Thursday, April 02, 2015

The Antidote To The Obviousness Of The Ron...Real Analysis From A Real Reader.

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Yesterday I wrote about how the Globe's man of all things Obvious was totally mesmerized by the Premier's shiny 'treaty reform' bauble.

A little later longtime reader 'scotty from denman' weighed in.

Brilliantly:

Christy's got one thing right: the William (Tsilhqot'in) SCoC decision changed everything; she neglected to mention it's in terms of what the BC Liberals can get away with. Otherwise the William decision basically confirmed BC's obligation to fulfil the Royal Proclamation 1763 when it signed on to the Terms of Confederation in 1871. The official provincial notion that Aboriginal sovereignty had been "extinguished" when BC confederated has already been rejected by earlier decisions, but until Aboriginal Title was defined by the court's decision in this case, especially as it pertains to "infringement" of Aboriginal Right interim to treaties (which almost all BC FNs have yet to get), government could always hold those Rights to ransom with both intransigence and impunity. It's policy has been to reward its cronies resources it never had authority to licence while putting FN claims over a barrel: accept only a share of resource benefits to which they are entitled, and likely compromise any future treaty claim, or have their assets seized until they do. The government could unfairly wait-it-out in prosperity while the FNs did in penury.

The BC Liberals have tried to keep wounds from heeling toward long-overdue treaties by monkey-wrenching the process: first it was Gordo who personally challenged Aboriginal Right by way of judicial injunction against the historic Nisga'a Treaty; then as Premier he inflicted that odious Referendum which saw half the ballots destroyed in protest; then a sudden turn-around with Gordo feted with tribal honours at every big-house in the province; and eventually the spate of coercive resource deals that dodge real treaties and replace then with crony-tickling conditions on FNs accessing their own resources. The BC Liberals never wanted treaties to work.

Now, despite that fancy, Hare-like BC Liberal footwork, it looks like the Tortoise-like courtroom route has gotten BC FNs to the finish-line first. It's like a dance where the BC Liberals picked their own partners up until the William decision, and have smashed the victrola now they can't. But now it's BC FNs got them over the barrel, a complete Hare-and-Tortoise reversal: make a deal or forget about pipelines, tankers, mines and LNG, while FNs proceed to develop their newly defined Aboriginal title without further ado. The waiting games are over.

Personally, I think the prancing majorette's move is reactionary and rash, and shows real division within her caucus---or between her office and the rest of caucus, more like it. Whatever it means politically is probably irrelevant in terms of treaty settlement post-William decision. The BC Liberals appear not to know what to do next. Bargaining at the treaty table in good faith seems never to dawn on them even when the jig's up.




I mean, honestly, tell me where you have read a detailed, fact-backed/work-shown analysis like that anywhere, in either the Lotuslandian and/or the National public prints, on this matter and I'll eat my coonskin cap.


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Man.

That scotty guy who lives on the island (i.e. not the west end street) should get his own blog.

Alternatively, maybe I should just post his and other insightful readers' comments more often.


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23 comments:

Don F. said...

Excellent analysis on behalf of Scotty!
Like everything else Christy wise she will try to ignore in the hopes it will go away with time when other issues overtake the lead. Unfortunately for her this is different in that everything on her agenda is stalled if she doesn't deal with it. It's called 'backing yourself into corner'.

North Van's Grumps said...

"The Royal Proclamation further sets out that only the Crown can buy land from First Nations. "

http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/royal-proclamation-1763.html

How did band land on Coquitlam's Burke Mountain Coquitlam sold to Wesbild?

Anonymous said...

Hi Ross love your blog and read it daily. I wonder why we don't hear nothing about COMER vs Bank of Canada.
It seems to me these people got it right and won a victory in February 2015 yet no mention of it anywhere

James King, Victoria said...

Well done Ross - and, for the second time today - kudos to Scotty.

scotty on denman said...

Man! I'll tell ya, that stent's done wonders. I've thought a lot about blogging, but have been putting it off until blood-boiling inspiration became a bit less dangerous. Meantime, Ross, Norm, and others have been my lifeline, and the kind words are encouraging indeed. Thank you all---it's like accelerated convalescence!

Scotty

North Van's Grumps said...

Scotty

The name of your Blog is ....

Lew said...

Scotty nails it again as usual; right on the head.

I wonder if, because the Dippers didn’t walk into her trap and voted for her LNG tax regime in the Leg, if Her Christiness isn’t looking for a new scapegoat to explain the lack of LNG suitors. She can’t blame the Dippers for scaring them off, but maybe she’s laying the groundwork for blaming the sparkle pony stampede on the First Nations.

RossK, Mary Polak is on line three. Something about the origins of your coonskin cap.

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

We ought to move the capital of our province to Denman Island (and not tell Christy).

e.a.f. said...

