Mine threatens caribou: First Nation

The good ol' West Mo is at it again...


For starters, the proposed mine is no where near their reserve. Nice of them to petition on behalf of the McLeod band. I'm sure they'll glady accept a cheque for compensation on their behalf as well.

Secondly, this is the same band that petitioned the RCMP for a share (50%, I do believe) of the speeding tickets that were issued on "their roads" (Which they drive on, but do not pay taxes on to build or maintain - funny how they forget that), because the RCMP shouldn't be able to "cash in" on their land.

Thirdly - this is also the same band that was going to sue Telus for a percentage of all cell phone tolls that were transmitted from the cell tower, NOT on their land, but through "their airspace". (Yep - not only have the natives in BC attempted to claim 110% of the land, now they're going for airspace too! )

Now here's the kicker - until approximately 1950-something, there wasn't ONE SINGLE NATIVE in the Chetwynd area. YET, there are 3 reserves, several "sacred ancient burial grounds", and they claim to know of the days when thousands of caribou roamed that land... Who told them? The f***in' whities?

Bottom line: This is yet another of the West Mo's lazy assed, money grab schemes. It makes me sick.

Well, the roads run thru their nation, so they're just collecting tolls. Drivers should count themselves lucky they're not being made to pay them as well.

Since they are a nation, they own the airspace, no, same as Canada owns theirs?

Since natives are one with the land, they feel the pain when it is raped, no matter where the rape is taking place. It takes large amounts of cash to heal that pain, or at least scab it over till the next outrage.

Well the good news is once that Caribou heard is completely gone you can stop worrying your pretty little head about it. I mean at one point there were thousands and now there are 11. So it shouldn't be long.

I mean after a few tens of thousands of years those caribou should realize that they had a good run and now its time to go the way of the dodo bird. And the wolves that ate them ... the plants and bugs that lived off their waste ... the birds and animals that ate the plants and bugs...and someday your kids who want to swim in the lake or drink the water from it.

Does anyone remember a day when you could just go to a river, lake or stream and jump in and feel safe drinking it or bathing? Or even eating the fish...

Here is the kicker...we are in that food chain. Bottom line is if these Natives didn't care about the caribou, would you?

The good news will be when the bands quit looking for hand outs and free money.



Ya missed it, Sparky. They don't give a rats ass about the 11 caribou. They want free cash. Period. I lived in the middle of that place for 12 years,and listened to ALL of the bullshit with these cases so don't bother arguing with me.

Rofl, funniest thing I have heard all day.

It's not just a matter of whether the mine directly impacts the reserves. The First Nations, as repeateldy stated by the Supreme Court of Canada, also have an interest in their tradiational territories.

And I don't see what's so hypocrtical about the Frist Nations having a slice of the economic pie. The mine is there to make money, the government makes money off the mine. Why shouldn't the First Nations who have some rights and title to impacted land benefit as well.

Sure that argument can be made. But it sets up a dichotomy between the govt and the First Nation, as if the govt isn't their govt as well. If that's the case, maybe we should stop giving them all that foreign aid. Do we really want to create a bunch of Canadian Bantustans, except that they confer their inhabitants more rights than the majority?

The right and titles of First Nations have been confirmed many times by the highest courts in the land. Most Canadians don't like it, but if we are a law-abiding society then our governments have to abide by the law.

Adn if you think it's great to be an Indian in Canada and just rake the money in from the feds, I'd encourage you live on a reserve for a while. It certainly changed my mind about things.

I'm no big fan of Gordon Campbell, but one thing he has done right is serisouly sit down and try to work out treaties with the First Nations in BC. It's slow work, but treaties, more than anything, will address the fundamental issues at stake here. The other point of that traingle is the feds, who will have to sit down wiht teh natives and replace the Indian Act.

According to what I read on this, the coal company started their project in late 2008 but were stopped with a cease and desist in early 2009. Sincethen the West Moberley have been attempting to get the permit revoked.

Some articles make it seem like it was because of the mining that the herd was reduced to 11. But in an earlier article the WM First Nation said they had been observing the 11 remaining caribou since 2008.

So here is where it's puzzling. They want the herd saved so they could continue on with their hunting rights. But the question is, how did they become 11 in the first place? Anyone?

The right and titles of First Nations have been confirmed many times by the highest courts in the land. Most Canadians don't like it, but if we are a law-abiding society then our governments have to abide by the law.

Adn if you think it's great to be an Indian in Canada and just rake the money in from the feds, I'd encourage you live on a reserve for a while. It certainly changed my mind about things.

I'm no big fan of Gordon Campbell, but one thing he has done right is serisouly sit down and try to work out treaties with the First Nations in BC. It's slow work, but treaties, more than anything, will address the fundamental issues at stake here. The other point of that traingle is the feds, who will have to sit down wiht teh natives and replace the Indian Act.


I don't have to have lived on a reserve to know life there can be pretty shitty unless you're with the in crowd. But the money is going to those reserves, so it's up to the natives themselves to manage it properly. Musqueam is one of the richest bands in Canada, yet they still have people living in mouldy, collapsing housing. Why? But if more of those people just took a few steps off that reserve, caught the 41 bus to some job or other, maybe they could just buy their own houses, like second nations people do.

I liked Campbell better when he was planning to fight those court decisions. I guess his developer buddies told him to just buy off the natives, sell out the province to private interests, and fuck the average person.

Natives will never make it unless they join the wage economy like everybody else. Just sitting on your land and exacting tribute will not create a functioning society. I would like to see us do what supposedly Alaska did - settle all land claims by giving each native a cheque for $100k.

As I stated - this is NOT their traditional territory. Far from it.



Of course they can cash in. I'm sure First Coal will be hiring and they'd love some good hard working folks that want to work to a healthy paycheque.

The situation is a little more complex than that in my experience. I mean, when you have ten year old kids huffing gasoline and telling the camera they want to die--that's not just money. If anything the native culture reminds of Nicholas Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas, except on a cultural rather than personal level. That tragic fatalism. Just my experience and peception though.

I don't disregard your commetns baout eh baltant malfeasance and nepotism on reserves, or absolve anyone from the personal responsibility they have for their own life. However, I do not believe that a native person is any less capable of looking after himself than a white person, so when I see the state of the natives in Canada--the poverty, the prisons, the violence, the suicide, the drug abuse--I'm forced to conclude that there are other factors at play.



It wasn't the developers that starightened Campbell out, it was the courts. And, to my mind, what Campbell is doing at the treaty table is similar to what Alaska did.

I find Frist Nations frustrating sometimes too. But when I look at the relatiosnhip in some coutnries between teh different "tribes" (Sri Lankja, Rwanda, Ireland) I can take some solace that as strained as our relationships are, they could be a lot worse.

Well, if it's not their traditional territory, then their options are pretty limited. basically making noise int erh rpess. Or perhaps pressing governments to take measures to protect a species at risk--if this species of caribou is at risk.



Again, if it's not on their traditional territories, then I'd agree--the only way to get money out of the mine is to go work there!

Sure, including the history of opression. But, by many natives are playing into that and playing it up. "We can't do anything, because of the white man." I don't think we're helping them by keeping them in a welfare trap. Which I think is the main reason for the tragic fatalism - you can see the same thing, to a lesser degree in non-natives caught in the same trap.





I don't think the courts straightened him out because he abandoned the challenge that he campaigned on.

As for relationships, well at least we don't have a civil war. But that's probably only because the natives are too few and too scattered. I hope we can work it out some day. I don't think we're going down the right road at the moment.