oil companies (see "All yap, no facts", 12/01/17)

Yep, you read it correctly, Suncor, Syncrude, Husky, Cenovus and Esso hand that band $250 million a year to extract oil from "its" land.  Here's another bulletin:  It's Crown Land, not your band's, given for its use -- but not "to" -- via The Indian Act.

Just after I first posted this, I heard an interview on CBC in which an indigenous law professor from UVic was talking about changing The Indian Act.  "I have interviewed Indian Affairs minister after Indian Affairs minister after Indian Affairs minister and they all told me vehemently they were going to revise the act.  Never happens," said Michael Enright.  She replied, "Well it's got to be done in a parallel way with indigenous laws." 

And that's the problem.  We can't have two legal systems in this country, but guess what, we'd have 400 because each band would demand its own -- something that professor inadvertently alluded to in her non-answer.  Next we'd have to have Sharia law and G-d knows what else?!

But the real problem remains, guess what?  Money.  Native leaders do not really want to revise the act because that's the way the money flows and always has.  How many times have I lamented the fact the reason these leaders keep people on desperate reserves is because of money.    

It's all so sad and outrageous.