I have read "scotty on Deman's comments on other blogs for some time and have always enjoyed reading them. whoever Scotty is, they write well and think even better. Forget the blog, run for premier. O.K. I'll settle for a blog to read.

His comments were so well written I doubt if there is a "professional" writer who could have topped that, especially those guys at the Vancouver Sun and province.

Blogs rule!

RossK said...

Don--

I think we can be pretty certain that the wizards are burning the midnight oil working on multiple deflector spin strategies to change the channel on this if the going gets really tough

Which, given the state of the puffed-up pro-punditry in this province, is doubtful.

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NVG--

Interesting question....Could ask the same question of the land jack in Pacific Spirit Park.

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Anon-Up-Thread--

Thanks!

And thanks for the tip - will have a look.

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JK--All kudos go to you and scotty for the excellent dialogue on the previous thread

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scotty--

Me, I actually use the safety valve of the blog to keep my blood pressure down.

Plus, it's a heckuva lot more satisfying than yelling at the television/radio/fishwrap.

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Lew--

You know, that's interesting...

After all, the FedCons have done that to great effect with their base. I think it would take a little more demonization spade work first otherise the Clarklandians might lose too big a chunk of the middle they need to win.

And I think I'm safe with the cap...After all, it's rainbow coloured which should keep her well away.
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Beer--

Would be interesting to see if she and hers tried to listen in on Island goings on by pressing their ears to that damnable ferry cable.

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eaf--

Bloggerdome-Uber-Alles!

All joking aside, I just think getting folks together who actually pay attention to converse on topics of the day is pretty darned interesting, not to mention fun.

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RossK said...

Hey.

Don't look now.

But....

Here comes the FedCon water pail that Ms. Clark has been carrying.


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Anonymous said...

@RossK 10:10 pm

And now we know why CC threw Abbott under the bus...

ORDERS FROM OTTAWA.

Anonymous said...

The Guardian has had stories about Harper's true intentions with respect to First Nations and treaty rights ie how to screw over First Nations yet again. The police state bill, Bill C-51, is also designed to shut down First Nations protests

We really need to heave Steve this October.

Here's the Guardian link March 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2015/mar/03/documents-harper-pushing-first-nations-to-shelve-rights-buy-into-resource-rush

And another link from March 2014
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2014/mar/04/aboriginal-rights-canada-resource-agenda

Of course ZERO coverage in MSM. What George Abbott got thrown under the bus? no analysis, no coverage.

G West said...

Interesting story in the G&M this morning about this guy's "report"...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/260729485/A-New-Direction-Advancing-Aboriginal-and-Treaty-RIghts

Methinks that Abbott's dumping was just the 'first shoe' dropping - if I were a First Nation's citizen of this country I think I'd be hedging my bets and keeping my powder dry.

RossK said...

The 'Flanagan Factor' perhaps?

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G West said...

Hard not to come to that conclusion...and it was certainly front of mind for me when I read the Globe story and then followed up with the report itself...

G West said...

And here, in case anyone's forgotten, is where this all started: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/harper-names-envoy-for-first-nations-concerns-on-pipelines-and-energy/article9945566/

It's all about the 'energy' and the hired gun has now delivered as promised!

G West said...

And one more before this goes down Mr Harper's memory hole:
http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/first-nations-energy?__lsa=ed15-0948

That one from the Financial Post...as the Federal Government's chief treaty negotiator since 2007 Mr Eyford has about the same credibility on First Nations issues as Flanagan does Ross.

RossK said...

Thanks GW--

So.

One can only wonder if...

...Someone from the FedCon side of the stage behind CC's wizard curtain whispered a sweet nothing or twoin Ron Obvious' ear.


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North Van's Grumps said...

Christy Clark claims that there's been $600 million spent on negotiations and now the Report from Ottawa says it's $1 Billion.

Is there one number that they can agree on, let's say from the third party which is party to the Treaty process: The First Nation people

Question: Has the process been non-functional BECAUSE they provincial and federal governments have always wanted to bankrupt TFN?

RossK said...

Good question NVG--

My opinion...

They want 'side' deals...Like the one you mentioned yesterday.


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North Van's Grumps said...

Here's a list of 171 agreements between the BC Liberal Government and TFNs Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreement

Anonymous said...

Another good article Ross and I've always appreciated Scotty's perspective.

One thing I'll add regarding El-Gordo's race inspired referendum was it was supported by a significant number of narrow minded bigots. After the successful referendum El-Gordo was going to use the results to abuse indigenous folks even further than in the past; however, he did an about face. Campbell didn't take this stance due a sudden pang of altruism. He changed his tack because BIG BUSINESS told him to back off. They did not want native uprisings to hinder their extraction of raw resources.

The indigenous folks that feted him with tribal honours appeared not have recognized the devious premiers's forked-tongue.