6 — Sunday, November 22, 1998 — North Shore News URE, you could blame the Asian Flu, the talk of recession or the stumbling dollar. Bur maybe, just maybe, the owners of West Vancouver’s Park Royal Shopping Centre backed down fren: their controversial big box store plan duc to the vocal, well-organized anti- big box citizen group Coalition for a Healthy Community. The group has no apparent politi- cal affiliation nor a corporate face. The CHC is simply a group of con- cerned citizens that took to the streets with placards and petitions to try to stop what it considered a pro- ject that would have a negative impact on the livability of their com- munity. In addition to gathering over 15,000 signatures on 4 petition, thc CHC lobbied West Vancouver coun- change. north shore news VIEWPOINT cil to stop the proposed expansion. Council’s contribution to the fight was a traffic study and stern words. So it fell back on regular citizens to pick up the gauntlet and take on the corporate knights. Larco’s announcement to drop big box expansion plans is a victory not only for the CHC and its supporters — it’s a victory for everyone who still believes the little guy and gal can make a difference; that those without government’s ear can effect Opponents of Can-Oxy’s proposed light industrial Vancouver opposed to BC Fervies expansion proposal for its Horseshoe Bay ter- minal should be buoyed by the col- lapse of the big box plan. Power to the people. in North and those park District y +} ? : a) Err soe ane cnnnn, NO future in rewriting history “They (Nisza’a) don’t own the land; they never have. Why are we paying nearly $400 million and giving them 1,900 sq/km of Jand when they haven’t owned it before?” North Vancouver resident Norman Welland, a former lawyer with che federal Department of Justice, asking a panel of treary negotiators why Canada was relinquishing fand to the Nisga’a. (From: = Nov.20 News story.) Q2a9 “It’s (the treaty) a footing on which to stand to get out of the damned reservation system. We had no referendum on the Indian Act or the reservation system. The only way to keep someone in the gutter is to sit on them. Well, we're still hoping to be classified as equals one day. Just look at yourselves before you confine more people to that reserve system.” Nisga'a president emeritus Frank Calder, speaking at the behest of Mayor Loucks at the same public meeting. (From the same Nov 20 News story.) Qo0g “Ie astonishes me that during these difficult recession- ary times that some members of this council seem hell- bent on stifling, or regulating into obscuring, a tiny harmless and virtually invisible enterprise on which some operators depend on to hang on to their homes. West Vancouver (is using) a very large civic sledgehammer to crack a very small walnut.” West Vancouver bed and breakfast owner Barrie Wall, on a proposed bylaw to regulate bed and breakfast operations in West Vancouver. (From a Now: 20 News story.) Q00 “To deflect rocks or rain — whatever the case may be.” West Vancouver’s Roger Latta, presenting B.C. finance minister Joy MacPhail with an umbrella after her presentation ar a West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce breakfast. (From a Nor. 18 News story.) 900 “Hayden is never going to be typical, but if he knows I’m his mum and Rob’s his dad and he can come to us, that'll be great.” Arleene Ewing, on her hopes for the outcome of intensive therapy her four-year-old autistic son is receiving. (From a Nov. 15 News story.) rare vt 5 a: north shore. A K North Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an * independent suburban newspaper and qualtied under Schedule 11 1, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by Nort Shore Free Press Ltd and destnbuted to every door on the North ‘Shore Canads Post Canadian Pbbcations Mad ‘Sales Product Agreement No. 0067238 Distribution Manager ‘806-8357 (124) THE Nisga’a Treaty reminds one that the Welsh must have a strong claim against the descen- dants of Julius Caesar who robbed them of their hereditary land 2,000 years ago. Ever since then, these proud ancient Britons have been confined to a scenic little 7,000 square-mile “reserve” on Britain's west coast. Surely today’s Italians now ought to be made to pay big-time for the sins of their famous forebear back in 55 B.C.! But chat, of course, is the trouble with history. It’s simply a record of what happened in the past. It tells where you came from and can sometimes teach lessons for the future. But one thing you can never usefully do with history — though many people try — is judge past events by today’s val- ues, The events, however regrettable by current standards, happened and can never be undone. Moreover, those responsible often sin- cercly believed they were doing exactly the right thing in the circumstances of their time, That includes the wartime evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the B.C. coast, the nuking of Hiroshima and, yes, Indian residential schools (though certainly not the personal abuses they spawned). I’m sure Caesar was con- vinced he'd saved civilization from the PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) barbarians. So how should whole communities be compensated for injustices inflicted, sometimes with the best of intentions, in a less enlightened age by people now dead and non-account- abic? And how high a price should the latters* blameless successors have to pay for the alleged sins of their predecessors? The price of the Nisga’a Treary — embittered rather than sweetened relations and a permanently depressed B.C. ccono- my on which the future of both parties depends — threatens to be far too high, The reason? Because the principles of the Nisga’a Treaty are to be a model for aff 50-odd treaties still ro be negotiated i. B.C, Those principles include the cre- ation of a third order of government with certain powers independent of federal or provincial law — in effect, a revision of the Constitution; denial of voting rights for non-aboriginals living on aboriginal land; referendums for aboriginals but not for non-aboriginals affected; and final treaties unalterably graven in stone for all time. In short, it means the ultimate cre- ation within B.C. — at an eventual cost of untold billions in land and money — of some 50 sovereign native “homelands” akin to the disastrous system in apartheid- era South Africa. Meanwhile, the compli- cations of applying Nisga’a-style treaty- making to such densely populated areas as the Lower Mainland (where three sep- arate Indian bands have overlapping claims) boggle the mind. As does the ongoing damage to be inflicted on job ereation and investment in B.C. What's fundamentally wrong here, of course, is that the treaty process attempts to rewrite history — a proven impossibili- tv from the beginning of time. Neither King George III's Roval Proclamation of 1763 nor Governor James Douglas’s sys- tem of reserves has the slightest relevance to our 1998 situation. The only sane sys- tem of compensation for past wrongs is one based on today’s realities. That means spending moncy and effort to improve the lot of every aborigi- nal fellow-citizen in need, Through enhanced social support, health care, edu- cation and personal cash endowments (as distinct from simply financing band coun- cils) they should individually be given the choice of integrating, fully into the Canadian mainstream or, alternatively, liv- ing according to their ancestral values in a self-governing native municipality operat- ed like any other municipality. Yesterday is for the books. Tomorrow is what counts for people! STILL A WEEK to catch this month’s attractive double-ticket shaw at West Van Library Gallery — Joan Fraser’s “A World of Colour” and Shirley Newton’s “Florals” —~ on display until Nov. 29 ... And happy, very important 19ch birthday tomorrow, Nov. 23, to West Van’s Carly Wells. DOO a WRIGHT OR WRONG: An optimist is a person who starts a crossword puzzle with a pen. plas LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must incluite your name, full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca ‘aren Evers Acting Display Manager 960-0511 {307} Promotions Manager 885-2131 (218) General Oifice Manager 985-2131 (105) internet: http://enew.nenew3.com 995-2931 (114) Andcowe iicCredie - Sports/Community Esitor 905-2131 (147) errr . 7 iia . : : we + cows Beat t 4 . Se fee rrr Yr eee tr see heaan