You knew it was futile

What was Mark Carney thinking when he decided to "consult" mostly after-the-fact with Indigenous leaders about Bill C-5?!  He rammed the bill through Parliament before it rose without adequate consultation with the natives.

Would any consultation ever be adequate?  Rhetorical.  Here is a letter I sent to 'The Globe and Mail', which didn't get in:

____________________________

Dear Editor,

While Indigenous leaders claim to support major infrastructure projects, their initial position is most often one of protest.  Mention the word "project" and the blockades, placards and press conferences shift into gear.

Consultation, cooperation and compromise are the only way forward.  However, "consultation" does not mean "veto" and this is where things fall apart.  I hope Mr. Carney's upcoming meeting with First Nations leaders bears fruit and allows industry to get moving with haste on key partnerships for resource development projects. 

But to make it happen, the old "us versus them" paradigm must be jettisoned.

Nancy Marley-Clarke

7 Glendale Way

Cochrane, Alta

403-710-9122 

________________________________

I knew it wouldn't because The Globe is increasingly woke these days, but I live in hope.  We need to strengthen and grow our economy, but the natives NEVER agree to anything.  Ever!  

You know who owns all native reserves?  The Crown.  Look it up.  "Native reserves in Canada are indeed on Crown land.  The legal title to reserve lands is held by the Federal Crown (the Government of Canada) for the use and benefit of a specific First Nation.  While the Crown holds the title, the land is set aside for the use and benefit of the First Nation."  

This is something Indigenous leaders apparently don't know.  They think it's their land.  It isn't, but the media never calls them on this inconvenient fact -- much to their shame.

So, why does every politician have to stand up and offer a "land acknowledgement" every time one stands up to make a speech?  Why do they always say, "We acknowledge we are on the ancestral lands of the...blah, blah, blah...nation."  Unnecessary because, as I say, it's Crown land owned by the Federal government.  

According to Chief Vernon Watchmaker of the Kehewin Cree Nation, "Bill C-5 centralizes power in Ottawa, lets cabinet override environmental laws, ignore treaty and inherent rights.  "This is not modernization, it is colonization in 2025. "  The problem is, chief, Ottawa does have power over what happens on Crown land.  You don't own it.    

"We must give free, prior and informed consent before anything is built," Watchmaker added.  The snag is that natives think this means they have a veto.  They don't.  Of course, Carney held the meeting behind closed doors, with no media access.  That was also dumb.  This isn't the bank, Mark.  The public has a right to know what you're up to.

Now nine Ontario First Nations have filed a lawsuit to have Bill C-5 struck down and have called for an injunction.  And as if that isn't enough, Carney now also has to consult with Métis leaders as well.  That'll go well.  Not. 

Chief Joey Pete of Sunchild First Nation in Alberta told a news conference that treaties must be honoured.  "We have to revenue share.  These are resources stolen from us illegally.  They were all ours to begin with."  

Really?  What were you doing with them?  Rhetorical.  Of course, natives want to share in the revenues, but will put no money up front to develop them.  

They vow more protests.  Of course they do.  At this rate, nothing will be developed and Canada's vast wealth will continue to be locked in the ground.  But the natives don't have any skin in the game; their billions will continue to flow from Canadian taxpayers regardless of what's developed or isn't.  The wealth we give them doesn't depend on getting anything to market.

A good solution would be for the Federal government to calculate what the yearly income of a project rejected by a native reserve would be and then deduct that amount from the $32 billion handed them every year.  In other words, you don't want that pipeline, here's how much your allotment will be reduced because of your objection.  That might have an impact.  Will the feds do that?  Never.

"There's gold in them thar hills," but it'll never get anywhere.

So once again, we're check-mated and doomed.  Poor Mark, aren't you glad you're the PM?  Not only are you getting pummeled by Trump, you're getting drubbed right here at home.