Not a black and white issue

i Black day for journal-
ism some might call it,
but I understand the
controversial stand on
the badly flawed Nisga’a
treaty adopted by B.C.’s
reigning community
newspaper baron.

Apparently many others do
not.

Pm sure its seeds were
sown farther back than this,
but boch David Black and I
were witmess to a disturbing
presentation on the native
treaty process in B.C. given
this summer by lawyer Mel
Smith.

Mr. Smith, as readers of
this column might recall, is the
author of the self-published
Onr Home or Native Land? ,
an examination of how
Canada’s aboriginal policy is
affecting the country.

His presentation took place
at an otherwise low-key May 7
to 9 British Columbia and
Yukon Communi
Newspapers Association con-

- vention in Penticton.
Tc caught me by surprise.
» Thad expected a dry disser-
tation on the byzantine techni-
_calities of the government
treaty process and other slecp-
; inducin, drone. .

But its revelations sent a

chill the length of my spine.
“Much of that chill was gen-
“erated by the Dec. 11, 1997,

Supreme. Court of Canada
‘decision in the Delgamuukw
- vs. British Columbia case.

: Smith outlined, the
decision has started B.C, down
the ‘road to chaos on all fronts.

“Among other things it
ruled that the oral evidence of

ical events as related by
aboriginal spokesmen is to be

Here we go again

i only the bears that come out of...
the woods this time of the ycar. .
but all che bear whiners tooting.

their little Peter Pan horns right
along behind.

For the fife of me, why.

don’t you move back to
Vancouver or Richmond or
Kansas City or Calgary or
Toronto. At least then you will
be perfectly safe against all the
: ane animals, except the mug-

ei i is it so hard to believe

~ that in Vancouver or Richmond
or Kansas City, ete., you can
head out of town and the worst
thing that can happen to you is

goal: reclaiming 111% of B.C.
Not bad for 2.6% of the
provinee’s population.

Smith, who has spent 31
years in the B.C. public ser-
vice, is no right-of-centre
wingnut. Constitutional law
and constitutional reform are
his s s, honed in the
service of four successive
provincial government admin-
istrations.

So his presentation packed
considerable heft.

It included revelations of
how British Columbia is about
to be splintered into dozens of
autonomous native states, of
how the estimated cash cost of
the native treaties could run to
$10 billion and beyond, of
how the new powers invested
in the Nisga’a treaty set the
band up as a level of govern-
ment on par with that of the
province, of haw non-natives
on Nisga’a land have no
democratic rights in the racial-
ly exclusive Nisga’a govern-
ment, of how native land
claims since the Delgamuukw
decision have cast a fog of
uncertainty over all resource-
based industry and land-use
planning in B.C., of how no
one has represented the public
interest in the whole treaty
process, of the self-serving
treaty negotiation industry
that is ingrained at every level
of the whole appallingly
expensive business.

Tor the small audience
attending Smith’s presenta-
tion, it turned on many lights.

Mr. Black’s lights especially.

that you will get run over by a
truck.

Why is it so hard to believe
that here on the’ North Shore
you live on the..cdge of a

wilderness and you only have |

to start walking due north and
in three to four hours you can
be totally lost?

Even if you were lucky
enough to survive the first four
hours and finally made it ail the
way to the North Pole, you
would only have crossed three
paved highways on the way.

We may be infringing on
the wild animals’ territory by

. living here on the North Shore

bu: [have no intention of mov-
ing. “

After the presentation,
Black gave an impromptu
speech to the audience.

It was an appeal to other
newspaper publishers and edi-
tors for action. It underscored
the belief that the issue was of
such import to B.C.'s future
that it required more than the
usual passive chin-wagging and
tame throat-clearing trom the
editorial ends of B.C.’s com-
munity newspapers.

ht needed, Black said, the
attention of a united front.

Deteat of the insanity need-
ed some serious gun

Thus he loaded his can-
nons.

Last week he is reported to
have instructed the editors at
his B.C. newspapers — all 50
or so of them —- to fire those
cannons.

He told them to run only
opinion and commentary
opposed ta the Nisga‘a agree-
ment. Though lerters to the
editor and news stories with
pro-agreement views were to
remain fair game, no pro-
agreement counter columns or
editorials would be tolerated.

Heavy-bore cannon fire,
indeed.

Fallout from the initial
blast has been considerable.

Abuse of newspaper owner-
ship; abuse of trust, unfair to
readers, unbalanced journal-
ism, ete.

Premier Glen Clark, whase
government seems incapable
of itself separating right from
wrong on any issue, opined
that Black had gone over the
t

Perhaps he has.

I don’t agree that only one
side of a discussion should be
dictated in any newspaper. It
runs counter to a basic free-
dom of spec... fenet at the
core of any worthy publica-
tion. A truth that needs such
protection is not much of a
truth at all.

if the bears and cougars and
wolves and coyotes are moving
down into -our: space. .it’s
because they are being pushed
out by all chose tranquilized
bears that the wardens arc
shoving in. further up the road
in Squamish and ‘Whistler. For
heavens sake folks, there are
tens of thousands of bears in
BC.

The few bears we kill here
along our stretch of civilization
are to protect ourselves and in
no way will diminish the seaual
drive of the other tens of thou-
sands of survivors.

How do you feel about the
fact chat there are probably an
equal number of mountain

But T sav good for Mr.
Black anyway. Contound the
ethics of it all. F applaud the
ventilation of some impas-
sioned spontaneity on the
issue.

Black knows the dangers of
his approach; he knows that
the integrity of editorial con-
tent is key in the success of any
newspaper worth its salt; he
knows he will face the wrath of

ertisers lobbied by upset
readers.

But the Nisga‘a agreement
and the whole treaty proc
British Columbia are issues
that everyone in the province

to understand.

Mr. Black understands
those issues and they upset
him profoundly.

As they should.

He has the power to do
something about them, and he
chooses to exercise thar power.

Bold action is a foreign
pursuit in B.C. and the rest of
Canada. Meck acceptance is
the usual course of non-action
across the land when faced
with political steamrollers.

The Black approach is a
refreshing call to arms that will
raise more than cyebrows.

It will raise the treaty issuc.

And it desperately needs to

be raised,
o00
a! belatedly note herein the
assing of Gregory Walsh,

i lead lawyer for the
Canadian Jewish Congress in
the Doug Collins/North
Shore News human rights i-
bunal affair. He died Sept. 8
after losing a battle with stom-
ach cancer. He was only 48.

Though he represented the
complainants in the 1997
human rights hearing circus, J
found him to be professional
and gentlemanly in all our
encounters, heated or other-
wise.

A worthy adversary; never
an enemy.

lions invading ‘you space; it’s
just that mountain lions . are
smart enough so that you don't ;
sec them. :

It's time to employ some of
the common sense, that“ our
B.C. setders employed to cre-"
ate this province ard. use ‘all:
those tens of thousands of dol-
lars spent to track down, tran-
quilize and haul bears up to
Squamish; and to use them to
chase down the mountain
lions, wolves and coyotes that

are gobbling up our local dogs _

and cats and have one open eye

- on your little toddlers.

See you in Kansas City.
Bob Hartman
North Vancouver

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Sunday, September 27, 1998 — North Shore News — 7

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