Taseko hears about province's failure to consult
2011-11-29 21:16 ET - Street Wire
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by Mike Caswell
Taseko Mines Ltd.'s case against a group of blockaders continued in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Tuesday, with Tsilhqotin Nation lawyer Jay Nelson arguing that the B.C. government failed to properly consult the Indians before granting Taseko a work permit. He said that failure was part of a pattern by B.C. that goes back to the province's initial approval of Taseko's Prosperity mine. As he sees it, the province pressed through that approval without waiting for the Tsilhqotin to fully present their views, a problem it repeated with Taseko's present work permit.
Mr. Nelson is arguing for an injunction that will prevent Taseko from working at Prosperity until after a judicial review of the company's work permits is complete. His argument is one of two that the judge must consider, with the other being an application by Taseko for an injunction against a roadblock that kept the company from accessing the site on Nov. 12, 2011.
The dispute stems from work that Taseko is trying to perform as part of its second attempt at getting the Prosperity mine approved. The project, which the company touts as being able to provide 71,000 jobs over its 23-year life, stalled last year after the federal Ministry of Environment refused to give it the go-ahead, even after it received clearance from B.C. Taseko has since modified its proposal, removing a contentious plan to drain a small body of water called Fish Lake. It still, however, faces opposition from local Indians.
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The lawyer says "There is no dollar amount that could compensate them for this, he told the court."
I'm sure that if Taseko were willing to go along with the shakedown; I'm sure that there is an amount of money that would placate them in the short run.
Posted by Pale Face at 2011-11-30 10:51
Time only runs one way. The argument that every location where there is a mine or pipeline is sacred ground threatens the credibility of all First Nations. The courts are turning against this kind of legal argument. The lawyers should pay heed to this. What a situation. The taxpayer pays federal taxes to the government which then pay a bloated Ministry of Indian Affairs, who then pays local bands who then use it is blockade roads and take away jobs for taxpayers. And after all of that, there is still so much poverty in First Nations communities it makes you weep. The environmentalists who are paid by lobbyist from Europe or the States convince or bribe leaders in the community to take away jobs that could change the lives of the very people who are protesting development. @#$%ing sad.
Posted by Future Threatened by the Past at 2011-11-30 11:43
Interesting comments from Pale Face and Future. Until 1983 in BC most First Nations children were taken from their parents and placed in Residential schools where they were often abused and were strictly forbidden from either learning about or practicing many parts of their rich cultural heritage. One only needs to look at their art to understand how rich and complex their socitey was.
A quote from Gilbert Sproats (the namesake of Sproat Lake in Port Alberni and an early Governor of the area) book ,The Nootka: Scenes and studies of a savage life, is illustrative, " upon my arrival at the village at the head of the inlet(Alberni Sound) I intstructed the savages that they had no need of their land as we would provide employment for them and therfore they shold move to other locations as deemed by us....."
Later Sproat felt such guilt at the treament of the "Savages" that he recomended that they be alloted such tracts of land that they could continue to live off it.
"From 1876 he served as the joint federal-provincial appointee on the Indian Reserve Commission, where he argued that sufficient land be allocated to First Nations people that they could remain self-sufficient. This proved to be an unpopular position with the European colonists and led to much controversy, as well as Sproat's resignation from the committee in 1880."
The "Indians" as Caswell refers to, earlier known as "Savages" are residents of British Columbia who have a point of view and are merely exercising their democratic and constitutional right to disagree with another party. They seek redress through a court of law and given the almost unimaginable horrors they have been subjected to over the last 200 years this is tbhe least we can do. Pale Face, what would you do if your child had been taken from you and raped? Repeatadly? What would you do if your home was arbitraily taken away from you and you were placed on a Reserve with other beaten dysfunctional hopeless people?
The "shakedown" as you most erroneously refer to is the Tsilhqotin's first attempt to assert their rights and to get adequate compensation for their lost land. If you have any doubts about these rights perhaps you should explain why we colonialists refer to this entire area of BC as the "Chilcotin"; obviously they were here first and that counts for a lot in British common law.
Posted by kyuquot at 2011-11-30 15:24
One native person that I knew and respected, was an elder in a Northern Alberta reservation. He had been a successful businessman and rancher. His comments to me (I990's) were that the reservation school had been great for him. "Sure we got disciplined a lot, but probably not much more than the schools in town. I got a very good education, and I benefited from it." That is nearly as close to a direct quote, as I can recall.
As far as I am concerned many of the claims of abuse at residential schools are not valid.
Time to live in the present, and lose the third world mindset.
Posted by Pale Face at 2011-11-30 15:40
You are wrong about the abuse at the schools.... what in the hell do you think Harper apologized for....??
In any case expect more court challenges as the First Nations of BC exercise their constitutional rights....
Posted by kyuquot at 2011-11-30 15:56
I have no doubt that there will be more court challenges. It's not like it costs natives anything to sue companies and the various levels of government, on a whim.
I definitely, wouldn't put my money at risk, on any mining "investment" in B.C.
Posted by Pale Face at 2011-11-30 16:37
From Wiki: "When the government revised the Indian Act in the 1940s and 50s, a slim majority of Indian bands, along with regional and national native organizations, wanted residential schools to stay open. Those who supported the schools wanted to keep the religious component as well. Motivations for support of the schools included their role as a social service in communities suffering extensive family breakdown; the significance of the schools as employers; and the seeming lack of other opportunities for children to receive an education. In the 1960s, when the government decided to close certain schools, some Indian bands pleaded to have them to remain open. In 1969, after years of sharing power with churches, the Department of Indian Affairs took sole control of the residential school system."
Posted by Pale Face at 2011-11-30 16:48
It has been well demonstrated with many forms of life that if you cannot assimilate into your current surroundings, then you cease to exist. The dinosaurs learned that the hard way. It is time for the Tsilhqotin "nation" to join the modern world.
Canadian society and culture is made up of persons from virtually every other country in the World. All of those people have not only learned to adapt to the Canadian lifestyle, but at the same time have managed to preserve much of their own culture. They don't have to rely on large amounts of Government funding such as the $9.8 BILLION dollars that is paid out through the Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs.
In addition, a lot of these people have brought their families and given up everything they possessed just to come to Canada because it clearly is the "best place in the world to live". I have travelled to, and worked in, more than 80 different countries so I know which is the best place to live. I am not a wealthly person money wise. I am more than 65 years of age and still have to run my company business in order to live and eat. the Government doesn't give me anything other than periodic demands to pay more taxes.
There are many times the various levels of Government make laws that I don't like and do things I don't like to do, but for the greater good of our society, I accept them.
If others were to put as much effort into doing something useful and benefical as they do into "whinning" they might actually achieve something without offending a bunch of other persons.
Bruce Dunne
Really?
you quote Wiki?
Get some real hard facts and come back to this discussion.
Ever think you face is pale because you have no heart?
Posted by Ken at 2011-12-01 10:01
Ken, and what "facts" would you want me to believe? I believe that a person (even you) is entitled to an opinion. However, you haven't disproved the Wikipedia entry that I cite. Nor have you disproved, the information that I obtained from someone (first hand) who attended a residential school.
Then you can read the more current article (Nov 30), and disprove the facts presented by former Chief Charleyboy, and the two lawyers, who supplied lots of additional facts, for you to ignore.
Posted by Pale Face at 2011-12-01 10:52
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