Beware of Oka-style Conflict at Golf Course
June 26, 2007 - 4:54am
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quote:A prominent B.C. native leader warned yesterday that conflict over the fate of the University of British Columbia golf course - set to be ceded to the Musqueam band as part of talks with the province - could lead to an Oka-style conflict.
At the same time, two supporters of Premier Gordon Campbell who have gathered hundreds of names on a petition to express their concerns, urged him off giving up the golf course, suggesting that the Liberal government has to put any plan up for public scrutiny before signing off on it.
..."I am not trying to blackmail him into doing things," said Mr. Hindmarch, who earned a place in the UBC Sports Hall of Fame as the school's most successful hockey coach.
But, he said, there are people worried about losing the course to the native community."There are people not just in the Point Grey riding that are involved with this. This is a public golf course being used by people all over the city," he said.
Ya right I am sure there are people from all over the city using it! And the rich still want their entitlement! [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] [img]mad.gif" border="0[/img]
And this in the face of:
quote:British Columbia's beleaguered treaty process needs to change, federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said yesterday in discussions with B.C. native leaders about improving a system that has yet to produce a single ratified treaty in 15 years.
"I remain an optimist, but I am not satisfied with the current rate of progress," Mr. Prentice told reporters, after outlining details of the government's proposed independent tribunal to resolve individual native land claims across the country.
Mr. Prentice singled out the B.C. Treaty Commission for attention, saying that at the very least the long-standing independent body needs some "fine-tuning."
Yet he had this to say about the Golf Course after saying "his government is not involved in the discussions":
: quote:"It would be good if they came to some kind of understanding that then went to public scrutiny."...
.."It's an area people feel strongly about, but we do have to move forward on these historic grievances," Mr. Prentice told reporters.
"I'm confident that, at the end of the day, it will be resolved satisfactorily."
It'll probably take some very high profile land claim settlements - such as this BC golf course - to get the country in general to wake up to the fact that aboriginal land claims are a pressing reality in Canada, and simply must be resolved.
Yep, circle yur wagons folks...
Ha! Yes, pity the poor country club members All Over The City who will be harmed irreparably when their golf course on stolen land is given back to its rightful owners!
Hmmmmm...golf courses for the rich...or massif community gardens for those in need...Prentice chiming in on golf courses in B.C.; how quaint [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] .
Boom, boom has it right. The process needs something like this golf course issue to really shake the trees. Campbell's conversion on the road to Damascus is likely to ultimately falter, given its his riding. It would be good to expose what I beleive to be the real Liberal agenda. The sudden recognition of aboriginal rights has more to do with bringing some in the native communities on side to benefit the mining and forestry interests.
As an aside, this newfound Gordo concern stands in sharp conrast to other actions by the Libs. There was an urban aboriginal agency doing important out reach work in New Westminster. It became unionised, mostly in reaction to terrible and incompetent management. The MCFD knew the agency was in trouble and knew why, but chose to simply let it close and allow the services to disappear. There are sad stories about individuals who had made dramatic recoveries from addictions who retured to their old ways when their lifeline was withdrawn.
There is also the Native Education Centre. For decades it has provided a link to the post-secondary system for aboriginal people. It is partially publicly funded, but the money never increased and salaries for instructors dropped far below their equivalents at public colleges. The staff unionized. The Liberal's response has shown nothing of its new fangle dedication to education as a tool to assist native people. Further funding has been refused and the NEC is scheduled to close in July.
These guys need to be smoked out of hiding behind their false rhetoric and a golf course seems to bea good place to start.